Update from the Gutweins in Haiti

From: Val Gutwein in Haiti
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010
Subject: Haiti Update
Hello to everyone. It is Sunday afternoon and I am finally taking the time to send a short update.
I talked to a store owner today and he said there is no way anything in the way of supplies(food) for their store will be coming from Port for awhile. So far we are not seeing any fuel tankers coming into our city, so our city power is cut way back, and trips beyond the city are not advisable.(this evening I heard that a gas station had some lines, so maybe some fuel came in today)
Jan went to Port today to talk with a Doc from a Haitian Hospital that our Apostolic Church works with, called King's Garden. We hope to have a medical team in Port by next Friday. At our clinic here at the compound, the injured are coming every day. Many have broken femurs, pelvises, and feet. One lady's leg looks flat because the bones are shattered. Our x-ray machine is down, so the people have to go into town for an x-ray, then return here for help. It is very hard on the people who are in a lot of pain. The hospital was pretty cleared out before the quake, and today all the beds were full. The families are sleeping on the floor beside their loved one.
This has affected so many people we know. One sad story is our fellow missionary Olga's house lady, lost her only daughter. I believe she was in med school. Some families have lost ALL their children since they were at school when the quake happened.
There are miracle stories, like the missionary family who was on the way to a nice grocery store, when they received a call that their VISA card was going to be discontinued. Seems the company was making a mistake, so they did not stop at the store and went to the Montana Hotel to find a room, since they needed to stay in Port to get supplies, and figure out the VISA problem. The Montana was full, so they were heading to their mission guesthouse when the quake it. Both the grocery store and the hotel crumbled in the quake. They are praising God they are alive.
There have been over 40 tremors since the first, so most Haitians are sleeping outside.
We talked with a girl who works at a clinic called Christianville, where there is a school, church, medical facility, eye facility, and other services. Most of their buildings went down. The Doc and his wife jumped from the 2nd story balcony as their building was falling. They had 6 ft to jump to the ground. Another missionary on the same compound said she was outside and trying to get out of the way of falling "stuff" but she was forced to the ground every time she tried to move. We praise God that the team and all the missionaries were spared. They became a haven for medical help before they ran out of supplies.
We are thankful that our team was finally able to get out. Our efforts now will be to support the Clinic in whatever way we can. We hope some more medical help will arrive soon, as the Docs are getting weary. Patients need help all parts of the day. Some situations are really grave. The hardest are the young children!
The kids are doing fine, although they feel the stress of the situation here. Each one had a different perspective of when the quake hit. It will be a moment they'll never forget.
In Christian Love,
Jan and Val and family