A lot of people have been talking about going to Haiti to help with the relief effort. The response that I’ve heard from a lot of people sounds a lot this reply Anne Jackson received on her blog after she announced she is going to Haiti:
I love your heart, but I have a question: What value will you add to the effort? What particular skills do you have to offer? From what I’ve heard from aid workers already there, what they need is people skilled especially in specialized health care. With already overcrowded air/sea ports, how will it effect legitimate aid efforts if all of us with soft hearts but no skills came pouring in the country?
Just asking.
It might be better to take the money you need to raise for the trip and donate it all to a medical relief effort already on the ground, or someone with hard skills like Compassion or Samaritan’s purse. Or for rebuilding efforts by organizations like Habitat for Humanity.
That’s a very reasonable response. Good questions. In fact, that’s the that’s the general consensus I’ve been hearing from the government officials & big charities who are leading relief effort.
But, I’d like to share with you a series of tweet from Shaun King, lead pastor of Courageous Church in Atlanta, who has been very involved in coordinating help to the people of Haiti. These were posted Thursday.
Setting out my SoapBox. About to step on it for a few tweets. 1st my opinions then quotes from leaders on the ground in Haiti
ALL OF THE EXPERTS ARE DEAD WRONG…..
When the earthquake 1st hit, thousands of you immediately wanted to go and help BE the solution, be the hands & feet of God…
But you were told by the experts NOT TO COME. You were told to wait until some magical time when things were much better…
The experts were wrong. Some probably meant well because they didn’t want you to get hurt or be in the way, but let me tell you what…
Is missing in Haiti -passionate, hard-working, unskilled, loving, non-experts. They are in SHORT SUPPLY. I mean RARE.
Consequently, the MAJORITY of supplies are sitting unused & the teams of unskilled non-experts I am advising are regularly…
9 days later, regularly the first people to have ever visited orphanages and disaster sites. They ALL tell me that we should have…
# IGNORED the experts. Let me tell you a story that will kill you. The caretaker of the Notre Dame orphanage told @SpenceNix …
She heard dozens of dying babies trapped in the rubble scream & cry for 5 whole days before they all died. 55 babies died. Nobody ever came.
One more tweet from me then I want to type you a quote from our team on the ground…
It is NOT TOO LATE. If you feel CALLED to go to Haiti GO. GO! GOOOO! It is tough work, but GO! I will help you.
Next tweets are direct from our teams on the ground….
“The growing feeling here in Haiti is that the BIG ORGS & government don’t really care. It’s like they are here b/c the world is…
“focused here. If they care, little passion is ever displayed. Seems like a job or obligation. Even my sponsoring organization….
“(name of large Christian org) pretty much just set up a tent, gave us a vest and stickers and said go. No support. No passion. No questions
“Large amounts of supplies are just sitting in boxes everywhere. I have seen them there for days while hurting people & doctors …
“Need them. This has opened my eyes wider to the wastefulness of large charities and benefit of small, nimble, passionate groups..
“I have been in Haiti for 6 days and I still have not seen one large Red Cross presence. I honestly think social media has….
“Saved more lives since the earthquake than all but 3-4 great organizations here now. Passion. Relationships. Technology has changed …
“the game. We saved so many lives today and it was just us doing it bro.” <<<<<End of quote.
Now Shaun is just one guy. What his contacts have experienced may not be true everywhere, but it’s a perspective more people need to hear.
Passionate, hard-working, unskilled, loving, non-experts are making a huge difference in Haiti.
You can too.
If you believe God is calling you to go to Haiti like Anne, I hope you too will listen to God not the “experts.”
Thank you. It breaks my heart that people would respond in such a “well intended” but terribly sad manner.
Love that quote. Thanks for sharing. Posting a blog about Haiti today, and I’ll be using it. Really appreciate it.
Anne – Thanks for stopping by to comment. And thanks for having the courage to follow what God has called you to do. I look forward to reading more about your trip.
Jeff – Awesome!
Appreciate what you do, Paul. Thanks for getting the word out about this. My organization actually is about to send a team of “non-experts”. I expect God to do great things thru them.
Jeff, that’s fantastic! I look forward to hearing the stories of how God works through them.
There’s a guy in my church who last night told me some amazing stories of what God did while he was in Haiti last week. I hope to convey some of those stories here as soon as possible.