Yesterday marked the second anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti which killed anywhere from 100,00 to 300,000 people and left another million or more homeless. Today there are still an estimated half million homeless and it would be tempting to paint the picture of this country which was destitute before the quake as bleak. There has been a fair amount of criticism of aid and the recovery process from various quarters.
Just the same, there are many examples of recovery, resilience and hope. Thanks to generous contributions from members the United Church has been able to provide three million dollars of relief and is in the process of building two new schools with partner churches in Haiti. One of the schools under construction is pictured above.http://www.united-church.ca/communications/news/general/120105c The Canadian Mennonite Central Committee is in Hait building homes.
Help is being provided by other Christian organizations from around the world. Churches in Louisiana immediately made the connection between Katrina and the Haiti quake and are also involved in partnerships to get more than half a million kids who lost their schools back into classrooms.http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/january-6-2012/red-thread-promise/10071/
I listened to Michaelle Jean, the former Governor General of Canada, speaking about her work in her former homeland of Haiti. While she is unhappy with the way aid has been distributed she used words such as "hope" and "inspiration" in describing the situation and admitted to the interviewer that her perspective has changed considerably since the first anniversary.
The actor Sean Penn took Rolling Stone magazine to task for the negative tone of its reporting last Fall. Penn has been very active in Haiti almost since the beginning of the quake response. Some of his language is what we might call salty but he is direct. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/sean-penn-responds-to-rolling-stone-s-haiti-story-20110930
Have you followed the recovery process at all? Are you glad our church has been as responsive as it has been? What else needs to happen from your point of view?
1 comment:
I'm guessing that I'm like the majority of people who, after the media lost interest in the story, saw Haiti fall from my radar rather quickly. That said, it's heartening to see and hear about so many groups and individuals who are still involved in the heavy lifting.
Yet another day where I thank God I live in Canada.
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