Hope in Haiti

The destruction in Haiti has been devestating, but Church World Service (the agency which receives 75% of the funds raised from CROP) as been there since the first earthquake.  They have already provided more than $800,000 in aid in the form of CWS blankets and kits (for more information visit www.churchworldservice.org).  Additionally, CWS has already raised $1.3 million toward their goal of $2 million to assist those effected by this horrible disaster. 

While many of our news outlets have focused on the destruction, see below the words of Mr. Martin Coria, official CWS Representative to Latin American and the Caribbean as he describes the scene in Port-au-Prince 48 hours after the quake struck.  What he found brings hope in the light of this disaster.

“The neighborhood of Carrefour-FeillesPart is devastated (destruction is almost 100 percent in some parts). On my way into the neighborhood with Polycarpe Joseph, Director of the Ecumenical Foundation for Peace and Justice (FOPJ), and whose work has been supported for decades by CWS and the CROP Hunger Walks in the USA, he pointed out to me several school buildings that collapsed full of students whose bodies are still there waiting to be recovered from the rubble.

"After a long trip where we passed by two distribution centers secured by lots of US and UN troops, Polycarpe parked his old pick-up in a corner and said: 'Follow-me.' We walked 5 minutes among destroyed homes with people (mostly women) washing, talking. I noticed they were almost no children which I found strange.

"Suddenly, we made a turn in a alley and there they were: under a big tent made out of big pieces of blue plastic that occupied what formerly was a street, more than one hundred children aged 6 to 14 were sat down, in small groups, paying a attention to what a group of Haitian teachers were telling them. Looking at so many children in that place surrounded by all the destruction was like finding a treasure.”

For more information on how you can help CROP, visit www.greatergreensborocropwalk.org.