Tropical Steel benefit concert for Haiti

Today, we all came to church dressed in bright colors and tropical dress (me, and my Kenyan gear) and we worshiped to the Caribbean stylings of Tropical Steel. Our morning included a benefit concert for Haiti's earthquake recovery and I was pleased to be asked to deliver an update. I thought I'd go ahead and post my remarks here, just in case some of you feel moved to further support the effort.  Here goes:

Haiti is a tiny country on the west side of a small Caribbean island called Hispaniola. Haiti holds a rich heritage of culture, a long history of slavery, a hard record of poverty, and an incredible hero in the man of Toussant L'Ouverture, a slave who led an unlikely and successful slave rebellion in the late 1700s, mostly by sheer wit and diplomacy.

In modern times Haiti remains a complicated society and when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit in January 2010, it just got worse. The problem with natural disasters is that they always impact the poor countries, the poor neighbors, the poor people the hardest – because the poor usually live in the most vulnerable constructions and risky landscapes.

In that earthquake, nearly 250,000 people died, some 300,000 people were injured and more than 1.5 million people were displaced. Most are still living in camps.

Our Lutheran human service agencies are at work there, and in a big way. Thanks to the support of so many people like you.

Here’s a quick summary of what the ELCA is doing in Haiti:

·     About ten days ago there was a groundbreaking ceremony for a new resettlement village that will provide housing for 1,200 people

·     The village will include the construction of 200 solar-powered homes with indoor plumbing, a "green" sanitation system and community space that includes a children's playground and multipurpose community center.

·     Women-headed households and people living with disabilities will be among the village residents.

Other work includes:

·    Opening a vocational training center that will train in masonry, carpentry, and heavy machine operation and repair

·    The containment of cholera and the care for cholera patients

·     Increasing access to clean water and basic sanitation

·     Providing chickens to some 200 farmers to develop egg production coops

·     And plans are underway to build three schools and to train people to prepare for future disasters

But it’s not just what we’re doing. It’s how we’re doing it. We don’t just go into Haiti, or any county, as if we have all the answers. We’re don’t act like we’re “saving” people. Instead, we work through Haitians and Haitian organizations to bolster what they’re already doing. We work together, as if each other’s survival depends on working together. We work with both immediate and long-term needs. We don’t cut and run after media attention subsides.

I’ll close with a quote from Joseph Livenson Lauvanus, president of the Lutheran Church of Haiti: "We Haitians will not be defined by the rubble, but by restoration, for we are a people of the resurrection."

Thank you.

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The plate was passed to benefit the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Haiti projects. You can still donate online.