Halfway through the four months I spent in Africa a couple years ago, I read a statement that now feels like a line in the sand. It went something like this: No entrepreneur can compete against donated goods. The passage went on to describe the plight of a tailor in an economically depressed town somewhere...

Tonight at church the age old questions of “Why do bad things happen?” came up in regard to Haiti. It’s a tough one to answer.  Our group of very sharp, philosophical, theological college students struggled with it for over an hour, and after I left some were still planning on continuing...

In the past couple of weeks, the staggering images from the demolishing earthquake in Haiti have melted our hearts. And as Americans, we quickly search for ways to help, even from a distance of over 2000 miles. However, in order to fully grasp the challenges that lie ahead, it is important to better...

The horrifying devastation that was unleashed in Haiti following the January 12th earthquake has shocked us all.  Relief groups have mobilized, people are praying and donating money, and many people are also asking questions.  Why has this happened?  What can we do about it right now?  Can we do...

David Brooks’ excellent article about this week’s quake in Haiti is a must-read. Whether you agree with his diagnosis or not, he shines a light on a problem that absolutely must be addressed: there is no formulaic relationship between monetary aid and economic development/autonomy.  Haiti...

Rescue crews hadn’t even begun to unload supplies before Pat Robertson began to upbraid Haitians for their “pact with the devil.” Robertson said Haitians joined forces with Satan’s Army:  “They said, ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.’ True story. And so the...

Here’s why there was an horrific earthquake in Haiti: It sits on an unstable fault line between two tectonic plates, just like the one a few miles away from where I sit in Southern California. The awful, simple truth is that the beautiful island of Hispaniola rests on a piece of the planet that’s...

Haiti saddens me.  It saddens me in part because so many have lost so much.  It also saddens me because I care so little. I don’t say this flippantly.  I say this because it’s the reaction I have right now.  It’s not something I’m proud of; it’s simply what’s going on at this moment in...

The church I grew up at had a sister parish in Saint-Louis-de-Sud, Haiti. The church sent mission trips to Haiti twice a year. We would build schools, run electricity and hold medical clinics. From a young age, I was fascinated by the stories we heard from those returning from trips to Haiti. I repeatedly...

Imagine 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....