There are several CHE (Community Health Evangelism) programs in Haiti, some of which are in the Port-au-Prince area. Over the next weeks, months, and years they will continue work for the holistic, sustainable transformation of their villages. Networking with churches and organizations, they have hope for a new Haiti.
Bibiana Pinto de MacLeod is a physician and the regional coordinator of CHE programs in South America and the Caribbean. Today she hopes to be able to arrive in Port-au-Prince to provide medical care and perhaps meet with the CHE teams. Bibiana has 20 years’ experience in Haiti and recently wrote, “CHE is the tool that will bring these people back on their feet, through long-term commitment. I hope our teams will be able to continue to serve and expand so these men and women who are in such distress will know that God has a plan in spite of what we see today. Would you participate as a long-term partner in this venture? It would be impossible to do accomplish all of this with just relief funds. Long-term goals must be put in place. People will forget once CNN, Fox News, and other news anchors leave the scene, but the Haitian people will still need us.”
To donate to CHE programs in Haiti go to:
MACA ***Designate Fund: Haiti Reconstruction
Box 4390
Edmonton AB
T6E 4T5
The above organizations will use the funds for:
- Immediate relief will be distributed by trusted CHE groups who work in the earthquake zone.
- During the recovery period, LifeWind will empower further work of CHE in the area around the earthquake zone.
- Across Haiti, we will empower CHE teams. They help community members work together to address the key issues of poverty, disease, and infrastructure, bringing resilience through community organization when facing disaster. And as the message of CHE is taught, participants hear and receive the good news of Jesus Christ, the one who brings HOPE.
There are a lot of wonderful people working in Haiti. Messiah Episcopal Church, my Minnesota church home, has a sister parish in Leogane, not far from Port-au-Prince. News reports indicate that up to 90% of the buildings in Leogane were destroyed. Here is a site that will enable you to donate to Messiah’s various partnerships in Haiti.
Nicaise and Madeleine Avignon, a Haitian couple that attended Messiah Episcopal Church now run an NGO in Lougou in southern Haiti and are receiving donations at their website.
Steve Sethi is a physician from Oregon who works with the organization Haiti Foundation of Hope which has started a CHE program up in the north of Haiti and is also helping with disaster relief. I met Steve and his wife Beth when they were in Argentina two years ago.
