CRWRC's Local Partners Help Aid Reach Haitians In Need
CRWRC Newsroom | January 21, 2010
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Groups of doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel are finally providing aid to earthquake survivors thanks to CRWRC’s local connections.
“The past days we have been busy helping teams of medical workers from Medical Teams International, an organization that collaborates with CRWRC, set up in Haiti,” reported CRWRC-Haiti staffmember Ad deBlaeij. “The first group of doctors, nurses and other personnel arrived on Saturday. They are staying at the ministry center of the Christian Reformed Church of Haiti and are working in King’s Hospital. By organizing the lodging of this group we helped them to start working right away. Now as more medical teams are arriving, we are also assisting them in finding places to see and treat patients many of whom still have untreated wounds and fractures from the quake.”
Some of these medical volunteers will soon arrive in Fort Mercredi, an area on the southwest end of Port au Prince where another CRWRC partner, the Union of Baptist Churches in Haiti, has a seminary campus that is being used as a temporary refuge for earthquake survivors.
“Many of the houses of the poor in Fort Mecredi have been destroyed,” said deBlaeij. “Since the quake, more than 2,500 people sleep on the grass of the campus every night. Many of them need medical care.”
While the medical volunteers meet these urgent medical needs CRWRC is supplying the people with food, but the logistics of purchasing, shipping, and distributing the food are not simple.
“Roads are blocked by downed power lines, people living in the street, and bulldozers removing rubble. The strong aftershock yesterday morning is not helping. Even people whose houses were not damaged by the first earthquake are afraid to sleep in their homes. Many smaller streets are blocked off by the population because they have their chairs and other furniture on the street,” deBlaeij reported.
In the midst of this chaos Haiti is slowly returning back to life. Many people have buried their loved ones, and are salvaging what they can from the rubble of their old homes. Others are already working to start up their small businesses in the street and the market. And leaders from CRWRC’s local partners are doing what they can to shine God’s love in this time of need by offering their buildings and grounds as a base for volunteers and a home for the homeless.
“We are doing our best to support the Haitian brothers and sisters in their suffering, showing them the love of Christ,” said deBlaeij. “The Haitian Christians are also sharing what they have to help their communities. Thank you for continuing to remember us in your prayers and with your gifts.”
Contributions for CRWRC's response are urgently needed. Every dollar makes a difference and now if Canadians give a donation to the Haiti Earthquake victims through CRWRC by February 12th, it will double in impact due to a generous contribution from the Canadian Government.
Checks, marked “Haiti Earthquake 2010” can also be sent to:
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CRWRC-US |
CRWRC-Canada Ph: 1-800-730-3490 |
- by Kristen deRoo VanderBerg, CRWRC Communications