DATE : 1/28/2010
Assistance to Earthquake Survivors Continues
Over two weeks since the 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on January 12, the scope of the death and destruction is staggering. The most recent estimates indicate that roughly 200,000 deaths and 194,000 injuries have occurred. At least one million people have been left homeless and in need of temporary shelter.
While the number of deaths and injuries has grown substantially since the quake, so has the number of people the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti and Episcopal Relief & Development are helping: over 25,000 survivors in 23 camps.
“It is because of the incredible network already in place in the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti that such a large response to this crisis is possible,” said Katie Mears, Episcopal Relief & Development’s Program Manager for USA Disaster Preparedness and Response, who has been working on the ground in affected areas.
With support from Episcopal Relief & Development, the Diocese of Haiti is reaching more and more people each day. Prior to the earthquake, there was an ongoing training program run by the Diocese in partnership with Episcopal Relief & Development. The Diocesan Development Officer and 28 development agents for Haiti, who participated in this training, are currently working to conduct needs assessments and set priorities for ongoing relief and recovery efforts.
“It is very fortunate that our existing partnership with the Diocese of Haiti included the development of a network of agents familiar with local communities and also with disaster-response techniques,” said Matt St. John, Episcopal Relief & Development’s Program Officer for Latin American and the Caribbean. “The presence of these development agents has been crucial to the effective delivery of aid.”
In addition to distributing critical food and medical supplies to communities throughout Haiti, the agents recently convened at the tent camp of St. Pierre College in Port-au-Prince to receive training on the use of emergency water purification systems. Following this training, the agents will deliver the purifiers to rural communities and work with community leaders to ensure they are properly educated about the purifiers’ maintenance.
“This is one example of how we are leveraging the established network to provide critical supplies to as many people as possible,” said Mears.
Episcopal Relief & Development is continuing to work in partnership with the Episcopal Dioceses of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, IMA World Health and Worldwide Village to reach those most in need.
“Episcopal Relief & Development’s capacity to respond is strengthened by the incredible team of community health workers, clergy, development agents and lay leaders that are integral members of the communities throughout the country,” continued Mears. “We are providing the tools they need to facilitate a long-term response to this disaster.”
Friday, January 29, 2010
Haiti 15
Bishop Holguin (Dominican Republic) Discusses Relief Work in the Aftermath of the Haiti Quake
Following the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, Episcopal Relief & Development has been working with the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic to assist survivors. Bishop Holguin from the Diocese of the Dominican Republic speaks about this important relief and recovery work. These quotes were from videos that were filmed on January 21, 2010.
"As we know, our brothers and sisters in Haiti have been recently affected by a terrible earthquake that had destroyed the entire capital of Port Au Prince and other cities. The Episcopal Church in Dominican Republic has been working together in solidarity with our Haitian brothers and sisters doing everything possible to accompany them through these difficult times and provide them with supplies. The members of the Episcopal Church in the Dominican Republic, the students at our schools, have been sharing the few things they have with the Haitians. We have been praying, but at the same time doing a lot of things with Bishop Duracin, clergy and other lay members. I think this is a really good opportunity to put compassion and solidarity in practice by doing everything possible to help and support our Haitian brothers and sisters that are really suffering. A lot of people have died, but there are many more waiting for our help as good Samaritans in the same way our Lord Jesus Christ did it."
"I want to recognize the work that Episcopal Relief & Development has been doing in the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake. The presence of their staff in the area, as well as all the financial aid, supplies, food, water that the Episcopal Church members had provided through Episcopal Relief & Development are one of the most helpful and secure ways to support the people damaged by the earthquake in Haiti."
"Share what you have, it doesn't matter if it’s a lot or not. Send it to Episcopal Relief & Development. Through them, it will get to many children, elderly and other people in need in Haiti who doesn’t have the resources to eat, or get their medications. Whatever we can do for them today, will get rewarded in the future. Let’s show our solidarity. We have a great channel to send resources through Episcopal Relief & Development, that’s the right way to help our brothers and sisters in Haiti."
Following the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, Episcopal Relief & Development has been working with the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic to assist survivors. Bishop Holguin from the Diocese of the Dominican Republic speaks about this important relief and recovery work. These quotes were from videos that were filmed on January 21, 2010.
"As we know, our brothers and sisters in Haiti have been recently affected by a terrible earthquake that had destroyed the entire capital of Port Au Prince and other cities. The Episcopal Church in Dominican Republic has been working together in solidarity with our Haitian brothers and sisters doing everything possible to accompany them through these difficult times and provide them with supplies. The members of the Episcopal Church in the Dominican Republic, the students at our schools, have been sharing the few things they have with the Haitians. We have been praying, but at the same time doing a lot of things with Bishop Duracin, clergy and other lay members. I think this is a really good opportunity to put compassion and solidarity in practice by doing everything possible to help and support our Haitian brothers and sisters that are really suffering. A lot of people have died, but there are many more waiting for our help as good Samaritans in the same way our Lord Jesus Christ did it."
"I want to recognize the work that Episcopal Relief & Development has been doing in the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake. The presence of their staff in the area, as well as all the financial aid, supplies, food, water that the Episcopal Church members had provided through Episcopal Relief & Development are one of the most helpful and secure ways to support the people damaged by the earthquake in Haiti."
"Share what you have, it doesn't matter if it’s a lot or not. Send it to Episcopal Relief & Development. Through them, it will get to many children, elderly and other people in need in Haiti who doesn’t have the resources to eat, or get their medications. Whatever we can do for them today, will get rewarded in the future. Let’s show our solidarity. We have a great channel to send resources through Episcopal Relief & Development, that’s the right way to help our brothers and sisters in Haiti."
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Haiti 14
Second one today! 1/27/2010
Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti faces at least three to six months of emergency response to survivors of the Jan. 12 earthquake that left a large portion of the diocese and the nation in ruins, according to a priest at the heart of the diocese's response.
Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti faces at least three to six months of emergency response to survivors of the Jan. 12 earthquake that left a large portion of the diocese and the nation in ruins, according to a priest at the heart of the diocese's response.
In the midst of the challenges of aiding nearly 23,000 Haitians who are living in roughly 20 camps run by the diocese, Episcopalians are assessing the damage to their diocese and beginning to decide their rebuilding priorities, said the Rev. Canon Oge Beauvoir.
Beauvoir, a Haitian native and one of four Episcopal Church missionaries assigned to work with the diocese in the impoverished country, spoke to ENS Jan. 27 from a makeshift camp of earthquake survivors that began the night of the quake on a rocky field next to the College St. Pierre, a wrecked diocesan school. He, Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin and other diocesan members are living at the camp that he said contains 3,000 survivors.
"Right now we are dealing with the emergency, how to take care of those people who are in our camps for displaced people," he said, adding that "you don't need to be Episcopalian to be assisted."
"The challenge is to feed them, to provide them water and medicine" and shelter, Beauvoir said.
"We think that's something we're gong to be doing for between three to six months," he said. "We don't think people would leave the camps before that because they have no place to go. They have lost everything they had."
There have been conflicting reports about the eventual outcome of plans to relocate in much larger camps the thousands of Haitian made homeless by the quake.
Beauvoir said that Episcopal Relief & Development and the Montreal-based Center for International Studies and Cooperation have each arranged food shipments to the College Ste. Pierre camp. The Episcopal agency is helping the diocese find tents, he added.
"We need tents because people are still sleeping outside," Beauvoir said. "Every night we are praying that there will be no rain. If it starts raining, then we will be in trouble."
Haiti's rainy season normally starts in February and June is the acknowledged start of hurricane season. When the quake hit, the country had not yet fully recovered from four storms that battered it between mid-August and mid-September 2008.
"The diocese is on its knees," Beauvoir said. "Out of that situation, there is hope because of our partners: the Episcopal Church, ERD [Episcopal Relief & Development] and all the Episcopal churches in the states. ERD is doing a very good job to help with what we are doing and to provide the support we need to do the work."
Beauvoir, who is dean of the diocese's seminary, said that most of the damage to the diocese occurred in Port-au-Prince and in and around Léogâne, about 19 miles from the capital and closer to the quake's epicenter.
"We have lost every single church in Léogâne and many schools," he said, explaining that each of the seven parishes in the area had many mission congregations as well.
The diocese's nursing school, Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de l'Université Episcopale d'Haïti in Léogâne (FSIL) (Faculty of Nursing Science of the Episcopal University of Haiti), was relatively undamaged and its dean and students, joined by various other medical professionals, have been caring for quake survivors.
While the full extent of damage is still being assessed, it is clear, Beauvoir said, that many of the diocese's churches and 254 schools, ranging from preschools to a university and a seminary, were destroyed or heavily damaged. The lost schools include the Holy Trinity complex of primary, music and trade schools adjacent to the demolished diocesan Cathédrale Sainte Trinité (Holy Trinity Cathedral) in Port-au-Prince, the university and the seminary. A portion of the St. Vincent School for Handicapped Children, also in the Haitian capital, collapsed, killing between six and 10 students and staff.
One of the U.S.-based Episcopal Church's 12 overseas dioceses, Haiti is numerically the largest diocese in the church with more than 83,000 Episcopalians in 169 congregations served by just 32 active priests, nine retired priests, six deacons, three nuns and 17 seminarians.
Beauvoir said he believes "all the clergy are safe" but many have lost parishioners. "For instance, in one parish in Léogâne, 15 people were killed," he said.
Helping people find shelter, food, water and medicine is just a beginning, he said.
"We're also looking to the psychological side of it," Beauvoir said. "People have been affected not only in terms of what they have lost, but also as a human being. When you have been through that experience, you have been destroyed somewhere or another and you need psychological help to put yourself back together as one piece."
He said that Episcopal Relief & Development has also offered the diocese help in counseling clergy who "are so busy thinking of other people."
The diocese is looking beyond the emergency phase of the quake's aftermath, and Duracin has appointed a 15-member special commission to help him in that response. The commission, made up of clergy, laity and one of the Sisters of St. Margaret whose convent was destroyed during the quake, is assessing emergency, health care and education issues, taking "an inventory of what we have lost" and is beginning to look ahead to the rebuilding period, according to Beauvoir, who is coordinating the group.
While the members have not set specific priorities and are meeting Jan. 28 to continue that discussion, Beauvoir said "we're going to start looking toward re-building the church properties we have lost."
"It's going to be a very long process of rebuilding the diocese," he said.
Beauvoir asked Episcopalians across the church to "pray for us so we can help the strength and courage to carry on" and lend their financial support by way of Episcopal Relief & Development.
And, he add, people should only come to Haiti now if they have professional disaster-response or medical training. "It is too early" for anyone else, he said, noting that, among other challenges, "we have no way to give them accommodations."
Beauvoir said the diocese has been buoyed by the support it has received. "We are very grateful to partners all over the Anglican Communion in general, especially for our partners in the U.S., all the dioceses and Trinity Wall Street and ERD and the church center and the presiding bishop," he said, adding that members of the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic have been with their neighbors in Haiti beginning almost immediately after the initial earthquake.
"You know who your friends are when you are in trouble," he said. "We are not alone; you are with us, the Episcopal Church. We feel supported here, so that like Paul said to the Corinthians: we are troubled but not destroyed."
Haiti 13
Church Continues to Provide Relief in Haiti
January 26, 2010
Two weeks after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti, the scope of the death and destruction is staggering. The most recent estimates indicate that at least 200,000 deaths and 194,000 injuries have occurred. At least one million people have been left homeless and in need of temporary shelter.
“The capital is transformed into an immense refuge camp,” stated Bishop Duracin in a recent letter posted on the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti’s website. “They call desperately for food, water and medicine.”
With support from Episcopal Relief & Development, Bishop Duracin and his colleagues continue to run a tent camp for as many as 3,000 survivors on the rocky field next to College St. Pierre, one of the diocese’s many structures destroyed by the quake.
In a letter to Episcopal Relief & Development President Rob Radtke, Bishop Duracin said, “We are directing emergency relief to those who need it most, and we already are making plans and moving forward to help our people.”
In addition to supporting those in the tent camp in the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, Episcopal Relief & Development is continuing its work with the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic, IMA World Health and World Village. Activities include making daily shipments of food and medical supplies to affected Haitian communities; organizing air drops to communities not easily accessible by roads; establishing communication between dioceses through the provision of satellite phones and solar chargers; and responding to the needs of those who have crossed the Haitian border into the Dominican Republic in search of aid.
“The Church is a place of refuge for people in the midst of crisis,” said Radtke. “While it is providing critical aid and caring for people in the initial period following this disaster, the Church’s role will become even more significant in the coming months and years as people struggle to recover and rebuild.”
January 26, 2010
Two weeks after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti, the scope of the death and destruction is staggering. The most recent estimates indicate that at least 200,000 deaths and 194,000 injuries have occurred. At least one million people have been left homeless and in need of temporary shelter.
“The capital is transformed into an immense refuge camp,” stated Bishop Duracin in a recent letter posted on the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti’s website. “They call desperately for food, water and medicine.”
With support from Episcopal Relief & Development, Bishop Duracin and his colleagues continue to run a tent camp for as many as 3,000 survivors on the rocky field next to College St. Pierre, one of the diocese’s many structures destroyed by the quake.
In a letter to Episcopal Relief & Development President Rob Radtke, Bishop Duracin said, “We are directing emergency relief to those who need it most, and we already are making plans and moving forward to help our people.”
In addition to supporting those in the tent camp in the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, Episcopal Relief & Development is continuing its work with the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic, IMA World Health and World Village. Activities include making daily shipments of food and medical supplies to affected Haitian communities; organizing air drops to communities not easily accessible by roads; establishing communication between dioceses through the provision of satellite phones and solar chargers; and responding to the needs of those who have crossed the Haitian border into the Dominican Republic in search of aid.
“The Church is a place of refuge for people in the midst of crisis,” said Radtke. “While it is providing critical aid and caring for people in the initial period following this disaster, the Church’s role will become even more significant in the coming months and years as people struggle to recover and rebuild.”
Monday, January 25, 2010
Haiti 12
In Haiti's 'new era' Episcopalians around the world offer help
'I extend my arms to the thousands without shelter,' Duracin says
By Pat McCaughan and Mary Frances Schjonberg, January 25, 2010
[Episcopal News Service] In a letter titled "One is in the wilderness but safe in faith," Episcopal Diocese of Haiti Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin says the destructive Jan. 12 earthquake began a "new era" in the history of that impoverished nation.
"This is also a new era in the history of humanitarian aid because the catastrophe has dealt a terrible blow to more than 10 million living beings -- inhabitants who have lost their homes and their way of life," the bishop wrote in a letter posted in French here (ENS received an English translation Jan. 24). "The capital [Port-au-Prince] is transformed into an immense refuge camp. They call desperately for water, food, and medicine."
Elsewhere in the Episcopal Church, dioceses and congregations are continuing to respond to the calls for help from the church's largest diocese.
"Most of our churches are destroyed," Duracin said. "Many schools are only piles of stones."
The bishop also reported that he had only seconds to escape his house when the magnitude 7.0 quake struck just before 5:00 p.m. local time. His wife, Marie Edithe, was trapped in the house and Duracin and others "were barely able to move her from the wreckage," the bishop wrote. Two of the Duracins' adult children were also home at the time; both escaped without injury.
The Rev. Kesner Ajax, head of the diocese's Bishop Tharp Institute of Business and Technology (BTI) in Les Cayes, drove from the school south of Port-au-Prince the day after the quake to the Haitian capital. Once there, he managed to take the bishop's wife, their children and two diocesan employees to Zanmi Lasante, thePartners in Health hospital at Cange on the central plateau outside of the Haitian capital. (The clinic has roots in the outreach ministry of the Diocese of Upper South Carolina.)
"If he had not been able to do that, Lord knows what would have happened to Madame Duracin," the Rev. Lauren Stanley, one of the Episcopal Church's four missionaries assigned to Haiti, told ENS on Jan. 25. "And, truly, Lord knows, because her leg wounds had them very worried about infection."
The school Ajax leads survived the quake but he has reported that the rectory of Saint Sauveur is not safe for occupation.
Duracin has been living in a makeshift camp on a rocky field next to the College St. Pierre since the night of the quake. He said in his letter that the camp, which reportedly includes close to 3,000 survivors, "is vulnerable due to the lack of water and food."
The camp is one of nearly 20 being run by the diocese in various locations. Duracin has said that those camps are now the homes of close to 23,000 Haitians.
"I extend my arms to the thousands without shelter and I offer my prayers," the bishop wrote. "Haiti already had profound problems before the earthquake with a population living in extreme poverty. Therefore, after the quake it will be difficult to recover without help."
Across the U.S.-based Episcopal Church from the Diocese of Virgin Islands to the Diocese of Olympia, Episcopalians have been organizing fund-raising efforts ranging from the practical to the creative, holding prayer services and vigils, and helping in other tangible ways.
In his Jan. 23 letter to Episcopal Relief & Development President Robert Radtke, Duracin made it clear that only professionals certified in relief and recovery ought to come to Haiti for the foreseeable future. Church officials have been encouraging monetary gifts through the agency so that it can assist the diocese in meeting its relief and recovery priorities.
The Church Pension Fund said Jan. 25 that it is using money in its Unrestricted Gifts & Legacies Fund to assist the Diocese of Haiti to match contributions made to Episcopal Relief & Development by Fund trustees up to $5,000 per trustee. There are 25 trustees.
It is also matching, dollar-for-dollar, contributions made to the agency by staff members of the Church Pension Group, who have already donated more than $22,000. The matching program is similar to what CPG offered in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina demolished a wide swath of the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Typical of the outpouring of help are the offers of all kinds that have flooded the Haiti Project in the dioceses ofMilwaukee and Eau Claire in the nearly two weeks since the quake hit, according to Dr. Jan Byrd, the project coordinator for Milwaukee.
"One of the best offers was from an orthopedic surgeon, who wanted help getting to Haiti," Byrd said during a Jan. 23 telephone interview.
She said she linked him with a group that works with the Episcopal Church's Hôpital Sainte Croix and nursing school, formally known as the Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de l'Université Episcopale d'Haïti in Léogâne (FSIL) (Faculty of Nursing Science of the Episcopal University of Haiti) in Léogâne, near the epicenter of the earthquake. Byrd accompanied the doctor from Milwaukee to Fort Lauderdale, along with seven duffle bags of medical supplies and surgical instruments before putting him on a Haiti-bound chartered plane, she said.
Her office has been flooded with monetary donations, as well as offers of assistance, so much so "we had to create a structure to handle all the calls, messages and emails, everything from prayer requests to shipping and clerical assistance," she said.
The offers of assistance ranged from requests to adopt orphans to donations of food, supplies and clothing. Some medical schools and clinics offered to collect medicines as well as send teams to Haiti. There were offers of translation services and even knitting baby blankets as well as those who wanted to go assist in rebuilding efforts, Byrd said.
Along with many other bishops, Milwaukee Bishop Steven A. Miller urged diocesan members to contribute to Episcopal Relief & Development.
Other Milwaukee Episcopalians are raising money via an ongoing diocesan fundraiser: selling Singing Rooster Haitian Mountain Blue Coffee, Byrd said. The green coffee beans are shipped from Haiti and air-roasted upon arrival in Milwaukee.
The Haiti Project began in the early 1980s and has focused its efforts on Jeannette, a rural village of about 2,000 people who live in 250 homes made primarily of woven leaves and thatched roofs. The community is located about 70 miles west of Port-au-Prince and the project has helped to develop and support its St. Marc's Church and school complex. A Jan. 19 update posted on the diocesan website said that some of the secondary and primary school buildings sustained damage, along with the rectory.
The Rev. Kesner Gracia, interim priest of St. Marc's and other local parishes, said in the letter that "many in the community have lost family members living elsewhere, and food is in short supply throughout the country." He said damage assessments were underway but nonetheless clergy, staff and local residents were "working hard to receive refugees and will be opening any building that is safe."
In the Diocese of Minnesota, children as young as 5-year-old Elsie have helped raise money for Haiti relief simply with their crayon drawings through the "Color4aCause" project, which has raised about $653, to be given to Episcopal Relief & Development for Haiti relief, according to the website.
The site's slogan is "Make a donation. Get a picture." Children are invited to donate pictures they have colored. Grown-ups who donate via the site get one of the pictures in return.
On the website, Color4aCause creator Kevin D. Hendricks, a freelance writer and a parishioner at Messiah Episcopal Church in St. Paul, celebrated a crayon drawing titled "I Love Haiti" from 5-year-old Elsie, which depicted hearts and Elsie herself offering a flower to a child from Haiti.
Like many Minnesota congregations, Messiah has supported numerous projects and organizations in Haiti for at least a decade. Messiah's connections include Epiphanie School in L'Acul; Foyer Notre Dame, a home for older women in Port-au-Prince, associated with the Sisters of St. Margaret Convent that partially collapsed during the earthquake; and St. Vincent School for Handicapped Children and Holy Trinity School in Port-au-Prince, which both were heavily damaged if not destroyed. The parish has taken many mission trips to Haiti as well.
Hendricks added on his blog that his congregation's close connections with Haiti "made me realize something -- we need more personal connections. We need to be involved in more places -- giving of our money, our time, our compassion -- connecting us in a deep way to people all over the globe. So that the next time there is an unspeakable tragedy we won't be able to turn away."
Among the many recent fund-raising concerts offered by Episcopal Church dioceses and congregations was a Jan. 23 "Lament for Haiti" concert by the University of Colorado Music Department, hosted by St. Aidan's Episcopal Church and Canterbury Campus Ministry in Boulder. The concert in the Denver-based Diocese of Colorado, raised "about $16,000, and still counting," which will be matched by a gift from the diocese, according to the rector, the Rev. Mary Kate Réjouis.
"The musical quality of the concert was astounding -- faculty and students working together, sharing excellent music from every genre/department in the music school at the University of Colorado -- it was beautiful," said the newly married Réjouis, who met her husband while working on a diocesan mission trip to Haiti.
The Colorado diocese, which has a companion relationship with the Diocese of Haiti, has set a Feb. 14 goal of raising $75,000, which will be matched by the Anschutz Foundation, a local charity, according to Beckett Stokes, diocesan communications officer. The money will go to Episcopal Relief & Development.
Philip Mantle, jubilee officer from the Diocese of Chicago, said Jan. 21 that the Illinois Department of Family Services had resettled as many as 174 Haitians in the Chicago area, "including many teens pending adoption," he said.
"There are 43,000 Haitians living in Chicago and efforts are underway to establish a task force to address some of the short- and long-term issues with Haiti beyond this emergency recovery," he said.
Mantle and others expressed concerns about the availability of clean water. He said a three-member team was standing by to take a chlorinator to Haiti when necessary.
Chicago's efforts are echoed elsewhere in the Episcopal Church. Episcopalians Molly and George Greene, founders and leaders of the Charleston, South Carolina-based Water Missions International, report that the group has installed nine water treatment systems in Haiti since the quake. Another 10 were supposed to have been delivered on Jan. 25 but have been delayed, according a report on the group's website. Twenty more are in transit.
Diocese of South Carolina communications director Joy Hunter reported in an email sent Jan. 21 to a listserv run by the Episcopal Communicators that Water Missions is working with the dioceses of Haiti and theDominican Republic and has installed one of the treatment systems at the Haiti-Dominican Republic border.
In the days just after the quake, Haitians in various stages of health began fleeing into the Dominican Republic. In addition, because the nation was the closest place where the infrastructure is intact, it became an important relay point in the wave of assistance for Haiti.
Katie Mears, Episcopal Relief & Development's program manager for USA disaster preparedness and response, and Kirsten Muth, the agency's senior program director, have been operating out of the Dominican Republic, the country that shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. They are assisting the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic's efforts to aid its neighbors to the west, as well as the Haitian diocese itself.
The Diocese of Long Island's Episcopal Community Services has found a way to help Haitians living in its part of the U.S. On Jan. 22 it offered the first of a series of planned clinics to assist Haitians in applying for U.S. Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Extension of the status had long been sought by the Episcopal Church and was granted Jan. 17 to Haitian nationals living in the U.S.
TPS allows Haitian nationals were in the U.S. on Jan. 12 to continue living in the country for 18 months. The Rev. Charles McCarron, executive director of ECS, told ENS that offering the thousands of Haitians who live in the diocese assistance with their TPS application "seemed like a natural."
The process requires people to prove that they are Haitian, were in the U.S. on Jan. 12 and that they plan to stay. Some Haitians may have difficulty proving their status, as they do not have the required national documents such as a passport or birth or baptismal certificate, McCarron said, adding that those documents could now be nearly impossible to obtain from Haiti. He said the clinics will help people create affidavits to prove their status.
In addition, the application process costs roughly $400 per person to cover fees for the TPS application itself, a required employment authorization document and fingerprinting fee.
The very old and the very young will not have to apply for the employment card, McCarron predicted. He said the clinics can also help people apply for a fees waiver if they do not have the money for the application package.
The clinics ask for a free-will donation, he said, adding that other reputable assistance centers typically charge a fee of $50-60 but that he has heard reports of others charging as much as $5,000.
"The more places like us who try to do this work, the less people will be sucked in by crooks," he said.
Meanwhile, Leslee Sandberg of the Diocese of Iowa reported via email that a couple of diocesan congregations, including Christ Church in Cedar Rapids "just sent 20 chlorinators, motorcycle batteries and 1,000 patient records" to Haiti. Another congregation had donated 19 pairs of crutches and 13 walkers from its Jubilee Medical Lending Closet.
"We are locating solar panels to send as soon as we can," Sandberg added.
'I extend my arms to the thousands without shelter,' Duracin says
By Pat McCaughan and Mary Frances Schjonberg, January 25, 2010
[Episcopal News Service] In a letter titled "One is in the wilderness but safe in faith," Episcopal Diocese of Haiti Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin says the destructive Jan. 12 earthquake began a "new era" in the history of that impoverished nation.
"This is also a new era in the history of humanitarian aid because the catastrophe has dealt a terrible blow to more than 10 million living beings -- inhabitants who have lost their homes and their way of life," the bishop wrote in a letter posted in French here (ENS received an English translation Jan. 24). "The capital [Port-au-Prince] is transformed into an immense refuge camp. They call desperately for water, food, and medicine."
Elsewhere in the Episcopal Church, dioceses and congregations are continuing to respond to the calls for help from the church's largest diocese.
"Most of our churches are destroyed," Duracin said. "Many schools are only piles of stones."
The bishop also reported that he had only seconds to escape his house when the magnitude 7.0 quake struck just before 5:00 p.m. local time. His wife, Marie Edithe, was trapped in the house and Duracin and others "were barely able to move her from the wreckage," the bishop wrote. Two of the Duracins' adult children were also home at the time; both escaped without injury.
The Rev. Kesner Ajax, head of the diocese's Bishop Tharp Institute of Business and Technology (BTI) in Les Cayes, drove from the school south of Port-au-Prince the day after the quake to the Haitian capital. Once there, he managed to take the bishop's wife, their children and two diocesan employees to Zanmi Lasante, thePartners in Health hospital at Cange on the central plateau outside of the Haitian capital. (The clinic has roots in the outreach ministry of the Diocese of Upper South Carolina.)
"If he had not been able to do that, Lord knows what would have happened to Madame Duracin," the Rev. Lauren Stanley, one of the Episcopal Church's four missionaries assigned to Haiti, told ENS on Jan. 25. "And, truly, Lord knows, because her leg wounds had them very worried about infection."
The school Ajax leads survived the quake but he has reported that the rectory of Saint Sauveur is not safe for occupation.
Duracin has been living in a makeshift camp on a rocky field next to the College St. Pierre since the night of the quake. He said in his letter that the camp, which reportedly includes close to 3,000 survivors, "is vulnerable due to the lack of water and food."
The camp is one of nearly 20 being run by the diocese in various locations. Duracin has said that those camps are now the homes of close to 23,000 Haitians.
"I extend my arms to the thousands without shelter and I offer my prayers," the bishop wrote. "Haiti already had profound problems before the earthquake with a population living in extreme poverty. Therefore, after the quake it will be difficult to recover without help."
Across the U.S.-based Episcopal Church from the Diocese of Virgin Islands to the Diocese of Olympia, Episcopalians have been organizing fund-raising efforts ranging from the practical to the creative, holding prayer services and vigils, and helping in other tangible ways.
In his Jan. 23 letter to Episcopal Relief & Development President Robert Radtke, Duracin made it clear that only professionals certified in relief and recovery ought to come to Haiti for the foreseeable future. Church officials have been encouraging monetary gifts through the agency so that it can assist the diocese in meeting its relief and recovery priorities.
The Church Pension Fund said Jan. 25 that it is using money in its Unrestricted Gifts & Legacies Fund to assist the Diocese of Haiti to match contributions made to Episcopal Relief & Development by Fund trustees up to $5,000 per trustee. There are 25 trustees.
It is also matching, dollar-for-dollar, contributions made to the agency by staff members of the Church Pension Group, who have already donated more than $22,000. The matching program is similar to what CPG offered in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina demolished a wide swath of the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Typical of the outpouring of help are the offers of all kinds that have flooded the Haiti Project in the dioceses ofMilwaukee and Eau Claire in the nearly two weeks since the quake hit, according to Dr. Jan Byrd, the project coordinator for Milwaukee.
"One of the best offers was from an orthopedic surgeon, who wanted help getting to Haiti," Byrd said during a Jan. 23 telephone interview.
She said she linked him with a group that works with the Episcopal Church's Hôpital Sainte Croix and nursing school, formally known as the Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de l'Université Episcopale d'Haïti in Léogâne (FSIL) (Faculty of Nursing Science of the Episcopal University of Haiti) in Léogâne, near the epicenter of the earthquake. Byrd accompanied the doctor from Milwaukee to Fort Lauderdale, along with seven duffle bags of medical supplies and surgical instruments before putting him on a Haiti-bound chartered plane, she said.
Her office has been flooded with monetary donations, as well as offers of assistance, so much so "we had to create a structure to handle all the calls, messages and emails, everything from prayer requests to shipping and clerical assistance," she said.
The offers of assistance ranged from requests to adopt orphans to donations of food, supplies and clothing. Some medical schools and clinics offered to collect medicines as well as send teams to Haiti. There were offers of translation services and even knitting baby blankets as well as those who wanted to go assist in rebuilding efforts, Byrd said.
Along with many other bishops, Milwaukee Bishop Steven A. Miller urged diocesan members to contribute to Episcopal Relief & Development.
Other Milwaukee Episcopalians are raising money via an ongoing diocesan fundraiser: selling Singing Rooster Haitian Mountain Blue Coffee, Byrd said. The green coffee beans are shipped from Haiti and air-roasted upon arrival in Milwaukee.
The Haiti Project began in the early 1980s and has focused its efforts on Jeannette, a rural village of about 2,000 people who live in 250 homes made primarily of woven leaves and thatched roofs. The community is located about 70 miles west of Port-au-Prince and the project has helped to develop and support its St. Marc's Church and school complex. A Jan. 19 update posted on the diocesan website said that some of the secondary and primary school buildings sustained damage, along with the rectory.
The Rev. Kesner Gracia, interim priest of St. Marc's and other local parishes, said in the letter that "many in the community have lost family members living elsewhere, and food is in short supply throughout the country." He said damage assessments were underway but nonetheless clergy, staff and local residents were "working hard to receive refugees and will be opening any building that is safe."
In the Diocese of Minnesota, children as young as 5-year-old Elsie have helped raise money for Haiti relief simply with their crayon drawings through the "Color4aCause" project, which has raised about $653, to be given to Episcopal Relief & Development for Haiti relief, according to the website.
The site's slogan is "Make a donation. Get a picture." Children are invited to donate pictures they have colored. Grown-ups who donate via the site get one of the pictures in return.
On the website, Color4aCause creator Kevin D. Hendricks, a freelance writer and a parishioner at Messiah Episcopal Church in St. Paul, celebrated a crayon drawing titled "I Love Haiti" from 5-year-old Elsie, which depicted hearts and Elsie herself offering a flower to a child from Haiti.
Like many Minnesota congregations, Messiah has supported numerous projects and organizations in Haiti for at least a decade. Messiah's connections include Epiphanie School in L'Acul; Foyer Notre Dame, a home for older women in Port-au-Prince, associated with the Sisters of St. Margaret Convent that partially collapsed during the earthquake; and St. Vincent School for Handicapped Children and Holy Trinity School in Port-au-Prince, which both were heavily damaged if not destroyed. The parish has taken many mission trips to Haiti as well.
Hendricks added on his blog that his congregation's close connections with Haiti "made me realize something -- we need more personal connections. We need to be involved in more places -- giving of our money, our time, our compassion -- connecting us in a deep way to people all over the globe. So that the next time there is an unspeakable tragedy we won't be able to turn away."
Among the many recent fund-raising concerts offered by Episcopal Church dioceses and congregations was a Jan. 23 "Lament for Haiti" concert by the University of Colorado Music Department, hosted by St. Aidan's Episcopal Church and Canterbury Campus Ministry in Boulder. The concert in the Denver-based Diocese of Colorado, raised "about $16,000, and still counting," which will be matched by a gift from the diocese, according to the rector, the Rev. Mary Kate Réjouis.
"The musical quality of the concert was astounding -- faculty and students working together, sharing excellent music from every genre/department in the music school at the University of Colorado -- it was beautiful," said the newly married Réjouis, who met her husband while working on a diocesan mission trip to Haiti.
The Colorado diocese, which has a companion relationship with the Diocese of Haiti, has set a Feb. 14 goal of raising $75,000, which will be matched by the Anschutz Foundation, a local charity, according to Beckett Stokes, diocesan communications officer. The money will go to Episcopal Relief & Development.
Philip Mantle, jubilee officer from the Diocese of Chicago, said Jan. 21 that the Illinois Department of Family Services had resettled as many as 174 Haitians in the Chicago area, "including many teens pending adoption," he said.
"There are 43,000 Haitians living in Chicago and efforts are underway to establish a task force to address some of the short- and long-term issues with Haiti beyond this emergency recovery," he said.
Mantle and others expressed concerns about the availability of clean water. He said a three-member team was standing by to take a chlorinator to Haiti when necessary.
Chicago's efforts are echoed elsewhere in the Episcopal Church. Episcopalians Molly and George Greene, founders and leaders of the Charleston, South Carolina-based Water Missions International, report that the group has installed nine water treatment systems in Haiti since the quake. Another 10 were supposed to have been delivered on Jan. 25 but have been delayed, according a report on the group's website. Twenty more are in transit.
Diocese of South Carolina communications director Joy Hunter reported in an email sent Jan. 21 to a listserv run by the Episcopal Communicators that Water Missions is working with the dioceses of Haiti and theDominican Republic and has installed one of the treatment systems at the Haiti-Dominican Republic border.
In the days just after the quake, Haitians in various stages of health began fleeing into the Dominican Republic. In addition, because the nation was the closest place where the infrastructure is intact, it became an important relay point in the wave of assistance for Haiti.
Katie Mears, Episcopal Relief & Development's program manager for USA disaster preparedness and response, and Kirsten Muth, the agency's senior program director, have been operating out of the Dominican Republic, the country that shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. They are assisting the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic's efforts to aid its neighbors to the west, as well as the Haitian diocese itself.
The Diocese of Long Island's Episcopal Community Services has found a way to help Haitians living in its part of the U.S. On Jan. 22 it offered the first of a series of planned clinics to assist Haitians in applying for U.S. Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Extension of the status had long been sought by the Episcopal Church and was granted Jan. 17 to Haitian nationals living in the U.S.
TPS allows Haitian nationals were in the U.S. on Jan. 12 to continue living in the country for 18 months. The Rev. Charles McCarron, executive director of ECS, told ENS that offering the thousands of Haitians who live in the diocese assistance with their TPS application "seemed like a natural."
The process requires people to prove that they are Haitian, were in the U.S. on Jan. 12 and that they plan to stay. Some Haitians may have difficulty proving their status, as they do not have the required national documents such as a passport or birth or baptismal certificate, McCarron said, adding that those documents could now be nearly impossible to obtain from Haiti. He said the clinics will help people create affidavits to prove their status.
In addition, the application process costs roughly $400 per person to cover fees for the TPS application itself, a required employment authorization document and fingerprinting fee.
The very old and the very young will not have to apply for the employment card, McCarron predicted. He said the clinics can also help people apply for a fees waiver if they do not have the money for the application package.
The clinics ask for a free-will donation, he said, adding that other reputable assistance centers typically charge a fee of $50-60 but that he has heard reports of others charging as much as $5,000.
"The more places like us who try to do this work, the less people will be sucked in by crooks," he said.
Meanwhile, Leslee Sandberg of the Diocese of Iowa reported via email that a couple of diocesan congregations, including Christ Church in Cedar Rapids "just sent 20 chlorinators, motorcycle batteries and 1,000 patient records" to Haiti. Another congregation had donated 19 pairs of crutches and 13 walkers from its Jubilee Medical Lending Closet.
"We are locating solar panels to send as soon as we can," Sandberg added.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Haiti 11
An update from Haiti:
January 23, 2010
Dear Sisters and brothers in Christ,
Please let me take some time to give you some update of the situation of Haiti and your beloved partners in the Episcopal church of Haiti. God has saved the lives of the bishop, the 32 active priests, 9 retired priests, the 6 deacons, the 17 seminarians, 3 nuns and the 4 missionaries and their families. All private houses have been damaged to some degree, but all churches, schools, rectories clinics, and hospitals from Croix des Bouquets to Miragoane are not permitted to be used. In Port au Prince and Leogane, all structures of the Episcopal Church have been completely destroyed. We cannot evaluate how many parishioners and staff members we lost. In the south, BTI is ok but the Saint Sauveur rectory is not safe to sleep in. The seminarians went back to their home town; one of them is a physician, and he has stayed at college St Pierre in Port au Prince to give first aid to the people. The Episcopal church of Haiti has set up more than 7 centers to support victims, mostly in the worst hit areas where the bishop is based with whatever supplies they have been able to receive.
On behalf of Bishop Duracin the partnership program and the people of Haiti, I would like to begin to thank you for your continuing prayer and assistance, especially Episcopal Relief & Development and our brothers and sisters of the Dominican Republic who share our same island home. We appreciated very strongly the sacrifices of Canon Bill Squire , Dr. McNelly and other team members who flew across the DR border to visit us. Your notes and emails of sympathy are very important to us. Please continue to send your notes of encouragement.
The Episcopal Relief & Development is doing a very remarkable work to support Haiti during the dilemma, both with emergency support and beginning to plan to be part of the rebuilding of the Episcopal church in Haiti. You can see that Rev. Lauren and Dianne are encouraging you to share information about your work in Haiti. It is very important to cooperate in that survey, because while Port au Prince and Leogane areas are more directly affected by the damage, many victims are returning to their home towns to breath a little bit, find food to eat and a safe place to sleep. However, the movement of people from Port au Prince to the countryside is overwhelming our ability to provide for them, and no relief agencies are yet providing supplies to the countryside.
Episcopal Relief & Development is working together with the bishop and a Haitian emergency commission of 15 people where The Canon Oge Beauvoir obeauvoir@steeh.org is the coordinator. Please continue to support Episcopal Relief & Development with your emergency support. Do not forget your partners in Haiti. You can still send money to your partners by check via lynx and your wire via Citibank. For two days all of the banks have been open in other towns in Haiti, and today they opened in Port au Prince. Remember when you send support to your partners; please copy me and also the diocesan accountant Mr Frantz Antilus antf48@hotmail.com in order to facilitate the process. You already know what to do when you want to send your emergency to Episcopal Relief & Development who are helping us a lot now.
School will not open in the West department, but schools and universities will open soon in the other 9 departments and will welcome children and students from other departments.
Thank you for your attention to my note, do not hesitate to ask questions: Ask for the state of your projects. Ask for your beloved friends if they are safe or hurt.
I continue to serve as the partnership coordinator and the DJ'O(Diocesan Jubilee officer) and Rev. Frantz COLE colefrantz@gmail.com serves as the development officer for the Episcopal diocese of Haiti. The Rev. Roger Bowen proger.bowen@gmail.com is still cooperating with me for the National Association Episcopal School. And Rev. Lauren Stanley merelaurens@gmail.com who assists in the Partnership and Development program will coordinate with Episcopal Relief & Development in USA.
Thanks you all, may God continue to bless you.
The Rev. Kesner Ajax
kesnerajax@yahoo.com
Executive Director, Bishop Tharp Institute (BTI)
8 Rue du Quai, Cayes
Tel. Office: 011-509-2286-4676
011-509-2286-4677
Mobile: 011-509-3445-3346
011-509-3724-8376
Mailing address:
100 Airport Ave
Venice Fl. 34285
Or
Partnership Program Coordinator
Episcopal Diocese of Haiti
C/o Lynx Air P.O. Box 407139
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33340
January 23, 2010
Dear Sisters and brothers in Christ,
Please let me take some time to give you some update of the situation of Haiti and your beloved partners in the Episcopal church of Haiti. God has saved the lives of the bishop, the 32 active priests, 9 retired priests, the 6 deacons, the 17 seminarians, 3 nuns and the 4 missionaries and their families. All private houses have been damaged to some degree, but all churches, schools, rectories clinics, and hospitals from Croix des Bouquets to Miragoane are not permitted to be used. In Port au Prince and Leogane, all structures of the Episcopal Church have been completely destroyed. We cannot evaluate how many parishioners and staff members we lost. In the south, BTI is ok but the Saint Sauveur rectory is not safe to sleep in. The seminarians went back to their home town; one of them is a physician, and he has stayed at college St Pierre in Port au Prince to give first aid to the people. The Episcopal church of Haiti has set up more than 7 centers to support victims, mostly in the worst hit areas where the bishop is based with whatever supplies they have been able to receive.
On behalf of Bishop Duracin the partnership program and the people of Haiti, I would like to begin to thank you for your continuing prayer and assistance, especially Episcopal Relief & Development and our brothers and sisters of the Dominican Republic who share our same island home. We appreciated very strongly the sacrifices of Canon Bill Squire , Dr. McNelly and other team members who flew across the DR border to visit us. Your notes and emails of sympathy are very important to us. Please continue to send your notes of encouragement.
The Episcopal Relief & Development is doing a very remarkable work to support Haiti during the dilemma, both with emergency support and beginning to plan to be part of the rebuilding of the Episcopal church in Haiti. You can see that Rev. Lauren and Dianne are encouraging you to share information about your work in Haiti. It is very important to cooperate in that survey, because while Port au Prince and Leogane areas are more directly affected by the damage, many victims are returning to their home towns to breath a little bit, find food to eat and a safe place to sleep. However, the movement of people from Port au Prince to the countryside is overwhelming our ability to provide for them, and no relief agencies are yet providing supplies to the countryside.
Episcopal Relief & Development is working together with the bishop and a Haitian emergency commission of 15 people where The Canon Oge Beauvoir obeauvoir@steeh.org is the coordinator. Please continue to support Episcopal Relief & Development with your emergency support. Do not forget your partners in Haiti. You can still send money to your partners by check via lynx and your wire via Citibank. For two days all of the banks have been open in other towns in Haiti, and today they opened in Port au Prince. Remember when you send support to your partners; please copy me and also the diocesan accountant Mr Frantz Antilus antf48@hotmail.com in order to facilitate the process. You already know what to do when you want to send your emergency to Episcopal Relief & Development who are helping us a lot now.
School will not open in the West department, but schools and universities will open soon in the other 9 departments and will welcome children and students from other departments.
Thank you for your attention to my note, do not hesitate to ask questions: Ask for the state of your projects. Ask for your beloved friends if they are safe or hurt.
I continue to serve as the partnership coordinator and the DJ'O(Diocesan Jubilee officer) and Rev. Frantz COLE colefrantz@gmail.com serves as the development officer for the Episcopal diocese of Haiti. The Rev. Roger Bowen proger.bowen@gmail.com is still cooperating with me for the National Association Episcopal School. And Rev. Lauren Stanley merelaurens@gmail.com who assists in the Partnership and Development program will coordinate with Episcopal Relief & Development in USA.
Thanks you all, may God continue to bless you.
The Rev. Kesner Ajax
kesnerajax@yahoo.com
Executive Director, Bishop Tharp Institute (BTI)
8 Rue du Quai, Cayes
Tel. Office: 011-509-2286-4676
011-509-2286-4677
Mobile: 011-509-3445-3346
011-509-3724-8376
Mailing address:
100 Airport Ave
Venice Fl. 34285
Or
Partnership Program Coordinator
Episcopal Diocese of Haiti
C/o Lynx Air P.O. Box 407139
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33340
Friday, January 22, 2010
Haiti 10
Haitian bishop briefs Episcopal Relief and Development on diocese's priorities
Headmistress says 'the tragedy was incredible to me'
By Mary Frances Schjonberg, January 22, 2010
[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal Diocese of Haiti Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin and other members of the diocese briefed two Episcopal Relief & Development officials Jan. 22 about the diocese's relief and recovery priorities.
The meeting came 10 days after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake decimated wide swaths of Haiti just before 5:00 p.m. local time Jan. 12.
It was the second time Katie Mears, the agency's program manager for USA disaster preparedness and response, and Kirsten Muth, Episcopal Relief & Development's senior program director, have been in Port-au-Prince to assist the diocese in the last week.
During that time, Mears and Muth have been operating out of the Dominican Republic, the country that shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. They are assisting the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic's efforts to aid its neighbors to the west, as well as the Haitian diocese itself.
The Haitian diocese suffered greatly with the quake. A number of the diocese's other 254 schools, ranging from preschools to a university and a seminary, were destroyed or heavily damaged, including the Holy Trinity complex of primary, music and trade schools adjacent to the demolished diocesan Cathédrale Sainte Trinité (Holy Trinity Cathedral) in Port-au-Prince.
A portion of the St. Vincent School for Handicapped Children, also in the Haitian capital, collapsed, killing between six and 10 students and staff. Many of the students are living at the camp while arrangements are being made for them to be housed elsewhere.
More than 100 of the diocese's churches have been damaged or destroyed, Duracin has said.
As many as 3,000 quake survivors, including many members of the diocese, have congregated on a rocky field next to College Ste. Pierre, a diocesan primary school that the quake destroyed. Duracin, who was left homeless by the quake, has led the effort to organize and maintain the camp, where conditions are described as grim.
Episcopal Relief & Development's efforts include coordinating shipments of medical supplies and food to affected rural Haitian communities and parishes, organizing air drops to isolated rural areas and the provision of satellite phones and solar power chargers. The latter will enable coordination of efforts between dioceses and increase the organization's ability to communicate with Duracin and his colleagues as they serve thousands of survivors both in Port au Prince and in other areas served by the Episcopal Church of Haiti.
The agency said Jan. 21 that its work is also helping to establish a response mechanism that can continue to operate efficiently as the recovery process gets underway in the coming weeks and months.
In the days just after the quake, Haitians in various stages of health began fleeing into the Dominican Republic. In addition, because the nation was the closest place where the infrastructure is intact, it became an important relay point in the wave of assistance for Haiti.
On Jan. 21, the Haitian government and the United Nations said that 150 Dominican soldiers could join the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Dominicans will join Peruvian troops that are guarding a humanitarian supply corridor from their country into Haiti. Those reports came amid confusion following reports that Haitian President René Préval had earlier rejected an offer of 800 Dominican troops because of historic tensions between the two countries.
News received from head of Holy Trinity School
Every day more news of the Diocese of Haiti emerges from that country and beyond. For example, on Jan. 22, the Rev. Mere Fernande Pierre-Louis sent an email, as reproduced in a translated version here, saying that she is alive and in Montreal with her son where she was receiving medical evaluation and treatment. Pierre-Louis is the headmistress of the Holy Trinity school.
"Alone in the third floor of my house, I was struggling with the multiple falls caused by this devastating earthquake," she recalled in the email. "The house just nearby mine collapsed and hit the side of my house, resulting in the collapse of a part of my house too. My house was shaking so much that objects were falling down and water was spreading all around the third floor where I was. Trying desperately to get out, the quake was so intense that I slipped on the stairs to fall down from the third to the second floor."
The next morning, she said, she went to Holy Trinity to assess the damage. She saw that a part of the school complex had collapsed and the computer room, cafeteria and other parts were seriously damaged.
"I was very shocked and the tragedy was incredible to me," she wrote.
She later went to College Ste. Pierre to meet with Duracin and other members of the diocese.
Two days after the earthquake, Pierre-Louis said, she was having difficulty moving because of the fall she suffered and had caught a heavy cold caused by allergies. Her sons arranged for her to come to Montreal for treatment.
"Thanks be to God, I consider that I am a miracle of God, according to these bad circumstances that I experienced … the Lord saved my life to testify of his almighty power," she wrote. "I'll continue to pray for you, so I ask you to continue to pray for Haiti and for me."
Haiti on the tenth day after the quake
Meanwhile, the overall relief effort in Haiti continued to pick up speed while still facing criticism about disorganization and bottlenecks, rescue operations began to scale back and the ground continued to shake underfoot.
Between 9:15 local time Jan. 21 and 7:54 Jan. 22, Haiti experienced five aftershocks, with the strongest one measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale occurring just before noon Jan. 21.
Further violent outbreaks were reported Jan. 22 as hungry and desperate Haitians awaiting aid were attacked by a stick-wielding mob at a food distribution center on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, the BBC reported.
Joyce and John Pipkin, parishioners at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Columbia, South Carolina, were about two miles from the epicenter of the earthquake on Jan. 12, according to a Jan. 22 report in The State newspaper.
The Pipkins, who have led short-term mission projects to Haiti through their church, cautioned that now was not the time for volunteers to head to the devastated country.
"Unless you are part of a first-responder team, this is not the time to go down," John Pipkin said, according to the newspaper.
That is a sentiment echoed by retired Diocese of South Carolina Bishop William Skilton, assisting bishop in the Dominican Republic, in a recent email to Bob Stevens of the Episcopal Church-related Dominican Development Group.
"I need to make clear that I have not visited Haiti after the earthquake," he wrote on Jan. 17 in an email given to ENS by Stevens. "I really don't have any plans at this time to do so. Someone here looked puzzled and said 'don't you want to help?' I don't think I can be of help and would be more of a hindrance or burden to them if I went."
Skilton described a recent trip he made with Dominican Republic Bishop Julio Holguin and others to a clinic in Jimaní near the Dominican-Haiti border, during which he learned that what was most needed was medical care, food and nourishment and organized help.
"I know the importance of connecting, and expressing solidarity with those who are suffering and even ministering," he wrote. "But a Cuba/American/Dominican, white-haired, blue-eyed, 69-year-old, non-French/Creole-speaking Bishop is not needed."
Ten days after the quake, more than 75,000 people have been buried in mass graves, according to the Haitian government, with some reports estimating that the death toll could reach as high as 200,000.
The Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration reports that at least 472,000 people are living outdoors in an estimated 508 makeshift camps in the greater Port-au-Prince area.
The Haitian government and the United Nations said Jan. 21 that more than a dozen tent cities will be set up in and around Port-au-Prince, including on the lawn of the heavily damaged presidential palace, according to the New York Times. Reports said that the new encampments could evolve into permanent communities.
Meanwhile, U.S. forces were stepping up efforts Jan. 22 to repair the main seaport in Port-au-Prince, which would serve as a conduit for much-needed emergency supplies to enter Haiti and serve as a lifeline to the millions of people in desperate need.
According to the BBC, 50 percent of the port was destroyed by the earthquake, "but engineers have decided some parts of one pier are strong enough to handle limited amounts of cargo." The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the port can received 250 containers per day and the goal is to increase that number to 350 containers Jan. 25.
-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is ENS national correspondent and editor of Episcopal News Monthly. Matthew Davies, ENS editor and international correspondent, contributed to this story.
Headmistress says 'the tragedy was incredible to me'
By Mary Frances Schjonberg, January 22, 2010
[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal Diocese of Haiti Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin and other members of the diocese briefed two Episcopal Relief & Development officials Jan. 22 about the diocese's relief and recovery priorities.
The meeting came 10 days after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake decimated wide swaths of Haiti just before 5:00 p.m. local time Jan. 12.
It was the second time Katie Mears, the agency's program manager for USA disaster preparedness and response, and Kirsten Muth, Episcopal Relief & Development's senior program director, have been in Port-au-Prince to assist the diocese in the last week.
During that time, Mears and Muth have been operating out of the Dominican Republic, the country that shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. They are assisting the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic's efforts to aid its neighbors to the west, as well as the Haitian diocese itself.
The Haitian diocese suffered greatly with the quake. A number of the diocese's other 254 schools, ranging from preschools to a university and a seminary, were destroyed or heavily damaged, including the Holy Trinity complex of primary, music and trade schools adjacent to the demolished diocesan Cathédrale Sainte Trinité (Holy Trinity Cathedral) in Port-au-Prince.
A portion of the St. Vincent School for Handicapped Children, also in the Haitian capital, collapsed, killing between six and 10 students and staff. Many of the students are living at the camp while arrangements are being made for them to be housed elsewhere.
More than 100 of the diocese's churches have been damaged or destroyed, Duracin has said.
As many as 3,000 quake survivors, including many members of the diocese, have congregated on a rocky field next to College Ste. Pierre, a diocesan primary school that the quake destroyed. Duracin, who was left homeless by the quake, has led the effort to organize and maintain the camp, where conditions are described as grim.
Episcopal Relief & Development's efforts include coordinating shipments of medical supplies and food to affected rural Haitian communities and parishes, organizing air drops to isolated rural areas and the provision of satellite phones and solar power chargers. The latter will enable coordination of efforts between dioceses and increase the organization's ability to communicate with Duracin and his colleagues as they serve thousands of survivors both in Port au Prince and in other areas served by the Episcopal Church of Haiti.
The agency said Jan. 21 that its work is also helping to establish a response mechanism that can continue to operate efficiently as the recovery process gets underway in the coming weeks and months.
In the days just after the quake, Haitians in various stages of health began fleeing into the Dominican Republic. In addition, because the nation was the closest place where the infrastructure is intact, it became an important relay point in the wave of assistance for Haiti.
On Jan. 21, the Haitian government and the United Nations said that 150 Dominican soldiers could join the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Dominicans will join Peruvian troops that are guarding a humanitarian supply corridor from their country into Haiti. Those reports came amid confusion following reports that Haitian President René Préval had earlier rejected an offer of 800 Dominican troops because of historic tensions between the two countries.
News received from head of Holy Trinity School
Every day more news of the Diocese of Haiti emerges from that country and beyond. For example, on Jan. 22, the Rev. Mere Fernande Pierre-Louis sent an email, as reproduced in a translated version here, saying that she is alive and in Montreal with her son where she was receiving medical evaluation and treatment. Pierre-Louis is the headmistress of the Holy Trinity school.
"Alone in the third floor of my house, I was struggling with the multiple falls caused by this devastating earthquake," she recalled in the email. "The house just nearby mine collapsed and hit the side of my house, resulting in the collapse of a part of my house too. My house was shaking so much that objects were falling down and water was spreading all around the third floor where I was. Trying desperately to get out, the quake was so intense that I slipped on the stairs to fall down from the third to the second floor."
The next morning, she said, she went to Holy Trinity to assess the damage. She saw that a part of the school complex had collapsed and the computer room, cafeteria and other parts were seriously damaged.
"I was very shocked and the tragedy was incredible to me," she wrote.
She later went to College Ste. Pierre to meet with Duracin and other members of the diocese.
Two days after the earthquake, Pierre-Louis said, she was having difficulty moving because of the fall she suffered and had caught a heavy cold caused by allergies. Her sons arranged for her to come to Montreal for treatment.
"Thanks be to God, I consider that I am a miracle of God, according to these bad circumstances that I experienced … the Lord saved my life to testify of his almighty power," she wrote. "I'll continue to pray for you, so I ask you to continue to pray for Haiti and for me."
Haiti on the tenth day after the quake
Meanwhile, the overall relief effort in Haiti continued to pick up speed while still facing criticism about disorganization and bottlenecks, rescue operations began to scale back and the ground continued to shake underfoot.
Between 9:15 local time Jan. 21 and 7:54 Jan. 22, Haiti experienced five aftershocks, with the strongest one measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale occurring just before noon Jan. 21.
Further violent outbreaks were reported Jan. 22 as hungry and desperate Haitians awaiting aid were attacked by a stick-wielding mob at a food distribution center on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, the BBC reported.
Joyce and John Pipkin, parishioners at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Columbia, South Carolina, were about two miles from the epicenter of the earthquake on Jan. 12, according to a Jan. 22 report in The State newspaper.
The Pipkins, who have led short-term mission projects to Haiti through their church, cautioned that now was not the time for volunteers to head to the devastated country.
"Unless you are part of a first-responder team, this is not the time to go down," John Pipkin said, according to the newspaper.
That is a sentiment echoed by retired Diocese of South Carolina Bishop William Skilton, assisting bishop in the Dominican Republic, in a recent email to Bob Stevens of the Episcopal Church-related Dominican Development Group.
"I need to make clear that I have not visited Haiti after the earthquake," he wrote on Jan. 17 in an email given to ENS by Stevens. "I really don't have any plans at this time to do so. Someone here looked puzzled and said 'don't you want to help?' I don't think I can be of help and would be more of a hindrance or burden to them if I went."
Skilton described a recent trip he made with Dominican Republic Bishop Julio Holguin and others to a clinic in Jimaní near the Dominican-Haiti border, during which he learned that what was most needed was medical care, food and nourishment and organized help.
"I know the importance of connecting, and expressing solidarity with those who are suffering and even ministering," he wrote. "But a Cuba/American/Dominican, white-haired, blue-eyed, 69-year-old, non-French/Creole-speaking Bishop is not needed."
Ten days after the quake, more than 75,000 people have been buried in mass graves, according to the Haitian government, with some reports estimating that the death toll could reach as high as 200,000.
The Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration reports that at least 472,000 people are living outdoors in an estimated 508 makeshift camps in the greater Port-au-Prince area.
The Haitian government and the United Nations said Jan. 21 that more than a dozen tent cities will be set up in and around Port-au-Prince, including on the lawn of the heavily damaged presidential palace, according to the New York Times. Reports said that the new encampments could evolve into permanent communities.
Meanwhile, U.S. forces were stepping up efforts Jan. 22 to repair the main seaport in Port-au-Prince, which would serve as a conduit for much-needed emergency supplies to enter Haiti and serve as a lifeline to the millions of people in desperate need.
According to the BBC, 50 percent of the port was destroyed by the earthquake, "but engineers have decided some parts of one pier are strong enough to handle limited amounts of cargo." The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the port can received 250 containers per day and the goal is to increase that number to 350 containers Jan. 25.
-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is ENS national correspondent and editor of Episcopal News Monthly. Matthew Davies, ENS editor and international correspondent, contributed to this story.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Haiti 9
January 21, 2010
Over a week since the 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on January 12, the nation is still being affected by large aftershocks, including a 6.1-magnitude event yesterday morning. However, the continued geological events are only one challenge facing those trying to provide relief in Haiti.
Despite the efforts of international aid organizations, food, water and other critical resources are still greatly needed by many residents of Port-au-Prince and other parts of the country. Congested runways and ports have made it difficult to get materials into Haiti, and while the situation is slowly improving, lack of available fuel continues to hinder the transport of available supplies to those in need.
“We’ve been working closely with the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic to get shipments into Haiti on a daily basis,” said Kirsten Muth, Episcopal Relief & Development’s Senior Program Director, who is currently working on the ground with Katie Mears, Program Manager for USA Disaster Preparedness and Response.
“We are also using helicopter support from our partner Worldwide Village to provide medical supplies and food to affected rural communities and parishes, including Gressier, Grand Colline and Trouin,” said Mears. “The team here has also recently secured additional transport vehicles, which are allowing us to deliver more supplies and reach a larger number of people. Relief efforts are expanding daily.”
By collaborating with diocesan staff in the Dominican Republic to secure vehicles and create channels through which they can help those most impacted by this disaster, Episcopal Relief & Development is establishing a long-term response mechanism that can continue to operate efficiently as the recovery process gets underway in the coming weeks and months.
In addition to assisting with daily supply shipments, Episcopal Relief & Development is working to stabilize communications through the provision of satellite phones and solar power chargers.
The satellite phones will enable coordination of efforts between dioceses and increase Episcopal Relief & Development’s ability to communicate with Bishop Duracin and his colleagues as they serve the thousands of survivors that have congregated in their tent camp in Port-au-Prince. Maintaining these channels of communication will also be crucial during the recovery process.
“The infrastructure of the church, even where damaged and wounded, represents an amazing network of people, skills and resources,” said Muth. “It is important that we continue to support the people of Haiti as they take the lead in the nation’s recovery.”
While they face enormous challenges, the Haitian clergy are immensely grateful for the prayers and support coming from the United States. In a letter to the Episcopal Church, the Rev. Lauren Stanley, The Episcopal Church Appointed Missionary to Haiti, writes, “On behalf of the Bishop of Haiti, the Rt. Rev. Jean Zaché Duracin, first let me say Mèsi anpil, thank you very much, for your love, your prayers, your support, your generosity and your kindness.”
The letter also states that while the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti is appreciative of the compassion and concerns of Episcopalians in the US, Bishop Duracin is discouraging mission trips at this time.
“I believe the best course of action right now is to pray, to be generous in your financial assistance and to begin praying about how you can respond in the future,” continues Stanley. “Please know that Bishop Duracin is counting on everyone here to work together, to help the people and to be faithful. Together, we WILL help God's beloved children in Haiti.”
Over a week since the 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on January 12, the nation is still being affected by large aftershocks, including a 6.1-magnitude event yesterday morning. However, the continued geological events are only one challenge facing those trying to provide relief in Haiti.
Despite the efforts of international aid organizations, food, water and other critical resources are still greatly needed by many residents of Port-au-Prince and other parts of the country. Congested runways and ports have made it difficult to get materials into Haiti, and while the situation is slowly improving, lack of available fuel continues to hinder the transport of available supplies to those in need.
“We’ve been working closely with the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic to get shipments into Haiti on a daily basis,” said Kirsten Muth, Episcopal Relief & Development’s Senior Program Director, who is currently working on the ground with Katie Mears, Program Manager for USA Disaster Preparedness and Response.
“We are also using helicopter support from our partner Worldwide Village to provide medical supplies and food to affected rural communities and parishes, including Gressier, Grand Colline and Trouin,” said Mears. “The team here has also recently secured additional transport vehicles, which are allowing us to deliver more supplies and reach a larger number of people. Relief efforts are expanding daily.”
By collaborating with diocesan staff in the Dominican Republic to secure vehicles and create channels through which they can help those most impacted by this disaster, Episcopal Relief & Development is establishing a long-term response mechanism that can continue to operate efficiently as the recovery process gets underway in the coming weeks and months.
In addition to assisting with daily supply shipments, Episcopal Relief & Development is working to stabilize communications through the provision of satellite phones and solar power chargers.
The satellite phones will enable coordination of efforts between dioceses and increase Episcopal Relief & Development’s ability to communicate with Bishop Duracin and his colleagues as they serve the thousands of survivors that have congregated in their tent camp in Port-au-Prince. Maintaining these channels of communication will also be crucial during the recovery process.
“The infrastructure of the church, even where damaged and wounded, represents an amazing network of people, skills and resources,” said Muth. “It is important that we continue to support the people of Haiti as they take the lead in the nation’s recovery.”
While they face enormous challenges, the Haitian clergy are immensely grateful for the prayers and support coming from the United States. In a letter to the Episcopal Church, the Rev. Lauren Stanley, The Episcopal Church Appointed Missionary to Haiti, writes, “On behalf of the Bishop of Haiti, the Rt. Rev. Jean Zaché Duracin, first let me say Mèsi anpil, thank you very much, for your love, your prayers, your support, your generosity and your kindness.”
The letter also states that while the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti is appreciative of the compassion and concerns of Episcopalians in the US, Bishop Duracin is discouraging mission trips at this time.
“I believe the best course of action right now is to pray, to be generous in your financial assistance and to begin praying about how you can respond in the future,” continues Stanley. “Please know that Bishop Duracin is counting on everyone here to work together, to help the people and to be faithful. Together, we WILL help God's beloved children in Haiti.”
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Haiti 7
The Rev. Lauren Stanley will be at St. Lukes in Hot Springs and R.E. Lee this weekend. Here is her latest letter on what is going on in Haiti:
Dear Friends in Christ:
On behalf of the Bishop of Haiti, the Rt. Rev. Jean Zaché Duracin, first let me say Mesi
anpil, thank you very much, for your love, your prayers, your support, your generosity
and your kindness.
I know that many of you want to go to Haiti to help. Many of you already have planned
mission trips and have long-standing relationships with your brothers and sisters in Christ
in Haiti. Please, Bishop Duracin has been very clear about this: Unless you are a certified
first-responder, now is not the time to come. Please let the professionals do their job first
as they help the Haitians through the immediate dangers and relief efforts.
Episcopal Relief & Development is working very hard, day and night, to get help where
it needs to go. The agency is working closely with Bishop Duracin as well, who is
directing efforts, along with the Executive Council of the Diocese of Haiti, and deciding
where the most urgent needs are and how to meet them.
I believe the best course of action right now is to pray, to be generous in your financial
assistance, and to begin praying about how you can respond in the future. If you are
considering -- or had already scheduled -- a mission trip, please pray about who should
go to help with the first stages of rebuilding: Those who are healthy, who have specific
skills such as carpentry, construction, plumbing, electrical work. Consider learning more
Haitian Creole -- 10 lessons are available for free at www.byki.com, and more lessons
can be purchased.
The Diocese of Haiti will need your help for many years. This crisis is a marathon, not a
short sprint, so we must be prepared to be in this for the long haul.
One immediate way that you can help: Please send all information to me at my email
address. I am compiling it for Episcopal Relief & Development. I especially need to
know about parishes in the immediately affected areas, their locations, their GPS
coordinates and the latest updates you may have received. We have a lot of information
floating around out there, but I don't get all of it, and there could be vital information that
I miss.
In addition, please to keep an eye on my web site, www.gointotheworld.net. Help me to
ensure the information I have is correct, and help me get more information to post.
Please know that Bishop Duracin is counting on everyone here to work together, to help
the people and to be faithful. Together, we WILL help God's beloved children in Haiti.
Blessings and peace and many, many prayers,
The Rev. Lauren R. Stanley
TEC Appointed Missionary in Haiti
Dear Friends in Christ:
On behalf of the Bishop of Haiti, the Rt. Rev. Jean Zaché Duracin, first let me say Mesi
anpil, thank you very much, for your love, your prayers, your support, your generosity
and your kindness.
I know that many of you want to go to Haiti to help. Many of you already have planned
mission trips and have long-standing relationships with your brothers and sisters in Christ
in Haiti. Please, Bishop Duracin has been very clear about this: Unless you are a certified
first-responder, now is not the time to come. Please let the professionals do their job first
as they help the Haitians through the immediate dangers and relief efforts.
Episcopal Relief & Development is working very hard, day and night, to get help where
it needs to go. The agency is working closely with Bishop Duracin as well, who is
directing efforts, along with the Executive Council of the Diocese of Haiti, and deciding
where the most urgent needs are and how to meet them.
I believe the best course of action right now is to pray, to be generous in your financial
assistance, and to begin praying about how you can respond in the future. If you are
considering -- or had already scheduled -- a mission trip, please pray about who should
go to help with the first stages of rebuilding: Those who are healthy, who have specific
skills such as carpentry, construction, plumbing, electrical work. Consider learning more
Haitian Creole -- 10 lessons are available for free at www.byki.com, and more lessons
can be purchased.
The Diocese of Haiti will need your help for many years. This crisis is a marathon, not a
short sprint, so we must be prepared to be in this for the long haul.
One immediate way that you can help: Please send all information to me at my email
address. I am compiling it for Episcopal Relief & Development. I especially need to
know about parishes in the immediately affected areas, their locations, their GPS
coordinates and the latest updates you may have received. We have a lot of information
floating around out there, but I don't get all of it, and there could be vital information that
I miss.
In addition, please to keep an eye on my web site, www.gointotheworld.net. Help me to
ensure the information I have is correct, and help me get more information to post.
Please know that Bishop Duracin is counting on everyone here to work together, to help
the people and to be faithful. Together, we WILL help God's beloved children in Haiti.
Blessings and peace and many, many prayers,
The Rev. Lauren R. Stanley
TEC Appointed Missionary in Haiti
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Haiti 6
Work is continuing with our partners in Haiti and our people from New York are in the Dominican Republic at this time. We are sending provisions and supplies to our Port au Prince distribution Center through the diocese of Haiti.
Concerning volunteering in to work in Haiti now:
Episcopal Relief & Development discourages all volunteer travel to Haiti for the foreseeable future.
The situation is very unstable and safety and security cannot be guaranteed.
The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti is fully occupied with ministering to its members and is not in a position to host volunteers at this time. '
At some point in the future, Episcopal Relief & Development may consider organizing volunteers to go to Haiti. We will publicize those opportunities when and if it becomes appropriate.
In the meantime, please collect names of those who may be interested and hold on to them so that when the time is right and a call goes out, you can be in touch with people.
Concerning volunteering in to work in Haiti now:
Episcopal Relief & Development discourages all volunteer travel to Haiti for the foreseeable future.
The situation is very unstable and safety and security cannot be guaranteed.
The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti is fully occupied with ministering to its members and is not in a position to host volunteers at this time. '
At some point in the future, Episcopal Relief & Development may consider organizing volunteers to go to Haiti. We will publicize those opportunities when and if it becomes appropriate.
In the meantime, please collect names of those who may be interested and hold on to them so that when the time is right and a call goes out, you can be in touch with people.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Haiti 5 - Jan 15 update from Port o Prince
Diocese of Haiti Actively Responds in the Wake of Disaster with Support from Episcopal Relief & Development
January 15, 2010
In Port-au-Prince, the Diocese of Haiti has set up a camp where Haitians are seeking refuge. The Church is doing all it can to provide them with food, water and any other supplies that are available.
“It is a camp the size of a football field where Bishop Duracin and the church leadership are serving thousands of survivors,” said Abagail Nelson, Episcopal Relief & Development’s Senior Vice President for Programs. “In the midst of losing their own homes, Diocesan offices and the Cathedral, the people of the Diocese of Haiti are reaching out in extraordinary ways to care for those in need.”
Episcopal Relief & Development is also supporting the Diocese of the Dominican Republic. As people cross the Haitian border seeking assistance, the church is working to meet their needs. Members of Episcopal Relief & Development’s staff will join them on the ground this weekend to coordinate relief efforts and tackle the enormous logistical challenges that lie ahead.
Episcopal Relief & Development has also partnered with IMA World Health to provide medical assistance to the wounded in and around Port-au-Prince. IMA World Health is a non-profit organization with working relationships throughout Haiti that will enable assistance to reach those who need it in a timely manner.
“It is deeply inspiring to see our brothers and sisters in Christ serving others even as they themselves are struggling to overcome this heart-breaking tragedy,” said Rob Radtke, President of Episcopal Relief & Development. “The overwhelming generosity of the Episcopal Church will ensure that the Diocese of Haiti will be able to continue its ministries both in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and as recovery and rebuilding begin.”
For the most up to date information and access to resources, visit www.er-d.org/HaitiCrisis. Included on this page is a video statement from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Episcopal Relief & Development President Rob Radtke. A downloadable bulletin insert is also available in both English and Spanish.
To assist those suffering in the wake of this disaster, please consider making a donation to the Haiti Fund at www.er-d.org or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to Episcopal Relief & Development, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058. Please write “Haiti Fund” in the memo of all checks.
January 15, 2010
In Port-au-Prince, the Diocese of Haiti has set up a camp where Haitians are seeking refuge. The Church is doing all it can to provide them with food, water and any other supplies that are available.
“It is a camp the size of a football field where Bishop Duracin and the church leadership are serving thousands of survivors,” said Abagail Nelson, Episcopal Relief & Development’s Senior Vice President for Programs. “In the midst of losing their own homes, Diocesan offices and the Cathedral, the people of the Diocese of Haiti are reaching out in extraordinary ways to care for those in need.”
Episcopal Relief & Development is also supporting the Diocese of the Dominican Republic. As people cross the Haitian border seeking assistance, the church is working to meet their needs. Members of Episcopal Relief & Development’s staff will join them on the ground this weekend to coordinate relief efforts and tackle the enormous logistical challenges that lie ahead.
Episcopal Relief & Development has also partnered with IMA World Health to provide medical assistance to the wounded in and around Port-au-Prince. IMA World Health is a non-profit organization with working relationships throughout Haiti that will enable assistance to reach those who need it in a timely manner.
“It is deeply inspiring to see our brothers and sisters in Christ serving others even as they themselves are struggling to overcome this heart-breaking tragedy,” said Rob Radtke, President of Episcopal Relief & Development. “The overwhelming generosity of the Episcopal Church will ensure that the Diocese of Haiti will be able to continue its ministries both in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and as recovery and rebuilding begin.”
For the most up to date information and access to resources, visit www.er-d.org/HaitiCrisis. Included on this page is a video statement from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Episcopal Relief & Development President Rob Radtke. A downloadable bulletin insert is also available in both English and Spanish.
To assist those suffering in the wake of this disaster, please consider making a donation to the Haiti Fund at www.er-d.org or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to Episcopal Relief & Development, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058. Please write “Haiti Fund” in the memo of all checks.
Haiti Post 4
From Episcopal Relief & Development President Rob Radke:
Somehow, I went to bed on Tuesday night in denial. By Wednesday morning that was over. I had that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was the same feeling I had after the tsunami and the same feeling I had after Katrina. I could tell immediately that this is going to be a long haul for many years: a marathon, not a sprint.
It is important to remember that all disasters have a life cycle: “The Three Rs of Disasters.”
Right now, we are in the “Rescue” phase. All hands are on deck to save lives and property. This phase involves finding and treating the immediate medical needs of survivors and stabilizing ongoing hazards, such as shifting buildings. As such, it is best left to the heavy lifters - government and military search and rescue teams. These groups also have heavy equipment that can clear roads and debris, as well as large specialized operations with mass distribution systems that have pre-positioned warehouses. The “Rescue” phase typically lasts a week, but with the extraordinary logistical hurdles being faced in Haiti, it may take longer.
The next phase is the “Relief” phase, where the focus is on creating temporary safe and sanitary conditions. As I saw in Katrina, the church is often one of the first places people go to seek assistance and shelter. We have already heard that in rural and outlying areas around the earthquake zone, existing clinics are seeing patients who have been able to get out of Port-au-Prince. Some of these clinics are expanding patient care to schools and church buildings. The “Relief” phase typically lasts a few months.
Finally, we get to the third and final phase: “Recovery.” During recovery the emphasis shifts to restoring services, rebuilding houses and buildings, and returning, to self-sufficiency. The Diocese of Haiti has a very large and vibrant social infrastructure and we fully expect that Episcopal Relief & Development will be there for the long haul supporting their important and vibrant ministries.
The challenge of the “Recovery” phase is that most of the television cameras have moved on, but the human suffering has grown. It is a chronic state, not a crisis. However, it is the phase that Episcopal Relief & Development and its partners excel at, because we work with churches that are part of the communities and know the needs best and how to meet them. This phase will last years. The unmet needs in a place like Haiti - which already struggles with immense, chronic poverty - will be monumental.
Right now Episcopal Relief & Development is focused on preparing for the “Relief” phase and securing the resources for the “Recovery” phase.
Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Haiti.
For more information on the Haiti earthquake and on Episcopal Relief & Development’s response, please visit www.er-d.org/HaitiCrisis.
Somehow, I went to bed on Tuesday night in denial. By Wednesday morning that was over. I had that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was the same feeling I had after the tsunami and the same feeling I had after Katrina. I could tell immediately that this is going to be a long haul for many years: a marathon, not a sprint.
It is important to remember that all disasters have a life cycle: “The Three Rs of Disasters.”
Right now, we are in the “Rescue” phase. All hands are on deck to save lives and property. This phase involves finding and treating the immediate medical needs of survivors and stabilizing ongoing hazards, such as shifting buildings. As such, it is best left to the heavy lifters - government and military search and rescue teams. These groups also have heavy equipment that can clear roads and debris, as well as large specialized operations with mass distribution systems that have pre-positioned warehouses. The “Rescue” phase typically lasts a week, but with the extraordinary logistical hurdles being faced in Haiti, it may take longer.
The next phase is the “Relief” phase, where the focus is on creating temporary safe and sanitary conditions. As I saw in Katrina, the church is often one of the first places people go to seek assistance and shelter. We have already heard that in rural and outlying areas around the earthquake zone, existing clinics are seeing patients who have been able to get out of Port-au-Prince. Some of these clinics are expanding patient care to schools and church buildings. The “Relief” phase typically lasts a few months.
Finally, we get to the third and final phase: “Recovery.” During recovery the emphasis shifts to restoring services, rebuilding houses and buildings, and returning, to self-sufficiency. The Diocese of Haiti has a very large and vibrant social infrastructure and we fully expect that Episcopal Relief & Development will be there for the long haul supporting their important and vibrant ministries.
The challenge of the “Recovery” phase is that most of the television cameras have moved on, but the human suffering has grown. It is a chronic state, not a crisis. However, it is the phase that Episcopal Relief & Development and its partners excel at, because we work with churches that are part of the communities and know the needs best and how to meet them. This phase will last years. The unmet needs in a place like Haiti - which already struggles with immense, chronic poverty - will be monumental.
Right now Episcopal Relief & Development is focused on preparing for the “Relief” phase and securing the resources for the “Recovery” phase.
Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Haiti.
For more information on the Haiti earthquake and on Episcopal Relief & Development’s response, please visit www.er-d.org/HaitiCrisis.
Haiti Post 3
Episcopal Relief & Development Coordinates Initial Haiti Disaster Response
In the wake of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, Episcopal Relief & Development has reached out to its Haitian partners to coordinate a response. Recent estimates indicate that Tuesday’s devastating quake has affected one in three Haitians, roughly three million people. The infrastructure of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, including the cathedral and Diocesan offices, is in ruins and the situation on the ground is dire.
The attempts of search and rescue teams have been made difficult by the extreme destruction – roads are impassable, buildings have been reduced to rubble and many hospitals and clinics are inoperable. In addition, limited communications are hampering attempts to coordinate relief efforts.
While Haiti’s airspace was opened briefly on Thursday, priority was given to rescue operations such as the Red Cross, UN coordinated efforts and national response teams. Updated reports indicate that the limited infrastructure at Port-au-Prince airport has been unable to handle the influx of flights, and runways have once again been closed due to overcrowded runways and lack of fuel. Ports also remain closed and there is no indication they will be opened in the immediate future.
“The neighboring Diocese of the Dominican Republic is already serving the wounded who have been able to cross the Haitian border,” said Kirsten Muth, Episcopal Relief & Development’s Interim Director for International Programs. “Working through the Dominican Republic and utilizing our existing relationships with partners there is one of the most efficient initial approaches for meeting immediate needs.”
Katie Mears, Program Manager for USA Disaster Preparedness and Response, will be traveling to the Dominican Republic imminently to further assess the situation and coordinate the agency’s response to this disaster.
“Normally, following a disaster of this magnitude, we would send emergency funds to partners in the affected area, enabling them to obtain the supplies necessary to meet immediate needs such as food, shelter and water,” said Mears. “However, the lack of resources available on the ground in Haiti makes it necessary to bring in supplies through the Dominican Republic.”
“I will be working with the Diocesan staff of the Dominican Republic to overcome the logistical challenges of getting supplies to our partners in Haiti,” Mears continued. “Our hope is to be prepared so that when roads become passable, we can get help to affected Haitians as quickly as possible.”
For the most up to date information and access to resources, visit www.er-d.org/HaitiCrisis. Included on this page is a video statement from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Episcopal Relief & Development President Rob Radtke. A downloadable bulletin insert is also available in both English and Spanish.
To assist those suffering in the wake of this disaster, please consider making a donation to the Haiti Fund at www.er-d.org or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to Episcopal Relief & Development, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058. Please write “Haiti Fund” in the memo of all checks.
In the wake of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, Episcopal Relief & Development has reached out to its Haitian partners to coordinate a response. Recent estimates indicate that Tuesday’s devastating quake has affected one in three Haitians, roughly three million people. The infrastructure of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, including the cathedral and Diocesan offices, is in ruins and the situation on the ground is dire.
The attempts of search and rescue teams have been made difficult by the extreme destruction – roads are impassable, buildings have been reduced to rubble and many hospitals and clinics are inoperable. In addition, limited communications are hampering attempts to coordinate relief efforts.
While Haiti’s airspace was opened briefly on Thursday, priority was given to rescue operations such as the Red Cross, UN coordinated efforts and national response teams. Updated reports indicate that the limited infrastructure at Port-au-Prince airport has been unable to handle the influx of flights, and runways have once again been closed due to overcrowded runways and lack of fuel. Ports also remain closed and there is no indication they will be opened in the immediate future.
“The neighboring Diocese of the Dominican Republic is already serving the wounded who have been able to cross the Haitian border,” said Kirsten Muth, Episcopal Relief & Development’s Interim Director for International Programs. “Working through the Dominican Republic and utilizing our existing relationships with partners there is one of the most efficient initial approaches for meeting immediate needs.”
Katie Mears, Program Manager for USA Disaster Preparedness and Response, will be traveling to the Dominican Republic imminently to further assess the situation and coordinate the agency’s response to this disaster.
“Normally, following a disaster of this magnitude, we would send emergency funds to partners in the affected area, enabling them to obtain the supplies necessary to meet immediate needs such as food, shelter and water,” said Mears. “However, the lack of resources available on the ground in Haiti makes it necessary to bring in supplies through the Dominican Republic.”
“I will be working with the Diocesan staff of the Dominican Republic to overcome the logistical challenges of getting supplies to our partners in Haiti,” Mears continued. “Our hope is to be prepared so that when roads become passable, we can get help to affected Haitians as quickly as possible.”
For the most up to date information and access to resources, visit www.er-d.org/HaitiCrisis. Included on this page is a video statement from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Episcopal Relief & Development President Rob Radtke. A downloadable bulletin insert is also available in both English and Spanish.
To assist those suffering in the wake of this disaster, please consider making a donation to the Haiti Fund at www.er-d.org or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to Episcopal Relief & Development, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058. Please write “Haiti Fund” in the memo of all checks.
Haiti Post 2
Episcopal Relief & Development Responds to Devastating Earthquake in Haiti
Shortly before sundown on Tuesday, January 12, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti. The quake was centered about ten miles west of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. At least 28 aftershocks of magnitude 4.0 or greater shook the country in the hours immediately following the quake.
Episcopal Relief & Development has reached out to its Haitian partners in an effort to determine the extent of the damage and coordinate a swift response.
“The agency has already disbursed emergency funding to the Diocese of Haiti to help them meet immediate needs such as providing shelter, food and water, and stands ready to support their ongoing recovery as they rebuild their ministries,” said Rob Radtke, President of Episcopal Relief & Development. “As communication improves and recovery plans develop, Episcopal Relief & Development will continue to provide updates.”
Interim Director for International Programs Kirsten Muth commented, “We are committed to a long-term response and recovery effort with our partners in the Diocese of Haiti. It is one of the largest and perhaps most socially engaged dioceses of the Episcopal Church with an extensive network of schools and health services.”
“In addition to other programming, the agency has supported the Diocesan Development Program for many years through a central Development Office and network of 28 development agents, all of whom have received training in disaster response and management,” Muth continued. “We know that in the wake of this disaster, these community agents will use this training to coordinate their efforts with local authorities.”
While the full extent of the damage has yet to be determined, preliminary reports show that Port-au-Prince has suffered severely. Recent estimates indicate that at least three million people have been affected by the earthquake. In addition to the destruction of innumerable homes, many major structures have been reduced to rubble including the presidential palace, the UN peacekeeper compound and the nation’s Diocesan headquarters.
“Even under ‘normal’ circumstances, Haiti struggles to care for her 9 million people. The nation is the poorest in the western hemisphere, and this latest disaster will set back many recent efforts at development,” said Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori in a statement Wednesday morning. “I urge your concrete and immediate prayers in the form of contributions to Episcopal Relief & Development, who are already working with the Diocese of Haiti to send aid where it is most needed.”
To donate to the Haiti Fund, visit www.er-d.org or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to Episcopal Relief & Development, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058. Please put “Haiti Fund” in the memo line of all checks. In addition, Episcopal Relief & Development is preparing a bulletin insert, which will be available on its website.
Shortly before sundown on Tuesday, January 12, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti. The quake was centered about ten miles west of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. At least 28 aftershocks of magnitude 4.0 or greater shook the country in the hours immediately following the quake.
Episcopal Relief & Development has reached out to its Haitian partners in an effort to determine the extent of the damage and coordinate a swift response.
“The agency has already disbursed emergency funding to the Diocese of Haiti to help them meet immediate needs such as providing shelter, food and water, and stands ready to support their ongoing recovery as they rebuild their ministries,” said Rob Radtke, President of Episcopal Relief & Development. “As communication improves and recovery plans develop, Episcopal Relief & Development will continue to provide updates.”
Interim Director for International Programs Kirsten Muth commented, “We are committed to a long-term response and recovery effort with our partners in the Diocese of Haiti. It is one of the largest and perhaps most socially engaged dioceses of the Episcopal Church with an extensive network of schools and health services.”
“In addition to other programming, the agency has supported the Diocesan Development Program for many years through a central Development Office and network of 28 development agents, all of whom have received training in disaster response and management,” Muth continued. “We know that in the wake of this disaster, these community agents will use this training to coordinate their efforts with local authorities.”
While the full extent of the damage has yet to be determined, preliminary reports show that Port-au-Prince has suffered severely. Recent estimates indicate that at least three million people have been affected by the earthquake. In addition to the destruction of innumerable homes, many major structures have been reduced to rubble including the presidential palace, the UN peacekeeper compound and the nation’s Diocesan headquarters.
“Even under ‘normal’ circumstances, Haiti struggles to care for her 9 million people. The nation is the poorest in the western hemisphere, and this latest disaster will set back many recent efforts at development,” said Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori in a statement Wednesday morning. “I urge your concrete and immediate prayers in the form of contributions to Episcopal Relief & Development, who are already working with the Diocese of Haiti to send aid where it is most needed.”
To donate to the Haiti Fund, visit www.er-d.org or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to Episcopal Relief & Development, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058. Please put “Haiti Fund” in the memo line of all checks. In addition, Episcopal Relief & Development is preparing a bulletin insert, which will be available on its website.
1st Haiti Post
Episcopal Relief & Development
Prayers and Support for Haiti Needed: In light of the tragic earthquake in Haiti, which was the worst in the
region in more than 200 years, Episcopal Relief & Development is
providing emergency funds to Haiti. Episcopal Relief & Development
is working with the Diocese there to address immediate needs as a
result of the earthquake and prepare for long term rehabilitation work.
Updated information will be posted to our website as we receive
it. Communication is difficult right now as everyone can imagine and it
may be some time before more details emerge.
In the meantime, please keep the people of Haiti in your prayers and make a donation to our Haiti fund:
"Most Merciful God, who in your great love and goodness hears the prayers of
all your people and is ever-present with those who walk in the shadow
of death: we hold in our prayers all who suffer loss and devastation in
the wake of Haiti earthquake. Comfort those who mourn. Give hope to
those whose hope has been taken away. Strengthen the will of people
everywhere to generously give help and aid. Guide governments and
agencies leading relief programs. For the sake of your Son, Jesus
Christ, who suffered and died for the life of the world. Amen."
To give to the fund:
+ Make an here on the cause or on our website: https://www.er-d.org/donate-select.php
+ Mail a check to:
Episcopal Relief & Development
P.O. Box 7058
Merrifield, VA 22116-7058
+ Donate by phone with your credit card. Call toll-free, 1.800.334.7626, ext. 5129.
Prayers and Support for Haiti Needed: In light of the tragic earthquake in Haiti, which was the worst in the
region in more than 200 years, Episcopal Relief & Development is
providing emergency funds to Haiti. Episcopal Relief & Development
is working with the Diocese there to address immediate needs as a
result of the earthquake and prepare for long term rehabilitation work.
Updated information will be posted to our website as we receive
it. Communication is difficult right now as everyone can imagine and it
may be some time before more details emerge.
In the meantime, please keep the people of Haiti in your prayers and make a donation to our Haiti fund:
"Most Merciful God, who in your great love and goodness hears the prayers of
all your people and is ever-present with those who walk in the shadow
of death: we hold in our prayers all who suffer loss and devastation in
the wake of Haiti earthquake. Comfort those who mourn. Give hope to
those whose hope has been taken away. Strengthen the will of people
everywhere to generously give help and aid. Guide governments and
agencies leading relief programs. For the sake of your Son, Jesus
Christ, who suffered and died for the life of the world. Amen."
To give to the fund:
+ Make an here on the cause or on our website: https://www.er-d.org/donate-select.php
+ Mail a check to:
Episcopal Relief & Development
P.O. Box 7058
Merrifield, VA 22116-7058
+ Donate by phone with your credit card. Call toll-free, 1.800.334.7626, ext. 5129.
Haiti and Episcopal Relief and Developments response.
I'll be updating this blog as soon as I receive something new to post. Lets start with a video from the church's Presiding Bishop:
Very Right Rev. Kathernine Shori
Here is a link to Episcopal Relief and Developments president Rob Radke:
Blog
I'll post as much as I can and not clog your email
Nick
Very Right Rev. Kathernine Shori
Here is a link to Episcopal Relief and Developments president Rob Radke:
Blog
I'll post as much as I can and not clog your email
Nick
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