deadly storm brushes Hopewell
By TODD JENKINS
Tuesday, April 26, 6 p.m. Clean Water U staff, along with two international students who have arrived early, gather for an evening meal in anticipation of the next day's arrival of students for CWU No. 30. Mixed with the camaraderie are
calls, e-mails, and texts from family and friends, making sure we know of developing weather patterns.
Uncharacteristically, the TV is on, as
our gaze is never far from the mesmerizing undulation of radar's green, yellow, and red bands. But storm cells pass.
Wednesday 8 a.m. Customary staff breakfast, usually dominated by final preparation, is instead filled with phone calls, radar checks, severe weather alerts, driving rain and a sky darker than dusk.
1 p.m. 30 minutes before students arrive, tornado warnings and high winds prompt a review of storm shelters and emergency procedures.
1:45 p.m. "Take Cover" orders send arriving students and staff piling into concrete block poolhouse changing rooms. [Jenkins got soaked personally checking every structure in the camp to look for stragglers.]
Nervous minds seeking calm hearts alternate between trying to explain
this phenomena to uninitiated,
non-English speaking guests and singing songs of faith.
Jenny Thagard lead worship at a darkened CWU.
3 p.m. The opening plenary session
unfolds without a hitch, though eyes
and minds are cut to the flashing and
flooding visible through Cornerstone's windows.
5 p.m. Camp Hopewell, and much of Oxford, Miss., lose electricity. Gas appliances and early preparations allow supper to proceed without interruption.
6:30 p.m. 101, 102, 103 begin their opening sessions in the rapidly approaching darkness, devoid
Haiti Factoids
* 6 systems destroyed by
the earthquake rebuilt
* 8 new solar-powered
systems installed in 2010,
1 in January 2011
* Goal of 11 new systems
in 2011 should be reached
before mid-year
PDA grants $50,000
Clean water ripples
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Mission 'tithe' for Haiti
CWU who: Susan