It’s been three and a half years since the Haiti earthquake, and it’s still hard.
Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and ever since that earthquake back in 2010, our Wheels for the World teams have been going down to Port au Prince serving kids and adults with disabilities who are still in desperate need. Our president of Joni and Friends, Doug Mazza, has led a couple of the teams. The last time Doug was there, he was able to send off an email to us. You’d think that things should be improving—vastly improving—but Doug reported that still children are dying of cholera, infections, and even malnutrition; can you believe that? That’s incredible. I mean, billions of dollars have been donated and pledged, and still there are children dying of cholera. Their families are still living in tents. There’s still no fresh water and rubble is still clogging many of the streets.
Anyway, Doug was especially disturbed by the desperate situation of disabled children in Haiti, especially because he’s the father of a son with multiple disabilities. He wrote and said, “Joni, it makes me think how blessed my disabled son, Ryan, is back in the States. But here in Haiti, there are no residential facilities like Ryan lives in, no regional centers run by the county, just an incredible will to survive.” Doug went on to describe our first day of wheelchair distribution. He said, “Yesterday a little boy came with his parents, a handsome Creole couple. Their son had been hit by a truck and had broken both legs. One leg was broken in three places. The hospital didn't have enough plaster to make two casts for his two broken legs, so the right leg was cast up to the hip; the other was just bandaged with gauze. The family was told to come back to the hospital after the leg healed; if by then there was still no material to cast the bandaged leg, the doctor would carefully remove the existing cast and re-use the plaster for the other leg. If that happens, it will be too late. That little boy will end up on the bottom rung of the ladder, living his life among the country's lame and crippled. Our Wheels for the World team was able to give him a beautiful, great-fitting wheelchair and a Bible in the Creole language. The whole family then had a chance to hear about hope of in Jesus Christ. It made me think ‘are we doing enough?’ And the answer to that question: We’re doing the best we can with the resources God has given us. And so, (Doug ended his email) Joni, that’s the way it went all day long. Jesus said in Luke 14:21, 24 "Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor the lame and the blind." Then he said, "Go into the roads and country lanes and make them come in so that my house will be full." We can't fix Haiti in two weeks, but please tell our friends to keep praying; because as they do, we can fill God’s house one wheelchair, one little disabled child at a time.”
That’s how Doug closed out his email – and it’s why I share it with you today. Would you please pray as we help the disabled in Haiti? Just as recently as March of this year, another one of our Wheels for the World teams went to Haiti loaded down with supplies, wheelchairs, Bibles in Creole, and disability ministry training materials. And, hey, I’d love for you to see our work in Haiti; today is the last day I’m posting a marvelous video showing Doug Mazza and the team serving where the needs are the greatest in Haiti. So please take a look on my radio page at joniandfriends.org and be praying for the continuing ministry going on in the nation of Haiti.
© Joni and Friends, 2013
Compliments of Joni and Friends
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