Over 800,000 Haitians homeless -- how you can help

[Tonya Sneed]

Because of the recent hurricanes and tropical storms, between 800,000 and 1,000,000 Haitians have gone homeless, and many of them remain without clean water and food.

For those who are interested, I know of a few grassroots organization providing assistance. One of my favorites is run by two women who are evangelical and have hearts of gold. One of them had a daughter who died tragically from dengue fever that she contracted in Haiti, and yet this mom remains as committed as ever to helping the people of Haiti. I got an email from her today, requesting assistance with replacing 3 homes destroyed by Gustav and helping repair several homes damaged by Gustav. The houses in this area can be replaced or repaired for a very modest amount -- likely less than $2.000 each for replacing the destroyed houses (depending on some variables) so it would be considerably less to repair the damaged houses. I'm gonna do my best to talk my hubby into replacing two of the houses, and wonder if anyone on Naznet would like to help with replacing the 3rd house or with repairing the other homes. These women go to Haiti regularly and would allow you to accompany them, if you would want to see in person the work they are doing. Email me directly and I'll give you more info --

tonya

[Susan Unger]

Because of the recent hurricanes and tropical storms, between 800,000 and 1,000,000 Haitians have gone homeless, and many of them remain without clean water and food.

It is hard for me to fathom 1 million people homeless. That is roughly 1/9 of the population. That would be the equivalent of 33,800,000 Americans homeless or 4 New York Cities. When I start thinking like that, I can get a better picture. It will be a long time before this situation is resolved.

[Jim Franklin]

Tonya, I sure wished I was in a position to help. We have just taken out a home improvement loan to repair our storm damaged roof and will be shopping for roofing this evening when my son, who's wife is the one named Tonya, who will do the roofing can get away from his business. I will be praying for a successful resolution to your request as God empowers those who are able to respond.

[Tonya Sneed]

Tonya, I sure wished I was in a position to help. We have just taken out a home improvement loan to repair our storm damaged roof and will be shopping for roofing this evening when my son, who's wife is the one named Tonya, who will do the roofing can get away from his business. I will be praying for a successful resolution to your request as God empowers those who are able to respond.

Thanks, Jim. :basic01

My friend is working on getting photographs of some of the affected families and specific details about the costs involved in helping them. I'll be sure and post this once it becomes available to me.

[Susan Unger]

From the Nazarene Caribbean Newsletter ~

The winds and rain of Ike, Hanna, and Gustav left Haiti weeks ago, but the people there are still struggling to meet even the basic needs for survival.

Bill Dawson, French Field Director in the Caribbean region, reported that thousands of Nazarenes are living in refugee camps around the flooded city of Gonaives, Haiti. "Two Nazarenes died in the camps on Tuesday of this week," he said.

It is difficult to explain what the conditions are like in Haiti and Cuba as those left behind in the storms’ aftermath try to create some kind of normalcy in life. Some reports estimate as many as two million people have been displaced by the storms.

Herald reporters added, “For Haiti, the toughest loss was in the Artibonite Valley, the heart of the country's already paltry breadbasket. Cuba suffered agricultural losses on both coasts, where storms wiped out not just the bananas that farmers scrambled to recover, but the entire sugar cane crop, 135,000 tons of citrus and a staggering 700,000 tons of food.”

Curt Luthye, Work and Witness coordinator in the Caribbean, commented, "This is a Katrina-sized event for the people of the Caribbean. I am praying that we have a Katrina-sized response from the U.S. Nazarenes. We need their help desperately."

This is so depressing...

[Tonya Sneed]

I'm going to try to post one of the photos. This first photo is of Mary Celestin's home. Mary is a student sponsored through my friends' organization, but I'm not sure how old she is. She lives up the mountain by Basin Bleu with her parents Rigaud Celestin and Madam Rigaud. They are staying with relatives right now. I'm not certain who the person in the photo is. I'm still collecting details. . .

It is estimated that it will cost between $1000 - $1500 to replace this home.

[Tonya Sneed]

Unfortunately, the picture is too small to be useful. When I open it in my email account, it's larger, but it saved as a small photo. Not sure how to enlarge it? Maybe someone on Naznet could help me with this. I could email you the photo. . .

I need to enlarge it not just to share this and other photos (of the hurricane damage) with people on Naznet, but also to share them with people on my email list and people at the fair trade shop where I volunteer. So it would be super if someone could assist me with this. :basic01

[Susan Unger]

Unfortunately, the picture is too small to be useful. When I open it in my email account, it's larger, but it saved as a small photo. Not sure how to enlarge it? Maybe someone on Naznet could help me with this. I could email you the photo. . .

I need to enlarge it not just to share this and other photos (of the hurricane damage) with people on Naznet, but also to share them with people on my email list and people at the fair trade shop where I volunteer. So it would be super if someone could assist me with this. :basic01

Send it to me.

[Susan Unger]

Here are the remaining pictures.

[Susan Unger]

Here's a better one of what Ton posted previously ~

[Tonya Sneed]

Susan -
THANKS for your help.

Just to let everyone know, the pictures are actually of 2 different houses, and the photos are not in order.

In any case, the second house belongs to Etzer Jean Baptiste and Mirlande Rene. The photo with the little girl and the man are of Marie Edeline Jean Baptiste and her father Etzer Jean Baptiste. They have temporarily tried to fix this home and are living in it.

It is estimated that it would cost $1000 - $1500 to replace each home.

tonya

[Bob Evans]

Is the price you mention through an humanity or mission organization?

[Tonya Sneed]

Is the price you mention through an humanity or mission organization?


First of all, let me just say to anyone reading this that I'm not posting the pictures in order to persuade people to give to my favorite organizations -- but instead to get people thinking about the plight of the people of Haiti. No nation of people in the Western hemisphere endure what they do. They were already in this horrible predicament -- with their food prices rising astronomically -- and now this. Over 1,000,000 people have lost their homes, and then Susan's post mentioned that the number may even be closer to 2,000,000. So when you look at the picture of the Celestins' home, just multiply that by 1 or 2 million, and you get a sense of the devastation.

I was reading an article yesterday about a Haitian man who lost his plaintain trees that his family depended on for their income. He said, "Now we have no choice but to suffer." I can't seem to get that quote out of my head. . .

In any case, the organization (that sent the pictures) does humanitarian kinds of work (e.g., child sponsorships -- helping the families pay for their children's schooling) and one thing that I don't support (pig giveaways), but I just direct my money to the things that I do support. The two women who oversee it are evangelical Christians and do their work out of love for Christ. I like that the women are volunteers so there's no one in an air-conditioned office in the U.S. collecting part of my donations. And, I like that they travel to Haiti regularly and spend lots of time with the people, even staying in Haitians' homes. There's more information about them in my first post in this thread. . .

Ya know, I'd be awfully happy if people on Naznet are inspired to give to Compassionate Ministries in Haiti as a result of this thread -- or, if they're already giving to Haiti, to give more :basic01 -- that would be terrific. :basic01