A letter from Sharyn Babe in Haiti
March 12, 2010
Dear friends,
It’s been several weeks now since I was released from the hospital and sending you my heartfelt thanks is long overdue. I’m truly amazed at the outpouring and continual showering of prayers, cards and visits from so many people. God has blessed me very much in so many ways and circling me with such love and care is just one of the ways He has touched my life. I’m humbled and so thankful for each of you and for the many more for whom I am unaware.
A number of people have seemed confused about the events surrounding the January 12 earthquake and my current status. Many have not been able to read the early February update sent out. I’ll try to give a brief recap below.
On January 12, I was at the university teaching. When the time came for my late afternoon/evening class to begin we discovered the Internet connection was not working. Since this was a class based on using the Internet we had to go to our normal “plan B.” All work was not only done via Internet, it was also submitted via email so each of us disbursed to our alternate locations. Students would use friends’ computers, a computer at a family home or at a cyber café. So at 3:30 p.m. I walked home to my office/satellite classroom set up in my apartment. I had been checking homework for about 15 minutes when the earthquake struck. The shaking was violent and fast, lasting less than a minute I’m told. When it was over, I was buried in the rubble of my apartment building.
With much difficulty I managed to dig and drag myself out of the rubble as I climbed to a small opening of light. Someone pulled me out of the hole and what met my eyes was horrific. I had never seen such total destruction.
I’ll skip a lot of the details at this point and merely say that eventually I was taken to the U.S. Embassy where I was among the first to be airlifted to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. After taking many series of X-rays and MRIs I was immediately airlifted to Florida. I spent nearly a month in North Broward Medical Center and have been living in a borrowed condo belonging to a friend of a friend. I receive occupational and physical therapy as well as require help bathing. My “turtle shell” brace will remain in place for about three months.
The gashes to my hand, foot and leg have healed. My broken rib has healed. The three compression fractures in my back are healing nicely. The trauma to the brain had caused some challenges, but my brain is beginning to act more like normal these days. As each new task is conquered (learning to walk, pattern my arm motions, focus and ability to follow conversations) my brain seems to snap ahead by leaps and bounds. One of my biggest hurdles remains stamina and strengthening. I am living proof of God’s miraculous powers and answered prayer. Words will never be able to express my deep, heartfelt thanks for each one of you.
Rodney remains in Haiti working with reconstruction of the devastated nation of Haiti. He is able to take brief forays to Florida to check on my progress but remains a “homesteader” in a condemned neighborhood. Soon he will move to a U.N. tent city once the engineers officially condemn his building. Please keep him and the others who work and live in the middle of this devastation in your daily prayers.
Sharyn
The 2010 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 287
