In response to my last post, I've privately received comments, critiques, and feedback, so I will be writing a follow up to clarify, give context, and address a few of the things a few of you mentioned. However, the purpose of this space is to invite communication, to openly and respectfully push back, to call into question, to engage one another's ideas, and to encourage; so, please respond directly in the blog comments section so we can all be involved in the conversation. (if you'd like more explanation, see my 1st ever post titled "beginnings")
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I am a tenderhearted idealist who is (academically & second-hand experientially) familiar with the psychological and developmental implications of what these children are experiencing, thus my heart is heavy and my brain running through scenario after scenario.
Tell us your reaction to this article and your thoughts regarding the issue.
- Better yet, what is the issue?
- Is "it" present in other places?
- What are the "roots"?
- How should they be addressed?
- Has/does "it" affect you?
- According to your worldview, do you have a responsibility or urge to respond in a certain way? <-- Do you + are you able to (explain)?
- Why do you hold these opinions?
etc, etc, etc. etc.
Word vomit, streams of consciousness, charged remarks, provoking replies, and mundane thoughts are all welcomed :]
Tear down the walls, "Jesus will not be indifferent to someone who needs love and to be valued".
I'll be honest, it took opening that link up about 3 times to finally get through the whole article. For three weeks now, I've been struggling with what to think and how to approach God with this, I think I'm making progress with Him, but for now I'm just going to try to give my input on some of the questions you asked (I'll try no to blog on your blog too much though)
What is the issue?
I think that the two biggest issues that most people are forgetting are the fact that 1) Haiti needed the love and support it's now getting years before Jan 12, 2010. A country that had almost nothing to begin with and now has everything taken away will struggle to survive on its own, honestly I don't know that without help they would be able to survive at all. 2)One thing I feel people overlook is the fact that Port-au-Prince is the city that is in ruins. Port-au-Prince is by far the most important city in the country not simply because it is the nation's capital, but it is also the biggest and most exclusive port in the country. Without Port-au-Prince being able to accept imports and distribute them to the rest of the country, every Haitian, regardless of location, will experience food and supply shortages. Cape Hatian and other port towns are options, but cannot support a nation. Port-au-Prince is also significant because of the political and aid support it homes, which is now destroyed. For example, when 9/11 hit, our leaders met in Washington, organized aid and help there, and made sure teams were sent where they needed to be. Port-au-Prince has no place capable of doing that now. The day after the quake leader met in lawn chairs, with no resources or communication lines to try to fix things. Also, the in-country UN and USAID were essentially immobilized.
How does it need to be addressed?
Help in this sense isn't millions of dollars in aid over the course of a month or 6 months. If that is what relief efforts look like, they will fail. Haiti's infrastructure needs to be rebuilt from the ground up, with the most major things in my opinion being government stability, real passable roads built throughout the country, and schools and hospitals re-established. Yeah, that's a lot of work, but those things are essentials Haitians are missing. Haiti needs long term solutions, as noble as they sound, efforts like Red Cross aid are, in my opinion, offering a person who's arm has just been cut off a bandaid. One of the only ways Americans can help right now is to donate money and supplies, I would encourage to donate to more international organizations than the Red Cross that are focused on making long term commitments to Haiti, not putting a little money away for stateside projects too.
I guess one last thing that is really on my heart, is how much this tragedy is affecting the heart of Haiti, in and out of Port-au-Prince. That article captures pretty well I think the struggles that children, and people in general, inside this city are facing. They have been wounded so deeply, I can't even imagine. And outside of Port-au-Prince, hearts aren't in much better shape. When I was down there, I really came to understand that everyone who's Haitian has somebody in Port-au-Prince, everyone lost someone, most lost everything. The entire country is in a state of mourning we can barely understand here, they love so deeply.
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