More from Emily Sollie in Haiti 

Feb. 28 - Yesterday morning, as we were preparing to head out into the countryside for a day with one of LWR's local partner organizations, we learned of the 8.8 earthquake that had struck Chile in the early morning hours. After witnessing here the devastation that a powerful earthquake can bring, my heart goes out to the people of Chile, and they are in my prayers.

Chile is Latin America's most developed country, with a mature and highly capable civil-defense and social-service infrastructure. Haiti, on the other hand, is the least developed and poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Thus, LWR is keeping Haiti our top priority. I'm glad to know that my LWR colleagues in Latin America have already reached out to friends and colleagues in Chile to offer prayers and solidarity, and to know that we stand ready to send quilts and kits if they are needed.

Here in Haiti, the whole country is still feeling the effects of last month's earthquake, and our day yesterday out in the countryside really brought that point home. Nearly a three-hour drive away from Port-au-Prince, in a remote and hard-to-reach farming village in the mountains, we talked with families who have taken in loved ones and willingly shared what little they had, even resorting to eating the seeds they had set aside for the upcoming planting season.

We met a young man, Anice St. George, who had been a medical student in Port-au-Prince, who said he lost everything in the earthquake. "My books, all my money, even my ID card that certifies that I am a student. Everything." He made his way back home to Ivoire, where his parents are subsistence farmers struggling to live on what they can coax from the earth.

"I cried when I saw him," his father, Odige, told me. "It was like a gift from God." With no way to communicate immediately after the earthquake, they had feared the worst and imagined their son was dead. So when he walked up the mountain to his childhood home on January 13, they felt unimaginable relief.

But as happy as they were to see Anice and to welcome him back into their household, along with a nephew who was also displaced, they now worry about having enough to go around.

"It's very difficult to have enough to eat," Odige said. "We eat what we grow, because we don't have money to buy food. I'm very worried."

It's good to know that LWR's work will help families like the St. Georges -- in addition to our emergency response in the immediate wake of the earthquake, we'll be providing rural communities with seeds and tools, training them in soil and water conservation, and working with them to increase agricultural yields ... helping them cope with the immediate need of extra mouths to feed, as well as making them stronger and more resilient for the long term.

Helping Haitian Children Heal

More from Emily Sollie in Haiti.

Rosedaline Revolis, 8. (Photos by Jonathan Ernst/LWR)

She’s small, but her smile easily lights up a room. Eight-year-old Rosedaline Revolis grins as she plays the tambourine for capoeira, a martial-arts inspired dance native to Brazil that is now helping Haitian children cope with the changes in their lives since the January 12 earthquake.

The capoeira training is part of a comprehensive psychosocial program by Viva Rio, a partner organization of ACT Alliance. Kay Nou, the space formerly used as Viva Rio’s community center in Port-au-Prince’s downtrodden Bel Air neighborhood, is now a tent encampment housing about 1600 people. Children living in Kay Nou are benefiting from daily opportunities to learn creative endeavors like art, music and dancing, helping them deal with the stress of being displaced.

Following the Water

More from Emily Sollie in Haiti.

Trucks from NCA local partner Viva Rio load up with water and deliver it to residents of the Kay Nou tent encampment in the Bel Air neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Photos by Jonathan Ernst/LWR/ACT Alliance)

Last week, we had the chance to spend some time with one of LWR's local partners who is delivering clean drinking water to several of the camps here in Port-au-Prince. With support from LWR through the ACT Alliance, Viva Rio, a Brazilian nonprofit that has worked in Haiti since 2006, is providing 180,000 liters of water per day to thousands of displaced people in camps in and around Port-au-Prince.

Our day started before dawn, when we met the driver of the water truck to follow him out on his first run of the day. He and his assistant make up to 7 trips a day, filling their truck's tank with water, then driving to sites where 10,000 liter water bladders have been installed to supply the encampments.

I spent a while chatting with Sainte Philippe, the driver's assistant, while we waited for the truck to fill. The sound was deafening, as dozens of diesel trucks waited their turn underneath the massive overhead spouts. Over the din, he told me that he too had lost his home in the earthquake, and since then had been living in Viva Rio's office. And that he and the other delivery truck drivers and assistants typically work 12 hour days, sunup to sundown, and haven't had a day off since the earthquake. But he said it with a smile - he wasn't complaining, he was proud.

"People need the water so much," he said. "It feels good to do this work. We have jobs, we get paid, and we are helping people."

The Unstable Earth

More from Emily Sollie in Haiti.

February 22 - I woke up early this morning, at 4:36 a.m. to be exact. That was when the earth moved. It was subtle, but enough of a tremor to rouse us from sleep. The U.S. Geological Survey reports that it was a 4.7 magnitutde aftershock, one of dozens of smaller quakes that have continued to rattle Haiti since the big one on January 12. Another tremble came just a few moments ago as I sat at my desk writing.

No damage or injuries have been reported from this morning's quakes, but they underscore one reason why so many Haitians now prefer to sleep outdoors, even if their homes are undamaged. They are afraid.

Though the likelihood of another large quake like the magnitude 7 one that hit last month happening in the coming days is small, it's not impossible. The USGS, in a statement issued last month, said aftershocks in Haiti would continue "for months, if not years," and that while their frequency will diminish over time, "damaging earthquakes will remain a threat."

People who lived through the traumatic events of January 12 and the days and weeks after, who lost friends and family and homes and livelihoods, continue to live with the stress of the unknown. Where will they live? What will they do? Will there be another big earthquake? USGS scientists say it's likely, and that Haiti's rebuilding effort "should take into account the potential for, indeed the inevitability of, future strong earthquakes."

Though the scientific community is fairly certain another big earthquake will hit Haiti, they cannot predict when - it could be soon, or it could be years away, beyond any of our lifetimes. For now, living in Haiti means living with uncertainty.

More Heavy Rains

More from Emily Sollie in Haiti.

Similkar Matilde, 40, who lost both her home and her husband in the earthquake, is now struggling to care for her six children in a makeshift tent in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, February 18, 2010. This week Haitians have experienced their first substantial rains since their January earthquake.  (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/ACT Alliance/LWR)

Feb 18 – Last night and into this morning, Port-au-Prince experienced its heaviest rainfall since the earthquake on January 12. While the rainy season isn’t supposed to start until later next month, it feels like it is getting an early start. In order to respond, ACT Alliance members are prioritizing the delivery of shelter items in hopes of reaching as many people as possible before the rains come.

Similkar Matilde, 40, who lost both her home and her husband in the earthquake, is now struggling to care for her six children. She does not know what she will do when the rainy season comes.

“I don’t have any plans, so I hope maybe I will receive a tent,” she said. “I’m very worried about the rainy season.”

Click here to read the full story.

When the Rains Come

More from Emily Sollie and LWR's assessment team in Haiti.

A woman sweeps the walk outside her residence in a tent community set up by Diakonie in downtown Jacmel, Haiti. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Lutheran World Relief)

Feb. 17 - It's early morning in Port-au-Prince, and things are coming to life here at the Lutheran World Federation office, where we are camped out on the terrace along with colleagues from other ACT member agencies. As we settled into our tents last night, a quick downpour soaked the city, and a soft rain was falling when I woke up this morning. We stayed dry in our tent, but I couldn't help but think of the many thousands of people with no shelter. Where could they go? What would they do?

It was just a foreshadowing of things to come. Quick downpours aside, the true rainy season doesn't start until the end of March. It will be critical to have people in tents or other temporary shelters by then to help maintain health, sanitation and dignity to the displaced.

And in addition to the people living in displacement camps, the rains will also pose a threat to the infrastructure. On the road between Port-au-Prince and Jacmel, there are large piles of dirt that have been pushed aside by bulldozers. After the first heavy rain, these areas will become a mess and possibly make the road impassable again.

It's a problem everyone knows is coming, and it's a race against time to be ready for the rains. To help beat the clock, we are quickly working to provide temporary shelter to those in need.

Moving On

More from Emily Sollie and LWR's assessment team in Haiti.

                  

A sign in English, French and Spanish asks for help for residents at a tent encampment in Gressier, Haiti. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Lutheran World Relief)

Feb 15 - Our time in Jacmel comes to an end today. We'll be on the road to Port-au-Prince shortly, where the two communicators in our assessment team will be working with the Lutheran World Federation and other partners in the Action by Churches Together (ACT) network. Bernard, our program colleague, will be meeting with some of LWR's local partners in Haiti to start the task of mapping out our long-term response here.

We already know that we'll be responding to the needs created by this earthquake for years to come. We know that much of our work will be based in the north, where LWR has worked for nearly 15 years and where families and communities are now struggling to provide for the many thousands of people who have flooded into their homes and their villages from Port-au-Prince and other devastated areas. We know that we will focus on our proven areas of expertise, where we can have the biggest impact: working with small farmers to increase agricultural production; supporting seed banks; ensuring access to clean water by working with communities to install water systems and hygeine facilities. And we'll be doing all of that and more through local groups and community organizations, building their skills to meet their own needs, as well as those of their displaced friends and family members.

A man uses scraps of wire to attach sticks as he builds a shelter at a tent encampment in Gressier, Haiti. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Lutheran World Relief)

I don't know what awaits us in this next phase of our travels here, but I can say that during the last several days in Jacmel, I have been moved by the resilience and positive attitudes of people I have met. The members of the Lutheran church here, many of whom lost their own homes, are working to package bags of emergency food rations to give to those who don't have enough to eat. Visitors to the Mercy Medical Team's clinic, waiting patiently for their turn with the nurses and doctors, sitting on hard chairs in the hot sun without complaint. Children in the tent village flying homemade kites with huge smiles on their faces. A Sunday morning worship service with maybe 300 people, voices raised in jubilant praise. The people here have experienced trauma and tragedy, but they are looking forward, not back.

A Day of Mourning

More from Emily Sollie and LWR's assessment team in Haiti.

A woman cradles her baby at their home in the largest tent encampment for earthquake-affected people in Jacmel, Haiti. The camp houses about 4,000 Haitians on the site of a soccer field, a situation which will become unviable as the rainy season begins at the end of March. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Lutheran World Relief)

Feb. 13 - Yesterday, on the one-month anniversary of the devastating earthquake here, Haitians observed a national day of mourning. Churches all over the country held special worship services to mark the day and remember those who lost their lives - some 212,000, according to the latest figures from the Government of Haiti.

At 4:53 p.m., the exact moment the eatth moved on January 12, many in the country paused for a moment of prayer or silent reflection.

Most businesses closed for the day, which threw a wrench into our team's plans for a day trip to Leogane, a town about an hour's drive from Jacmel. There was nowhere to buy gas.

At the Lutheran church here, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti president Rev. Marky Kessa held an evening remembrance service that stretched late into the night.

Though there were plenty of opportunities for Haitians to participate in official observances to mark the somber day, the reminders of what happened on January 12 are everywhere. At the exact moment of the anniversary, we were in the largest tent village here in Jacmel, where they had held a remembrance service earlier in the day. A more pressing concern for the head of the camp's residents committee was finding medical care for the 100+ pregnant women living in the camp. When we identified ourselves as Lutheran World Relief staff, her eyes lit up with recognition — she had heard about the medical clinic at the Lutheran church and hoped we could help her with her dilemma.

We made a call to find out if the Mercy Medical Team knew who she should contact about prenatal care, and soon two of the MMT volunteers showed up on site to give an impromptu lesson in delivering babies. About half a dozen women watched and listened. Although medical care is available at the camp during the day, the midwives are the only ones available to help if a woman goes into labor at night. And with 26 women in their 9th month of pregnancy, it's not unlikely that some of them will give birth in the wee hours during the coming days.
 
It was a day of remembrance that ended as a day of preparation to welcome new life into the world. 

Creating a Home

More from Emily Sollie and LWR's assessment team in Haiti.

Two residents walk through a tent community set up by Diakonie in downtown Jacmel. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst for LWR)

Feb. 11 - Today we visited with one of LWR's sister organizations in the ACT alliance, Diakonie. ACT is a global alliance of Christian aid agencies; Diakonie is an ACT member from Germany. The response to this earthquake is most certainly a global effort.

Diakonie is focusing on providing shelter, and the sea of their crisp white and blue tents looked like a kind of oasis in the midst of the destruction here in Jacmel. On the grounds of an elementary school, 113 tents are providing shelter for 226 families - two per tent. Another school site not far away houses a second, smaller encampment of 36 tents.

A boy flies a kite over the residences at a tent community set up by Diakonie in downtown Jacmel, Haiti. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst for LWR)

"The schools were a good location for us because they already had working latrines," said Teodoro Anicceto,  Diakonie's emergency coordinator in Jacmel. Diakonie is making sure the latrines stay sanitary.

For now, these tents are home for these 300 families, and all throughout the camp we saw little personal touches that show people are making the best of the situation and doing what they can to create a homey atmosphere. Some people have arranged small pebbles in a half-moon shape outside their tent's zipper, creating a little patio. Others have put plants in the ground in front of their tents. Mosten Louis, who's house was "flattened" in the quake, was able to salvage a welcome mat, which now sits outside his tent.

Little touches like this indicate the hope and resilience of people here, showing that even though they may be homeless, for now, they are not without dignity. They may not know what comes next, but for now they are creating a home where they can.

Haiti: Observations on the Ground

Emily Sollie, LWR's director for communications, arrived in Haiti Tuesday as part of a 3-person LWR team, and offers these initial observations.

Our LWR team arrived in Haiti this week, to observe and assess the situation one month after the devastating earthquake and lay the groundwork for a long term response.

Currently we are in Jacmel, on the southern coast, along with a Mercy Medical Team from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. What a great example of the reach and scope of the Lutheran response to this disaster. While the dedicated doctors and nurses are tending to people here in the south, LWR's partners are already doing assessments in the north, where hundreds of thousands who have fled the devastation in Port-au-Prince are now settling and will continue to need assistance. A colleague from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was here in January, working with the Lutheran World Federation and other partners in the Action by Churches Together (ACT) Alliance. The Lutherans are covering a lot of ground in Haiti.

Here in Jacmel, approximately half the buildings were damaged or destroyed, according to the Rev. Marky Kessa, president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti. People are sleeping in tents even if their homes are still standing, he said, out of fear another earthquake could strike.

Yesterday afternoon, Rev. Kessa took us downtown in Jacmel. Homes, hotels, restaurants, offices, churches - many are now reduced to piles of rubble. A school downtown collapsed in the quake, killing 120 children. Many of the buildings that remain standing now have gaping cracks and remain unsafe. 

It will be a long road to recovery here. With the miracles of modern technology, as we were driving through the ruined streets, my cell phone began to buzz. It was a message from a colleague back in Baltimore about Thrivent Financial for Lutherans' member match. Through a 50% match for members' contributions to Lutheran World Relief and the three Lutheran church body relief organizations, $3 million dollars has been raised for Haiti from Thrivent and its members. Those donations are already providing food, shelter and water to meet immediate needs, and are equipping LWR to prepare for the road ahead. What a heartening message to receive as I stood before a crumbled home, talking to its owner about how he and his family are coping. Lutheran generosity is already making a difference here in Haiti, and will be for a long time to come.

Photos by Jonathan Ernst for LWR.

Home Goods - Burkina Faso Style

Lisa Bonds blogging from Burkina Faso:

   A home goods store - the Burkina Faso version of Home Depot.

How would you buy tools for your lawn and garden if you couldn’t go to Target, Fleet Farm or the local hardware store? Where would you get what you needed to make home repairs or to build something if you couldn’t just drive over to Home Depot, Lowes or Menards?

If you live in Bagre, a village in Burkina Faso, there is no Fleet Farm or Home Depot near by. And there are also no locally-owned, mom and pop shops selling farming equipment or tools. As a matter of fact, there are no “stores” in the American sense. There are a few stalls that sell gasoline, rice, soap and other necessities, but that’s it (see photos).

Bagre looks like most places LWR works around the world—a “main street” (which is usually a larger pathway) lined with a few stalls selling very basic necessities and women selling produce from tarps and mats placed on the ground or in basins that they carry on their heads.

As I visited with the rice growers’ union in Bagre and asked them about the challenges they face, I heard many things. But one answer came up over and over again. The problem is two fold: first, the farmers find it difficult to earn enough income to buy the tools, fertilizer and other implements they need to grow the rice.  Second, even if they have the money for essential tools and equipment, they have no easy way to get to a village large enough to buy what they need.                                                                              
LWR is working with the union to increase the quality and yield of their rice, so they should soon have more income. But even if you do have money, the nearest village that sells what you need might be 50 to 75 kilometers away. When you don’t have a car, a motor scooter, a donkey, or even a bicycle, getting to a town that far away to purchase the goods you need to make a living is almost impossible. You may not have the money you need to ride a small bus into town. Even if you can pay for the bus ride, you have to hope that the return bus has room for you to place what you’ve purchased on its roof for the journey back to your village.

I left the village of Bagre realizing, yet again, just how much we take for granted in the United States. I know that our love of and demand for convenience, easy access to a multitude of products, and the low prices we pay for goods all come at an incredible cost to many around the world. And I know that too often we take for granted how “easy” it is for most of us to find and buy what we need in order to do our work or take care of our homes.

So, the next time you head out for a new rake, a bucket, a briefcase, a broom or a screw driver, think about the people of Bagre, and remember those whose lives aren’t as easy as yours.

A tool store - the Burkina   

Faso version of Fleet Farm.

Breaking Barriers with He Qi

                            A He Qi piece at Concordia Seminary.

The gift of ethnic identity can easily become the scandal of racism when any one group of people imprisons a belief only within their own language, or confines the confession of faith only to their own thought structures, or restricts the truth only within their own cultural context. It’s a sort of idolatry really. This was a point I tried to make last week at a Multiethnic Symposium on the campus of Concordia Seminary. I’m not confident I communicated so well what I was thinking, not nearly as well as the painter He Qi communicates it. http://www.heqigallery.com/

My friend, Travis Scholl, the editor of Concordia Journal, while he’ll never take credit, instigated this fabulous show. Travis took me by to see He Qi’s work, currently being exhibited on the campus, in a particularly classy space in the Concordia Historical Institute building.

This prominent Chinese Christian integrates vividly, with animating passion, references not only from multiple classes of Chinese society, but also inviting in symbols and styles from many eras and global sources. He then deploys them all as resources for his energetic, multiethnic artistry. He Qi retells the old story with refreshing boldness. Looking at his work makes me desire to believe the biblical narrative more strongly. Thus, I hope He Qi’s way of speaking with a paintbrush can be heard by more people. It’s a voice that will help break the race barriers that continue to menace the church and compromise our mission.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that He Qi serves also as an artistic exemplar of Lutheran World Relief’s way of accompanying communities around the world in our relief and development strategies. We are committed to being inter-national and inter-Lutheran as well as ecumenical and integratively ecological in the best senses. We innovate by engaging with critical and self-critical inquiry. We walk with global communities inter-generationally in a multi-year manner. Haiti, for example, receives huge amounts of foreign aid, but little is dedicated to sustainable development. LWR pays attention to excellent practices that are cross-disciplinary and multi-lateral that transform communities over the long haul. We strive always to honor the deep cultural dignity of all people.

Multiethnic mission that co-creates strategies for people to work their own way out of poverty depends on false idols being smashed and holy symbols rising anew from that dust—even from devastating earthquakes.

The Difference is clear: No nets = more malaria. Nets = less malaria.

Lisa Bonds from Burkina Faso.

You might have noticed that LWR has started to mention a lot more about malaria. Why? Certainly not because we just found out about malaria and certainly not because it is a new problem. Malaria is a very old problem, and it is a preventable and curable disease that affects many of the people with whom LWR works, especially in Africa.

A few days ago, I visited with a collective of over 60 women who have their own shea butter processing facility. After learning about how they process shea butter – which is, by the way, incredibly labor intensive – we talked about many aspects of their day-to-day lives.

Near the end of our time together, a group of the women wanted a group photo taken. I was happy to oblige. While they were standing together for the photograph, I asked them to answer two simple questions. They raised their hand if the answer was yes. 

Question: How many of you have had malaria in the last 12 months?

Answer: ALL hands raised.

Question: How many of you sleep under a malaria net?

Answer: TWO hands raised.

Sure, you might argue that this “survey” isn’t scientific or otherwise tested, but, the findings were clear to me. Given what we know about the effectiveness of controlling malaria with the proper use of insecticide treated bed nets, I am pretty sure that if all of the women had been educated on the proper use of nets and were sleeping under them each night, the number of hands raised when I asked who had suffered from malaria would have been drastically reduced.

Help us contain malaria, join in the Lutheran Malaria Initiative. Visit lwr.org/lmi for more information.

Betts Celebrated

                  Kirk Betts and me at Kirk's recognition dinner. 

Quite fittingly, the board of directors of Lutheran World Relief took the occasion of their recent board dinner to shower recognition upon Kirk Howard Betts and show their appreciation for him as the outgoing chair of the LWR directors. A parade of speakers recognized Kirk’s indelible accomplishments, thanked him for his consistent and wise time at the helm and bid him farewell from a distinguished board career. We look forward, with eagerness, to how the Lord will lead Kirk into a new way of serving through LWR.

Rick Nelson, the senior pastor of Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis was elected as the new chair, Gloria Edwards continues as the vice-chair, and Jonathan Schultz will be the secretary. Congratulations Kirk, Rick, Gloria and Jon!

Good News for Haiti

A post from LWR’s Annalise Romoser, Acting Director of Public Policy and Advocacy, on advocacy efforts that bring greater hope for Haiti’s future.

 

A camp for homeless families set up on a golf course in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which was ravaged by a January 12 earthquake. Photo by Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance.

This past weekend, seven of the most powerful nations in the world made an unprecedented decision to help Haiti rebuild, not repay over $1 billon in crippling debt owed to the international community.

At a meeting on January 6, in the small arctic town of Iqaluit, leaders of what are known as the G-7 countries (Japan, Italy, Germany, the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and France) announced they would lift all debt owed them by Haiti and work with multilateral institutions to ensure they also cancel Haiti’s debt. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner played a critical role in helping the G-7 make this wise decision.

The announced debt cancellation frees millions of dollars for Haiti to use on reconstruction and long-term development of critical public services and institutions. The G-7’s decision is one of the most promising moves made toward recovery in Haiti since the January 12 earthquake, and Lutheran World Relief‘s supporters helped make this happen!

A petition addressed to Secretary Geithner was circulated prior to the G-7 meeting calling on him to push for a complete cancellation of Haiti’s onerous debt. Over 400,000 people signed this petition including hundreds of LWR supporters who responded to an LWR action alert. The magnitude of public support for debt relief in Haiti played a major role in the G-7 decision. Melinda St. Louis, Deputy Director of Jubilee USA, a faith-based coalition working for debt relief in Latin America, Asia and Africa, explains, “We are glad that global leaders responded to the sensible and caring call of the grassroots. Thousands upon thousands of people agree that at this critical time all available resources should be used for reconstruction in Haiti and not to repay international financial institutions.”

The G-7 decision means that bi-lateral debt between Haiti and the G-7 nations will be lifted. More significantly, it means G-7 leaders with crucial influence over international financial institutions will work to cancel debt owed to these institutions. This is yet to be achieved, but we are confident the G-7 leaders will make this happen.

In addition to LWR constituent pressure on the U.S. Treasury Secretary, other effective advocacy efforts are taking place to free Haiti from Debt. In January, LWR and 80 other organizations sent a letter to Geithner asking that the U.S. government support the cancellation of Haiti’s debt and work to ensure that any disaster relief assistance be provided as grants, not loans to be re-paid. And members of Congress responded to their constituents’ call by pushing for debt relief. On February 4, for example, 94 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives led by Democrat Maxine Waters and Republican Ileana Ros Lehtinen sent a strong letter to Geithner calling for “the complete cancellation of debts owed by Haiti to multilateral financial institutions…and the provision of assistance to Haiti in the form of grants so that the country does not accumulate additional debt.” Senate initiatives to ensure Haiti’s debt cancellation were also gaining momentum and creating pressure on Geithner when the G-7 announcement was made.

Powerful global leaders made a compassionate and wise decision this weekend. It is clear they did so because they heard the voice of caring Americans, responded to the pressure of committed politicians and heeded the advice of experienced relief and advocacy organizations. Amidst the unimaginable destruction and sorrow experienced by Haitians, it is difficult to know how best to help from afar. But LWR supporters have not been paralyzed by a sense of inadequacy. On the contrary, you have offered critical financial support and volunteer efforts making quilts and kits to bring comfort to the people of Haiti and to help them recover. And through your advocacy actions this past week, you have helped the country break free from crushing debt. Your advocacy means that Haiti will be better poised to care for its people — to build new schools, educate medical doctors, plant more crops, strengthen local economies and develop with an independence and dignity that burdensome debt simply would never allow for. YOU are helping Haiti rebuild and not repay.

More on Haiti’s debt history and cancellation:

Haiti is the most impoverished nation in the Western Hemisphere, with 80% of its citizens living in abject poverty. When the January 12 earthquake hit, Haiti was saddled with a $1.051 billion dollar debt. On average, the Haitian government was spending $58 million a year in debt payment, diverting precious funds away from fighting poverty. Over half of the country’s debt was owed to multi-lateral banks such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. The rest consisted of bi-lateral debt owed to other countries such as Venezuela and Taiwan. Prior to January 12, it was projected that over the next decade, Haiti would pay $100 million to the IMF and World Bank alone.

Most disturbing about Haiti’s crippling debt is that 45% of it was incurred under the Duvalier dictatorships — a time when the Haitian people had almost no say in government decisions or control over how national resources were spent. Decades after the dictatorships, it is the Haitian people still paying for the damaging decisions of an undemocratic regime. In addition, Haiti’s original debt has largely been repaid. The $58 million Haiti now pays each year, represents debt service payments —essentially high interest rates that make complete debt repayment illusive.

Soon after the earthquake, Venezuela promised to forgive a considerable portion of Haiti’s debt, and in the last weeks of January advocacy efforts with Congress, the Administration and U.S. Treasury lead to a government announcement that the U.S. would work to cancel Haiti’s bi-lateral and multi-lateral debt.

Debt forgiveness means that Haiti’s own resources and contributions by foreign governments can now be used to re-build, develop and sustain a stronger, more independent Haiti. In the midst of destruction and despair, the decision of G-7 leaders to cancel Haiti’s over $1 billion debt, represents new hope for Haiti’s future.

More from Rev. Harrison

LWR's board member Matthew Harrison, Executive Director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care, returns to Haiti

Today (February 1) we made our way slowly through the refugee camp at Jacmel, south of Port-au-Prince. An area some 175 yards square, encompassed by a high concrete wall, surrounds perhaps a thousand makeshift tent shelters. At one end of the camp, smiling ten-year-old boys fly kites made from garbage (soaring to amazing heights), indicative of the resilience of the human spirit in dire crisis. All around the camp in the heart of the city, home after home is collapsed. The rubble has been pushed and swept aside so that cars can pass. Tents (Coleman is a very popular brand) pop up everywhere and fill the streets to impassibility in the evening. Most feel unsafe sleeping inside buildings, even three weeks out. A great many of the buildings left standing are not safe.

Pastor Markie Kessa’s eyes betray fatigue. “All this happened in 28 seconds…” He shakes his head as tears well. The LCMS Mercy Medical Team commenced a clinic this morning and treated some 150 patients by afternoon. We had been alerted to critical need at a local hospital and diverted our orthopedic surgeon, one emergency doctor, and a nurse to assist. There were 300 there today, including an infant with head injuries who had survived three days buried in the rubble. While her mother clutched her, not 25 yards away another large family was on death watch for their beloved mother. Children and the elderly, and all in between, occupied makeshift beds outside under tarps. There was deep appreciation for our prayers and pastoral care.

What strikes me most about today is that the Haitians here south of Port-au-Prince are overwhelmingly alone. The Canadians occupy the small airstrip and were certainly cordial and supportive of our presence. The soldiers we spoke to in the refugee camp looked exhausted. I asked, “What’s the most significant need you are dealing with?” One quipped, “The need for a shower.” They’d been on the ground nearly from the beginning of this three-week marathon. Everything about them longed for home--or at least longed for anything but this muddy, noisy, foul-smelling, makeshift camp.

We drove through the traumatized streets of Jacmel. We saw no police, no military, and no heavy equipment to remove rubble--no government presence whatsoever. A few NGO vehicles passed by now and again. As far as Jacmel is concerned, what struck me was that the Haitians are handling this virtually alone. Passing by block after demolished block, I was struck by the massive nature of this problem. If this had occurred in the U.S., the entire area would be cordoned off, surrounded by military. Building by building would be demolished. But I saw nothing of that. Individuals digging in mountains of concrete stared blankly as we passed, gloved hand hanging in fatigue by their numbed sides. Still the streets in places are bustling with activity--makeshift shelters, street carts, shops, and the omnipresent Coleman pup tents.

It’s rather obvious to me that there will be no grand solution to Haiti’s ills. There will be pockets and places that receive attention and a lot of it. There will be fantastic aid given and capacity increased. There will be confusion and chaos. There will be hundreds of thousands, yes millions, who go about their lives “falling between the cracks,” as it were, with homes neither totally leveled nor safe for continued dwelling. They’ll patch the cracks as best they can and turn to the future. In other words, Haiti will be Haiti.

I am struck again by the kindness of the Haitians--their ready greetings, their deep appreciation for a word of love, a touch, and a prayer, a blessing in Christ’s name. This graciousness has been universal thus far. I’ve seen thousands upon thousands of traumatized people. I’ve spoken to hundreds and not been put off, not sneered at, not jeered once--not a single time.

Everyone has a story. Every story is filled with significance and meaning and pain and death and lives spared. The most significant factor here in Haiti is a people who--in the midst the greatest chaos, corruption, and government dereliction in the hemisphere--manage to rise each day to a new task, a new opportunity, a new hope. And the majority of those I’ve met are Christians, know they are baptized, and say things like, “Pastor, I don’t know… I just trust in God.” Or, “I know Jesus.”

Honestly, I feel exhausted and empty tonight. We will be able, are able to help such a relatively small number of those affected. For some reason, Jesus’ parable of the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to seek the one, turns in my mind and has been doing so all day today. Our vocation is not to save the ninety-nine, but to seek the one. One at a time. One here and one there. One child cared for. One person nursed to health. One life saved. One hurting soul comforted with the name of Jesus. One man loved. Our vocation is not to change Haiti, or to change the whole world, or to change the economic realities with which Haitians wrestle. Our vocation is to act and make a life-changing difference one at a time. And acting one at a time, we find that over some hours, over a few days, and over a couple of weeks, the flock of those helped in the name of Jesus has grown to be surprisingly large.

Pastor Matthew Harrison
Executive Director, LCMS World Relief and Human Care
Board Member, Lutheran World Relief

Luterana

Community gathering place built with LWR funds

Pastor Meredith Keseley traveled with a Lutheran World Relief study tour to Nicaragua on a Marian Stegemoeller Memorial Scholarship in 2005. She recently led a group from her congregation (St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Washington, DC) on a mission trip to Nicaragua. She is preparing to take a new call at Lutheran Church of the Abiding Presence in Burke Virginia.

Pastor Meredith shares her reflection on the impact of Lutheran World Relief in Nicaragua:

Luterana
 
What a difference five years makes! Five years ago, I first visited the cooperative project in La Reyna. The community had just started the eco-tourism project when I visited with a group from Lutheran World Relief on a fair trade coffee growing tour. This week I visited the community again, this time with the St. Paul’s Mission Team.

There have been many changes to this rural coffee growing community. When I stayed with them five years ago there was no indoor plumbing whatsoever. There were latrines and bucket showers. Now, all the homes that hosted members of our team had a working toilet and some had a shower. A new pavilion had been built as a gathering place for when groups like ours come to visit. Many of these improvements had been the result of a partnership with Lutheran World Relief.

To my knowledge there is not a single Lutheran in the cooperative at La Reyna. There are two churches associated with the community, one Catholic and one Evangelical. Yet, when you mention the word “Luterana” (that’s “Lutheran” in Spanish) everyone knows what you mean. Luterana is how they refer to Lutheran World Relief, one of the international outreach organizations supported by Lutherans in the United States.

To this community “Luterana” means toilets (indoor ones) and better wet mills for coffee that reduce pollution from the “honey water” that released during the process. “Luterana” means funds to build a community gathering place and a new shrine to the community’s patron saint after the old shrine was knocked down by a tree. “Luterana” means training in English and tourism for their young people and funds to help build homes in the cooperative. “Luterana” in the cooperative doesn’t necessarily mean a group of people who gather by themselves on a Sunday morning in a church, it means a group of people who stand ready and willing to support when the community identifies a need.

This isn’t a bad definition of “Luterana”. In fact, it is a definition of our faith community that I wish more people had. For those who are interested, you can learn more about what Lutheran World Relief is doing not only in Nicaragua, but also around the world at www.lwr.org