Submitted by Crusoe (as a comment on the Haiti We Are Sorry blog
You list some good ideas for the structural retransformation of Haiti [Responding to Commenter Dictionary on the Haiti We Are Sorry blog]. Each in of themselves they do not depend on improved education but do depend on improved technical training (farming etc). However, for all, the long-term success of those initiatives individually and collectively leading to a successful Haiti will certainly also depend on improved education, if as we have been informed, the literacy level is so low.
This has two implications.
Firstly, immediately after initial search, rescue, medical, temporary (short and medium term) and security issues have been addressed as priority, the early reformation must include an immediate education programme, for adult and youth, such that the transformation of Haiti can begin with the active participation of her people, not as ‘serfs’ but as active individuals and communities with an understanding of the reasoning behind the methods and the aim of the methods.
I must add, that ‘transformation’ in this context is not meant to refer to bringing Haiti to the same philosophical outlook as anyone other specific group. In this context it is meant to refer to bringing Haiti to a level of self-capability and self-determination. Now, to expect say a three or four year ‘crash course’ in education and technical skills may seem either impossible or unrealistic, but unfortunately, if this is not done as one of the foundations of the rebuilding (in the context of not only structural, but as a nation of people), than all else may eventually prove futile.
This is obviously along the lines of the old phrase of teaching a man to fish instead of giving him the fish. Merely putting up structures, farms etc may certainly alleviate some misery, but while in the short term foreign contractors etc may gain much from the aid given for this purpose, the long-term goal should be to have Haitians and not only elite, but the everyday Haitian, benefit from money flows and thus create an independent people and a vibrant economy.
It is my view therefore Caricom leaders, should address the education of Haiti, as a priority, as much a priority as any other redevelopment effort.
To reinforce a point, the initial effort must not only be to set up an improved schooling system, but implement as an interim measure, an ’emergency education programme’, with the help of international authorities and the Haitian authorities. If one wants a long-term Haiti, this is essential.
We must give thanks yet again, that Errol Barrow saw the necessity of education as a developmental tool. And, we must forever resist ANY attempts to take free education from Barbadians. Indeed, those of us who wish for an improved world, must seek the furtherance of a sound even if basic education, for all peoples, as a necessity for development.
1,421 responses to “The Reconstruction And Transformation Of Haiti: A Global-Moral Imperative”
@Dictionary
“He knows that the word he has chosen to use in this hostile context is plainly willfully loaded with a particular vulgar reference, and reflects an agenda to coarsen public discussion, too often resorted to by commenters of his ilk.”
Don’t start what you cannot finish. Look at you. Want to make all kinds of demeaning unprofessional remarks about me and don’t like it when I hit back. You have only one sense of justice; yours.
What some of those US marines are doing.
And, it looks like FFP took some casualties in the quake, too: a group of their students on short term aid were lost.
@Dictionary
“Food For the Poor web. Note the logo, reflective of its foundation as a [Catholic] Christian Charity.”
These people were in Haiti long before the quake. So was Caribbean Unity Trust which is another Caribbean effort based on christianity that runs about a dozen orphanages and have been doing great work for the past four years in Haiti. Where is your church in this time of crisis? These are not the church. These are people who get up and make their own initiative because they see that their churches are doing nothing. Catholic endorsement cannot count. It is the effort that matters.
Haiti is your neighbour, have you thought of making the trip? Have you thought about how you are going to get supplies there now to the suffering? What is your church doing for the suffering humanity in Haiti?
Have you even linked up with any of these christian organisations that are getting supplies into Haiti; although not enough? They can certainly do with your help. They are crying out for help with more aid, we are getting some in and the Canadians are facilitating, while our government seems happy to remain restricted by the USA, when they can get them into Haiti by networking with these organisations. SHAME.
ROK:
I have said nothing corrective to or about you that was not backed up by abundant evidence, and was not warranted by the sort of attitude you are showing again.
Remember, your behaviur is up to and including not only public circulation of long since publicly corrected false myths and accusations against the Christian Faith etc, but a specific slander that materially contributed to the atmosphere of a call for arson directed against churches by Hopi, for which you expressed not one word of regret or correction so far as I could find.
Nor have I ever resorted to vulgarities, directly or by allusion.
Worse, you set off an exchange this morning by trying to falsely imply that the churches of the Caribbean have been missing in action on help to Haiti. And you have ignored rather than acknowledged fact based correction.
Please, do better than this.
And, note, this thread is still being distracted form what it should be focussed on.
So, please do better than the above.
G’day
D
@Dictionary
“I have said nothing corrective to or about you that was not backed up by abundant evidence, and was not warranted by the sort of attitude you are showing again.”
I think I have done the same and therefore does not warrant your attitude either. You just can’t accept the evidence because you are too blind to see.
At best your remarks about me are misguided and judgmental. I asked you already, who you working for? My objection to you is that I think you are planted.
You don’t make too much sense at all; always trying to force something (negative) down “onlookers’” throats. You obviously think you have a large audience here and you are very (and always) mindful of it. You seek to enlarge your ego here. You try to legitimise yourself as some intellectual with all your cut and paste.
What is all that about? Just bare ego? Or is it that you working for or on behalf of somebody?
@Dictionary
“Remember, your behaviur is up to and including not only public circulation of long since publicly corrected false myths and accusations against the Christian Faith etc, but a specific slander that materially contributed to the atmosphere of a call for arson directed against churches by Hopi, for which you expressed not one word of regret or correction so far as I could find.”
Straining at a gnat? Where did I incite or contribute to anybody’s call to arson. You now convincing me that you are a snare. Like Jack Bowman.
Did I hear you denounce the Haitians as demonic? What does that incite? Did I not hear you call for their destruction as people who made a pact with the devil? What were you inciting there?
The only thing I have ever done and insist on is for you to come to the reality that what you have is a faith. I have continually ask you to desist from trying to prove what cannot be proven.
I have continually charge you as you hero charged people like you, “O ye of little faith”. You want to see where the sword pierced? Like doubting Thomas?
I have further stated in these corridors, that the Rev. Errington Massiah called people like you an enemy to christianity and I am sure many here will agree with him, because what you and Zoe (backed by the kicker) spout are not conducive at all.
I have no beef with a church that understands that what they have is faith. In my many debates with some of the highest officers of the Anglican Church, they would always tell me that if you do not believe, there is no sense arguing.
One archbishop stopped me in my tracks one day by asking, “do you believe?” He went on, if you believe I will explain. If you do not believe, I have no argument. Mine is the basis of a belief. There can be no argument.
You here trying to turn me into some criminal by remotely connecting me to something somebody else say. Who are you working for?
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100201/letters/letters1.html
PS: Onlookers, ROK obviously knows the vulgar double-meaning that attaches to the abbreviation of my handle he has chosen to use; despite plainly knowing that I have objected. That willful, snide resort to coarsening of discussion is sadly telling. And it is part of why I am not participating in a discussion or a debate in this thread, simply notifying of announcements.
Onlookers:
ROK PLAINLY knows that “Dictionary” is not normally abbreviated as he and others hostile to Christians have chosen to.
This man is so damn arrogant and egotistical that it is sad.
If you type Dick, it is offensive as he knows our thoughts.
Could it, perhaps by chance, that some dont have the time to type the whole word?
Some type D, some type Dick…..yeah, it looks like they are calling you a “doggy ” but I hardly doubt that. You assume the worse because your ego is bruised and you look for every reason possible to castigate others…stupse!
So…I hope that you dont ever shorten anyones’ handle.
I am Technician and not T or Techie.
From now, it is Laughing out loud and NOT LOL…. it is Rolling On Floor laughing My Ass Off…..and NOT ROFLMAO…..it is By The Wayand NOT btw….
Really though D, you think too much of yourself.
One would have thought that with all your brilliance. education and scholarship, that the word could be shortened to be the “vulgar” term for penis. Maybe you should resort to GEM.
*SIGH*……TOO FULL OF YOURSELF GUY…PLZ (please)!!
@Dic….. This christianity is what is kicking the arse of Black People. “Black people NEED to BURN every CHURCH that pushes them toward the god of the white man, the god of their enslaver.” January 23, 2010 at 9:50 AM
Do you need me to repeat that [again]. I was very specific. And to see that you are still pretending to be incensed by that posting, still give me the jollies!
So don’t try to link ROK to the posting of this adult. That won’t work. Next thing you’re gonna say is that BANGO supports your pathetic idea of [ARSEon]. Ulterior motive?
What have you done for Haiti? Or are you still in support of the christian view of that nation?
btw…You should be honored to be addressed as Dick…..I too thought of doing so, but on 2nd thoughts I didn’t think you had what it takes or that you weren’t man enough to be…..addressed as a DICK.
@Techie…………oooppps, Ah meaning Mr. Techician, Sir……….
What I have discovered is that it takes two to tango (some peeps say tangle instead of tango) however yuh gets wuh ah meaning?
So when I see B.E. (bovine exc.) being posted I just totally ignore it all and just scroll past!! Ah Lie???
Haiti heads for debt crisis as emergency loans pile up after earthquake
* Heather Stewart
* The Observer, Sunday 31 January 2010
* Article history
Haiti-food
A boy tries to carry rice and beans after receiving food at a distribution point in Port-au-Prince. Photograph: CARLOS BARRIA/REUTERS
Haiti is sleepwalking towards a debt crisis because international help for the earthquake-hit country is being given in the form of new loans, anti-poverty campaigners are warning.
Unctad, the United Nations’ trade and development body, which is leading international calls for the island state’s debts to be forgiven, said this weekend: “Considering the large direct costs of the earthquake, in the absence of further international action a new debt crisis is all but assured.”
Donors are agreed that the immediate priority is to get aid to Haiti’s stricken capital of Port-au-Prince, where relief co-ordinators warned this weekend that supplies of food are still woefully short, and where the threat of violence and disease is increasing by the day.
But in a new study, Unctad urged the international community not to forget that emergency funds lent to poor states at the height of a crisis can become a heavy burden for years afterwards.
Unctad’s researchers analysed the impact of 21 natural disasters – between 1980 and 2008 – on poor countries that were heavily in debt. They found that meeting the costs of rebuilding leaves long-term financial scars: on average, a natural disaster leads to a 24 percentage-point increase in a country’s debt-to-GDP ratio, a widely-used measure of indebtedness.
“Shocks on such a scale can lead to a vicious cycle of economic distress, more external borrowing, burdensome debt servicing, and insufficient investment to mitigate future shocks,” it said.
With pressing humanitarian needs on the ground, the International Monetary Fund last week agreed $102m (£62.9m) in new lending to help provide emergency assistance and rebuild Haiti’s shattered infrastructure.
Charities point out that this will bring Haiti’s total debts close to the unmanageable $1.3bn level hit in 2005, when it qualified for debt relief from the international community as a “heavily-indebted poor country”.
“Much of this money was lent at a time when Haiti had massive, odious debts,” said Nick Dearden, director of Jubilee Debt Campaign.
Local left-wing campaign group, Plateforme Haïtienne de Plaidoyer pour un Développement (Papda), released a statement condemning the IMF’s decision to extend new lending, saying: “We think that it’s really a scandalous situation which we can’t accept. The IMF is acting without taking any account of the dramatic situation in our country.”
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF’s managing director, has made clear that in future he would like to see all the Fund’s lending to Haiti cancelled.
“Looking beyond the emergency phase, and as part of an international plan to rebuild the country, there will be a need to reassess Haiti’s debt situation in light of the catastrophic damage to its economy.” he said last week. “At that stage, the international community needs to be ready to provide comprehensive debt relief.”
However, there has so far been no agreement among member states. Haiti is not due to make any repayments to the IMF for two years, and there are fears that political momentum for debt forgiveness will have drained away by then.
“What we’re worried about is that once the spotlight is off, it will be forgotten,” said Dearden. Before it was granted debt relief, Haiti was spending about $50m on repaying its creditors, with much of the debt having been contracted years ago.
With much of the machinery of the Haitian state destroyed by the earthquake, just putting a functioning government back together is likely to be a formidable challenge, let alone raising the taxes to meet future debt repayments. Edmond Mulet, the acting head of the UN’s mission in Haiti, said last week that the reconstruction effort was likely to take many years. “I think this is going to take many more decades than only 10 years and this is an enormous backwards step in Haiti’s development,” he said. “We will not have to start from zero but from below zero.”
The UN is assessing the scale of Haiti’s financial needs in advance of a major donor conference to be held in New York in March — potentially a forum for debt relief plans to be formally discussed.
Britain backs the IMF’s view that the priority is to get cash to survivors, shelving the question of debt relief for later.
Last week, Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez announced he would write off Haiti’s $295m debts with his country, ratcheting up the pressure on rich western creditors to follow suit. Citing Haiti’s support for Venezuela’s 19th-century independence movement, Chavez said: “Haiti has no debt with Venezuela – on the contrary, it is Venezuela that has a historic debt with Haiti.”
Haiti’s largest creditor is the Inter-American Development Bank, which said it would like to see a new debt relief programme, but, like the IMF, has so far made no concrete proposals.
Charities are also concerned about the growing role of the IMF in the world’s poorest countries, because its assistance tends to be in the form of concessional loans, rather than grants, and often comes with conditions attached.
“We are concerned that the conditions of Haiti’s current IMF debts continue to apply,” said Nick Dearden of Jubilee. “These conditions undemocratically force Haiti, amongst other things, to raise electricity tariffs and freeze public-sector pay.”
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About this article
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Haiti heads for debt crisis as emergency loans pile up after earthquake
This article appeared on p2 of the Business news & features section of the Observer on Sunday 31 January 2010. It was published on guardian.co.uk at 00.05 GMT on Sunday 31 January 2010.
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OOOOpppps I misspelt again Should be:- Technician
@Rok.
I would be very happy if no one But the Haitian people decide on there future. However I am not very optimistic that they have the determination to do so and is looking towards america to make that decision for them.I am in favour of self
determination without outside influence .
Only time woukd tell if they can muster up the will. Aristide was also a puppet of the american govt. and to me that represent the same old guard.
@Rok
Ref;email
Just like those people i am very angry and disgusted with the President and i lay the blame for all the chaos an and lack of organisation at his feet. I hope the people get him out of there as soon as possible. When the head of a country
does not know what is going on what good is he to the people. America can onlycontrol the country if he allows them to do so. In this situation he has done so and the blame is on him.
@ROK
That feedback from the ground by your counterpart should be mandatory reading for ALL. It would shatter many myths shrouding this matter.
@ac
“Just like those people i am very angry and disgusted with the President and i lay the blame for all the chaos an and lack of organisation at his feet.”
Agreed. However, I am not so sure that Aristide was any American puppet. I am sure that Preval is though. Hence the sell out.
Aristide was/is a man of pride. Plus he had a full Government in place. Preval on the other hand has not even appointed a Prime Minister. Why? Well it leaves all the power in his hands; to sell as he pleases.
@ac
“I would be very happy if no one But the Haitian people decide on there future. However I am not very optimistic…”
This is not about the voters in Haiti but about those who seek political office. Any people allowed to solve their political differences without interference will get them solved. I therefore have faith that the Haitian people can do it.
Europe did it. Barbados did it. America did it… but in saying that I pause to note that the USA is probably the most corrupt place in the world.
@David
What was amazing about that report on preval, is that he himself had no fear either. He was right up to the railings. Anybody could have chopped off his head or stabbed him, but he himself went to the rail to speak to them.
Myths are right, because while there is this perpetration of the idea that Haitians are criminals and to be feared, the President obviously does not agree.
Further, when he left, they did not stone his car or any of that. It was all talk. These are the people we must fear. I say it again. Haitians are as docile as any Bajan and that is probably the reason people and countries take advantage of Haiti and Haitians.
@David
Check the picture at the link below. The man is not only holding the rail, he is resting on it. This says a lot with respect to the need for security:
http://acpcsforum.blogspot.com/
@ROk
This not about the voters in Haiti, but those who seek political office. Is that so?
Then how when and where is the peoples voice heard in order to make change that would weed out corruption .What then is the other alternative if it is not about the voter.
If you are speaking ofcorrupt politicians
in the USA .They are thrown out of office
and in some cases go to jail .Remember
Nixon the President.
I am no expert but in my readings , corrupt politicians in the US only get thrown out when they step on the wrong toes or don’t tow the line .This idea that the US is willing to prosecute anyone who breaks the law don’t mind their position is a myth .
Look at the records of people like Donald Rumsfield, Dick Cheney , George Bush Snr. and Jnr.,Bill Clinton . All that happened to them is that they got richer, they didn’t rock the boat and hence were well rewarded for it.
JFK was good to go when he was womanising and fraternising with the mob but as soon as he wanted to pull out of VietNam and let the Government take control of printing their own money……….well we see how it ended up.
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5527.shtml
Another article that might be instructive.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/01-0
Onlookers:
A few final notes, it being plain that this thread will go nowhere in the ostensible focus on helping Haiti.
The resort to vulgarity by ROK above speaks — sadly — for itself. So does the attempt to sweep away public promulgation as known fact of ill-founded, long since discredited myths, slanders incitatory to a call for arson by Hopi [not dissociated from], and the openly confessed padlocking of the mind from correction 30 years ago, on ROK’s part.
I also note that here is no apparent willingness to accept that the facts are plain that the churches, Caribbean and global, have been deeply and positively involved in not only this crisis but in helping Haiti for decades and more.
As to the sensationalising and evil motive-mongering of the difficulties being encountered day by day in coping with the crisis, they hinge on a basic misunderstanding of the nature of a disaster, as may be reflected in its very definition:
Haiti’s capital city has experienced the energetic equivalent of a nuclear blast. Up to hundreds of thousands are dead at one stroke, with many more injured or homeless and jobless. Half the buildings in the city of 2 million plus are gone or severely damaged, and almost everything is dislocated. Local, regional and international resources — by the very definition of overwhelming catastrophic event — are overwhelmed and are just beginning to respond through triage and then stabilising the situation. rebuilding and redevelopment are on the horizon.
Let us UNDERSTAND, and then respond with seriousness and with positive efforts to help, short and long term.
For those interested in more than crude rhetorical agendas and vulgarities, I again note my own reflections and suggestions here and here. (DV, more will follow. Looks like I need to remark on the Latin American bamboo hollow Bahareque vernacular housebuilding system and its possibilities for transforming housebuilding and construction of low rise commercial or institutional buildings in Haiti and the wider region.)
And David, it should be plain what happens when civility — i.e. just plain old broughtupcy — is not used as a benchmark for comments in a blog. Freedom of opinion and expression do not include freedom to slander, falsely accuse or misinform without correction.
G’day
Dictionary
@Dick
“Freedom of opinion and expression do not include freedom to slander, falsely accuse or misinform without correction.”
You need to take a bit of your own advice. You come here with a message of hellfire. You come here to incite christians to destroy anything they don’t believe in and blast it to hell. Where is your broughtupcy? Where is your civility when you and your sidekick come on here spewing the most venom and denouncing innocent people?
Not to mention this lake of fire that you want to throw people in and you complaining about Hopi and trying to say that I incite Hopi? SLANDER! Until you behave yourself, you will be Dick for me. Have some respect and respect will be shown to you.
You are the most slanderous of individuals I have ever seen on this thread. First coming to say that Haitians are demonic and they signed a pact with the devil… then after being corrected and realising that you can’t win, you show your hypocrisy by playing that you talking about the reconstruction of Haiti. You need to go to that same hellfire. A forked tongue.
You want to get serious about Haiti? You just here for the talk? Get up and do something.
@Dick
“…the openly confessed padlocking of the mind from correction..”
By the way, your mind is hammer locked to a fairy tale. A pie in the sky. Has nothing to do with reality; a mere belief that went wrong 2000 years ago. That is what you are hammer locked to. The beam in your eye skipper. Compare 30 years with 2000. You were hammer locked before you were born. There is no correction for you. Why should there be correction for me?
I wonder why it is said that Hatians are calling for the return of Aristide? Didn’t Aristide officially recognized Vodou as a religion through a presidential decree in 2003- mentioned the Bwa Kayiman ceremony if his dissertation (2006:345) (Our Government is in Bwa Kayiman:” A Vodou Ceremony in 1791 and its Contemporary Significations”
This is very interesting, indeed!
“The Haitian Vodou religion has evolved alonside the Hatian nation state and the local interpretations of a *linkage* beteen *national* identity and *vodou* appear strong- also in comparison with other African-American religions…” (Ibid., p. 73) emphasis added.
Without doubt, the incredible devastation and human suffering, pain and death, caused by the EQ, is heart wrenching to say the least.
Why has Haiti, notwithstanding the terrible injustice brought on them after their revolt against the French, reparations that crippled them financially and economically, which, no doubt was a debilitating WRONG on this new nation, WHY has nothing gone right for them? WHY?
Could it be possible, that their religion ‘Vodou’ a deep ancient, ancestral belief in the ‘spirits’ referred to as ‘Lwa’ (loa) whose origins came from West and Central Africa, brought to Haiti by slaves under French colonial rule, as Vodou practice centers on *serving* the spirits in order to ensure their benevolence and help in every day life. Why did these *spirits* not bless the Haitian people? Why was Barbados, whose majority, also from Africa, come through, and Haiti so terribly wronged?
If the god of the Haitian people is so benovelent, honouring the ‘spirits’ with so much ritual and animal scarifice, WHY did he not come through from them? Surely, if ‘he’ is good, then he would have been able to overcome the evil of the white man’s god, who tortured them, and supposedly gave them victory over these wicked French rulers! Why did ‘he, them, NOT also come through for the Haitians over 200 years of independance?
Yes, I know and understand all that the French and the USA did in keeping the Haitians so down, oppressed, that IS the human, economic side of the picture, BUT, if the Haitians were/are, still so engrossed in ‘Vodou’ why has not the ancestral ‘spirit’ being come through for them?
As was said:
“…Haitian, it IS *Vodou* which is you. It is your GUTS, in your ancestors, in your BLOOD, in your veins. It is ‘vaksin’ (musical instrument), drums, and ‘banbou’ (musical instruments), which IS our culture – we the Haitians” (Vodou Priest outside Jacmel) (Ibid., p. 74) emphasis added.
I am not seeking to distract from the dire need to help the Haitians in their most terrible of times from the EQ, not at all, BUT, something else, is also, terribly wrong!
I have just recieved this communication from Brethren friends In Barbados in response to a circular concerning what the Brethren churches is the region is doing about the situation in Haiti.
January 29, 2010
Christian Brethren Assemblies
Hi Everybody,
This is the way our church is helping those in Haiti. We support a missionary that runs an orphanage and now God has laid it on her heart to take in More orphans from Port-Au-Prince. She is a young African American nurse called into full-time ministry.
Here is the ministry website: http://www.eternalhopeinhaiti.org/about
If you feel led to help do so. Most of all pray for her. She is “mother” to about 60 kids now.
Because He Lives,
Pam
Here’s Cheron’s e-mail:
“Hi All Family, Friends and Supporters,
Thank you for your prayers. I have been asking God how He wants me to help the earthquake victims all week long, for Him just to show me and I would do it. I also must admit I had been praying that He would ask me to do anything but take in more orphans!!! During the week, Twilla Haynes, the president of Eternal Hope in Haiti has been working on plans for relief efforts, which included helping orphans. Yesterday I went to Sunday school and was blessed by a lesson on Self-Confidence. The lesson was about not placing our confidence in ourselves or in others but in God only. I asked the Lord to show me if I had this sin in my life- as I didn’t see that I did. After a service that was a real blessing I was talking to some other missionaries who work with orphan children, and they asked me if I was going to be receiving more orphans. They were getting 50 more added to their ministry. PANIC started rising in my heart at the thought. As I was driving back to the orphanage, I started looking at the size of the problem, my total inability to handle more, the overwhleming nature of the workload already before us etc. The Lord immediately should me my guilt of looking to my abilities. I was convicted yes, more orphans would be too much for me, but not for God, He is not limited which is why I must put my trust in Him. The workload has also been more than I could do, and He has always been faithful to do the impossible.
So we are making ready to open our doors to some of the orphan children of Port au Prince. We desperately need your financial support to be able to continue to care for those we have and to be able to receive more.
Your relief funds will enable us to:
-prepare a place (either complete some construction on our new property to be able to house new children or rent a property adjacent to the orphanage)
-buy the set up supplies necessary for each new child- beds, mattresses, clothing…., plus the admission process (lab tests)
-hire new staff, and pay monthly salaries
-provide for ongoing needs, food, education etc to integrate the new arrivals.
Also our Orange vehicle is not functioning, beyond repair. We need a good vehicle to be able to serve all the children we have.
Funds for these efforts can be sent to: Eternal Hope in Haiti (EHIH), and designated for “relief effort.” Their mailing address is: EHIH, PO BOX 307, Hoschton, GA 30548.
You can also continue to send your support for me and the ministry to the orphanage to the regular Hands of Love mailing address we have: Hands of Love Inc, designate Haiti, 9408 Highlander Blvd, Walkersville, MD, 21793.
Thank you in advance for standing with us to help the many new orphans of Haiti,
Cheron Rose Hardy, FNP-C, CNM, RN
Eternal Hope in Haiti
PS many of you have written to me individually, thank you, however the response at this time makes it impossible for me to respond to emails individually.
We greatly need your prayers, financial support, and will notify you in the coming days of supplies needed which can’t be sent. However there are several barriers to getting supplies in at present, as many flights and containers are directed directly to Port au Prince, so it will be difficult for us to get the supplies, money is better so we can purchase things here.”
God bless.
Claude.
“The Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.”
(Psalm 100 vs 5)
Claude Ashby
3247 Remembrance Trace
Lawrenceville GA 30044-4815
Phone: (770) 806-1043
Bermuda
Beloved in the Lord,
Re: AID FOR HAITI,
On Wednesday 27 January, the Elders & Bermuda Mission Trust Committee Members met to discuss plans for providing aid to the folk in Haiti. Information from four Christian based organizations was presented. Two were selected based on their transparency and proven operational record.
After much discussion the following was decided:
1. Assemblies will donate funds as lead by the Lord.
2. A sacrificial offering will be taken at the United Meeting to be held at Crawl Gospel Hall on Sunday 7 February, 2010.
3. Cheques should be made to “Bermuda Missions Trust” with a note “Haiti Relief”.
4. Bermuda Missions Trust will disburse funds to the selected organizations that will use the money to provide aid directly to those in need.
5. Funds will be allocated for at least two local brethren to travel to Haiti at an appropriate time (to assist with relief to and forge mission/evangelistic links).
6. Further consideration would be given to on going relief as necessary.
You are asked to pray earnestly for believers in Haiti, safety for those assisting there and that the Lord will quicken believers and save souls as a result of this catastrophe.
Should you have questions or require further information, feel free to contact me.
In His service,
I just received this communication about what Christians are doing in Haiti:
Haiti earthquake: voodoo high priest claims aid monopolised by Christians
Haiti’s voodoo high priest has claimed believers have been discriminated against by evangelical Christians who are monopolising aid sent to the earthquake-stricken country.
Max Beauvoir, Haiti’s “supreme master” of voodoo, alleged his faith’s opponents had deliberately prevented much-needed help from reaching followers of the religion, which blends the traditional beliefs of West African slaves with Roman Catholicism.
“The evangelicals are in control and they take everything for themselves,” he claimed. “They have the advantage that they control the airport where everything is stuck. They take everything they get to their own people and that’s a shame.
“Everyone is suffering the same and has the same needs. We are not asking for anything more than anyone else. We’re just asking for it to be fair.”
Mr Beauvoir, 75, a Sorbonne-educated biochemist, spoke as a first convoy of aid arrived at his home in Mariani, a town just outside Port-au-Prince. It contained 400 sacks of rice from the World Food Programme and was mobbed by hundreds of hungry voodoo believers.
“It is the first delivery and it took a couple of weeks fight to get that for the voodoo people,” said Mr Beauvoir.
At the weekend hundreds of voodoo houngans, or priests, gathered in the northern town of Gonaives to plan how to react to the earthquake that left an estimated 200,000 people dead on Jan 12.
Following the earthquake the US television evangelist Pat Roberston said Haiti made a “pact with the devil” 200 years ago when it defeated French colonists.
“I don’t know much about him and I don’t think I’m losing much,” said Mr Beauvoir. “Voodoo as been discriminated against for 200 years.
“It was developed by our ancestors, it is a way of life. To ask us to stop would be like asking an American to stop heating hamburgers.”
He also rejected the idea that voodoo consists of human sacrifices and sticking pins in dolls.
“That’s Hollywood voodoo,” he said. “No-one from Hollywood has ever sent an anthropologist to study voodoo in Haiti.”
In Haitian voodoo, God is supreme and is not involved in human affairs.
Believers instead worship hundreds of spirits called lwa. Other beliefs include that trees have spirits.
As she waited for rice from the WFP Monique Henri, 36 wore a cross round her neck but she also believes in voodoo. She said she had an image of Ogu Feri , the voodoo god of metal and fire, at her home .
“The earthquake happened because people were sinners so God was angry, because people did wrong,” she said..
Clavarus Filisca, 72, a houngan, invokes the spirit of Jambe Male to heal people of fevers, headaches and other maladies. “Voodoo is the most important religion. It’s natural, it’s everywhere,” he said.
Mr Beauvoir rejected the suggestion that the earthquake was an act of God. He says it was a natural event but many voodoo followers still believe it was a punishment.
Christians have also been inundating radio stations asking anyone who has committed a crime to confess, thereby saving the nation from future disasters.
Inspiration, an evangelical station, said 11,000 people had rung up to pledge themselves to God since the earthquake.
Missionaries equating voodoo with devil worship have long tried to convert the population of Haiti but the religion, a mixture of Christianity and animism, remains ingrained. Like Christianity it has one God but incorporates pagan elements such as spell casting and calling spirits.
Mr Beauvoir’s grand house, the Peristyle de Mariani, is a voodoo temple where followers dance around a totem pole in the grounds to the sound of drums. Bonfires are lighted to attract spirits and the blood of animals, including goats and chickens, is drained and used to heal the sick.
However, since the earthquake, he has halted all ceremonies. “This is a big shock for people to absorb,” he said. Voodoo ceremonies are still going on in the countryside.
The elaborate ceremonies include secret languages, people dancing after being possessed by spirits and talismans including dried animal heads.
In rural areas there are said to be people who practice the darker side of voodoo, summoning evil spirits. However, practitioners argue that voodoo is a force for good.
Kompe Filo, one of the most popular TV and radio personalities in Haiti, and a vocal believer, said voodoo predicted the earthquake six months ago.
He said: “God is angry against humanity, not just Haiti but all humanity. This is a message that man must change, and reconnect with the natural world around him.
“We have a lot of beliefs modern people should believe in. For example we believe that trees have spirits which we should not harm otherwise we will all suffer.”
When it comes to human sacrifice in the name of a god on planet earth, CHRISTIANITY , JUDAISM and CAPITALISTIC ‘DEMOCRACY’ stand HEAD & SHOULDERS above anything else.
What is the point of the last garbled post?
To debunk that the Caribbean Brethren are seeking to send aid to Haiti, or to corroborate the fact that some outside of Haiti have said that voodoo is indedd rampant in Haiti, and that some of its practitioners think that the earthquake was punishment for thier voodoo practices.
Something is contradictinary in this post
Methinks the contradiction lies between the ears!
“What is the point of the last garbled post?”
Religion is an enemy of humanity.
“To debunk that the Caribbean Brethren are seeking to send aid to Haiti…” Here GP is speaking out of turn. He is trying to support his good friend Dic. I already said that we were working with christian organisations in Haiti. I already gave the names of christian organisations in Haiti. This has nothing to do with debunking anything.
“or to corroborate the fact that some outside of Haiti have said that voodoo is indedd rampant in Haiti, and that some of its practitioners think that the earthquake was punishment for thier voodoo practices.”
Did they say that or is that what you conclude from a biased eye? They believe that the earthquake was a consequence of wickedness but not their wickedness, yet you interpret it as they are saying that they are wicked. How strange!
Note the quotes:
1. “Voodoo is the most important religion. It’s natural, it’s everywhere..”
2. “God is angry against humanity, not just Haiti but all humanity. This is a message that man must change, and reconnect with the natural world around him.”
3. “We [Voodoo believers] have a lot of beliefs modern people should believe in. For example we believe that trees have spirits which we should not harm otherwise we will all suffer.”
Now which of those quotes are an admission that Voodoo is wrong? Did we read the same text?
Some ‘Pin-heads’ can’t even read between the lines of what some Vodouisants, practitioners of Vodou are saying in Haiti!
“In the minds of many Haitians, Voduo is also cosely linked with Haitian identity. Few seem to deny such associations, even if they reject Vodou and see IT as a CAUSE of undervelopment, an expression of mental backwardness, or even as invoking God’s punishment on the country. Others- whether or not they practice Voduo – describe it as a pssitive expression of a mixed African heritage which renders Haitians unique. Some also appreciate Vodou as a composite of true “Haitian-ness” while distinguishing between constructions of a supposedly “traditional, pure and rural Vodou,” in contrast to a “comtemporary, degenerated, commercialized and magically dangerous Vodou” said to be practiced by the urban poor.”( Our Government is in Baw Kayiman:| A Vodou Ceremony in 1791 and its Contemporary Significations. p. 74).
Why IS Haiti so blighted, historically, from its very birth of nationhood?
Reparations and all the other negatives that have come against them, there HAS to be more than just oppression from the French and the Americans, who terribly wronged them!?
Why has the Vodou devotees not being able through their beliefs, to get things reversed? Why not?
“If Vodou has been incorporated in constructions of national identity, Vodou in return incorporates the NATION. In Vodou temples there are national symbols such as the red and blue of the Haitian bi-colour, small paper flags and, occasionally, presidential portraits. The national coat of arms – with its guns and revolutionary cap of liberty – painted on drums and, according to Vodouisants, is recaptured in the ceremonial drawings for the important Vodou spirit Ogou (cf. Brown, 1989; Ibid., p.74)
“Whatever Haitian you are, since you’re Haitian; be it a Catholic priest – you’re Vodouisant, be it reverend – you’re Vodouisant. Because when you say “Haiti,” you say “Vodou,” When you say “Vodou,” you say “Haiti.” Because this little terrain, this little piece of earth right here. I believe that two hundred years [ago] – Vodou gave it its independence, Do you understand? You recognize this ?” Vodou leader and priest in Cayes-Jacmel- ( Ibid., p. 76.)
I take no pleasure what so ever in having to say this again, as I’ve already said in other threads. Historically, from way back in antiquity, EVERY ancient civilization, bar NONE, that went into Idolatry, Paganism, Animism, Polytheism, ANY form of worship, that WAS/IS contrary to the worship of the One, True and Living God, of historic divine Revelation, one WAY or ANOTHER, will feel His Justice and Righteousness, sooner or later.
Thank Almighty God, for decades, true Christian missionaries, (Not Catholics) as they are ALSO one of the reasons that Haiti has suffered so much, with their own band of Idolatry, six of one and half dozen of the other; the true Christians have led thousands of Haitians to a saving and liberating relationship with Christ, as, has been seen with them (Haitians) walking down some streets, Praising the Lord Jesus Christ.
It IS a vicious War in the realm of the ‘Spirit’ Satan’s kingdom fighting against the Kingdom of Almighty God, as he, the devil, DOES NOT want to release the poor Haitians from the demonic bondage he has KEPT them in for 200 years!
@ ROKie, Check this link that was sent to me by a friend for info on what at least one church organisation is actually doing to help in Haiti.
When this was written there were about 125 VOLUNTEERS actively involved in work amongst the survivors. There may be even more now!
http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/100202church.html
To debunk that the Caribbean Brethren are seeking to send aid to Haiti…” Here GP is speaking out of turn. He is trying to support his good friend Dic. I already said that we were working with christian organisations in Haiti. I already gave the names of christian organisations in Haiti. This has nothing to do with debunking anything.
You cant help lashing out at GP cant you lol.
I think that GP spoke out of turn when he posted the notes he recieved from friends in Barbados.
I think that GP should do like Dic and depart from BU. He has no right what so ever to post notes he recieved from friends in Barbados concerning what any church group is doing to help the people in Haiti.
And I myself, have no right to say anything when the mighty rok has spoken.How dare I do that!
Well! Well! Well!
Not sure he understands what speaking out of turn means. With all the abuse that has been piled upon my head by these three, I too should leave.
You people only know justice one-way; your way. Many times these men make judgments claiming them in the name of god when really and truly it is their own decree; Playing god… and when they speak, how dare anybody contradict them? Then you talk about Voodoo.
All I can tell you skipper is that if you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
@the hood
I am so well aware of the efforts in Haiti by christians. From the Salvation Army across the board.
I just got a notification that the Pastoral Care of Children Haiti was allocated 10,000 Euros by the EU Economic and Social Committee, towards the care of children and another 30,000 Euros to the Red Cross to deliver prostheses to children who lost limbs.
I am all for people who work with people; christian or not. The ones on here who think they are lily white and so righteous amount to nothing more than talk; moreso Dic & Zoe. GP like the fella on the side hollering for “fight! fight!”
How many times has GP posted on this thread. But his name is being repeatedly called.
@the hood, that web site you gave re some church doing work in Haiti, ‘Meridan, The Place Where Latter-day saints Gather’ is ‘Mormonism – The Latter -Day Saints.
I am not knocking their humanitarian work in Haiti, but, the LDS church is distinctive among all the religious ‘Cults’ masquerading under the banner of Christianity.
Aside from the KJV Version of the Bible, which Mormons accept as ‘part’ of the Word of God, they have added ‘Doctrine and Covenants’ the ‘Pearl of Great Price’ and the initial volume, the ‘Book of Mormons’ to the canon of what they would call authorized Scripture.
Their three main books, usurp the authority of the Bible, as God’s Word. A serious ‘cult’ making inroads all across the Caribbean, et al countries as well!
Zoe wrote ‘take no pleasure what so ever in having to say this again, as I’ve already said in other threads. Historically, from way back in antiquity, EVERY ancient civilization, bar NONE, that went into Idolatry, Paganism, Animism, Polytheism, ANY form of worship, that WAS/IS contrary to the worship of the One, True and Living God, of historic divine Revelation, one WAY or ANOTHER, will feel His Justice and Righteousness, sooner or later.’
———————
So, did the Indonesians practice paganism, prior to the tsunami?
Will be blame paganism when, eventually a Mag 7 or 8 hits California?
No, it is Earth, adjusting itself. The Earth body needs to adjust and cleanse etc every so often, nothing unusual there.
We live here, we experience and then our souls move on into the next level of existence, whatever that is, to continue learning.
Lessons learnt here, may or may not change the course of instruction, there.
But, our experiences here are just that, not punishment, but ways to learn.
It can be harsh, or not.
I myself have had blessings, multiple.
But that just is. I thank the Almighty.
But, I am not and it is not, in my place to say that the suffering of others is other than an unfortunate circumstance, not of their own causing.
Gosh.
@ Zoe…….You CLAIM:- “the LDS church is distinctive among all the religious ‘Cults’ masquerading under the banner of Christianity……..”
Correct me if I am wrong, Sir …..but wasn’t the same thing said about the early primitive Church when
it began back in the Meridian of time.
……………………………………………………
Again YOU claim that:-…..”their three main books, usurp the authority of the Bible, as God’s Word. A serious ‘cult’ making in roads all across the Caribbean, et al countries as well!”
USURP…..!! I understand that claim is as far from the truth as night is from day!
Please expand & explain more fully, Sir.
————————————————–
I have it on good authority that it was prophesied some 180 years ago that……..” the Book Of Mormon will flood the earth and be taken to every nation, tongue and kindred and that no UNHALLOWED hand will be able to stop it.” Isn’t that what is actually happening even as we blog here? Since then many have tried to refute the B.O.M. as God’s word and to this present day all who have so tried have ended up either as members of the same organisation or have failed miserably in their quests.
Get used to it Bro. Zoe The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints is here to stay, at least until the Lord HIMSELF says…….”The Work Is DONE!!!” And you, nor anyone else of your ILK can, or will be able to, do anything about it.
@Crusoe, “So, did the Indonisians practice paganism, prior to the tsunami?”
What are the major religions in Indonisia? The answer should answer you question!
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should NOT PERISH, but have EVERLASTING LIFE.”
“For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
“He that believeth on Him is NOT condemned, BUT he that believeth NOT is condemned already, because he hath NOT believed in the name of the ONLY begotten Son of God.” (John. 3: 16-18) emphasis added.
“Will we blame paganism when, eventaully a Mag 7 or 8 hits California?”
California’s judgment is coming, IT IS one of the SIN capitals of the world, not just in America. Hollywood IS a DEN of iniquity; one of Satan’s strongholds, just a matter of time, like all the rest of nations!
NO, Crusoe, our souls after death do not just, “…move on into the next level of existence, what ever that is, to continue learning.”
The Word of God, emphatically state:
“And as it IS appointed unto men ONCE to die, BUT after this the judgment.”
“So Christ was ONCE offered to BEAR the sin of many; and unto them that look for Him shall HE APPEAR the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Hebrews 9:27,28) emphasis added.
I realize that this does not accord with your Worldview, but, that is the way it is!
@ the hood, The early Apostolic Church, Circa AD 33 and following in its embryonic stage, was NEVER referred to as a ‘Cult’ but as a ‘sect’ an entirely different meaning to a Cult!
I will deal tomorrow morning with Mormonism in detail.
As the late, brilliant scholar, Dr. Walter Martin, in his great work, ‘Kingdom of The Cults’ says, that, “There is a great wealth of information concerning the material contained in the “Book of Mormon’ and the various plagiarisms, anachronisms, false prophecies and other unfortunate practices connected with it.”
“According to a careful survey of the “Book of Mormon’ it contains at least 25,000 words from the King James Bible. In fact, verbatim quotations, some of considerable length, have caused the Mormons no end of embarrassment for many years.”
Hood, you have being sadly and terribly misinformed about the Mormons!
stttuuuuppppssssssseeeeeeeeee!!!!
Zoe
stttuuuuppppssssssseeeeeeeeee!!!!
You are WRONG to tell the TRUTH!
QUOTING SCRIPTURE IS ILLEGAL ON BU AND IN BARBADOS NOW.
Next week Catholics?
Then Anglicans?