A point in time that changed the history, landscape and the national psyche of Haiti. Today is the 2 year anniversary of the 7.0 earthquake that hit just to the southwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Every Haitian was affected in some way, if not by losing family, friends, homes or jobs, then by being injured, or having to take in homeless family and/or friends. Having their governmental buildings and office destroyed, the places they shop, go to church, or school destroyed has irrevocably changed life as they knew it.
There are still over 500,000 living in tent cities. Just think of that! That’s the size of Lee County, where the RMI office is located. All those people still, 2 years later, living in tents. It is mind boggling to think of what it means to live like that for so long.
RMI is happy to be a bright spot in that sea of hopelessness through Homes for Haiti. Last year alone RMI built and provided 59 homes. But the work is not stopping there! Here are Facebook entries from 2 of RMI’s field missionaries posted just this week:
From Gary McLaughlin:
Thursday, Jan. 7: Starting Saturday we'll be building 4 homes in 5 days. Taking Sunday off to attend church at Picot with the Loomis Team. It's going to be a great week.
Saturday, Jan. 9: First house was finished today and the new owner is the retired pastor's daughter that was trapped under the rubble in Port-au-Prince for I think 9 days. I saw her are CNN news come out of the rubble, stand on top of the pile of broken blocks, put her arms in the air and praise God for sparing her life. She lives in the Simon area, right next to Citi Lumiere, where many missionaries live. It was a great day 1. One of 4 finished. Picot tomorrow for church service with the team.
Tuesday, Jan. 10: We'll be loading #4 home on the truck this morning and taking it to the site for assembly. Weather's been great and the team is strong and working hard. Hardest part of the job is holding Wilfred [Haitian contractor in charge of building the homes] back so the team can do the work. That's a good thing though, ah? Good day all.
Last of 4 homes finished by 12pm today. This afternoon we put in 5 bio water filter systems. Another great day in Haiti for us. Praise God!
Wednesday, Jan. 11: Up at 3:30 this morning and off to Les Anglais for kids pictures and to check on the three new classrooms OSLC [Our Savior’s Lutheran Church] had us put up for them. Going to be another great day with Marilyn, Benson, Merry Raymond and Marie France.
(Explaining his photo of the 3 classrooms) Three homes purchased for classrooms. Church took a wall out and made them wider. Not finished yet but first room had room for 39 kids. I was thinking they could do 18 or 24 depending on what class was in them.
(In response to a comment about the 3 classrooms built from the houses.) I was thinking they would be hot too when I first saw these homes but the opposite is the case. They are cooler inside than out. You can put this house in the direct sunlight all day and it's cooler inside than out. The roof is a reflective galvanized material and the walls are white painted aluminum.
From Becky Thompson:
Tuesday, Jan. 10: Nebraska team finished 4 houses in 2.5 days for earthquake displaced people. They are WAY ahead of schedule! So the rest of today and tomorrow morning they are installing biosand filters in people's homes and helping with some small projects around the mission center.
[Bio-sand filter is shown at one of the installations.]
Rebuilding Haiti is an agonizingly slow process. But we are there for the long haul! We have a committed cross-cultural team who feel called of God to continue to serve Him there. For the missionaries, this is their home. For the national staff, they are thrilled to be a moving force in helping their own country. They feel empowered to accomplish the tasks given them and work tirelessly. We are so thankful for this on-the-ground team!
Food for Haiti continues to meet the needs of hungry Haitians. Last year over 67 tons of food (822,672 Meals) were distributed and approximately 2600 children were provided with a daily hot lunch at school through the Hope for Kidz program. Plans are already made to distribute more in the coming months.
RMI leadership, Dan Shoemaker and Kim Rose, will be going to Haiti Jan 23 to 27. It will be a time of meeting with our missionaries and staff as we plan activities, etc. for this year. They will also be meeting the new president of MEBSH and his staff to introduce him to Kim and to begin a dialogue as to how RMI and MEBSH can continue to work hand in hand into the future. In addition, they will visit several businesses that RMI is interested in working with to create jobs in southern Haiti in some of the towns where we have Sister Church Partnerships.
At the end of their trip, they will be attending a one day conference in Port-au-Prince designed to bring non-profit agencies together with Haitian businesses. The goal is to better understand each other and to encourage more partnering together in buying supplies or services from the businesses instead of going outside of the Haitian community for these things. The conference is a part of a coalition of agencies that RMI is a part of called “Rebuilding Haiti”. This coalition is striving to see 100,000 jobs created in the next 10 years as well as leadership development and pastoral training.
Like we said, The work goes on! Pray for Haiti and the rebuilding efforts. Pray for RMI’s work there. Pray for our staff and the teams that are going to minister. We cannot do all that we are doing without your prayer involvement and without your financial involvement. You can donate online HERE.
Remember Haiti with us.
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