I had the opportunity to meet a Haitian that came to UMM for a couple years. In fact, she was part of the UMM Women's Wrestling Team between 2000-2002 (?). I don't know where she's at today (Sunday, March 7th of 2004), but I was reminded to pray for her due to the recent political uprising there.
"Haiti (MNN) ― Hurricanes and tropical storms hit Haiti with a one-two punch. While it's been weeks since the Gonaives region was hit, Bright Hope International says the needs there are still great.
Craig Dyer with Bright Hope International says out of the eight hurricanes, five of them were of high intensity, and this has had a terrible impact on the people of Haiti. "Right now, as best we can estimate, there are about 1,000 families that are still in shelters around the city of Gonaives. There's about three-quarters of a million people who are receiving some sort of food aid, and of course pastors and churches have all been in the center of that. And that's who Bright Hope goes to, to help."
Dyer describes what they're doing to help. "Bright Hope has been sending food relief in, funds to be able to get water, also funds to build shelters for the families, and it's just made a tremendous impact on the people of Haiti."
One woman says she's thankful for what Bright Hope has done for her family. The storm destroyed her home. They ended up having to spend four nights on the mountain with no roof over their heads. While her family is homeless, she's now staying at a local church.
Dyer says, "This is the kind of desperate person that we're trying to help. We're trying to help a person that's engaged in a church. They've gone to the church for help, and we want to be able to tool the church and resource the church to be able to give them the type of aid that they need in their desperate hour."
Dyer is asking people to help Bright Hope financially, because "when we can empower the pastors and give them the opportunities to minister to people in the way that they need it at that moment, it's a powerful tool for sharing the love of Christ."
If you feel God's call to give, Dyer says, "Go to our Web site at BrightHope.org. There's a video there that actually shows some of our distribution. And then, we're taking a Thanksgiving offering right now, throughout the Thanksgiving weekend and into the early part of December -- an offering that'll help those who are in the most need."
"Haiti (MNN) ― Haiti's situation continues to grow more desperate. Four major storms in rapid succession struck the island nation, flooding out the roads and fields, and destroying the crops. That will worsen an already critical food crisis. Standing water and closed hospitals are another concern.
Two million dollars is on its way to temporarily fix bridges so emergency supplies can be trucked into hard-hit villages. The United States pledged $20-million to help with rebuilding, food and medicine.
The storms killed at least 300 people in Haiti, and of those affected, 52% are estimated to be women and 36% children. Elderly people and pregnant women are among the most vulnerable needing care.
However, few medical facilities were able to remain open. Those that could are running critically low on supplies and can't replenish them because of the impassable roads. Add to that standing water, and there is a growing concern over water-borne diseases and festering injuries that could lead to a second wave of disaster.
Sonny Enriquez with International Aid is coordinating relief programs with several faith-based groups in Haiti. So far, they've sent $250,000 worth of help. "We're working through a number of partner agencies on the ground. We're primarily working in the health sector, trying to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. So far, we've sent 5,000 hygiene kits."
They're also raising funds to provide HydrAidTM BioSand Water Filters and the Lab-in-a-Suitcase which contains basic laboratory instruments for blood and urine analysis. This portable kit can also function without electricity, using power-producing solar panels.
Despite all the response with supplies, that's not all International Aid is doing. The local church is also a big part of the recovery effort.
Enriquez says church partners will bring more than physical assistance: they'll bring the Gospel. "People in need are clinging onto something that could provide them real life support. As things start to become normal, they start searching and asking themselves, 'What has happened to me?' 'What's next?' 'Where will I move?' This is where the message of hope comes in and the message of healing." click here to help "
-Humanitarian Aid
"HAITI (ANS) -- With the death toll well over a thousand, hurricanes Hanna and Ike left its destructive path in Haiti. 8,000 more are reported homeless.
Gona�ves, in northern Haiti, has been almost entirely cut off by Hanna's floodwaters and newly created lakes have formed over most roads.
Mission of Hope (MOH), who works with the hurting and less fortunate in Haiti, has mobilized disaster relief efforts in cooperation with other organizations and the government MOH president Brad Johnson is in Haiti coordinating such efforts.
�After some 12 years working in Haiti I've never seen such disaster,� said Johnson. �The scenes are incredibly disturbing.�
Flash flooding brought streams of water from the mountains through the village of Cabaret near the MOH campus leaving over 2,000 people homeless. At least 100 children and elderly are reported dead.
Mission of Hope is responding to this urgent need with immediate supplies. Trucks with food and water have arrived in Cabaret. Six helicopters have been sent to Gona�ves in North Haiti with food, water, and basic supplies
Over 100,000 meals have been delivered to stranded Haitians by either helicopter or ground transportation. �It's because of partnerships and preparation with other ministries we can provide such relief,� said Johnson.
Two years ago a storm not as strong as either Gustav or Hanna left 2,000 people dead there. Many remain on their roofs seeking assistance. An orphanage that MOH supports in Gona�ves with 450 children is greatly affected. Further reports claim another orphanage with 2,000 children has lost all its buildings, supplies, belongings and food.
MOH financial administrator Marilyn Waterman says the destruction from the hurricane is causing significant financial strain on its operation.
�Beyond the relief for this disaster it will take thousands of dollars to rebuild and help them re-begin life again,� said Waterman. �All form of crops or any way to make money washed away with this storm for them.�
The government postponed school to begin until October 1.
To donate or learn more about Mission of Hope go to www.mohhaiti.org or call 816.246.7774.
The Mission of Hope touches thousands of lives daily in Haiti through the Church of Hope, School of Hope, the Hope House Orphanage, Feed A Child program and through medical teams in the Hospital of Hope. "
"CABARET, Haiti � Matt Damon kept his cool as he helped distribute food from a truck that got stuck in the mud in a western Haitian town where Hurricane Ike left hundreds of people homeless and hungry.
He arrived with Haitian-born singer Wyclef Jean to hand out rice, beans and cooking oil in Cabaret, a town that saw 60 people die in flash floods when Ike grazed Haiti last week.
Things got rough when the truck carrying 300 bags of food ran into a ditch, forcing the rest of the caravan to stop. Hundreds of Haitians mobbed an SUV carrying the celebrities, chanting "Wyclef!"
"I want to see Wyclef because he is my artist," said Jean Sadrac, an unemployed 25-year-old. "I want Wyclef to help me with money or water."
Jean clambered onto the roof of the SUV to calm the crowd, while bodyguards helped Damon make his way toward the truck with the food. He reached it easily; nobody recognized him.
Damon said he enjoyed being in a place where few people have seen his movies.
"It's nice, it's really easy to move through a crowd like this," Damon told The Associated Press, grinning wryly as he watched Jean talk to the crowd.
About 20 people from Jean's Yele Haiti charity formed a barrier around the back of the food truck, which leaned perilously to one side. The distribution took place right there. Damon tossed the bags to Jean, who placed them on the heads of women as they approached one by one.
Outside the human chain, one young man jumped up and down, waving a DVD of "The Bourne Ultimatum" that he had retrieved from his house after finally recognizing Damon, who laughed and nodded.
The two stars then walked to a nearby church where about 600 people were sheltered. They knelt to talk to an emaciated, elderly man lying on the muddy floor before they began serving food. Damon poured red vegetable sauce over plates of rice that Jean handed out to people.
Damon and Jean encouraged more people to help the United Nations raise more than US$100 million for an estimated 800,000 Haitians in need of aid after four devastating tropical storms and hurricanes since mid-August.
"What I'm doing, I'm doing from the heart because I love Haiti," Jean said.
Jean, who moved from Haiti to Brooklyn as a child and leapt to fame with The Fugees, has often brought his famous friends to draw attention to the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt visited with his charity in 2006.
"Hopefully we can make enough noise that people will pay attention," Damon told reporters earlier at a news conference in the capital, Port-au-Prince. "I truly believe in the people of my country.""
Tamela and Don Sperr of Morris left Haiti the day before a devastating earthquake decimated the country and now they wait word on the fate of one of two girls they are working to adopt "
Tamela and Don Sperr were making positive headway in their attempts to adopt two Haitian girls. They were in Haiti last weekend with their son, Adam, and his wife, Michelle, in an effort to move the process along.
At 5:30 p.m. Monday, the Sperrs left Haiti. Less than 24 hours later, the island country was rocked by a 7.0 earthquake that the Red Cross now estimates left 50,000 casualties and countless homes and buildings in ruins.
The Sperrs received news that Auddy, an 11-year-old girl they are adopting, was OK. As of Thursday afternoon, they had not learned what had become of Islande, a 10-year-old girl they also hope to adopt.
"Originally, we believed we would have at least one girl home with us in 2010," Tamela Sperr said. "Now, we don't even know."
Tamela Sperr said the family has traveled to Haiti seven times to help with mission groups. During one trip, they met Auddy and have worked the last two years to adopt her and, now, Islande. But the process is slow and unpredictable, and the earthquake and long recovery might make matters worse.
"You get pretty attached," she said. "What do you do?"
Don and Tamela already had been approved to adopt, and Adam and Michelle were visiting so Haitian officials could evaluate them as part of the process.
Auddy is living in a mission village of the "Jesus in Haiti Ministries." Tom Osbeck, head of the ministries, was able to establish communications within a few hours of the quake, and he informed the Sperrs that Auddy was fine.
Islande lives in an orphanage run by "Reach Out to Haiti." The village sustained significant damage and its head, Barbara Walker, was not able to be reached because phone systems have been severely damaged. Tamela Sperr spoke with Walker's daughter, but she had no information about the fate of individual children in the orphanage.
The Sperrs know first-hand why the damage was so severe. Building codes are virtually non-existent and materials are compromised or substandard. Don Sperr was cutting cinder blocks for a building project the Sperrs were involved in and said the concrete was so poor it was not fit for use, Tamela Sperr said.
Many homes and buildings are surrounded by 10-foot walls -- which are constructed to stave off looters and other criminals -- that are made from the substandard materials. Homes, buildings and walls crumbled during the quake.
"That's the issue there," Tamela Sperr said.
Problems that existed before the quake, such as a lack of food and medical care, will be exacerbated in the wake of the disaster, she said.
"
"
We are excited to partner with you in this MobilePackTM event.
Here are the details of the Event:
Where: Morris Area Elementary School Morris, MN MobilePack Icon
When: Tue, August 28, 2012 - Thu, August 30, 2012
Contact:
Ellie Tomford
ellie@mefc.net
(320) 589-2808"
More volunteers needed for third annual event on Aug. 31-Sept. 2 "Working to help starving children in Haiti get food is always an urgent endeavor. But this year, the need probably is as great as it could ever be.
The massive earthquake that decimated Haiti earlier this year has left even more people in dire need, and it led the Feed My Starving Children organization to ask communities participating in food packing events to churn out even more meals.
Morris-area residents for a third year will pack meals for Haitians, many more of whom are homeless and lacking food this year.
"(FMSC) sent 17 million meals to Haiti in the first six weeks after the disaster," said organizer Tamala Sperr. "That's usually what's sent every six months. It's because of the disaster."
This year's FMSC Mobile Pack Event, sponsored by area churches, is Aug. 31-Sept. 2, at the Morris Area Elementary School cafeteria.
About 100 volunteers are need for each shift each day. To sign up, individuals or groups can call (320) 589-2808 or send email to Kayla@mefc.net.
The two-hour shifts are 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Aug. 31.
The Sept. 1 shifts are 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The Sept. 2 shifts are 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The FMSC organizers are hoping to pack 200,000 meals this year. The event produced almost 161,000 meals last year, and the total was about 150,000 the first year.
Each of the meal packets cost 17 cents, so FMSC needs to raise $34,000 for 200,000 meals. To donate, visit HYPERLINK "http://www.fmsc.org/mobilepack/donate" www.fmsc.org/mobilepack/donate.
"The meals are very much needed, no question," Sperr said.
The third-annual Feed My Starving Children meal packing event surpassed its goal of 200,000 meals. See more photos in Photo Gallery attached to this story
"The Feed My Starving Children food packing event is growing larger every year.
Organizers for the third-annual event in Morris said volunteers will reach their goal of 200,000 meals by Thursday evening.
More than 1,000 people will have volunteered to pack meals, which are distributed to starving people in Haiti, said organizer Tamala Sperr.
"We've had more volunteers, more meals, more enthusiasm," Sperr said. "It's all been very good."
The massive earthquake that decimated Haiti earlier this year has left even more people in need, and it led the Feed My Starving Children organization to ask communities participating in food packing events to pack more meals during the three-day event at the Morris Area Elementary School cafeteria.
The 200,000 meals packed this year surpasses the total of 161,000 meals last year and the 150,000 meals packed the first year.
Each of the meal packets cost 17 cents, so FMSC needed to raise $34,000 for 200,000 meals. To donate, visit www.fmsc.org/mobilepack/donate. Feed My Starving Children meets meal goal
Morris Sun Tribune
357 days ago Article ID# 625531 charity-charities.org Volunteers go Above and Beyond for Feed My Starving Children
September 6 kmrskkok.com "
The food packaged Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Morris should make it to Haiti in about two months.
Tamela Sperr said that they had the volunteers exceeded the goal of 200, 000 meals by 15,000 and had the school all cleaned up by about 8 p.m. on Thursday. She said that “People at Feed My Starving Children often talk about giving volunteers a push but nobody has to push us, we keep getting more done than they think we can.”
Sperr said they had to end the last packaging shift early because they ran out of the rice, and dried veggie meals to package.
Last year they surpassed their goal to reach 150,000 meals packed. Sperr said that food arrived right around the time of the earthquake in January.
"I forgot to mention in my last post that you can get more information about the volunteer work we did this evening at www.fmsc.org . It is a great organization that packages and sends food to starving children all over the world. It feels great to be a part of something SO powerful!!
Coach P "
"Haiti is located less than 700 miles from the sandy luxury of Miami Beach.
And yet the stark differences between the two places can only be measured in lightyears.
Almost the entire Haitian nation lives in poverty. In January, a group of Morris residents traveled to Haiti and visited an orphanage that is home to about 100 children. They hadn�t eaten in a week.
�You can hear about it and be moved, but once you see it, you cannot not do something,� said one of the travelers, Margaret Payne. �It shocks you into a reality that the people there just exist. They're not living."
The grim experience led the group to organize a community event in which volunteers will spend three days packaging 140,000 meals for starving people around the world, including those they met in Haiti.
Morris Evangelical Free Church and the Twin Cities-based Feed My Starving Children are sponsoring the event and seeking volunteers to help man shifts to pack the food Aug. 21-23 at the Morris Area High School.
Volunteers can be third-grade age and older, and those interested need to call Payne at (320) 589-2808 to register. Individual volunteers, families and groups are encouraged to participate, she said.
Founded in 1987, Feed My Starving Children has packing facilities in the Twin Cities, and also brings a mobile packing unit to communities. FMSC has sent meals to more than 50 countries, and in 2007 shipped 43 million meals with the help of 185,000 volunteers.
Morris Evangelical Free Church has led a community fundraising effort that has almost gathered the $21,800 needed to produce the meals.
Area churches and school groups already have committed volunteers to the effort, and the group is seeking more to work two shifts on Aug. 21, four shifts on Aug. 22, and three more shifts on Aug. 23.
The assembly line-type effort requires 75 volunteers per two-hour shift. People can commit to working more than one of the nine total shifts, said organizer Tamela Sperr.
The meals consist of rice, high-protein soy nuggets, a chicken-flavored vegetarian mix of vitamins and minerals, and dehydrated vegetables. The meals cost 17 cents apiece and are prepared by adding boiling water.
Once the meals are packed, the E-Free Church, and FMSC will also work with the organizations Love A Child and Jesus in Haiti to send a share of the meals to the Haiti, Payne said.
Haitians can't buy adequate food because of the high cost. Even if a child receives hospital care, the facility can't afford to feed them -- children could starve lying in a hospital, Payne said.
Aid groups in Haiti take in children in need, but even the orphanages can only afford to feed them once per day. And that�s after school, so children are taught in archaic schools on empty stomachs.
Other people, including children, live near dumps and scrounge for food, and a lack of clean water is a serious problem.
�People there don�t even make enough to feed themselves," Sperr said. "They just live day-to-day; eat day-to-day. This (event) is a small thing we can do to get food over there.�
On earlier trips, members of the Morris-area group helped clean up an outdoor �kitchen� area at the orphanage and bought new mattresses to replace dirty, infested pads. Children mostly sleep three to a bed.
The group also arranged to have clean water shipped in regularly to help in the battle against dehydration in a region where temperatures can reach 130 degrees, Payne said.
�For people who have never seen abject poverty, people with nothing, it�s a tough concept to get your head around,� Payne said. �When you hear it said that people have nothing, you think, �Well, they have nothing here, but they have food at home and clothes in the closet. But these people have nothing.�
The E-Free Church contingent is planning another trip in the future, and the Sperrs, Don and Tamela, fell in love with a 10-year-old Haitian girl living in the orphanage and they are working to adopt her.
�Seeing it definitely touches people,� Tamela said. �We have no idea how fortunate we are. We have so much and these people have nothing. Seventeen cents is a small price to pay to help.�" Volunteering to help feed millions
Morris Sun Tribune
Published Saturday, August 23, 2008 "The Feed My Starving Children marathon food preparation drive drew in dozens of volunteers from around the area to assemble nutritional food packages for malnourished children.
The three-day drive began Thursday and continues on Saturday, Aug. 23, at Morris Area Elementary School. The assembly line-type effort requires 75 volunteers per two-hour shifts.
Volunteers worked to package meals this week at the Morris Area schools for starving children through a program initiated by Feed My Starving Children and the Morris Evangelical Free Church. Photo by Sue Dieter, Sun Tribune.
Volunteers worked to package meals this week at the Morris Area schools for starving children through a program initiated by Feed My Starving Children and the Morris Evangelical Free Church.
People can commit to working more than one of the nine total shifts. Organizers hope to have 140,000 meals packaged and prepared for sending. A community fundraising effort by co-sponsor Morris Evangelical Free Church brought in almost $22,000.
"
ALEXANDRIA, MINN. - Fergus Falls volunteer Rhyan Buettner is still in Haiti at "Gods Little Angels Orphanage" in Petion-Ville, Haiti. The building is still standing, but Buettner was in that building when the 7.0 earthquake hit Tuesday.
"My knees went weak when I heard the scream;" words from Buettner's blog as she helps more than 100 babies at the orphanage. All of those children were in the building during the earthquake.
"Standing in there you literally fell to the floor, because it was going so far back and forth," Buettner said.
She was standing on the second floor of the building, surrounded by 50 babies, when it hit.
"And so my biggest fear...what went through my head at the time was that we were in a landslide, and our entire house was sliding down the mountain," Buettner described.
Seconds later the aftershock hit, just as Buettner was scrambling to grab as many children as she could and get out.
"And it was only a few seconds after, and so when that one hit we hadn't even recovered from the first one, and everyone was just thinking, 'it's never going to stop, it's never going to stop,'" She said.
In video taped the day after the earthquake everyone was singing to calm themselves and the children, as the entire country is in chaos.
"Right now it's complete chaos. That's the only way to describe it. A country that's already almost in a constant state of chaos is completely knocked down," Buettner said.
Now they're running out of food and water, and everyone in the country desperately needs help.
"If we don't help them recover...they won't," Buettner said.
The country needs U.S. support to get through this disaster, and Buettner will stay for the the 100 babies who need her. However, it's hard to cope with all the death around her, she said.
"We're watching these pictures, and they're not just faces to us. They're people we know," she said.
Buettner hopes media coverage of the aftermath continues so people don't forget about the country and the millions of people who are suffering.
She has also spoken with her family in Fergus Falls to let them know she's ok. She's also updating her blog. Click here to read more.
Written for the web by Megan Matthews
megan@ksax.com
"...
He used his skills in Haiti, a country that is a portrait of poverty, by designing and building an orphanage.
With help from other volunteers from Five Oaks Church in Woodbury, Minn. the orphanage opened up about a year-and-a-half ago.
The Mularonis were with other church members in the town of Fedja doing missionary work when the 7.0-magnitude quake forced hospitals, homes and churches to crumble. The Mularonis escaped danger...
"He is being used by the Lord, and he'll continue to be used by the Lord," she said.
"ALEXANDRIA, Minn- The earthquake that hit Haiti has devastated countless lives and now the whole world is working to try and pick up the pieces and do their part to help.
Locally in Alexandria, MN the Lutheran Crest Bible Camp is hard at work. The camp has already been sending supplies over to Haiti over the past few months. But now since the devastation of the earthquake has hit, they are regrouping their effort to get the rest of their current supplies sent as well as increase the amount of supplies going to Haiti.
This is why Lutheran Crest Bible Camp needs volunteers and donations. The camp is accepting both food and money donations as well as people's time to put together the shipments. Each bag of food supplies sent will feed six total people and it will cost six to seven thousand dollars to send one load over to Haiti.
Lutheran Crest Bible Camp is encouraging volunteers to come help on Jan.18 from 1-5 p.m.
Lutheran Crest Bible Camp is located on 8231 County Road 11 Northeast Alexandria, MN 56308.
For more information visit their website at www.luthercrest.org
Written for the web by: Tony Seeman
aseeman@ksax.com"
"..Several of these programs are already offering FMSC meals to victims of Tuesday’s earthquake. One million meals are currently on the ground in Haiti, and with your support, we will produce an additional three million meals for Haiti relief. We will rely on local and national support to provide these meals...
"..At 4:53 p.m. Haiti time on January 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake devastated that country. More than 300,000 people died. Millions lost their homes and are still displaced, including thousands of children.
You can directly help these survivors through Feed My Starving Children (FMSC). Sixty stable, long-term FMSC partners get the nutritious MannaPack meals to places that other agencies simply can't reach. FMSC provides the meals—at no cost to our partners—for nearly 200 orphanages, clinics, missions, and feeding programs throughout Haiti.
With FMSC food on hand before the earthquake hit, these partners were able to help survivors long before other international aid arrived. Now feeding one-third more people than before the disaster, our Haiti partners expect a higher level of need for many months to come...
FMSC MN Gala 2010 Haiti Earthquake Reflection
"Video reflecting on the Haiti earthquake response.
Originally shown at the Nov. 2010 Feed My Starving Children Minnesota Gala."
FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN - Please help send meals to Haiti
"The native Taino Amerindians - who inhabited the island of Hispaniola when it was discovered by COLUMBUS in 1492 - were virtually annihilated by Spanish settlers within 25 years. In the early 17th century, the French established a presence on Hispaniola, and in 1697, Spain ceded to the French the western third of the island, which later became Haiti. The French colony, based on forestry and sugar-related industries, became one of the wealthiest in the Caribbean, but only through the heavy importation of African slaves and considerable environmental degradation. In the late 18th century, Haiti's nearly half million slaves revolted under Toussaint L'OUVERTURE. After a prolonged struggle, Haiti became the first black republic to declare its independence in 1804. The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti has been plagued by political violence for most of its history. After an armed rebellion led to the forced resignation and exile of President Jean-Bertrand ARISTIDE in February 2004, an interim government took office to organize new elections under the auspices of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Continued violence and technical delays prompted repeated postponements, but Haiti finally did inaugurate a democratically elected president and parliament in May of 2006."
History
Haiti's History of Hardship
"Earthquake latest blow for country mired in misery"
Hatian Ambassador Responds to Pat Robertson
"..Rich Buhler is the host of “Talk from the Heart” on KBRT-AM 740 in Los Angeles, heard daily from 3:00 to 5:00 Pacific Time. Regarded by many as the father of modern Christian talk radio, he also is the creator of www.truthorfiction.com , a web site that researches Internet stories, hoaxes, and urban legends.
In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January, 2010, Christian television broadcaster Pat Robertson made headlines by saying that Haiti had been “cursed by one thing after another” ever since the Haitian revolution of the late 1700’s when the Haitians “swore a pact to the devil.”
Robertson said, “They were under the heel of the French, you know Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the prince.’ True story. And so the devil said, ‘OK it’s a deal’. And they kicked the French out.”
In a piece he wrote for www.truthorfiction.com, which seeks to debunk the legend, Buhler says there are several problems, however, with Robertson’s statement.
"First, the Haitians were not fighting against the famous Napoleon III, who was not yet born and was not to come to power until the mid 1800’s," he told ANS.
"But, more importantly, the 'pact to the devil' is not an event that is simple to pin down, although it has been a story that has been repeated, especially among Christian missionaries and writers, for many years," Buhler said. ..
Buhler continued: "Historians seem to agree that such a meeting did happen, but there is debate among some scholars about the details and especially the descriptions of the voodoo ceremony.
"The event is an important part of Haitian history because it is regarded as the inspirational and organizational launch of Haiti’s War of Independence, which 13 years later marked the only place in the world where African slaves succeeded in ending slavery and building an independent country."
Military
On Board an AirDrop
"
Added On January 17, 2010
CNN's Brian Todd rides along as a U.S. military helicopter delivers aid in Port-au-Prince."
"diversity though haitian culture"
Wyclef Jean "M.V.P. Kompa"
"Big tune from the Masquerade album.
Cameos from the Haitian Kompa Président a vie Sweet Mickey...lol, Melky (hot chocolate!!!), and Super model Tyrone.
"Nèg Canada nou pa pè" To all my Haitian MVPs in T.O, Ottawa, MTL and all over the globe. "
"
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Hundreds of protesters who blame U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal for Haiti's widening cholera epidemic marched on a rural military base Friday to demand the soldiers leave the country.
Demonstrators waving tree branches and carrying anti-U.N. banners walked from the central plateau city of Mirebalais several miles to the gates of the base perched above a tributary of the Artibonite River — a waterway identified by health officials as a conduit for the infection.
The protesters chanted "Like it or not, they must go" as the Nepalese soldiers and other U.N. peacekeepers remained inside.
Cholera has sparked widespread fear in Haiti, where it was unknown before the outbreak was first noticed by authorities Oct. 20. As of Friday morning, more than 4,700 people have been hospitalized and at least 330 have died, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
There has been no scientific conclusion on the origin of the epidemic, which became evident when dozens of patients began dying with high fevers and watery diarrhea at a hospital in the town of St. Marc a few miles from the last stretch of the river.
Experts say the disease was likely imported. Until this month there had not been a diagnosed case of cholera in Haiti as far back as records go in the mid-20th Century, said Claire-Lise Chaignat, head of the global task force on cholera control at the World Health Organization. The disease is pandemic in parts of Africa and Asia.
Speculation among Haitians is increasingly centered on the Nepalese peacekeeping base near Mirebalais, much of it being stoked by politicians including the town's mayor — a Senate candidate — ahead of the Nov. 28 national elections.
Cholera is endemic in Nepal and the country suffered outbreaks this summer. The current troop contingent arrived in shifts starting Oct. 9, after the outbreak in their home country and shortly before the disease broke out in Haiti. Cases have been concentrated downriver along the Artibonite.
The U.N. mission in Haiti responded to the rumors with a statement Tuesday saying that sanitation around the base was in line with the standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the United Nations.
But when Associated Press journalists visited Wednesday, they found open and cracked pipes behind the base, with U.N. military investigators taking samples. There was an overpowering smell of human waste, and a pipe leading toward a septic tank was leaking foul-smelling black fluid toward the river.
The waste is dumped across the street in open pits that residents, who live a few yards away, said often overflow into the Artibonite tributary running below. The contractor, Sanco Enterprises SA, says the pits are sprayed with bleach.
The U.N. mission says no cases of cholera have been found among the Nepalese soldiers, but it is not clear if, how or when testing was carried out. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says people are often infected with the disease without showing symptoms.
The spokesman for the U.N. mission did not respond Friday to requests for further comment.
On Friday, protesters called on the Haitian government to kick out the Nepalese soldiers.
"The Nepalese brought this disease to the center of Mirebalais," said Ernst Exilume, a 25-year-old student. "We have no water to drink. We have no choice but to drink the water from the river."
International aid groups had made hygiene and the control of disease priorities after the Jan. 12 earthquake, especially as millions of Haitians found themselves homeless and living in tarp and tent settlements around the capital. Throughout the year banners imploring people to wash their hands have hung over streets and on walls.
Scientists from the CDC are retesting samples to determine the nature of the cholera strain at a molecular level, which could help pinpoint its origin, and hope to have results to share with Haiti's Ministry of Health sometime over the weekend, CDC spokesman Tom Skinner told the AP.
Tests can indicate the areas of the world where this cholera strain has been found, but the results may not reveal its national origin or how it got to Haiti, he said.
The U.S. agency is not specifically investigating in the area of the base or taking environmental samples, another CDC spokesman, David Daigle, said.
"For sure it is going to be important to know where the germ came from. I don't know if we are going to get an answer," Chaignat, the WHO official, said.
___
Associated Press reporters Pierre Richard Luxama in Mirebalais, Colleen Barry in Geneva and Michael Stobbe in Atlanta contributed to this story.
"Cap Haitien, Haiti (CNN) -- Haiti's government appeared Tuesday to have lost control of Cap Haitien, where demonstrators angry over what they see as the United Nations' role in starting the ongoing cholera epidemic controlled many of the streets for a second consecutive day.
At the airport in the country's second-largest city, commercial flights were suspended Tuesday. Police were not wearing uniforms in an apparent attempt to elude the wrath of Haitians, who had torched at least one police station on Monday.
The only way to get from the airport into town was by motorcycle. Barricades composed of burning tires and vehicles blocked cars from traveling on many of the roads.
As the sun set, smoke from the many fires mixed with tear gas fired by peacekeepers, and hovered over the city.
The office of Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive had said early in the day that it was sending a delegation of government ministers by helicopter from the capital city of Port-au-Prince to Cap Haitien in an attempt to orchestrate a return to order, but by nightfall they were not visible.
In Cap Haitien, at least one demonstrator was killed in riots Monday by a U.N. peacekeeper.
At a hotel, guests were hunkered down, unwilling to brave the chaos of the streets.
The focus of the the Haitians' ire centers on their contention that the cholera outbreak blamed for more than 1,000 deaths was started when untreated sewage from a Nepalese contingent of peacekeepers entered the water supply.
That assertion has been denied by the United Nations.
Protesters have demanded that the U.N. forces pull out of Haiti.
Cap Haitien is in Haiti's North Department, which has had the nation's highest rate of cholera deaths. Of the 1,578 people hospitalized in the department from cholera, 119 have died. The 7.5 percent death rate is the nation's highest, according to figures released Tuesday by the Ministry of Public Health.
The U.N. stabilization mission in Haiti charged that the riots may be politically motivated in advance of elections set for November 28.
"The way in which the events unfolded leads to the belief that the incidents had a political motivation, aimed at creating a climate of insecurity on the eve of the elections," the U.N. mission, known by the acronym MINUSTAH, said in a statement Tuesday.
"MINUSTAH calls on the population to remain vigilant and not let itself be manipulated by the enemies of stability and democracy in the country," the statement said.
Imogen Wall, a spokeswoman for the United Nations, said at least one U.N. warehouse has been looted and that a flight that was to have carried cholera supplies intended for Cap Haitien was suspended.
"Cap Haitien is very serious for cholera right now," she said. "You can't run cholera response in this atmosphere."
In the town of Hinche, northeast of the capital, about 400 demonstrators protested the peacekeepers, six of whom were injured, said Vincenzo Pugliese, a spokesman for MINUSTAH.
"This is a situation that began with a child who was in agony with cholera," said Lesley Voltaire, a former minister of education and presidential candidate who was campaigning for the upcoming elections. "They were calling ambulances and MINUSTAH but nobody came. The kid died in front of many people and made the people furious."
Voltaire insisted the protests were spontaneous. "The Nepalese [peacekeepers] are their target," added Voltaire, who said he was stranded at a local hotel overnight after the riots erupted on Monday and the airport shut. "People believe the cholera came from Nepal."
In Quartier Morin, a municipality in the Cap Haitien arrondissement, a protester was killed after he was hit by a peacekeeper who fired in self defense, the U.N. said. An investigation is underway.
The cholera outbreak, which was confirmed last month in northwest Haiti, has killed 1,034 of the 16,799 people who had been hospitalized with the disease, the Ministry of Public Health reported.
It has been confirmed in seven of the country's 10 departments.
So far, the government has been keeping track of the outcome only for those patients who have sought treatment in hospitals.
"We are now trying to ramp up the collection of data from the communities so that we can get a more realistic figure," Deputy Special Representative and Humanitarian Coordinator Nigel Fisher told reporters Monday at the United Nations in a teleconference call from Port-au-Prince. "We expect to have, once that data comes in, a significant increase in recorded cases."
But counting the deaths that occur in the community will be difficult, said Pan American Health Organization spokesman Dan Epstein.
He noted that care is being provided by "tons of NGOs," each with their own hospitals and health centers. "We're trying to integrate everything so we have one main source of information for Haiti, and that's a real challenge."
The government was trying to halt the spread of rumors and to educate the populace via radio and television programs about how to stem the spread of the disease, which experts say is relatively easy to treat through oral-rehydration therapy, and to prevent, through good hygiene.
Both are often in short supply in much of Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest country. Its already fragile infrastructure was worsened during last January's earthquake, which killed more than 200,000 people. Since then, more than 1 million people have been living in makeshift camps in and around the capital.
Still, many of the camps are equipped with latrines and most people in the camps are getting clean, chlorinated water, Fisher said. "Our concern has been, I must say, less for the camps than it has been for the slums," he added, citing the Cite Soleil slum in the capital as an example. It has neither latrines nor access to clean water, ripe conditions for the spread of the disease. "It is moving more rapidly in the slums than in the camps," he said.
Despite the dire conditions and the mounting death count, he said, "the government strategy, which we support at the moment, is to look at ways in which the (November 28) elections can go ahead -- even with the situation of cholera."
Planning has begun on how to disinfect polling booths between voters, he said. The situation has gone far beyond one of health or sanitation, he said. "It's an issue, obviously, of national security."
Efforts are under way to get 10,000 to 12,000 more "cholera beds" in place, and plans are being put in place to transport the sickest people to treatment centers, which some residents don't want, he said. "One of the demonstrations in Port-au-Prince was against the transport of sick people from a triage center to a cholera treatment center," he said.
The government has asked Haiti's mayors to handle the disposition of bodies, but city authorities need help on how to do that, he said.
The team leader in Haiti for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's anti-cholera effort said the agency determined that the strain of the bacteria is found not only in South Asia but elsewhere. "This is not an uncommon strain," Dr. Jordan Tappero told CNN in a telephone interview from Port-au-Prince. "It's around the world."
He described the bacteria, orginally found in the Artibonite River in the country's northern region, as "like a hitchhiker," having arrived in Haiti through contaminated food, water, or in an infected individual who may have had no symptoms.
"Trying to figure out who did it and what country they came from, I think, is extremely challenging to do, probably not possible," Tappero said. "What we should focus on, as we have been, is preventing deaths."
Those prevention efforts include training health care workers, few of whom have experience treating patients who may be losing up to a liter of water per hour. "It requires some training" to manage them well, he said.
The goal, he added, is to get mortality to less than 1 percent, "and we're not there yet." Indeed, as of Tuesday, the death rate among hospitalized patients with cholera was 3.9 percent nationwide, according to the Ministry of Public Health.
The United Nations, which has appealed to international donors for $164 million in aid, said it anticipates as many as 200,000 Haitians will be sickened with cholera over the next six to 12 months.
Symptoms of the acute, bacterial illness, which is caused by drinking tainted water, can be mild or even nonexistent. But sometimes they can be severe: leg cramps, profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting, which can cause rapid loss of body fluids and lead to dehydration, shock and death."
*heard about it this past weekend (thanksgiving 08') at Woodland Hills Church
-Orphanages
Haiti 2005 Orphanages
"We had an amazing experience in Haiti visiting an orphanage where the children sang in Creole to us and we sang in English to them and performed skits."
"..Now, with the death toll rising, Bethany Christian Services Vice President of Marketing and Communication Marc Andreas says there's another grim reality surfacing. "There's going to be a mounting number of casualties, and likely, unfortunately, an increased number of orphans. But it will take a long time for us to fully assess the number of opportunities and see how many additional children will need help in Haiti."
Bethany is still trying to mobilize their response. "There are two partners there. One of them--we're confident that all the children are fine; the other--we have not yet heard from."
One of Bethany's partners, God's Littlest Angels (GLA), is collecting donations and will be sending a shipping container to Haiti as soon as possible. The orphanage needs fresh supplies of powdered formula, diapers, baby wipes, baby cereal, infant Tylenol, infant and children's vitamins, and baby care items such as lotion, powder, baby shampoo. ..
"Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Calling Haiti's cholera outbreak "an extremely serious situation," a United Nations official expressed concern Monday that the infectious disease that has already killed more than 250 people could spread and grow to "tens of thousands of cases."
"It would be irresponsible to plan for anything but a considerably wider outbreak," said Nigel Fisher, U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Haiti....
The cholera outbreak comes after recent heavy rains caused the banks of the Artibonite River to overflow and flood the area.
The river was dammed in 1956 to create Lac de Peligre and is Haiti's dominant drainage system. ...
History
Haitian History: "Roots of Leadership" past present future
"The recorded history of Haiti began on December 5, 1492 when the European navigator Christopher Columbus happened upon a large island in the region of the western Atlantic Ocean that later came to be known as the Caribbean Sea. It was inhabited by the Taíno, an Arawakan people, who variously called their island Ayiti, Bohio, or Kiskeya. Columbus promptly claimed the island for the Spanish Crown, and renamed it La Isla Española ("the Spanish Island"), or Hispañola (later Anglicized as Hispaniola)...
Haiti History by New Missions
"...is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, characterised by widespread poverty, environmental degradation, a weak government and deep levels of corruption....-Christian Aid in Haiti
-Clothing
Haiti 2006 - Clothing Distribution
"It is always a blessing to hand out clothing material to the children to take home so that they can make their own clothes."
Immigration
-Refugees
Disney Boat Cruise: From Haiti to Miami
"About 800 Haitians and their supporters rallied in front of of the headquarters of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on the corner of 79th Street and Biscayne Boulevard in Miami to demand the immediate liberation of 101 Haitian refugees who landed at nearby Hallandale Beach on March 28th.
Most of the refugees are being held in an immigration holding center in Pompano Beach and are threatened with immediate deportation back to Haiti. The refugees spent three weeks at sea on a leaky, open sailboat, including 12 days without food.
Dozens of speakers lambasted U.S. policy as racist and hypocritical for automatically deporting Haitian refugees while Cuban refugees are routinely released into the community and granted asylum.
Many of the speakers called on the U.S. Congress to grant Haitian refugees Temporary Protected Status. TPS waives immigration restrictions on the victims of natural disasters and political upheaval, both of which Haiti has experienced in recent years. It has been granted and renewed in recent years to refugees from Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Burundi, Sudan, Liberia, and Somalia.
Called and led by the Haitian community organization Veye Yo, the spirited demonstration featured a speech by the Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste, who led Veye Yo and Haitian Refugee Center during the 1980s when the Haitian refugee crisis reached its zenith.
.."
"
Medics working with survivors of the earthquake in Haiti have been speaking about their lack of medical resources.
Aid has started to reach parts of the capital, Port Au Prince, but has been held up by the collapse of the infrastructure and government. "
"English: pronounced /ˈheɪtiː/; French Ha�ti pronounced [aiti]; Haitian Creole: Ayiti), officially the Republic of Haiti (R�publique d'Ha�ti ; Repiblik Ayiti), is a Creole- and French-speaking Caribbean nation. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago. Ayiti (Land of Mountains) was the indigenous Ta�no or Amerindian name for the island. The country's highest point is Pic la Selle, at 2,680 metres (8,793 ft). The total area of Haiti is 27,750 square kilometres (10,714 sq mi) and its capital is Port-au-Prince.
Haiti's regional, historical, and ethnolinguistic position is unique for several reasons. It was the first post-colonial independent black-led nation in the world, as well as being the only nation whose independence was gained as part of a successful slave rebellion. Haiti was the first in Latin America to gain its sovereignty and is also the region's only independent Francophone nation; the other French-speaking Latin American countries are all overseas departments of France."
Movies
-Documentary
"Lost in Haiti" trailer...Another SidLocks & Jesus production
"A documentary which provides an educated look into the lifestyle of Haitians deported from the U.S and sent back to their place of birth. "
Missions
Haiti Mission Trip April 2007
"Haiti Missions has been helping to build schools, churches, and also supplying food, bibles, school supplies, etc. through donations since 1959. We provide the means for the Haitian people to maintain and run their own schools and churches."
*referred through Assist's article on IHOP 24/7 Prayer
MISSION TRIP TO HAITI
"THIS IS A VIDEO THAT I PUT TOGETHER AFTER OUR RECENT TRIP TO HAITI IN NOVEMBER 2007. I GOT ALL OF OUR PICTURES TOGETHER AND CHOSE THE BEST ONES AND PUT TOGETHER THIS VIDEO; OUR PURPOSE FOR THE VIDEO IS TO GIVE ONE TO EVERYONE THAT DONATED TO OUR TRIP. WE WERE A GROUP OF 8 AND IT COSTS $1,000 A PERSON. SO WE SHOWED OUR APPRECIATION BY PRESENTING THEM WITH A DVD..........HOWEVER I WANTED TO SHARE IT WITH GODTUBE AND I HOPE YOU ENJOY!"
Sonny Solar, operation saturation radios for Haiti kids
Providence Haiti, St. Paul,Minnesota based children's outreach focus missions organization
*I got a June 2000 newsletter from some source-WHC?
"..is an international Christian organization, founded in 1960, dedicated to serving the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of those suffering the effects of poverty or persecution."
...
Sat, January 16, 2010 10:13:00 AM
From:
The Hansons
To: The Hansons
Below is a message from Buddy Walker. Buddy has been to MCC many times over the years and heads Missions Without Borders, where our Sunday offering will be sent.
"
Dear Friends:
As many of you are aware, my Father and Mother began working in Haiti almost 30 years ago. Many of you have heard the stories of how Dad would give everything he had, even the shoes on his feet to help the poor in Haiti. When he went home to be with the Lord, I felt a burden to continue the work he had begun with the Haitian leaders. During the last 5 years we have formed partnerships with diverse organizations for the purpose of training leaders, ministering to the poor and building momentum for evangelism and church plantng.
As you listen to the news reports, you will realize how much confusion, disorder and chaos hinders international relief efforts. The best intentions to help the people can create a public riot resulting in even more injury and death.
Together we did a major food relief initiative after the hurricanes of 2008 and all of the distribution was done through local churches. There was no media coverage and no publicity to attract a crowd, just local ministries being provided resources to discreetly minister to their communities. This approach provides a double blessing by meeting the physical needs of the people in an orderly way and empowering the church to share The Good News within their communities.
We have begun to make contact with the Haitian pastors and are getting information concerning their families, homes, congregations and buildings. We are coordinating a trip for a small advance team to organize our relief and team efforts.
Missions Without Borders is a 501C-3 not for profit organization. 100% of designated funds are used for the purpose for which they are given and donors receive a tax deductible receipt.
We will keep you informed of opportunities to participate with team relief efforts.
I want to thank you with all my heart for your compassion, giving and willingness to serve,
Buddy Walker
International Director Missions Without Borders
16411 Whistling Pines Rd. Umatilla, Fl 32784 Tel 352-978-0509
*see USA Office => DONATE NOW!!!
Music
-Dance
Haitian Kompa Breakdance Popping by Robot Scorpion
-Rap
Haiti Pray and Fast
"Haitian kids rapping about Jesus at Maison de Lumiere, Port au Prince."
"..One of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, Haiti in recent years has struggled with problems ranging from near-constant political upheaval, health crises, severe environmental degradation and an annual barrage of hurricanes, which killed an estimated 800 people and caused vast damage in 2008.
On Jan. 12, 2010, a massive earthquake struck Haiti, devastating its capital. Thousands of people were feared dead. The recent earthquake, the worst in the region in more than 200 years, brought even more suffering to a nation that was already the hemisphere's poorest and most disaster-prone.
Haiti occupies an area roughly the size of Maryland on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Nearly all of the 8.7 million residents are of African descent and speak Creole and French. The capital is Port-au-Prince.
The country is, by a significant margin, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, with four out of five people living in poverty and more than half in abject poverty. Deforestation and over-farming have left much of Haiti eroded and barren, undermining subsistence farming efforts, driving up food prices and leaving the country even more vulnerable to natural disasters. Its long history of political instability and corruption has added to the turmoil...
Haiti Breaking News Helicopter Fly Over After Earthquake First Look
"Haiti Breaking News Helicopter Fly Over After Earthquake First Look Courtesy US Coast Guard helicopter's view of the devastation from the recent massive earthquake in Haiti. Haiti Relief"
"..While meeting the physical needs is the most important thing right now, Sparks says the Gospel will be shared. "We have a chaplain who comes around and witnesses and shares the Gospel with the patients and gives them Bibles. I know he's going to be working over-time now, as will our missions staff." ..
"...Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Rescue workers struggled to clear rubble and bodies Wednesday from the streets of Haiti's "flattened" capital, where a government official said the death toll from Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude earthquake may exceed 100,000.
Thousands of injured people waited for care outside badly damaged hospitals, while an unknown number remained trapped inside collapsed buildings. Basic services like water and electricity were out, and Haitian President Rene Preval said his government needs help clearing streets so rescuers can reach some of the hardest-hit areas.
"We need medicine. We need medical help in general," Preval told CNN. "Some of the hospitals, they collapsed."
People were digging though the rubble of leveled buildings with their hands Wednesday, looking for survivors or bodies, CNN's Anderson Cooper reported from Port-au-Prince. Other CNN correspondents in Port-au-Prince and its suburbs reported whole blocks of collapsed buildings, with dozens of bodies piled in the streets...
lungyim ~ after Earthquake In Haiti In 24 hours (UpDate
"Thank you all owned video clips.WE NEED TO HELP Please send these video clips To The Web For Help.....Help On the Way. "
"Amazed" by Massive Destruction
"
Added On January 14, 2010
The commander of the USCG Forward says they were "amazed" by the destruction they saw as they arrived in Haiti."
"..Two days after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook apart most of the country's infrastructure, the full scale of destruction is only beginning to emerge. A Haitian Red Cross official in the capital Port-au-Prince estimated the quake's death toll at between 45,000 and 50,000 people, according to Reuters, while stressing that precise figures remain impossible to confirm.
..
Red Cross: Quake killed up to 50,000 in Haiti
"Bodies are piling up in the streets of Haiti in the aftermath of an earthquake that has decimated the Caribbean island state. On the ground, survivors of the earthquake - measuring seven on the Richter scale - are struggling to save those still trapped under the rubble. At least a third of the population are now homeless - including the country's president. An estimated three million people will need emergency relief as aid organsations make their way to the scene. The Haitian Red Cross predicts an horrific death toll of around 50,000 while the World Health Organization predicts the sheer numbers of dead may lead to an outbreak of disease.
"...thanksgiving and cries for help rose from Haiti's huddled homeless Sunday, the sixth day of an epic humanitarian crisis that was straining the world's ability to respond and igniting flare-ups of violence amid the rubble of Port-au-Prince. Beside the ruins of the Port-Au-Prince cathedral, where the sun streamed through the shattered stained glass, the priest told his flock at their first Sunday Mass since Tuesday's earthquake, "We are in the hands of God now."
"
Added On January 17, 2010
On the first Sunday after a devastating earthquake hit Haiti, people come together to reflect on their faith."
"PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The staggering scope of Haiti's nightmare came into sharper focus Monday as authorities estimated 200,000 dead and 1.5 million homeless in the quake-ravaged heart of this tragic land, where injured survivors still died in the streets, doctors pleaded for help and looters slashed at one another in the rubble.
The world pledged more money, food, medicine and police. Some 2,000 U.S. Marines steamed into nearby waters. And ex-president Bill Clinton, special U.N. envoy, flew in to offer support. Six days after the earthquake struck, search teams still pulled buried survivors from the ruins...
If accurate, that would make Haiti's catastrophe about as deadly as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed an estimated 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
European Commission analysts estimate 250,000 ...
"Haiti (MNN) ― Only 100 members out of the 2,000-member Shiloh Baptist Church congregation have been accounted for since the earthquake in Haiti last week. Many in the congregation have yet to be found; others are known to be dead.
The pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, Bienne Lamerique, and three other church leaders were among those killed.
The church building is still standing but has undergone a great deal of structural trauma. Support beams have been damaged, and the inside of the church has been obviously disturbed. .."
JESUS, MY LIFE IS IN YOUR HANDS - HAITI EARTHQUAKE VICTIM
"Brave victim, trapped under a concrete slab for over 46 hours, tells the world that he is a CHRISTIAN and that he gives his life to JESUS...AND HE IS RESCUED!"
"I Never Stopped Praying"
"
Added On January 16, 2010
A woman describes being trapped in quake rubble for more than two days."
"Trapped For Five Days"-Added On January 24, 2010
"CNN's Ed Lavandera reports on a Haiti earthquake survivor who was trapped for five days in a kneeling position"
*see book of Psalms in Bible
"Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- A nation of desperate and grieving people showed the fervency of their faith Saturday in this earthquake-ravaged capital.
They mourned an archbishop, prayed in an open-air revival and, later in the day, witnessed a miracle....
Not far away, in a central city refugee camp, Marielourde Meridier hoisted her arms skyward, shook her head from side to side and shouted out the word "Grace!"
Beside her, daughter Lovencia, 6, washed her dust-caked and scarred feet, her little head bandaged tightly to heal wounds from the crashing concrete.
Meridier was thankful. Of her five children, only one was hurt badly enough to go to a hospital. Now, she relied on her faith to get her through.
In the Champs de Mars plaza, which has become a makeshift settlement for earthquake victims, Haitians gathered for what they called a day of redemption.
Pastor Gregory Toussaint of the Tabernacle of Glory Church in Miami, Florida, who helped organize the event, said that those who suffered when the Earth shook wanted to ask for God's forgiveness.
From 6 in the morning to 6 at night, they prayed.
Some blamed themselves for drawing the ire of God. Others came to openly give thanks. Thousands together...
"You know, many of these people blame themselves for what happened," he said. "We all have our opinions. But prayer is a great thing. Because we survived."
Rosier lost his elder brother Fednel when his home was destroyed. He has been living in the Champs de Mars tent city since the 7.0-magnitude quake leveled this city.
He had been teaching at Bright English School that wretched day; many of his students did not make it out alive...
His voice was drowned out by the prayers in the plaza. At the sound, a smile bloomed on his face.
Then, within hours, a miracle materialized elsewhere. A 24-year-old man was pulled from the rubble of Hotel Napoli Inn. Buried for 11 days, he was alive.
The chief of the rescue team pointed upward and said three words.
"This is God."
".."The key comes from the brain which gradually adapts to the situation. It reduces the blood pressure and the kidneys partially shut down," he said.
While the average person should consume around 1,500 calories a day, Darlene was probably only eating around an average of 300, like many in one of the western hemisphere's poorest nations.
"There is always a limit but the body is capable of reducing its needs for survival," said Orcel.
Victims generally fall into a state of hibernation, which makes them intermittently lose consciousness and allows them to pull through, he added.
"I heard about a guy who was rescued almost three weeks after the earthquake in Agadir," Orcel said, referring to a quake in Morocco in 1960 in which 12,000 people died.
"He was in a cellar and was able to eat and drink but he had become crazy because he stayed completely conscious and knew he was buried alive."
In Darlene's case, doctors are confident in her ability to recover.
"It will not be too long, we have to wait for her renal functions to return. It will take four days and she is in the best hands possible," Orcel added.
For now she has not had any contact with her family.
"No one showed up," said Lambert.
Asked what would happen to her in the future, Fuilla joked: "Maybe she will get married to one of her 'super-rescuers' from civil defense. That would be a fairytale ending."..
"In the next few hours, a few volunteers with a Minnesota group will leave for Haiti to help those devastated by that massive earthquake..."
NATION: Update on Haiti Relief Effort
January 17, 2010 "Heads of Haiti Task Force and USAID on U.S.-led rescue and relief efforts" from foxnews.com
"HAITI (ANS) -- With at least an estimated one-third of Haiti's 9 million population severely affected by Tuesday's 7.2 magnitude earthquake, Christian relief and development groups have been quick to respond to the disaster...
Chaplains from the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (RRT) and representatives from Samaritan's Purse are en route to the earthquake-ravaged nation of Haiti.
A BGEA news advisory says they are traveling to Port-au-Prince to evaluate how the BGEA and Samaritan's Purse can most effectively meet the emotional, spiritual and physical needs of the area in the wake of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that toppled buildings and buried victims. ... An Urgent Appeal from Franklin Graham
-Medical
"...To respond to the disaster, MAF has set up the "Haiti Disaster and Recovery Fund." Donations can be made at www.maf.org/news/maf-news/massive-earthquake-hits-haiti. MAF expects to work with other relief agencies as they begin providing disaster assistance.
Disaster response is an MAF area of expertise. After an initial needs assessment is completed, Wismer said the ministry will coordinate logistics and provide air transportation for aid agencies working within Haiti. In times of disaster, MAF often takes government and relief officials on flights to survey and assess damage and develop a response plan. ..
"..Steve Bostian, executive director in the Dominican Republic with CURE International, is leading a 5-member surgical team in the area. Including Bostian, the team consists of: Dr. Scott Nelson, orthopedic surgeon; Dr. Dielika Charlier, a Haitian pediatrician; Lucia Hernandez, a nurse; and Susan Beemer, nurse anesthetist. ..
The hope of the Gospel doesn't go unnoticed by those who receive help. "They really understand the spiritual impact that 'God must have sent you.' When the dust settles, people start to ask those questions, 'Why did you do that?' then you have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus with them."
Your prayer is needed for the CURE team members, as well as for those they're reaching. For those who can help earthquake victims financially, CURE has established a donation fund to provide relief for Haitians.
You can donate in one of two ways: Click here to give an online donation. Or you can make a contribution by phone. Simply text CURE to 85944 to give a $10 mobile gift.
GLOBAL:
IMAGES OF HAITI
"I put together this video to hopefully encourage you to donate what you can to the people of Haiti. I used images from AP and RedCross--no copyright infringement intended. SONG BY SARA GROVES "I Saw What I Saw". Please give to: www.conduitmission.org"
"LONDON, UK (ANS) -- Thousands of churches in the UK are set to spend this Sunday (January 17, 2009) praying and giving offerings for people affected by the huge earthquake that devastated Haiti this week.
Actor John Hurt and presenter Kirsty Young have fronted appeals asking for help for the impoverished nation struck by the quake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale on Tuesday. Christians are responding to the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal by taking time within their church services to pray and give money.
The DEC, which was formed in 1963, is an umbrella organization for 13 aid agencies and ensures that funds raised are best placed to deliver effective and timely relief to people most in need....
Haiti you make a difference?
"..How can we even pray for Haiti? They need so much.
First of all, rest assured that God knows all that Haiti needs right now. We may not have the details of operations on the ground, but we don’t need to. Just cry out for Haiti. Ask for mercy for those still trapped. Ask for strength for the doctors and emergency crews. Ask for wisdom for those assessing need and allocating resources. Ask for compassion for leaders making decisions about aid. Ask for peace for a country that has been so unstable for so long...
Praying for Hope in Haiti
"01-13-10 - Members of the First Haitian Baptist Church pray for hope in Haiti01-13-10 - Members of the First Haitian Baptist Church pray for hope in Haiti "
Religion
-Christianity
Haitians praise God after apocalyptic quake, By MICHELLE FAUL and MIKE MELIA, Associated Press Writers Michelle Faul And Mike Melia, Associated Press Writers – 7 mins ago (Sunday, January 17th of 2010)
"
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Drumbeats called the faithful to a Sunday Mass praising God amid a scene resembling the Apocalypse — a collapsed cathedral in a city cloaked with the smell of death, where aid is slow to reach survivors and rescue crews battle to pry an ever-smaller number of the living from the ruins.
Sunlight streamed through what little was left of blown-out stained windows as the Rev. Eric Toussaint preached to a small crowd of survivors. A rotting body lay in its main entrance.
"Why give thanks to God? Because we are here," Toussaint said. "We say 'Thank you God.' What happened is the will of God. We are in the hands of God now."
As Catholic and Protestant worshippers across the city met for their first Sunday services since the magnitude-7.0 quake, many Haitians were still waiting for food and water and some took vengeance against looters.
Haitians seemed increasingly frustrated by a seemingly invisible government and rescue workers were exasperated by the stuggle to get aid through the small, damaged and clogged airport run by U.S. military controllers, and to get it from the airport into town.
Doctors Without Borders said Sunday that a cargo plane carrying a field hospital was denied permission to land at the airport and had to be rerouted through the Dominican Republic — creating a 24-hour delay in setting up a crucial field hospital.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called the quake "one of the most serious crises in decades."
"The damage, destruction and loss of life are just overwhelming," he said before arriving in Haiti on Sunday.
Nobody knows how many died in Tuesday's quake. Haiti's government alone has already recovered 20,000 bodies — not counting those recovered by independent agencies or relatives themselves, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told The Associated Press.
The Pan American Health Organization now says 50,000 to 100,000 people perished in the quake. Bellerive said 100,000 would "seem to be the minimum."
Yet President Rene Preval has made no broadcast address to his nation, nor has he been seen at any disaster site. Instead he has met Cabinet ministers and foreign visitors at a police station that serves as his base following the collapse of the National Palace.
"The government is a joke. The U.N. is a joke," said 71-year-old Jacqueline Thermati, who lay in the dirt at a damaged old-age hospice — not far from Preval's temporary headquarters — where dozens of elderly people were near death.
Downtown, young men sitting amid piles of garbage shouted, "Preval out! Aristide come back!" referring to former Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted in 2004.
At the roofless cathedral, elderly women worried the beads of their rosaries and prayed for the intervention of Our Lady Of The Ascension, to whom the 81-year-old church is named.
A military helicopter roared overhead, drowning out a hymn by the congregation. Above loomed the partially destroyed office of the archbishop who died nearby and another building whose blown-out walls had laid it open it like a doll's house.
An apparently demented elderly woman began preaching on the sideline of the Mass: "Where is our justice? Now the palace of justice has been broken down ... we are all infected by disease. The end is near."
Amid the struggle for food, some turned to looting, infuriating people struggling to guard what little they still have.
Two suspected looters lay on the street in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, both beaten and with their hands bound together. Some in the angry crowd that gathered around them said they had been attacked by angry residents, others that police had caused their wounds.
One lay completely motionless, his dreadlocked hair stained by a deep pool of dark crimson blood. The other lay bleeding profusely but occasionally twitched his leg.
A few hours later, a reporter found both men were dead. However they got that way — whether vigilante justice or police execution — all agreed that they were criminals who had escaped from the destroyed prison.
There were also occasions of joy: An American team pulled a woman alive from a collapsed university building where she had been trapped for 97 hours. Near dawn, another crew rescued three survivors from deep in the pancaked ruins of a supermarket.
And a woman was pulled alive, dehydrated but otherwise uninjured, from the ruins of the Montana Hotel, to the applause of onlookers.
The son of co-owner Nadine Cardoso said he could hear her voice from the rubble. Twelve hours later, with more than 20 friends and relatives watching, she was lowered from a hill of debris on a stretcher.
"It's a little miracle," her husband, Reinhard Riedl, said after hearing she was alive in the wreckage. "She's one tough cookie. She is indestructible."
But the rescue was bittersweet for Cardoso's sister Gerthe: Rescuers had to abandon a search for her 7-year-old grandson after an aftershock closed a space where he was believed to be.
U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said 1,739 rescue workers in 43 teams with 161 dogs and high-tech equipment so far have saved more than 70 people.
The U.N. itself lost at least 40 confirmed dead — including its mission chief Hedi Annabi — with hundreds still missing. "For the United Nations, this is the gravest and greatest single loss in the history of our organization," Ban said.
But the U.N. secretary-general said the agency was already feeding 40,000 and hopes to feed 2 million within a month.
Florence Louis, seven months pregnant with two children, was one of thousands of Haitians who gathered at a gate at the Cite Soleil slum, where U.N. World Food Program workers handed out high-energy biscuits for the first time.
"It is enough because I didn't have anything at all," said Louis, 29, clutching four packets of biscuits.
The Haitian government has established 14 distribution points for food and other supplies, and U.S. Army helicopters scouted locations for more. Aid groups opened five emergency health centers. Vital gear, such as water-purification units, was arriving from abroad.
On a hillside golf course, perhaps 50,000 people were sleeping in a makeshift tent city overlooking the stricken capital and paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division flew in to set up a base for handing out water and food.
As relief teams grappled with on-the-ground obstacles, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited and pledged more American assistance. President Barack Obama met with former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton in Washington and urged Americans to donate to Haiti relief efforts.
In Brussels, the European Commission announced that its envoy to Haiti, Pilar Juarez, was among those who died in the quake.
At the cathedral, the Rev. Toussaint described his own near-miraculous survival.
"I watched the destruction of the cathedral from this window," he said, pointing to a window in what remains of the archdiocese office. "I am not dead because God has a plan for me."
"What happens is a sign from God, saying that we must recognize his power - we need to reinvent ourselves,"
Others, however, were angry.
"It's a catastrophe and it is God who has put this upon us," said Jean-Andre Noel, 39-year-old computer technician "Those who live in Haiti need everything. We need food, we need drink, we need medicine. We need help."
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Associated Press writers contributing to this story included Alfred De Montesquiou, Tamara Lush, Jennifer Kay and Kevin Maurer in Port-au-Prince; Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Bradley Brooks in Sao Paulo; Frank Jordans in Geneva, and Libby Quaid in Washington.
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Haiti Prays
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Added On January 17, 2010
The first church services since the quake are taking place outside of church buildings. CNN's Chris Lawrence Reports."
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Selling the Country to Satan - Lowell Ponte on FrontPage Magazine.com has a very interesting take on the current situation unfolding in the little island country of Haiti. In essence he looks at it from a spiritual view shedding some light on the "principalities" at war for the soul of this little nation and perhaps for the soul of America as well.
I take a special interest in the situation down there, because in our Church are two families that sought escape due to political and religious persecution from the current Astride dictatorship. Sadly, almost three weeks ago, one of those families learned that a brother had been killed by the police. The brother, a teacher, had been protesting the government closure of public schools. On his way home from the public protest, the police stopped his taxi and murdered him.
Ponte starts by looking at the history of Haiti and how the French and Spanish exterminated the cannibals that called the island home and then replaced them with African slaves to work their farms. He then details the uprising that took place and how Boukman, an African slave and witch doctor, made a pact with Satan:
In Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince today you can see an iron pig statue. It commemorates the ritual of the African religion Americans today call Voodoo conducted by Boukman on August 14, 1791.
A pig on that day was ritually killed. The escaped slaves joined in drinking its still-warm blood as part of a pact. Boukman led his followers in vowing that they and their children would serve the pagan gods of the island, including the devil, for exactly 200 years in exchange for freedom from the French.
Ponte then goes on to look at more recent history in reference to Astride who was at one time a Catholic priest and has now completely rejected Catholicism for Voodoo which he has declared the national religion of Haiti. He goes on to examine Astride's rise to power with the help of Clinton and some claims that are made by the newspapers of Haiti as to Bill Clinton's participation in a Voodoo ceremony. Which, granted is a bit far fetched, but then not much surprises me anymore.
It's a very interesting read with links to sources. But probably more importantly it is different from what I've been reading and viewing in other more mainstream news sources that have been trying to make the Astride government out to be the oppressed on some level or another.
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*see GoodnewsEverybody.com- Deceiver-Ways Satan "lies" to everybody, Demons, Devils, Ghosts, Magic, Illusions, Witches, etc....
"The story of how one of the most feared witch doctors in Haiti heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and dedicated his life to serving Him.
For more information about the conversion of Jacques the feared voodoo witch doctor please go to http://www.billrudge.org. "
*see deceiver
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We hope you will enjoy exploring the new home on the internet and that it will encourage you to visit the country, to become familiar with the people, art, culture and history, also with the investment opportunities available to you in the tourism sector."
Youth
Hope for Haiti: Youth Mission Trip, Spring 2007
"[GIVE IT A FEW SECONDS TO START] March 31 - April 5 2007, Fruit Cove Baptist Church sent a group of about 20 youth to Haiti on a mission trip during their spring break. This video shows footage from the trip, and set to the song "You Said" by Shane Barnard, the words of which are nearly perfect for our mission there, makes for an awesome display of the poverty of Haiti, and also the hope for Haiti in Jesus Christ!
Let hearts break for the people of Haiti."
From: Lorenzo Nelson
To: mcccm@cda.mrs.umn.edu
Subject: Greetings in the grace of Jesus
THE CHRISTIAN MISSION
Greetings from "Your Mission" Good News! Opportunities abound for you to add treasures to your account in heaven.
Dear Web Ministry, Pastor Neil & Church,
Here is a story from "Man Za"
"Recently, an elderly woman from Trou Chouchou near Petit Goave was brought
to my attention as she was in need of shelter, food and medical attention
due to excruciating pain from her left breast, which was suspected of being
a malignant tumor. Though this was an unusual and unexpected request, she
was temporarily accepted at our modest low income mission of fifteen
residents. Through several referrals and follow up mammography exams and
biopsy, it was a relief to all and especially to her to find out that the
tumor was benign.
Having no where to go, her stay was prolonged indefinitely and naturally she
blended in with the residents and became a member of the mission.
Interestingly, one evening as I addressed one of our teenage girls soon to
be a mother I noticed Rosalied Belizaire known as "Man Za" the elderly woman
sitting alone in a corner of the yard, lost in space with her thoughts while
mechanically cleaning off the dirt of her finger nails, I came to realize
that I never sat with her and never had a real conversation. I pulled a
chair next to her and softly engaged in a profound dialogue that revealed so
much about her, the whole world and me. At first, I thought she was at least
75 years old. Of course she did not know her age but had a birth certificate
that indicated she was sixty-one. I was saddened by this fact, she must have
had a tumultuous life to look so old for such a young age. When I asked her
what appeared to be the most interesting change between then and now, her
candid answer will for ever remain deeply embedded in my mind. She said
"SHOES!" "To be able to wear or see someone else use a pair of shoes and see
those feet being protected from thorns, rocks, hot dirt and gravel and
broken bottles,,,, is to me the most interesting improvement in my life
time." I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes and realized that we still have so much to do about poverty and yet, we take so much for granted. "
(a church, orphanage & clinic are planned at her location-it could be a
branch of your church...) More pictures and information on this outreach can
be seen at http://members.truepath.com/MissionHaiti/index.html
If the Lord touches your heart to become involved in more mission outreach,
please let us know at:
The Christian Mission
15007 SE Powell Blvd. #3
Portland, OR 97236
Phone
(503) 761-0700
e-mail: themission@ilovejesus.net
The Fields are white unto harvest.
Yours in His Love,
Lorenzo Nelson
"100% of Contributions goes to the Mission Field."
Thank you for visiting GoodnewsEverybody! Please feel free to e-mail me (Sal) at info@goodnewseverybody.com on any comments, suggestions (e.g. any new websites),complaints, or anytype of feedback to improve this website.
