This and That | Ain't Complicated

World Cheers CAM

World Magazine, that is.

The need for sturdier buildings in Haiti is the next challenge for rebuilding after the quake. As the hurricane season approaches, hundreds of thousands of displaced earthquake survivors will need to find shelter.

One organization has this long-term goal in mind, even as it currently provides for the immediate needs of the earthquake survivors. Christian Aid Ministries (CAM), an Anabaptist organization based in Ohio, has been making sure that survivors get the food, water, temporary shelter, and medical attention they need while also looking ahead to see how it can help the country rebuild and ensure that the destruction of Jan. 12 does not happen again.

[…]

When it does come time to begin building, CAM will supervise and provide materials while the local communities build their own houses. The organization stresses the importance of getting the local people actively engaged in the construction process because it gives the community pride of ownership of the project and creates jobs to many of the unemployed.

There will also be a micro-loan system in place to help earthquake survivors start their own small businesses. Many of the local people have lost their jobs as the factories have been damaged by the quake. With a low interest loan and classes on starting small business, Haitians have a chance to make a living. From there, the organization plans on rebuilding clinics, schools, and churches.

Source: Building blocks

You can help Christian Aid Ministries help Haiti!

Had You Heard?

Tests show bagged greens in Oregon, elsewhere have bacteria

Obama used National Prayer Breakfast to attack anti-sodomy laws for Uganda

Al Qaeda poised to try major attack in United States within 3-6 months, intelligence chiefs warn

UN calls for treaty to prevent cyber war

Obama Administration Admits It Wrongly Tracked Abortion Groups in Wisconsin

US says it may kill Americans abroad

Religious attire mirrors tenets of faith

Haiti: Got a Tarp?

In yesterday’s news….

Today CAM received confirmation that another of our large air-shipments of medicines arrived safely in Port-au-Prince. These medicines will be distributed to clinics and hospitals in earthquake-stricken areas.

Our staff in Haiti requested 10,000 tarps for shelter material. Gary Miller writes, “The need continues for food, water, and shelter. Much of the population in Port-au-Prince is sleeping under sheets, if they have anything sheltering them at all.” CAM air-lifted more than 1,000 tarps this week, and many more will be sent week.

At our warehouse in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, staff are loading sea-containers with food parcels and bulk food items to ship to Haiti. A sea-container left our warehouse yesterday, and another is scheduled to leave today.

Source: CAM air-shipment lands in Port-au-Prince

Christian Aid Ministries: Haiti Update

an on-the-ground report from Tuesday --

The tremor that shook Port-au-Prince area Sunday night was strong enough to wake some of us here at the CAM base, but for others in the city the result was much more severe. One of the medical teams treated a man today who sustained head injuries when part of his house finally fell after being weakened by the quake and all the tremors. It is no wonder the streets continue to be filled with people fearful of moving back into their homes.

Three loads of meds (about 1,000 lbs.) went out this morning from the CAM warehouse. After having prayed for the arrival of this air shipment, staying up late sorting the medicines, and loading the trucks this morning, it is good to hear that the medicines are finally getting out to CAM’s clinics and the waiting people. Jeriah Mast, CAM staff member, visited three of the clinics CAM supports and discovered two of them were totally destroyed by the earthquake.

People continue to be very grateful for the water CAM is providing. […] Today while driving I saw a man scoop water out of a very muddy pothole in the street.

Today a patient wanted to show appreciation for the help she is receiving at the CAM mobile clinic. She brought a nice watermelon to the team as a thank-you gift. It is very humbling to receive gifts from these homeless people. Some patients tell the medical team they are praying for them and their families at home.

For the rest: Earthquake victims grateful for aid

Haiti: More Updates

Young survivor in Haiti enjoys a meal

First, I want you to know that Christian Aid Ministries has updated their Haiti quake page.

Now, what follow are excerpts from and links to two news stories featuring CAM’s relief efforts in Haiti.

From Assist News, this:

The following accounts are all told from the first-hand experience of Christian Aid Mission (CAM) staff member, Joanna Seibel.

A dazed young survivor enjoys a meal With all of the atrocities that have been reported since the fateful 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Tuesday afternoon, January 12, 2010, so many personal stories have gone unheard. Joanna Seibel’s first-hand dramatic account gives a more detailed picture of the tragedy that has taken place within the last three and a half days.

In Titanyen, Haiti, a village not far from the Haitian capital, Christian Aid Mission staff members found themselves suddenly startled by massive and violent shakings. Joanna Seibel was among them. As she instantly realizes that this was to be a dangerous earthquake, she runs to the next room to grab the baby Kiana, before escaping from the crumbling house.

Source: This Is My Story

And from the News Democrat, this:

A local man is helping coordinate aid efforts in Haiti through the national Mennonite organization, Christian Aid Ministries. Paul Weaver, CAM assistant director, has been organizing response teams and fund raising efforts since the 7.0 earthquake struck the poverty stricken nation in the afternoon of Monday, Jan. 12.

Weaver, who has been to Haiti himself more than 30 times, attends the Mennonite church on West Fork Road outside of Georgetown and has been involved with CAM since it’s founding in 1985. The local church has sent missionaries to Haiti as recently as last year.

CAM has been doing mission work in Titanyen, a village north of the capital Port-Au-Prince, since 1991. When the earthquake struck, Weaver said the mission buildings suffered minor damage in comparison to surrounding structures and no workers were injured. The mission had been providing school children with food and ministering to the largely voodoo worshiping population. They had also been working on several reforestation projects.

Once the shaking stopped Weaver organized a rapid response team of 24 doctors, paramedics, and nurses who were sent in Thursday. The mission workers already on the ground began digging people out of the rubble and organizing shelter. Some were out until 3:30 a.m. Wednesday morning trying to free the thousands of trapped people.

The CAM buildings quickly became a triage center the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 12 as hundreds of people began arriving with broken bones and cuts. CAM operates the only health clinic in Titanyen and they have become overwhelmed. Burn victims from a local mill which had caught fire during the quake were some of the first to be treated. Wounds were treated without anesthesia as more and more people lined up for aid.

Source: Chaos in Haiti

In closing, I remind you of the Haiti page I set up for CAM before they got their official page online. 🙂

Haiti: To the Least of These

Excerpts from two news stories I scanned/read this morning:

Haitians flee in fear as big aftershock hits

The most powerful aftershock yet struck Haiti on Wednesday, shaking more rubble from damaged buildings and sending screaming people running into the streets eight days after the country’s capital was devastated by an apocalyptic quake.

The extent of additional damage or injuries caused by the magnitude-6.1 temblor was not immediately clear….

[…]

And near midnight Tuesday, a smiling and singing 26-year-old Lozama Hotteline was carried to safety from a collapsed store in the Petionville neighborhood by the French aid group Rescuers Without Borders.

It’s great to read a little good news amid all the dreary!

Christian Aid Ministries staffing a mobile clinic

A week after a 7.0 earthquake decimated Port-au-Prince, Haiti, a local medical relief program continues to treat the injured and works to stop the spread of infections and diseases.

Since the initial quake, medical personnel from Christian Aid Ministries, a Berlin-based missionary organization, have been treating the wounded, said Gloria Miller, a spokeswoman for CAM.

“It has been an intense week, but also rewarding to be able to help others,” said Holmes County nurse and CAM staff member Joanna Miller.

After the quake, Miller, along with Bethanie Burkholder, a nurse practitioner from New York, loaded medical supplies and traveled from CAM’s permanent clinic located at La Source, to Titanyen outside of Port-au-Prince, where they established a mobile clinic.

“We have staff on the ground, and daily receive e-mail updates and pictures from them,” Gloria Miller said. “The news they share is heart-wrenching.”

A mass grave has been dug across from the mobile clinic. On Thursday, Joanna Seibel, one of CAM’s staff members, watched as six dump trucks filled with bodies come to the grave.

[…]

On Sunday, the clinic had 74 patients, many of them children, some whose parents were killed in the quake, according to Seibel.

“A mother was there with three of her children, all four of them needing attention. The worst was her small daughter with a deep hole in her forehead,” Seibel wrote.

When the disaster struck, CAM had medical supplies stored for the mission’s Haiti clinic, Gloria Miller said. But, in the future, more medical personnel and supplies are needed.

“We’re talking about airlifting meds into Haiti and we have different doctors going in,” Gloria Miller said.

In addition to medical aid, CAM supports 40 Haitian schools and provides food aid.

Donate to CAM?

Haiti: Christian Aid Ministries

The folks of Christian Aid Ministries are active in Haiti and in the States as they work hard getting aid to those affected by the earthquake a week ago today.

I encourage you to contribute to their earthquake relief efforts at the page I have set: Haiti 2010 Earthquake Aid. (You can do so with a check via snail mail or online using the PayPal donate button there.)

It is my understanding that over all among all their aid programs, almost 99 cents of every donated dollar goes to their programs. That’s amazing efficiency and stewardship, folks!

Here are two photos from their people on the ground in Haiti:

BethanyB of Christian Aid Ministries
administering aid at a mobile clinic in Haiti

An injured Haitian being transported in a wheelbarrow