Friends of Haiti,
You would almost think nothing ever changes in Haiti, and you would be right in thinking that! It is almost unbelievable, but this far down the road from January 12th, very little has changed. One report we read said only 5% of the debris left by the earthquake has been removed. The current president is under fire for moving so slowly in getting things underway. To the untrained eye, it seems the best that could be done would be to completely tear down everything and start all over again — OR move the city center to another area and then rebuild.
Along with the very sobering statistics of the number of children dying from lack of good food and water, comes the reports of children being trafficked into the Dominican Republic. In increasing numbers, Haitian children have shown up there begging for food and money, or being used as prostitutes. There are vast stretches of unguarded border between the two countries, and adults and children are able to cross undetected — or smuggled across, as is the case with these children.
Maria Elena Asaud is a UNICEF child protection expert in Santo Domingo. According to her, children in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic are employed as street vendors, shoe shiners, prostitutes, and drug dealers.
The January 12th earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people and displaced more than two million others. Many of them, if they did not cross the border, fled to the countryside. This exodus put an extra stress on ministries such as ours in trying to feed the number of people; adults as well as children are showing up at the feeding programs.
According to the World Bank, between 2000 and 2005, only 4% of the government budget went to agriculture. You would think it would be higher than that, since the country depends upon importing many of its food items, and since its President has an agriculture degree. With the world slowly forgetting that Haiti is in a crisis, and with only 10% of the pledged money actually getting to Haiti, it has become a stress just trying to stay up.
But in saying that, we do appreciate all of you who continue to give and help with this task. It is a task that is not going away. Thankfully no hurricanes or large storms have hit so far this year. It is hard to saywhat would happen if one were to hit, with so many living in tents (and they aren’t actually real tents as we know them).
The schools that are in session will take a small break next month. Although there hasn’t been a tremor for some time now, many of the kids are still afraid to attend school inside, and they do their classwork either in tents or under trees. Most of our children’s homes were not destroyed or completely destroyed, but they say they and their families still sleep outside if it isn’t raining.
We are really grateful for what you have done and what you are helping us do there. This has gone so far beyond anything we could ever think would happen. Without your assistance, we are not sure what we would have been able to do.
Please continue to pray for the recovery there and for the people and kids — not just the ones we work with, but everyone. And Let’s keep praying the storms keep going north!
Serving HIM together,
Steve and Terry
