How to Help Haiti

If you are like me, you feel genuine sympathy for all the people suffering in Haiti, but your dilemma is that you are so far away and feel both physically distant and powerless to do anything. The generous donating of money is good, but there is must be something more that one can do. So, I will write to help Haiti, although I am not sure that this article will be of much help. As I have already said, I am far from Haiti. I am no expert on Haiti and provide this article as food for thought and action.

As I listen and watch news programs about Haiti I am astonished to find that most people focus on physical help. Of course the people in Haiti desperately need medical attention, food, housing, money, and heavy machinery to move ruble. This we cannot doubt. However, alongside previously listed needs, Haiti needs to have virtuous people with specific skills to rise up.

Good, skilled people. Haiti will not recover unless good, skilled people come into Haiti and train Haitians or find Haitians that are good, skilled people. What I call the physical help (medical attention, food, housing, money, and heavy machinery, etc.) that Haiti needs will only be useful if there are people who have the morals and the skills to organize, lead, and distribute well.

In the radio and television clips that I have seen, there has been little talk of Haitian leadership. I’m not sure why. However, I believe that the main concern for Haiti right now is leadership. Haiti needs a messiah (small ‘m’; meaning a political leader who will help to save Haiti from trouble) to rise up. When there is chaos and trouble evil tends to thrive.

There are stories of groups of Haitians who have just received food from foreign aid agencies and some person running into the crowd and saying ‘a tsunami is coming’ so that everyone will abandon their goods. The “boy who cried wolf” then turns into the wolf and takes all the goods that people have left behind. There are bands of people who – either because of their weapons, the size of their band, or their physicality – force other Haitians to give up whatever goods they have left.

Haiti needs good politicians who will unite people to the good causes of providing organization, civil stability, and some kind of law enforcement. Without political leaders (and this may be no more than a father leading his family, or a woman leading a group of 20-30 people) who are morally good and have political know-how and skill, evil leaders will rise up and torment the country.

Good, trained doctors, nurses, engineers, machine operators, economists, etc. are also needed in Haiti. Professionally qualified Haitians with these skills need to be found or trained. Without trained professionals there is little hope that Haiti will recover quickly or well from this recent disaster; both physical and personnel needs have to be met for Haiti to recover.

Help Haiti by giving money if you want. Giving money is better than nothing. However, my fellow Canadians must consider the needs for good personnel Haiti. If you are a good leader that can help organize and enable people, (and I doubt that you are), or if you are a qualified doctor, nurse, or an engineer, then consider actually going to Haiti. Or perhaps you know someone who fits into one of these categories that you can mention this to. If you cannot help and know of no one to help in Haiti, then we must pray. We must pray for order and leaders and engineers and doctors either to go to Haiti, to be trained up in Haiti, or both.

We must pray for Haiti. We must pray for good leaders to conquer evil gangs. We must pray for a type of Moses. May God hear the cries of the Haitians and our accompanying cries! Not that prayer is our only recourse, but it is an essential part of our love coming to fruition. Love must also come to completion in actions. How are we acting?