Friends of Haiti,
Happy New Year everyone!
A brief medical update: Terry’s transplant had to be delayed because of the amount of pain she is having in her legs and feet. They felt it in her best interest to find the cause before proceeding. By the 31st of December she will have had a nerve conduction test on her legs, the 5th of January see an orthopedic doctor, the 8th a neurologist and then back to the cancer doctor the 13th and we are hoping by then we get the go ahead on the transplant.
During our first trip to Haiti, some 20 years ago, the country was in turmoil over the president being deposed by the Army. President Bill Clinton had just send 20,000 troops there to help restore order. Fast forward 20 years and the country is again in turmoil, but this time with the people wanting the president to resign. The protesting to date has been fairly peaceful. Promises of prosperity have not happened and the people of the country say they can’t wait for the next election in 2016.
Except for what ministries such as ours have provided over the past 20 years, there is very little difference, then to now. 20 years ago we said, Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, now, in an article written by Jacqueline Charles in the Miami Herald December 11 2014, 6.3 million Haitians out of 10 million are still unable to meet their basic food needs and another 2.5 million are even worse off because they live below the “extreme” poverty line.
There has been progress, it would be hard to deny that, especially in cell phone sales and expansion, but according to a U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization report in December, “almost 60 percent of the population live on $2 a day and the richest 20 percent of the households hold 64 percent of the total income in the country.” Much still remains to do.
However, we can only do what God allows and we feel with us all working together for the past 20 years, we have touched and provided for many. And just as the situation remains the same, 20 years later, so does our passion to help.
Thank you for all you do for our friends in Haiti.
Serving HIM together,
Steve and Terry
