All posts by Bill Hutchison

Hoop Homes Are Arriving and Going Up in Haiti

The hoop homes that are being donated by Esbenshade’s Garden Centre are starting to arrive in Haiti and are already being put together at the YWAM clinic at St. Marcs. There were 200 hoop homes sent to the YWAM centre to help provide some temporary accommodation for the thousands of people who are now homeless in Haiti.

Along with the huts there is also a team of construction volunteers on the ground in Haiti to get the assembly of these houses started. The 200 shelters should be able to provide housing for about 1000 of the homeless. There are plans for more houses to be sent, but there need to be more donations and volunteers for that to happen.

YWAM Haiti is in the planning stages for putting together a temporary tent city to house the many homeless that they are registering in St. Marcs. Most of these people are refugees from Port Au Prince who have moved to St. Marcs after loosing everything in the earthquake. The plan for the tent city is to not only provide food and shelter, but also to provide education and training for the people there to help in the rebuilding of the nation of Haiti.

Here is a short video of what they are hoping to achieve with the hoop homes, including future uses for the shelters once more permanent accommodation is found for the thousands of homeless in Haiti.

You can read a report from the construction crew that just arrive in Haiti here, and find out how to volunteer and donate to the project here.

30 Kit Homes Shipped to YWAM for use in Haiti

Gulf Coast Supply and Manufacturing has recently shipped 30 International Relief Homes to Youth With A Mission in Haiti. The homes can be assembled in less than a day by an experienced crew once the foundations have been poured. The home can be assemble on packed dirt, pavers or a concrete pad. In Haiti, where they are prone to hurricanes, they should hopefully use a poured concrete foundation, with the anchor system set-up to withstand hurricane force winds.

The homes are 15 x 18 feet, with two rooms, one door, two windows, two skylights and a guttering system to collect rain water. The homes only cost about $2000 USD each and Gulf Coast is gearing up to produce more of the homes to meet the current need in Haiti for housing.

If you check out the YWAM Haiti website (www.ywamhaiti.org) the video describes how YWAM is in the process of planning and building tent cities to accommodate the refugees who no longer have homes. It’ll be interesting to see how they fit these new kit homes into the plan.

The best way I have to describe the home is akin to an oversized backyard metal shed. I’ve seen many sheds in Australia converted to offices, retreats and bed-rooms, so it looks to me like a similar conversion. I know that the sheds in Australia can be built to withstand cyclone force winds, so I reckon they have done the same thing with these relief homes.

You can read more about the Gulfcoast Relief Homes here.

Chile Earthquake and YWAM Bases in Chile

A 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit central Chile on February 27th causing major damage and deaths throughout the nation.

So far reports from Youth With A Mission centres throughout Chile have been positive. The Santiago, Pichilemu and Castro locations are all okay, but without power. The Santiago base is also without water at the moment as they rely on a pump for water.

Twitter is reporting (that always sounds funny to me) that Pichilemu Chile experienced 17.5 foot waves after the earthquake. The water washed all the way into the centre of town. Quite a few people from the community are currently taking shelter at the YWAM base as it’s located higher than other parts of the city.

The Santiago YWAM base was having their DTS graduation on the day of the earthquake, so quite a few families that lived in the city were at the YWAM location and so they reportedly escaped the damage that happened in the main part of Santiago.

YWAM Ship Pacific Link in Sydney, Australia

The YWAM Ship MV Pacific Link is now in Sydney at Cockle Bay, Darling Harbour. The ship will be staying there from March 2 – March 9 before heading down to Ulladulla where it will be berthed at the Harbour.

The ship spent a very successful week in Newcastle where it was open for tours of the ship, and opportunities for people to meet the volunteer crew. YWAM was donated supplies to take on to Papua New Guinea and is still collecting glasses to donate to PNG where over half a million people could have their sight restored simply by being provided with corrective spectacles.

On the trip from Newcastle to Sydney the ship hit some pretty rough seas. The rough seas were caused by the tsunami that occurred because of the earth quake in Chile and tested the sea legs of everyone on the ship, some of whom are still pretty new. Here is a photo of the ship hitting some pretty decent sized waves:

Mercy Trucks Sends Ambulance to YWAM in Haiti

Youth With a Mission Haiti was already using it’s trucks and vehicles as make shift ambulances in Haiti after the earthquake that hit the country on January 12. Seeing the need YWAMs Mercy Trucks began to work towards providing a vehicle, medical supplies and other necessary equipment for use by the YWAM team that has been operating in Haiti since 1991.

On February 12th the 28 foot ambulance arrived in Haiti, packed with medical and other much needed equipment.

YWAM has been working feverishly in Haiti to provide as much support as needed to the hurting people in that nation. Here are just a few of the things that they have been involved in:

  • The above mentioned ambulance
  • Registering the refugees who arrive in St. Marc from Port au Prince
  • Providing 200 tents for temporary accommodation for refugees
  • Renovating an old condemned  hospital so that it can again be used
  • YWAM Medical teams working in front of the old capital building in Port au Prince

Many YWAM teams from around the world have joined the staff already in YWAM Haiti to help serve the people there. There is plenty of opportunity for individuals or teams to go to Haiti to help, and of course donations of finances, medical supplies and other needed equipment are very welcome.

You can find out more about YWAM Haiti and how to help here.