What are the local ministries doing in Haiti and how can Christians partner with them?
Mercy Works – YWAM Tyler are sending wave after wave of short term medical teams to Port Au Prince. The first team has now come back and they were involved in providing first aid to the victims being rescued from the rubble – in a very unstable environment. The team that is now there is doing wound care and medical assessments of the many victims. Next weeks team and the ones following will be involved very much on a medical level – performing amputations, other orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation.
Haiti Relief Effort
The teams there report very unsanitary conditions – the stench is horrendous and there is obviously a huge amount of human suffering which is hard to see. The crush injuries are devastating and the need for medical care is very urgent. They are doing what they can to help, currently with limited supplies and equipment. They are staying in tents and there is no electricity. It is also not very safe – there is violence and looting. Please pray for their safety and for God to multiply their effectiveness so they can reach more people in need. If anyone wants to volunteer and can spare 2 weeks in the next couple of months to work on a medical team – please email Mercy Works mercy@ywamtyler.org The current needs are for doctors, nurses and paramedics, preferably people with emergency or orthopedic experience.
Mercy Ships has sent a Disaster Response assessment team to see how they can be involved with the longer term rehabilitation in Haiti. They will be sending several Mercy Teams to that area for years to come – to meet the both the medical and reconstruction needs that are there in Haiti on a long term basis. If you want to help in in Haiti in the future this would be a great option. You do not have to have medical skills to go and help – good health, a desire to work hard and a heart of love for the people affected is what is needed most. These teams will come alongside existing projects to increase the amount of help that is being given. Look for the Mercy Teams application form on the website www.mercyships.org
Mercy Ships and YWAM are also sending funds and equipment so if you haven’t donated and want to get involve that way, you can also do that online at the YWAM Tyler or Mercy Ships websites. So far they have not been able to send a lot of supplies as air transport has been very restricted but things are improving and they will soon be able to meet the huge needs for the medical supplies in the area with your financial donation.
Finally you can pray. I guess Christians everywhere have already been praying for the victims and their families, for those facing loss of limbs and ongoing pain, for those whose lives are devastated in other ways. But there is one thing that is often omitted. There is lawlessness everywhere on the streets of Haiti. We need to pray that God would intervene and stop the ‘every man for himself’ mentality. There needs to be a spiritual revival in that land otherwise chaos will remain there – traditionally there is a lot of occultic practices which came with the immigrants from the voodoo traditions of West Africa . The Christian organizations there (like YWAM and Mercy Ships) can have a big impact in showing God’s unconditional love and hope to those affected and can bring a dimension that just isn’t present in the other relief efforts.