Stop helping Haiti

Did you stop on this page because of that title? Did the words resonate within you or make you angry?

AWESOME! At least you’re thinking now.

I have to tell you the truth, though, I will not advocate the cessation of aid to Haiti. Simply because of the facts shown in this video:

Let’s recap those and think about them a bit, shall we?

Fact #1:

The average family struggles to live on $1.50 per day. That’s a whopping $45 a month. Convicting to think that what you pay for your cable internet is more than what a family is living on, isn’t it? And let’s look at that word “average”. That means the middle. Think back to third grade, to get the average, you add together all the numbers, then divide it by however many numbers you added. That means that there are just as many people making LESS than $1.50 per day as there are making more than that.

Fact #2:

Children die from colds in Haiti. Simple respiratory infections kill children in Haiti. Wait, you mean, the sniffles like we get that fun bubble-gum tasting amoxicillin for our kids — KILLS children? That’s exactly what I mean.  Why does that happen? Because they don’t have the clean water or the medications to prevent it.

Fact #3:

Close to 2000 children are sold into slavery each year. Two THOUSAND CHILDREN are SOLD by their family — or someone who has control over them — into SLAVERY. They don’t attend school. They don’t play and have fun. They cook, clean, iron clothes, scrub floors, and other things too despicable to mention. This issue even made it into a script of a Law & Order episode. The term for this is restavec – and while it occurs a lot, that doesn’t mean it’s right or acceptable.

Fact #4:

A devastating earthquake hit this overcrowded, poorly developed, impoverished nation on January 12, 2010. People died. Estimates put the numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Reality is, we will never actually know how many. In the time after that first quake, the area has suffered around 74 aftershocks — most of which measure above 4.2 on the Richter scale. So many of the homes were poorly built that they did not stand. The people know the buildings left standing are pretty much the same. We have heard of people jumping from the second floor of the hospital where they lay recovering because of their fear when feeling another tremor.

Now comes the real tragedy. During the first ten days of this crisis, it was all over the news. It was the topic of blog posts, news sites, spoken of by politicians and preachers alike. Then along came controversial kisses, the Super Bowl, the Grammies, the beginning of new TV seasons and somehow, Haiti has slipped from the forefront of our minds.

Just this week, Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN fame have returned to Haiti. Dr. Gupta said that he just couldn’t stay away, the need is so great. I have friends who have been there since the 14th of January. They just can’t leave, the need is so great.

We have a child in Haiti. Her need is just so great. She is not in an area affected by the earthquake like so many of the children in the area around Port-au-Prince. Compassion International had around 38 of their child development centers significant affected by the earthquake. That means they are in the official “impact zone”, has reported death and injuries to children, reports significant damage to the church or other facilities and reports significant damage to the children’s homes, many of which were destroyed.

Compassion has been in Haiti for forty years, serving the needs of children and families. They have people already on the ground, loving those who are affected by this crisis. Their need is so great.

Our wealth is so great. Compared to those in this nation that has been so ravaged, even the poorest among us are like Bill Gates.  You might not be able to sponsor one of the children Compassion helps in Haiti, but there are other ways to help.  Will you?

Or will you be one of the ones who stop helping?

Related posts:

1. Have Compassion