Looking Into The Future To Pray For Haiti

Even while numerous organizations continue to provide relief supplies for the Haitian people, the current focus is to pinpoint long-term recovery plans for this nation and to share Jesus in a real personal way. The devastation from the January 12 earthquake killed more than 200,000 and left innumerable people homeless.  The Haitian people are looking for help and answers.

We are working together with the Haitian people now as well as with plans for long-term development. Our fundraising pertaining to Haiti is in progress to have adequate funds for the projects currently planned. We are thankful for the generosity of those who are praying and have already given to the Haitian people. 

Emergency Recovery with 3 Stages for your prayers

The three targeted stages regarding the enormous relief efforts that are on-going, an intermediate adjusting stage which will last the majority of 2010, along with a long-term recovery stage that could last many years. There may be a reasonable amount of overlap associated with the stages.

Whenever a severe catastrophe as an earthquake strikes, people act in response as fast as you can with immediate lifesaving actions in order to relieve hurting as well as safeguard individuals dignity. But this can be a reasonably brief stage, and while we move in to the recovery stage, all of us need to ensure we are planning together with our Haitian associates about how exactly what all of us are going to do sets the groundwork for longer-term sustainability along with the rebuilding of their livelihoods.

Since the rainy season approaching, the main focus of relief projects will be shifting from food for numerous people to transitional shelter. Quite a few Port-au-Prince inhabitants, their homes either ruined or unsound, are usually existing underneath sheets and curtains that supply no protection against the rainy and windy weather conditions fast approaching.

Some organizations have handed out emergency shelter kits that may include waterproof tarpaulins, eighty nails, one hundred feet of rope, as well as one rubber inner tube to many families. The materials are going to be utilized to construct short-term structures which should provide safety from the rain. The inner tube is actually cut into squares which strengthen tarps at the points in which they are attached to frames by nails.

Programs call for giving away many more of these kits along with a second influx of crisis shelter materials, woolen blankets, bed-sheets as well as insecticide treated mosquito nets in the approaching several weeks.

Shelter Challenges

Recognize that these kinds of shelters are definitely short-term, fine only for about 30 days or so for the most part. Therefore projects are now being drafted with regard to transitional shelters: small-scale, tough buildings which may be used by family members for many months as the capital city is actually being rebuilt.

The difficulties in supplying transitional lodging are many; from developing a structure which is not too expensive yet still sturdy enough in order to endure hurricanes, as well as a supply of lumber, with Haiti having been heavily deforested. The construction materials also have to fit conditions within Haiti. For example, a roof made out of an individual piece of metal that may be okay in a different location could possibly become a lethal projectile in the course of hurricanes, that season happens to be common in Haiti.

However the primary challenge will be locating a location to construct the houses. The Haitian authorities are attempting to determine sites both in Port-au-Prince as well as within the adjacent areas which then have to be cleared and prepared along with proper drainage as well as sanitation measures prior to construction will start. The desires of Haitians, several of which desire to stay close to their own current homes and employment, should certainly be a significant component to any decision.

Income, Safety and Health

Marketplaces are reappearing around Port-au-Prince along with other locations suffering from the earthquake, frequently out on the streets in front of ruined buildings. Together with food arriving in to the city from the countryside, from the Dominican Republic, and from other sources many agencies do not desire to interrupt markets with a great number of extra food distributions. The difficult task would be to see that individuals have funds in order to shop in the markets, therefore the emphasis now ought to be on work-for-cash projects in which pay individuals to clear rubble as well as assist with alternative activities.

Supporting the actual employment of many Haitians to clean out one primary canals in Port-au-Prince, that became cluttered with rubble along with other garbage and trash within the weeks following the quake. The canal ought to be cleared both to assist reestablishing sanitation and also to prevent flooding as soon as the heavy rains come.

Supplying respectable medical care continues to be a continuing difficult task. Teams from the many areas continue to rotate in and out of the hospitals.  One main focus for many people is helping to get the medical centers ready to go in the days following the earthquake although the majority of their structures had been wrecked. Now functioning of St. Francois is taking place primarily beneath tents must be moved to a different site for ruined structures can be cleared as well as plans for reconstruction can be drafted. Organizations are looking for a site well suited for patients and medical equipment to ensure that this essential medical care facility can continue to provide its lifesaving services without being interrupted.

Existence within the improvised camps which now house thousands of Haitians additionally includes health risks. Organizations are employing numerous steps to get information regarding appropriate hygiene to displaced people, including employing a renowned Haitian street artist who paints health as well as hygiene messages on public walls around Port-au-Prince.

An additional on-going issue is the basic safety and protection of children. Even while people set up safe areas for children within the camps, many are working together with the numerous orphanages that were supported prior to the earthquake, evaluating their needs as they go back to delivering care. Programs demand ongoing work to make certain the security of children, which includes reuniting those separated from their own families while the transitional housing residential areas are created.

Your Prayers are Effective

Please pray for our team members who are signing up to go to help with projects in Haiti.  Pray for their support to come in and that they will be healthy and productive.  Our desire is not only to reach the people of Haiti with a helping hand but to bring the love of Jesus to them in a very real way.

by, John Andrews