Help for Haiti Continues

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, the disaster relief and community reconstruction agency of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, has with the help of the denomination raised more than $2.1 million for relief work carried out by the CRWRC in earth-quake devastated Haiti, say CRWRC officials.

As the CRWRC continues its short-term response to the needs of earthquake survivors in Haiti, the organization is also gearing up for a multi-year rebuilding and reconstruction program. With a 30-year presence in Haiti, the CRC has many connections with local organizations that will be helping in the effort to rebuild the country.

Short-term, though, emergency relief is still needed and is being provided by CRWRC.

"Over the weekend we distributed 264 tarps as well as rice, beans, and pasta to 1,106 families," said CRWRC's Program Manager, Jacqueline Koster. "This type of short-term relief of providing food, water, tarps, and blankets in the Port au Prince area will continue for another week at least."

A number of articles and information on the CRC's work in Haiti are posted on the HelpHaiti page of the CRC website.

CRWRC suggests that there are a number of ways for people to donate and points to ways in which churches or individuals can hold fundraisers to help Haiti.

Haiti's security situation is remains uncertain, the United Nations warned Wednesday, Feb. 3, after an armed group of men attacked a food convoy. Haitian police have increased their own patrols and are accompanying UN police as frustration grows at the slow pace of aid since the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed at least 150,000 people.

"Most of the quake victims are still living outside in squalid tents of sheets and sticks, many forced to scramble for food and water. Mobs have stolen food and looted goods from their neighbors in the camps, prompting many to band together or stay awake at night to prevent raids," says the Associated Press.

In the midst of the ongoing chaos and successful efforts at relief, the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) is focusing its current emergency response efforts in Haiti on the town of Leogane about 20 miles west of Port-au-Prince, the nation's capital.

"Leogane is a community where 90 percent of the people have lost their homes," said CRWRC's Disaster Response Director, Jacob Kramer of the town of about 134,000 people. 

CRWRC and its partner, the Program for Training Diaconal Organizations, PWOFOD, have on-going programs in Leogane and there is a Haitian Christian Reformed Church there. 

The United Nations recently reported that Leogane was the area worst hit by the quake.  Their local market was already dependent on outside food shipments, and this need has now increased. 

"Currently, we are using cash to buy food locally," said Kramer, "but these supplies will soon run out.  We will then have to ship food in."

Meanwhile, a water and sanitation specialist from ZOA Refugee Care in the Netherlands, has joined CRWRC to assist in designing water solutions and providing for latrines and other sanitary solutions to the crowded conditions of the camps where earthquake survivors are living.  

Many individuals and CRC congregations in North America have connections in Haiti and are concerned about friends there in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Some people have been contacting Sous Espwa staff in Haiti or have contacted the CRC's U.S. and Canadian offices to ask how they can provide assistance. Sous Espwa is the name of the organization through which CRC agencies – CRWRC, Christian Reformed World Missions, and Back to God Ministries International – do their work, along with help from a number of indigenous organizations. Partners Worldwide, a CRC-affiliated agency, also does work there.

Sous Espwa doesn't have the capacity to respond to all the requests for help or information on helping. Currently, the Haiti staff is doing all it can to respond to the emergency situation and to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake. The team cannot promise that it will be able to respond to individual requests at this time. It will do what it can, but we ask for your understanding.