Unthinkable Devastation

Short of Hiroshima after the bomb was dropped, I can’t imagine a worse situation than we find in Haiti right now. The magnitude of devastation is simply unthinkable.

The poorest country in the western hemisphere, Haiti is burdened with incredible poverty in the best of times. I have sometimes felt overwhelmed by the sub-human conditions and magnitude of suffering when visiting this country — and that was before the awful hurricanes a couple years ago and the horrific earthquake two days ago.

An earthquake of this magnitude in a populated area would be terrible in any country, but for Haitians, already so close to the edge, it’s absolutely nightmarish. There are no safety nets in Haiti. In fact, there’s hardly any infrastructure. Reporters who first arrived in Port-au-Prince expressed dismay that there was nothing happening by way of relief except for the frantic activity of locals, but that is Haiti. Thousands at this moment are buried alive under collapsed buildings who in other countries could hope to be rescued. But most of these will certainly perish because there is no equipment available to free them.

It’s just a God awful nightmare.

Thankfully, the children and family my small group supports through Providence Ministries (they live 100 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince) are all okay. We’ve only had limited contact with them thus far, so we are unsure if their home sustained any damage.

If a few things fall into place, a few people from my small group may be networking with another organization and leaving within the next week or two to help in the relief effort. Because of other commitments I cannot join them, though I hope to be able to do so in a few weeks. In the meantime, all I and most of us can do is pray and donate to the rescue and relief effort. If you’d like to help support the relief effort, Providence Ministries is one organization out of many that is collecting funds. You can donate by going to their website and clicking on the Paypal button. Donations can also be mailed; the address is on their website. Thank you for any amount you can give.

Lord help Haiti.