Four Weeks After Hurricane Matthew

It's now four weeks since Hurricane Matthew hit the southwestern peninsula of Haiti.

I've been mostly posting updates and sharing info on Facebook since then, so I hope we're friends there and you know that we (in Indiana), and the ministry we're with - Radio-TV 4VEH in Cap-Haitien, northern Haiti - were not directly affected by the storm.

The aftermath of the storm will be worse, long term, than the storm itself, so though it may not be hitting the news headlines, please keep praying and committing to stand with Haiti, for the long term.

Vulnerable

For reasons that are mostly man-made, Haiti and her people are extremely vulnerable - to a storm, a hike in food prices, to a deadly disease (cholera) brought to Haiti by foreigners (UN troops from Nepal) who contaminated water sources [read this article  and The Big Truck That Went By (excellent book) for more on that].

This article from the New York Times paints a picture of what is now happening as "Cholera Deepens Haiti's Misery After Hurricane."

Read this New York Times article for a look at the ugly face of cholera in Haiti

The latest Situation Report from OCHA (UN's Office of Humanitarian Affairs), published Monday, says:

• 894,000 of the 2.1 million people affected are children.
• 141,493 displaced people are living in 204 temporary shelters in the affected areas.
• In Grand’Anse and Sud, 69 per cent of households have inadequate food consumption and 85 per cent of households use at least one negative coping strategy.
• Nearly 3,500 suspected cholera cases reported since the time of the hurricane on 4 October.

What's next?

A Haitian journalist wrote in one of the daily newspapers of what will likely follow the devastation from the hurricane: “a rural exodus toward the capital city, the central and northern regions. Famine, suicide, mental illness, a rise in cholera and malaria, and drunkenness. Promiscuity will bring a spike in births like after the 2010 earthquake, as well as new cases of sexually transmitted diseases.”

Doesn't this sound depressing? Yet it does not have to be like this. 4VEH’s mission to reach, teach, and serve through media is to point Haitians to Jesus, the One who meets our deepest needs—as individuals, families, communities, and as a nation. This is what we are doing, will continue to do. 

4VEH doesn't usually reach the worst-hit areas of the south-west via our AM station, but we have partners there. One Mission Society Haiti with 4VEH staff has done an assessment trip and is sending supplies in to church partners. We're looking for God's leading in what may be next there.

What's your response? 

One more link for you as you're thinking and praying about how to respond to this disaster - you may have already responded within days of Hurricane Matthew hitting Haiti (and other places), but I urge you to continue thinking, praying and responding as God leads you. This is not a 'one-donation,one-prayer-fixes-the-problem' situation. (There rarely is a one-donation, one-prayer solution...).

From John Adams, 5 things not to do in How You Can Help Haiti After The Hurricane.