Jottings of a Dream Realist: PPM Haiti: 2 Years Later

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

I had just come home from work when the phone rang. It was my mother. "Matt, did you see on the news about the earthquake in Haiti?"

I turned on CNN and was gripped by footage of the chaos unfolding in Port au Prince as night was falling. Many of us remember exactly where we were when news of the earthquake hit the airwaves.

PPM (prayingpelicanmissions.org) had recently hired Jim Noreen, our new Haiti Operations Manager, and was already planning to go to Haiti as an organization that same year.

In times of unpredictable chaos, tragedy, and destruction, it's difficult to know one's place. We heard of many churches, organizations, companies, and individuals that simply responded by hopping the next flight to Haiti and showing up. Some were equipped and trained in disaster relief. Others simply had a heart to help.

We (PPM) chose to back off on our early spring travel plans and wait until the initial disaster relief was over. PPM is not (yet) a relief organization. We are a ministry that partners with the local church and community to serve under the authority of those that know their country and people better than we ever will. So we waited until April to begin our physical effort and partnerships. When we first arrived, it looked to us as though the earthquake could have happened just a few days prior. Collapsed buildings were everywhere. The National Palace looked like it had been struck by a meteor. Rubble clogged the streets.

In the months after the earthquake, we made a pledge as an organization to match dollar for dollar any donations that were designated to help post-earthquake Haiti (up to $10,000). Around $9,000 came in specifically for that purpose, and we designated the same amount to give to Haiti.

That same summer, we began to receive mission teams that wanted to serve in post-earthquake Haiti. The needs were so tremendous that it was very difficult to determine where to begin. Again, we counted on our relationships with pastors and community leaders to help guide us in deciding where to put time, effort, and finances that could in some way be a legitimate help to those that needed it the most.

PPM wound up working with teams that summer and fall in two specific areas:

1) Building a small school in a town called Mariani, located half way in between Port au Prince and the earthquake's epicenter. The nearest school that was still open for these children after the earthquake was nearly 5 miles away....a distance they would need to walk. Most of these children would end up not going to school at all.

2) Rebuild homes for a few families in the church that had lost a number of family members and their homes in the earthquake.

I'm pleased to tell you that with the money PPM received and matched we not only completed the school in time for kids to begin classes that fall, but we continue today to work on a number of Christian outreach and humanitarian projects in the Port au Prince area and beyond.

Here's just a sample of our ongoing projects:

Building a church on top of the school that is already functional
Completing a number of additional homes that have been built in the Port au Prince area
Partnering with a few churches in the states to help feed children at an orphanage that were literally trying to survive on one serving of cornmeal per day
Laying plans to help build a church in far reaching community north of Port au Prince
PPM now has full time missionaries living in Haiti, working with mission teams, and taking on leadership at orphanages
We're in the initial stages of taking on the operations of Haiti Christian Orphanage, a home for about 40 orphaned boys ( haitichristianorphanage.org )

We're working hard to make a difference in Haiti. I want to thank all of you that have prayed for or given to Haiti in the past two years. I've seen a number of articles recently about how little has changed in Haiti since the earthquake. While it's true that Haiti still faces many economic challenges, I'd like you to know two this:

Haiti is indeed in better shape now than it was 24 months ago, and it's due to a collective effort by Haitians and the world to make a difference.

The beauty of the Haitian people is like no other culture I've experienced before. Haiti may not be rich in the world's eyes, but they have a spirit of pure love and joy that I have no doubt is pleasing to God.

We continue to serve the people of Haiti, learn from the people of Haiti, and love the people of Haiti.