Haiti: “Most Horrific Thing I’ve Ever Seen”
Essays, Featured — By Penny Carothers on January 13, 2010 at 10:41 amImagine that the dome of the White House had fallen in on itself.
Or a disaster hit of such magnitude that nearly everyone west of the Mississippi was affected.
This is what happened in Haiti last night. The presidential building collapsed in on itself when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the island. Buildings simply caved in and slid off the heavily de-forested hills. One-third of the nine million people who call the island home have been affected. None of the hospitals are operational. We don’t have casualty numbers yet, but everyone fears they will be very grim.
And our President couldn’t have said it better: “For a country and a people who are no strangers to hardship and suffering, this tragedy seems especially cruel and incomprehensible.”
Bob Poff, a long time aid worker for the Salvation Army, broke down in tears saying, “This is the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen.” People are living outside because their houses are decimated, and people are dying in the street. The President of Haiti said that in assessing the damage he walked over bodies who were stuck inside collapsed buildings, and heard the moans and crying of people below him. I just spent twenty minutes looking at coverage, and my heart is very heavy. Please don’t look away, please hear their cries for help, and please pray.
In the next 24 hours the affected Haitians need food and water and tents to protect them from the sun. Please consider donating to the cause. And by all means, pray as if it was your mother or your daughter or your son who was trapped and in fear of their life. It’s what we are called to do, because it matters.
7 Comments
This is horrific. I will be praying and donating. I wish there was more I could do. I can’t even fathom this.
A note from my buddy, Ian, who’s a development specialist:
Some of you have probably already given but you can all help to spread the word. The NGO (Partners in Health) highlighted in the following article has been working in Haiti for a long time. After disasters many NGO’s rush to a country they are not currently established in because it is a way for them to ‘follow the money’ and raise funds from a horrified public. While they can help with the disaster response in the short-term, they have no local contacts, no relationships with the local people, and often times don’t hang around long enough to make sure their work has a long-term impact. Their attention span is only slightly longer than that of the American Media. So I would encourage you to donate to an organization, such as Partners in Health, that will work to address the current needs of the earthquake aftermath, as well as work to address issues in the future.
NY Times Article (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/opinion/14kidder.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1263488615-CosExZGl9bmP7zsfHR8Y3g)
So please feel free to forward this on and encourage people to donate to someone who knows what they are doing.
Also if you haven’t read the book, Mountains Beyond Mountains, you should.
Thanks Penny. I will say that for me I generally feel more connected on a micro level to others (individual units so to speak) in regards to what they are going through (beyond the body of Christ as a whole because I have a deep desire and heart to see us all united in Christ and his love).
Just things I have been connected to in life and my heartfelt prayers and divine insights have been along those lines. So, it is nice to have others that are more aware and in contact to what is happening in other areas to help communicate those other needs and ways of helping. And to also help connect us.
We do need each other.
Will be looking into it and am sending up those prayers.
Love in Him,
Jo
I was just there in November. Wow! I can’t believe it… I have been on contact with our friends in Port-au-Prince and Petionville. We are currently collecting medical supplies and attempting to find a way into the country. Keep praying please…
Thanks for this, Penny. Eugene Cho @ One Days Wages is also running a donation sight. If you can’t afford a whole day’s wage, give what you can, even a dollar helps said former President Bill Clinton. A dollar is half the the average $2 wage in Haiti. We can’t all be boots on the ground, but we can all help put workers in the field.
Thanks for this, Penny. Eugene Cho @ One Days Wages is also running a donation site. If you can’t afford a whole day’s wage, give what you can, even a dollar helps said former President Bill Clinton. A dollar is half the the average $2 wage in Haiti. We can’t all be boots on the ground, but we can all help put workers in the field.