Hati

One of the realities of disaster relief that I’ve noticed after living long enough to see some major disasters (from a distance always so far) is that people (Americans from our personal experience, not to exclude others) can respond with phenomenal generosity to the initial need (9-11, the Tsunami, Katrina, now Hati). It’s funny how disaster can bring out the best in people (image of God). But generosity can come with it’s own problems. And sometimes (since we have short attention spans) the immediate problem gets all the attention, and months later when the needs continue the interest is gone. Now, it’s not likely that the responsible aid organizations (Red Cross, World Vision, MSF, and many others) will run out of money for Hati for a while (hundreds of millions of dollars have been donated) but a few months from now when the need is for hands, not money, who knows? It’s my belief that most massive problems in the world (hunger, poverty, housing) is less an issue of money but rather of organization (logistics, access to resources that are there, corruption…). And all the money in the world won’t cause houses and churches and roads and schools to be rebuilt tomorrow (or in a year) in Hati.

Ok, that’s enough of my spouting off on a subject that I’m hardly qualified to comment on. But, one month after the quake, we’d encourage you to stay in tuned with what’s happening, keep praying and see what needs (financial or otherwise) you can help with.

Here’s a place to look at. EBM’s been in Hati for a long time. A couple from Hati, Pierre and Yvette Cadet, are EBM missionaries there (they were in Florida during the quake). Pierre is in Hati helping a church with the recovery process. For 20 years EBM has had a partnership with a ministry in Hati, Double Harvest, that was well positioned to provide great help. Here’s the link to EBM’s information page about Hati, and you can see photos from the ground here.


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