World Relief Update for Haiti

Thank you friends for your support, for your sacrificial giving and for your prayers for the people of Haiti. World Relief and our partners could not do our work without you! Thank you so much. We are most grateful for your giving hearts.
Here is our World Relief UPDATE FOR HAITI -- January 29, 2010

Health Care, Food, Water, SanitationAcross sectors—health care, food, sanitation, etc., aid workers are expressing signs of transition from meeting the most basic emergency needs. While continuing to provide food, shelter and water, responders are moving into primary care support, nutrition and other rehabilitation and recovery activities.
· World Relief received 60 tons of food—beans, rice, oil and salt—from the World Food Program this week. We are grateful for the way that funds are able to be leveraged due to the World Food Program donation—and hope to continue to provide churches and communities food to serve more than 110,000 meals in their communities in the next few days.
· Even before the earthquake, roughly only half of Haitians had access to clean water. World Relief is working on a number of water projects as well as distributing packaged water. World Relief is working with partners to drill bore holes and planning water distribution points. Thanks to our team on the ground, you can watch a bore hole being drilled at an orphanage caring for over 130 children. Warren Wright, reflecting on the project, said “Without the local church this project could not be happening.” The hope is to establish five water points each serving around 500 people from the surrounding community in the coming weeks.
· More than 1 million people are still displaced in Haiti. 236,000 have left Port-au-Prince through a government sponsored program to move people out of the city. Internally displaced people camps have formed all around the city and outlying areas.
· World Relief plans to provide shelter in the coming weeks—initially working to get 5,000 temporary housing tarps or tents to distribute in communities.
· Unaccompanied children continue to be a huge concern. Child protection groups are working hard to ensure children are well-cared for and that every avenue to reunite them with their families is taken. There are considerable dangers of children being trafficked intentionally or accidentally separated from their families. Local and international authorities are scaling up efforts to ensure children do not become victims of trafficking. In Haiti, even before the earthquake, extreme poverty led some parents to take their children to orphanages for care. After the quake, the United States government is still requiring that all appropriate steps be taken to ensure children do not have living parents or close relatives in Haiti before adoption is considered. The long term goal is to strengthen and reunite families and enable them to care for their own children.
· In the coming days, we are hoping to begin providing emotional and psychosocial support to our staff in Haiti. Psychosocial support will continue to be a significant need in the coming months.
· Reports are estimating that the Port-au-Prince airport will open up to commercial flights sometime next week. For now, around 150 flights happen each day.
· Stories coming from our staff on the ground in Haiti are full of descriptions of resilience, determination and even optimism of the Haitian people as they face their future even in the face of such great devastation. Praise the Lord for hope in the midst of suffering.

Stories from the Field
Pastor Jean Baptiste Bataille, a partner of World Relief in Haiti, says "I pray: 'Lord, it is the time for change in Haiti! We've known so much sorrow, so much pain.... but I believe this is the time for a big change in our country."

Altona, a mother of three in an internally displaced people’s camp in Haiti, said ““We feel there’s no way we can resolve our problems on our own. But the church is our hope… we believe God and His people will help us in this situation.” Click here for more of her story.

Resources:
CNN: Haiti’s Children in the Quake’s Aftermath

Communications Team
The team has been in Haiti since Tuesday. They are gathering stories and photos featured on our homepage www.worldrelief.org
We encourage you to follow their progress on twitter. They are posting pictures and updates as they go. They are planning to return this weekend. Please pray for their travel plans, still being finalized, and safety as they travel.
· Julian: www.twitter.com/kookielukie
· Ray: www.twitter.com/pixelpooch
· Matt: www.twitter.com/worldreliefNEXT

One Minute 4 Haiti
World Relief is continuing One Minute 4 Haiti, designating one minute at 4:53 PM on Tuesday—the exact time the quake occurred—to pray for Haiti. Visit our homepage for more information. Encourage your friends, family members, Integral partners and churches to participate. Encourage them to visit www.worldrelief.org/1minute to find our more information and sign up for up-to-date prayer requests for Tuesday. We will continue to do this on Tuesdays for at least the next few weeks. The list of Prayer requests is available here.

FOR WORLD RELIEF STAFF POSITIONS OPEN
Communications Officer
· The job description for the Communications Officer is available at www.worldrelief.org/jobs.
Haiti Country Director
· The job description, visit www.worldrelief.org/jobs.


Blessings,
Nancy

Nancy Lanagan Regional Director Development
World Relief 7 East Baltimore Street ▪ Baltimore, MD 21202
nlanagan@wr.org / www.wr.org
410-236-4324
Empowering the local church to serve the most vulnerable

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." Heb. 10:24