Haiti (MNN) ― "Help Haiti with Compassion" raised just over a million dollars in it's kickoff, but there's still a long way to go.
Compassion International staff in Haiti work with 65,000 children. Now, they face the monumental task of locating them again. Many of these children have immediate needs like food, water and medical attention.
In the significantly-affected areas, they have to search through the "tent cities" around Port-au-Prince to find the children still unaccounted for. The only way to do this is through a grassroots, tent-to-tent approach. The process is slow, deliberate and difficult, but it is moving ahead steadily.
Meanwhile, emergency relief supplies are making their way to Haiti through Compassion's staging area in Florida and the two supply warehouses in Haiti.
Church partners in the outlying areas are sending people to supply stations to pick up needed supplies as well as report on the condition of the facilities, staff and the sponsored children.
The talk is moving toward rebuilding. Mission Network New's Greg Yoder has been on the ground in Port-au-Prince this week. He observes, "We're starting to see the ramifications of the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. I'm not talking about the physical damage--the buildings, and the lives lost or changed forever--but the infrastructure."
Bob Thorp, Compassion International's Director of Complementary Intervention (CIV) for Haiti, describes the damage. "What's been hit is the whole development of this nation: the educational system, the judicial system, the protection, and that's where the churches have to unite and fight for Haiti."
The CIV programs pick up where sponsorship programs leave off. They help service the community so it can support a core Compassion program. Often, CIV will help provide access to clean water and proper sanitation, disaster relief, and emergency medical care.
A CIV provides funding, expertise, accountability, monitoring and evaluation. Its role is to empower the local church in holistic ministry.
However, Yoder says it's clear that the church in Haiti can't do it alone because the needs are just too great. Thorp agrees. "The only thing I can compare it to is Berlin after World War II. It's a reconstruction of a nation. That's what has to happen."
Because of Compassion's large church network, your support is going a long way to accomplish reconstruction. Compassion can't do it alone, but Yoder says, "If every evangelical church in the U.S. would support a church in Haiti, it would be a huge start."
As Compassion is able to help with food, water and even tents, hearts are open to hearing the Gospel. You can help. Click here to learn more.
