Report on Help for Haiti
How our money has been put to work
Last winter, in response to the terrible earthquake that ravaged Haiti, St Paul's and our joint-youth group which we share with Monaco Christian Fellowship succeeded in raising more than € 10,000. This money was turned over to Lemuel Ministries (click here for more information). Pastor Jim Beerley has a life long association with Haiti, and a long involvement with Lemuel Ministries. Members of Jim's family working with Lemuel in Haiti today. Jim wrote recently (1st October 2010) to describe how the money we raised has been put to use to help raise Haiti from the ashes of last winter's earthquake.
As for the spending, the money has been used for, among other
things: (a) "Food for Work" programs, building water storage units for
the community (and buying supplies for people to build their own for
their huts), (b) food for those who are injured and cannot work, (c)
medical supplies for the injured (and there are a LOT of them), (d)
education for kids (paying teachers and supplies), so they can try to
avoid losing a whole year, and (e) housing/living expenses for widows
who lost everything and have nobody to take care of them. There
are building projects (housing) which are just now getting underway.
First, Manis had the vision to buy as much local food (in-country, at least) that he can for his "Food for Work" projects (as well as some of the allotted food for his region). The situation in Haiti is that the aid coming in from outside the country - rice and beans - is being given away, which is fine. But for the Haitians who grow rice and who were not affected by the earthquake, they now find that they can find no market for their rice crops because of all the free supplies. As a result, they are selling their land to developers to make money. Once the aid dries up, there will be less land for farming, which means more dependence on outside assistance.
Second, the day I left there were committee members from 5 near-by communities who came to Manis and asked him to teach them to do what he's doing for his community. In Haitian society, that is "huge" . The obstacles have been many but they have continued on in spite of them, and they are now beginning to see some fruit from their labour. And there is still much to do.
IIt's hard to describe the impact they are having but here are the words of some others. One US Marine (Haitian background) stopped by while I was there and, after his visit, said, "This is the first time I've smiled since coming down after the earthquake" (because of what he saw Manis doing). And a French agronomist stopped by because he had "heard of the Manis guy." As he was shown around he kept saying, "Mais, ce n'est pas possible!" He had never seen a Haitian run operation with such vision and foresight.
Manis, mentioned above, is the founder and director of Lemuel Ministries, he is pictured second righ.
Please thank St Paul's again for their participation. By the way, Christophe and I are planning to go down to the Lemuel site in March. If you're interested, you may tag along for the ride.
