Haiti-Aid

The number of Americans living in Haiti range anywhere from 45,000 to 50,000; many of them are individuals who have commit ed their lives to working side by side with the Haitians to receive education, health care and empowerment.  While living in country, I had the privilege of meeting a handful of these people and with each encounter I was humbled by how much these peoples had truly embraced their calling to help the Haitians.  One such person is Nancy from Wisconsin.  About 6 years ago she sold all her possessions and made a permanent move to Haiti.  I received an update from her just after the quake, informing everyone that she was OK. Since then Nancy has shared periodic updates; the following is an excerpt from her latest.

I wanted to share this particular one for two reasons.  First, it is a moving account of the devastation outside of Port au Prince.  Second, and perhaps more importantly, there is some great commentary at the end that speaks to the very heart of why Haiti-Aid.org was created.

I know Nancy personally and she is 100% committed to helping Haiti - long before the earthquake and long after.  If you are looking for a personal way to donate to Haiti to aid in the disaster relief, know that donations made to her, through Touch Ministries, will get directly to the Haitians.

Dear friends,

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. The outpouring of love and support is so encouraging—email, telephone, Facebook, etc.  

Yesterday was like a blur. I found a chauffeur who was taking a group of sisters to Port au Prince and offered to take me along (so I could get back to our ministry in St Marc.) On the way down the mountain, there were countless homes toppled, but, in remote areas, most are still constructed from sticks, palm branches and some have metal roofs so the destruction wasn’t evident to the eye...Words cannot describe the destruction once we arrived in Leogane. I just kept repeating, “Oh my God!’ All things in perspective, the what-was-normal rivers of trash and smells of urine heating in the sun would now be pleasing to my senses. My heart went out to the Haitians in the truck with me. If this broke my heart, I could only imagine how they were feeling. There simply are no adjectives large enough to describe the damage. I can only compare it to the feelings I had as we watched the Twin Towers crumble to the ground, multiplied by a thousand. These feelings multiplied as we entered Port au Prince and passed the remains of the National Palace, the Cathedral, etc., pancaked to the ground. In only one week, tent cities had grown out of nowhere and thousands upon thousands now inhabited them. I pondered things such as where they were relieving themselves, bathing, throwing their waste, etc., along with a myriad of other questions such as: how do millions of people who already lived hand-to-mouth begin again? How do they pull themselves up by the bootstraps when there isn’t even a boot to be had? How will the millions and millions of dollars in donations be distributed so everyone gets a piece of the pie? And just when it seemed it couldn’t get worse, it did. We passed the area where they are dumping bodies in mass graves. Fortunately, the sun had set moments earlier so I didn’t have to witness such a heartrending site. And, as we traveled, my housemates shared endless stories of the week behind them.

Now back in St. Marc, we are pondering how we can best use the donations that are beginning to come into the ministry. Nearly every Haitian we know has lost a family members/homes/etc. How do we determine the most needy when everyone is in utter despair?

If you have a minute please donate to the Haitians. They need it more than people in the developed world ever will. I advise you to be careful, though, to whom you donate. Millions of dollars were donated to the hurricane relief fund in Gonaives just a few years ago and rarely, if ever, did the money find its way to the little man on the street.  I am not trying you to manipulate you into sending money our way. Simply, I am recommending that you be prudent in your choices. If you choose to donate to Touch Ministries, we will send you a report of how the money was used.