Haiti 2011: Reflections Day #3

 

(Major Robin Lyle, Major Marie Lamartiniere, Major Lucien Lamartiniere, Major Stephen Banfield)



I concluded my previous blog by asking the following question:

How can I make a difference??

This brought back to my memory a sermon I had either heard or wrote many years ago.  The three points were simply:  I can make a difference by PRAYING, GIVING and GOING.

Here I will outline briefing how I (and you, too) can make a difference in the country of Haiti.

PRAY

Here a list of prayer needs for Haiti.

1. The nation of Haiti.
2. The church in Haiti.
3. The reconstruction effort after the earthquake
4. The safety and health of international aid workers.
5. The United Nations workers.
6. The ministry of The Salvation Army.
7. Major Lucien and Marie LaMartiniere, Divisional Commanders.

Will you commit to pray for Haiti and these specific needs during the coming week??

GIVE

Give above and beyond your regular contributions to your corps/church and/or regular charities.  Find someone or some project that you can consistently support.  This will make a great and real difference in the lives of some many who have so little.

Here's two simple suggestions:



1. The Salvation Army Goat Project.  Donate $50. to the Haiti Salvation Army.  The donation will be used to purchase a she goat and given to a family that lives in a rural area.  When the goat has young (usually two) one (a she goat) is given back to The Salvation Army to be given to another family.  The original recipient returns two she goats to The Salvation Army and then the original recipient's obligation is complete and future young from the goat belong to the family.  This is a wonderful and practical project.  If you are interested, contact me and I can coordinate your donation to the Haiti Divisional Headquarters.
2. Band Instruments.  The Haiti Division has at least 10 corps bands and is in great need of brass band instruments.  If you have one or more not being utilized, or know where a number of older instruments may be stuffed in an old corps band closet collecting dust, let me know, get the instruments to me and I will faciliate delivery to Haiti.

GO



I would encourage every serious, dedicated Christian to visit Haiti or a similar developing country on a missions team.  I have gone to Haiti 8 times (3 trips with missions teams and 5 trips to conduct continuing education seminars for Salvation Army officers).  I hope and plan to go again, if the Lord wills!!

I commit to do my part!! Will you join me is some way??

Haiti 2011 Reflections: Day #1

Port-Au-Prince, Haiti

May 5, 2011

(A Brief Reflection after my arrival in Haiti more than a year after the earthquake)

Life is so difficult for much of the world. 

An overwhelming sense of humility floods upon me.  I now recall why I keep coming back to Haiti--I need a shock to my worldview and system of values.  Our lifestyle is so extravagant and wasteful.  Why do I spend my money the way I do?  What could I be doing differently?

It is all too easy to sink back into the norms and values of the American way (system) and forgot or neglect the values of God.  I need a dose of realism to remind me that I an not the center of reality.

Every time I visit Haiti my heart and spirit is torn apart by the misery and hardship faced by so many Haitians.  How should I respond?  What can I do?  What should I do?  Do my norms, values, lifestyle change as a result of what I see here and how it affects me today?

Should I allow what I see to prompt me to move towards some deep-seated change?  Is it at all possible?  Or do I allow myself to merely be a Christian tourist?  Come to Haiti--see the heartache--go back to American--feel pitful today--but settle back quickly into the relative ease of indulgence and luxury??

NO!!  I do want to be affected!  I want to be continually reminded that I have friends, associates in The Salvation Army, brothers and sisters in the Christian faith who are effected each day of their existence by the hardships of Haitian life.

The ever-present question is how can I make a difference??