It is hard to believe that almost four weeks have past since the earthquake in Haiti. We give thanks to God for sustaining His people, especially in Haiti, during this time of hardship.

Randy Lodder and his team continue to work hard to gain access to food and drinking water for Adoration Christian community and beyond. The current routine is expected to carry on for the next couple of weeks until the supply lines open up in Port au Prince. The evenings continue to be a blessing as people gather together to be strengthened spiritually through reading of scriptures, singing and prayer.

Contingency plans are being put into place to allow Randy to get a short break in the near future. We thank God that the daily routine for the Adoration Team has stabilized sufficiently at this time for this to even be contemplated. Progress is also being made on the medical front as reported recently, "In the last few days, the medical relief effort has moved from a phase characterized by a high volume of critical surgeries and untreated earthquake injuries into a new phase of more post-operative care with a renewed emphasis on public health and infectious disease prevention."

In Haiti and around the world, organizations are working together and pooling resources to ensure effective relief efforts. CDIA has been overwhelmed and is humbled by the support it has received from the Christian community in Canada and elsewhere. Numerous individuals and businesses are doing what they can to help. Many fundraisers have been held or are being organized. Recently, a business made a container available for shipment of supplies to Haiti. Donations of goods are currently being collected at many Christian schools in southern Ontario. We pray for God’s blessing on these efforts.

Your continued prayers for the people of Haiti, all relief and government agencies including the Adoration team and CDIA are coveted.

May God receive the Glory!

There continues to be good communication with Randy and the team (Adoration). They are in good health and spirit and have all that they need for everyday living.

Late last week Randy was at the UN again. It is reported that the city has been divided into 16 different sections and that one global organization has been assigned to each section to take responsibility for day to day Disaster Relief supplies. Once again, an application was made for Adoration to be included in the general supply lines for local distribution. However, more patience is reguired and it is expected that a good flow of food and water will most likely take another week or two.

The supply of food to our target zones is minimal. Therefore, our plan is to continue to push food and water out for another 2 weeks, until the local residents in our target zones can be diverted to another source. Last Saturday, Adoration was successful in getting a truck load of food and some tarps from the Dominican Republic. This food was packaged into boxes and then distributed to all of our students and families. The plan is to make another run this week. Adoration continues to supply truck loads of water which are dumped into a cistern in the Cite aux Cayes area. This is working well in this area as leaders in the community are taking charge of water purification and distribution. Unfortunately, a good clean cistern and leadership cannot be found as yet in Cite Jeremie.

Randy continues to keep in touch with the families of students. Most are living in some make shift dwelling. Some of the tarps and tents handed out earlier are already being used. Some of the homes are still standing. However, the people are afraid to move back in, but when the rains come they will have no choice. Sourcing tents for families continues to be a priority. Tents with floors in them is important so that when the rains come not everything will get wet. In that regard, CDIA is sourcing a limited number of tents and other supplies to be shipped to Haiti in the coming weeks.

Our Adoration Haitian team members have been asked to be translators for volunteer medical staff. At times this too is very unorganized. Nevertheless, Adoration continues to provide help to the general community via other relief organizations where it can.

Prayer and service meetings continue to be held outside the gate and this will remain a priority. This week these neighbourhood meetings will start at 7pm so that more people can come. It is our prayer that this will continue to be a blessing for the Adoration team and the community, and that through it our neighbours would be drawn into fellowship, and drawn into hearing God's Word being shared. “Oh, Holy Spirit, work powerfully and open up hearts to hear your calling”

Your continued prayers for the people of Haiti, all relief and government agencies including the Adoration team and CDIA are coveted.

May God receive the Glory!

On January 14, 2010, the Government of Canada announced that it will match dollar for dollar contributions of individual Canadians to eligible Canadian charitable organizations in support of humanitarian recovery and reconstruction efforts in Haiti.

Which Donations Will Be Matched?

To qualify for matching, the donations must be:

• made by an individual Canadian (not a corporation or business) – the donation from an individual may not exceed $100,000;
• made to a registered Canadian charitable organization that is receiving donations in response to the January 12 Haiti earthquake; (CDIA is doing this)
• specifically earmarked for the purpose of responding to the earthquake; and,
• made between January 12 and February 12, 2010.

Key facts can be found on CIDA’s website at href="http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/acdi-cida/ACDI-CIDA.nsf/eng/JOS-114185816-W4Y"

Declaration of Donations Required

CIDA has advised us that CDIA will be required to provide a declaration of donations received as part of the matching program.

Allocation of Matched Funds

CIDA will allocate the matched funds on behalf of the Government of Canada. Decisions for funding will be made based on the merits of the proposal and the ability to deliver aid quickly and effectively. The organization will need to have significant in-country capacity to deliver humanitarian and early recovery assistance. Charities receiving the initial donations will not necessarily receive the matched funds.

Please note, that while funds donated to CDIA may be matched (per eligibility criteria above) it is unlikely that CDIA will actually receive any of those funds to spend on their relief efforts. However, it is our opinion that at this time every dollar counts, so that while we may not be using the funds the government contributes, they will still be used to help our Haitian brothers through other organizations.

The Disaster Relief Action Committee received a detailed report prepared by Randy today on the status of Disaster Relief efforts in general and more specifically on the relief work of the Adoration team.

Randy and his team are doing well both physically and spiritually. They are very busy during the day. Every evening Randy holds devotions outside of the gate. Some lights were put up around the property and the neighbourhood people really like that. The local people are hurting and they are afraid. Tremors keep on coming. Everyone has experienced or knows someone who has lost loved ones. They all wonder what the future will hold for them. It is a blessing that each evening people from the neighbourhood can come together to open God’s Word and that together they can go to Him in song and prayer.