Help Haiti

Last night Jason and I flipped on the television after the kids went to bed and were immediately caught up in the footage of the devastation in Haiti. Diane Sawyer interviewed one particular American family who was in the process of adopting three young children in Port au Prince. They had heard the children were OK, but were still worried for their health and safety and praying for all of the other children. Diane surprised the family (which included three children already adopted from Haiti) with a Skype interview. A man held their baby for the camera to see as the two older children played nearby. The mom just sobbed. Sobbed and smiled. And thanked them. Her babies were fine.

Our church currently has a mission team in Pignon, where they were helping at a school at the same time a local mission team of doctors were providing medical care to the very poor. They’ve gone every year for a few years and the doctors have gone for more than a dozen, I believe. As of now, everyone is safe. But needed more than ever.

At times like this, when we all want to just hop on a plane and help with our hands, it turns out, the best thing we can do is simply send money. The infrastructure is gone. It’s nearly impossible to transport goods. There isn’t food or water to give to volunteers. There’s no shelter from the intense heat. There’s no fuel to send back planes bringing in relief workers and supplies. Sending money to help organizations with the means to work around those roadblocks is the best way to help the people of Haiti. That, and many, many prayers.

Jason and I will be giving to Partners in Health, an organization started by Dr. Paul Farmer years ago. He and his people have spent years providing quality medical care to the people of Haiti and searching for better ways of preventing and treating diseases world wide. His staff already live and work there and they’re desperate for more volunteer doctors to help them in their work. You can donate here.

P.S. If you've written a post about Haiti on your own blog, post a link at My Litter of Six - a wonderful money-saving mommy blog. Her family is making additional donations to Haiti for every link added.