Some Thoughts On How You and I can Help Haiti in the Long Run

I can't tell you how excited I am to get down to Haiti on March 12.  I have consumed much of my time lately figuring out how we can bring as many supplies as we can possibly stuff into our 10 bags!  It will be a feat for sure.  We are making this trip to meet some very immediate and dire needs there in Port-au-Prince and some of the villages - and I know that our friends there will be very grateful.

I want to take a moment however, to share some thoughts I have on how, I believe, we can meet more than just their  immediate needs - but how we can truly make a long-term impact there once all of the major organizations  have packed up and gone home.  

Anyone who has been to Haiti will tell you - the need is OVERWHELMING.   A small missions team and I were there just this last summer - it was overwhelming before the earthquake, and even more so now. I could go on for hours about how dire the circumstances are - and how Haiti is in desperate need for things that we as Americans take for granted:

• Available medical assistance
• Closing up the open sewer drains
• Establishing a reliable electrical grid
• Establishing the rule of law
• Cleaning up and rebuilding all of the collapsed buildings
• Taking care of all of the new & existing orphans
• Re-starting the agricultural process
• Ridding the culture of throwing trash on the ground, virtually everywhere

Can you even imagine living in a place that didn't have these things?  These items are a luxury to most Haitians right now - they are more desperate for the very basic needs that a human needs to survive:  food and water!  Clean water was scarce before the earthquake hit.  This past summer, we met villagers who walk for hours to get a jug of water.  If it was this way before the earthquake, imagine how it is now!  If they don't have food and water - everything we do for them is for nothing!

The other need that is foundational to society is EDUCATION. Nelson Mandela once said, " Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." And I believe that education is the weapon that will change Haiti. The school system in Haiti has always been broken. There is no effective central government running the schools. Each child has to pay to go to school which is part of the reason why only 2% of the population finishes High School.

So what do we do about this?

At CVC, we have partnered with a Pastor in Haiti that oversees 44 churches all over the country. His name is Pastor Luc St. Felix. He has been working for 30 years to establish those three foundational elements at each of his churches. He hopes to have a well at each of his village churches that can provide an entire village with fresh, clean drinking water. He is currently has 12, and has feeding programs at 7.  At the feeding center churches,  they feed all of the children in the village a healthy portion of rice and beans and chicken twice a week. (Sadly, these 2 meals are the only full meals some children will receive throughout the week).  And finally, most of his churches have some sort of schooling for the children in the village or neighborhood.

Do we have people on the ground? YES! And they've been there for over 50 years! They are called Haitians! So every penny that we raise goes to people who know what they're doing. To rebuild Haiti we must provide the foundational blocks so that they can rebuild their country in a way to prosper it, not just survive.

Will you stand with us?