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After a 36-hour journey from Haiti that included six hours waiting outside the Port-au-Prince airport in the scorching sun, a flight aboard a military transport plane to the U.S., bus ride into Orlando, plane to Atlanta and then car drive to Maryville, 24-year-old Andrea Brewer is safe at home.

The missionary, who with her husband, Mike Brewer, moved to Haiti last summer to care for 22 orphans there and spread the gospel, arrived back here in Blount County one week ago, with nightmares of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti still haunting her.

She was at her home in Croix de Bouquets in Haiti, caring for a 2-year-old abandoned girl named Marilyn when the earth opened up. This is a suburb of Port-Au-Prince.

“The initial jolt was so strong that it threw me to my knees,” Brewer said as she sat in the living room of her sister's house in Maryville this week. “I was sitting in a chair and I had the baby. My knees were bruised.”

Brewer said her husband then screamed for everybody to get out; the house was full with the 22 orphans the couple take care of. Everyone escaped as walls shook, floors cracked and a staircase swayed. Only one of the children was injured by a falling wall.

Starting over

The bottom base of that home is cracked and getting worse, Brewer said. They won't be returning there and instead have found a house to rent nearby for a few months until they can rebuild. A piece of property has been purchased for $10,000 that is closer to the border with the Dominican Republic, and Brewer is here for about three weeks to organize crews to join them in Haiti and make this new start.

The first building phase will include dorms for the children and living quarters for the Brewers. They would love to be able to care for up to 300 children eventually and provide a mission house for guests. An Internet cafe is also on the wish list so the Brewers can offer computer classes.

The Brewers' home church, Restoration International Outreach (RIO) Revolution, will be sending a 12-member team Monday. Mike remains in Haiti to get things moving forward.

While here, Andrea will be speaking to the students at William Blount's Ninth Grade Academy, at Monte Vista Baptist Church and also at RIO Revolution. She said even after all these weeks, the whole ordeal still feels like a bad dream.

“It feels like a bad dream that I am living over and over again,” she said. “I have smelled bodies and seen them buried by the hundreds and lying in the street. People are walking the streets with everything they own in two small plastic bags.”

Slow to respond

Now that she's back here, this tough-as-nails warrior said she has been disappointed at how slow supplies have been getting to the victims of the earthquake. She said some of it gets delayed at the airport while other needed items like baby food end up on the black market. It is frustrating to find out how much money has been raised in this country and there is not much to show for it in Haiti, she said.

“The money is not there, the supplies are not there,” Brewer said. “We have gone around asking for help and were turned away. The Dominican Republic has been helping the most.”

So, too, have places like Turkey and Israel, Brewer said. World Vision and Love a Child Ministries have provided necessities as well. Lots of people are asking, ‘Where's the U.S.?' Brewer said.

Sharing the love

“I love the Haitians and the culture,” Brewer said. “I love the people, and they need help, especially now. This is a chance for us to reach out to them and show them love. ... The Great Commission tells us to go all over the world — not just the easy places or places where they want to hear us.”

Mike has been calling to give Andrea updates on Marilyn, the child who was left at the doorstep of the Brewers' orphanage the day of the quake. She was being starved to death by her mother, Andrea said. At 2 years old, she weighs only 14 pounds.

The Brewers are trying to get a medical visa to bring her here. Andrea said Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville has agreed to treat her at no cost and a family there wants to take her in. All the Brewers have to do is maneuver through all that chaos in Haiti to get the approval. They remain optimistic, but time is running out for a girl who isn't getting any better.

“That is our big thing right now,” Andrea said. “Trying to get her out of Haiti.”