Saturday

Current updates ......

Hi,
All,I just spoke to Chareyl. She is finally finished at the Embassy for the day. She got there at 8 AM and it's now 10 PM.The good news first - she has been able to submit all our paperwork - the entire group. They have told her that anyone with an approved I-171H should be approved for Humanitarian Parole without issue (which should be pretty much all of us....) Any one not in that category would be reviewed to confirm the files we sent down confirm that the parents have a relationship with the child, etc. The bad news - the Department of State is not issuing visas from Haiti at this time. All of the 9 children that were in that category - even those whose visas had been printed prior to the earthquake - will be given Humanitarian Parole status. Allyson, if you want to call me, I can give you more info on that.She said that the woman was very happy with the information in our packets for each family. The woman is working the weekend and she will contact CHareyl if there are any problems with any files. Chareyl has a return appointment to pick up the Humanitarian Parole for everyone on Monday at noon. HOWEVER, she stressed, she will still have to wait in line at that time and, based on what she saw today, that could be 8-10 hours.Because of this, she's asking the Scientology group that got them down there if they can fly them all home on TUESDAY. I'll get more information on that after she talks to them. We probably won't know until Monday if that's what they are going to be able to do or where it is they'll be flying. I promise you I'll pass the info on as soon as I can.I also just talked to Team Hope. Brent said all the children - Foyer included - look "really good", particularly for what they've been through. He said the Scientologist told UNICEF where our group is at the Fontamara branch of Foyer, and UNICEF brought water containers and blankets for everyone. He said the children are all spread out blankets outside under the stars, giggling when they should be sleeping. Obviously that makes it sound idyllic, but he said, "I cannot believe the resiliency of these children's souls. Please contact me if you have questions and I"ll do my best to answer them.Please keep up the prayers. The woman processing these needs all the inspiration and help she can get. I'll send more on the situation at the Embassy and what they saw today later, but wanted to get this out to you.
Love,
L