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MCC plans long-term in Haiti
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By Mennonite Central Committee and Mennonite Weekly Review staffMennonite Central Committee has begun a multimillion-dollar response to the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti.
Michel Garly of MCC Haiti and Meagan Peasgood, a former MCC and Canadian Foodgrains Bank worker now living in Haiti, help unload sacks of rice purchased in the Dominican Republic at the MCC office in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. — Photo by Ben Depp /MCC
Staff expect the effort will last several years, focusing on rebuilding homes and livelihoods. Donors have given an estimated $4.8 million as of Jan. 26.
Daryl Yoder-Bontrager, MCC area director for Latin America and the Caribbean, spent a week in Haiti after the disaster.
“One of the things we’re trying to emphasize is doing disaster relief in a way that preserves the dignity of the earthquake survivors,” he wrote Jan. 21. “It will be a challenge.”
MCC’s Haiti team before the earthquake included nine program staff and five support staff in Port-au-Prince and nine program staff in Desarmes.
None of MCC’s workers were killed in the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck near the capital of Port-au-Prince, though several had their homes collapse.
Michel Garly, a Haitian national who coordinates MCC’s advo-cacy efforts in Port-au-Prince, did not lose his house when his neighborhood was flattened, though many of his friends were killed. About 50 people have congregated at his home, and he shares with them and others water he filters at the MCC office.
Despite the losses, people are grateful to be alive, and he hears many singing, praying and sharing their testimonies about the earthquake, he said.
“We don’t say, ‘OK, God, why [do] we have this in Haiti?’ ” he said. “This is nature. There is nothing you can do. So only, ‘Thank you,’ to God.”
Garly also asked for prayers for God’s guidance for his nation.
Comments
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It is good that this crisis in Haiti is being seen as something in which long term initiatives are needed. And it is also good that we see the Haitians themselves as the leaders who form a new future for themselves and their neighbours.
I see that Meagan Peasbody is involved and since I have read that Canadian Foodgrains is consulting with her to see where their organization can assist in not only providing for the immediate needs but for future plantings.
I was wondering what is taking place to ensure the many who farm in Haiti have sufficient seed and tools to carry out their very important work and that the March planting season in Haiti is a priority for aid agencies.
Also, a big thanks to all of you.
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