Last night at around 6:15, we were sitting down at dinner. A strong thunderstorm had rolled in and it was raining pretty hard. Suddenly there was a flash of lightning followed by an immediate crack of thunder. Everyone at the table in the dining hall was immediately shook. It was so loud and powerful. After calming the kids a bit and taking stock of everyone, I stuck my head outside to look at the girls bathhouse thinking the lighting must have hit something nearby. I knew it wasn't the generator because we still had power. We went back to eating. About 5 minutes went by when one of our Haitian staff came in and said that Gestin was calling for help. Gestin is our community liaison. I was having trouble getting clear information, so I sent our medical staff out. I told them I think we have a medical issue, could they check it out.
It turns out that giant lightning strike hit Joselyn, one of our security guards. He had just completed his shift, had turned things over to the next guy, and was on his way home walking off campus when he was hit.
Our medical staff went into fast action, starting CPR, getting him on a board, bringing the oxygen. He was quickly loaded up in the back of a truck and rushed off to the hospital in the pouring rain. They made it to the hospital in probably less than 30 minutes where the medical staff continued to work on him for another 20 minutes. Joselyn never revived.
I brought his family to the hospital last night to see his body and sign for it. He looked peaceful. We are sure he died instantly. He had many burn marks, his pants were burnt, especially at the zipper, his cell phone in his pocket was completely fried.
We took his body to a morgue in Croix-des-Bouquets. We were back on campus and cleaned up around 11:30 last night.
We had a memorial service on campus this morning. Pastor has basically told all the workers there will not be any work today. He has met with the family and we will be supporting the family in anyway we can. They will most likely bury the body today.
Having given you the facts, I search my heart to describe what I am feeling. I think I am still in shock and not fully in touch with it. There is such little time for grief is what it feels like. I immediately left the memorial service to pick up three people from GAIN Germany at the airport. Pastor is meeting with these three in his office right now. Tonight is Nathan Pierre's birthday party, a happy occasion. They don't even have time to organize much of a funeral as they really don't have the ability to preserve a body here so you must get it buried quickly, otherwise the heat and humidity here really begins to take effect. Life just keeps moving.
Pastor sent all the work crews home today. There will not be any work. Many on the staff are hard hit. Joselyn was known in the community as being extremely polite and respectful. He seemed quiet to me.
Please pray. Pray for Pastor. Today was his last day here before leaving for the States tomorrow and I know his day is not at all what he expected or needed it to be. Pray for Joselyn's family and the community who are stunned and mourning. Pray for the NVM community as everyone on staff knew him. Pray for our staff who worked so hard to try and save his life (our medical team did CPR all the way to the hospital in the pouring rain in the back of a pick-up truck). Our staff our heroes, and they are dealing with this situation in their own ways.
It seems that there have been so many times over this past year that something happens and I just sit in shock about the absurdity of it. The chances of getting struck by lightening are so small, but it happened... here... 25 yards from me.
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