Big Bend residents bring aid to Haiti

Editors Note: Correction from Jim - he served in the Coast Guard during Viet Nam but not in Viet Nam.

Big Bend Sentinel


By MARK GLOVER

ALPINE - Pulled by the stark needs continuing to plague the survivors of last January’s monstrous earthquake that struck Port au Prince, Haiti, two groups in the Big Bend will pilgrimage to the island nation this summer to serve their fellow men, women and children.
“Three hundred thousand people lost their lives in the quake and there are still 1.5 million homeless, sleeping on the sidewalks every night in Port au Prince,” Terlingua resident and political activist Jim Goodnow said. “We can’t forget them.”

Goodnow and his partner, Lou Wolf of Washington, D.C., purchased two ambulances, filled them with medical supplies, learned how to operate the sophisticated equipment and have booked space on a ship to take their cargo to Haiti.

“Women give birth on the streets because they’re too traumatized by the earthquake to go inside a building,” Goodnow said. “We hope they’ll find the inside of the ambulances a godsend, not only them but all those suffering, including the amputees.”

According to Goodnow there are more than 8,000 amputees in Port au Prince. Many Haitians had to sacrifice a limb to be pulled from the carnage.

“They used machetes or whatever they could. No pain killers,” Goodnow explained. “Many died from infection. But it was either lose a limb or be crushed under the debris. They had to pull them out. They couldn’t just leave them.”

Wild Fire Ministries of Alpine, led by Toni Hellums and her husband Kerry will also serve in Haiti. They take a team of nine to Port au Prince for 10 days in July, carrying as many supplies as the airlines will allow.

The Mission Team for Haiti Aid consists of the following team members: Front row, from left: Toni Hellums, Alicia Zinn, Eden Simon. Back row: Jackson Wilbourn, Kerry Hellums (Exec. Director, Wild Fire Ministries), Sarge McGraw, Josiah Dilts, Jonathan Dilts, Steven Dilts.

“We want to show the Haitians they’re not forgotten,” Hellums said.

The group will attend the devastated mountain villages above Port au Prince, provide supplies, Bible school education and women’s ministry in conjunction with a Haitian based group known as Acts 29.

About 1,700 long-term ministries existed in Haiti before the earthquake, according to the Study of Global Christianity. But with the proximity of abject poverty so close to the USA and human needs beyond comprehension, that number is likely to grow.

“Our goal is to fulfill the gospel of Jesus Christ and show his love in our hearts,” Hellums said.

According to the New York Times, more than $13 billion in cash, goods and services has or will be delivered to Haiti by the international community this year, dwarfing the country’s annual gross domestic product of $3.8 billion (2008) or $1,325 annual per capita income, the lowest in the western hemisphere.

But getting these goods and services to the people in need is another story.

“The food giveaways, which began with little trouble after the earthquake, have devolved into blood sport as day after day, trucks ran out of food before long lines of people were served. In a few cases, aid workers protected by only a few police officers were overrun by thousands of Haitians, as men with muscular arms stampeded children and reached beyond barriers to grab what they could,” an article by MSNBC last month reported.

Making sure the ambulances get in the right hands is also on Goodnow’s mind. He partnered with a Christian group known as Grace International whose two story hospital in Carrefour, Haiti survived the quake.

“They’ll get the first one. The other ambulance, which is in the (Terlingua) ghost town right now, will be shipped separately. I’ll fly down to Haiti a couple of days before the ship’s arrival and operate it in Port au Prince,” Goodnow said.

Goodnow is a fire truck driver for Los Diablos in the Big Bend National Park and a former US Coast Guard Viet Nam veteran who drove the “Peace Bus” coast to coast during the last presidential elections. He wanted to bring awareness to the “absurdities of war” and he’s no stranger to operating big equipment.

“I hope to train others to operate it,” Goodnow said. “I’ve got all the manuals – just need to translate them to Patois.”

Goodnow is a cancer survivor. He was with former Rio Grande river guide Rick Myers when he died of cancer amongst the Shipibo tribe in Peru, seeking an Ayahuasca cure in 2003. Goodnow believes that all of us are connected and that when the world turns its face from suffering, a chasm of great proportions is inflicted on all people.

“That karma will come back,” Goodnow said.

The hurricane season starts in two weeks and Goodnow is worried bigger problems may be on the way.

“The situation in Haiti is so delicate that a hurricane right now could make Katrina look like a Sunday school picnic,” Goodnow said. “We can’t forget them.”

To contact Wild Fire Ministries, call 432.413.4268; to contact Jim Goodnow, call 432.294.3207.