Haiti Disaster Effort

Two years ago I did some medical work in Haiti with an organization called Living Water Ministries of the Palm Beaches (LWM) which has a presence established in Northwest Haiti. In partnership with LWM and Vitamins for Life Haiti, we distributed over 80,000 vitamins to three villages over nine days. We actually did a medical clinic there almost two years ago to the the day of the earthquake.

With all of the devastation in Port-au-Prince LWM says they are expecting many to flee to the countryside where conditions are slightly better and where people may have relatives located there. As a result they are anticipating a drain on the food, water, and medical supplies which normally funnel into these villages. With Port-au-Prince devastated, they have lost a major supply route.

LWM is sending 12 sea containers which will be offloaded at a port along the coast, outside of Port-au-Prince. They have the manifests and paperwork channels already set up as they make shipments there regularly. As yet, they are not calling for volunteers as this would probably only add to the strain on limited supplies of food and water. They are taking donations on their website: www.lwmpb.org. Anyone wishing to make donations would be well served to donate to LWM.

The infrastructure prior to the earthquake was sketchy at best. Now it is nonexistent. Many personnel want to rush in to help but right now they may not be able to get alot done until the roads are cleared and some sort of large scale coordination plan is implemented. Much needed supplies are still bottled up at the airport. The seaport in Port-au-Prince is shut down.

There will be a need for volunteers and donations for many months, probably years, in Haiti. Although our initial instinct is to do something NOW, the reality is that help will be needed just as much in 1 - 12 months as it is now.
After hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi/Louisiana coast many people went immediately to help. Four months after the landfall there was still no medical infrastructure in place, other than the free clinics staffed by volunteers from all over the country.

Think about what you can do now, but also think about what you can do in three months, six months, a year from now. The disaster in Haiti will not end any time soon.

Please pray for the disaster victims and relief workers.