Hope in the Midst of Despair

Port-au-Prince, Haiti one week later ....a disaster by any measure

by the numbers:

7.0 earthquake
200,000 estimated dead
1000's the number of orphans to be added to the country's already 380,000 orphans
15 planned UN food distribution points
100 million meals needed to be donated over the next 30 days
11,000 planned UN peacekeeping troops
1,500 additional UN police
2,000 U.S. marines sitting off coast waiting to deploy
1 very damaged airport
1 very damaged harbor
10's of 1,000's of people sleeping in temporary encampments on the city's streets
0 what the Haitian police are saying can be done right now about the looting and killing in the streets

by the quotes

"We never count on the government here," said Tatony Vieux, 29. "Never."
"That is how it is. There is nothing we can do," said Haitian police officer Arina Bence, who was trying to keep civilians out of the looting zone for their own safety."
"It gets too dangerous," said Remi Rollin, an armed private security guard. "After sunset, police shoot on sight."
"I simply don't understand what is taking the foreigners so long," said Raymond Saintfort, a pharamacist who brought two suitcases of aspirin and antiseptics to the ruins of nursing homes.

by His hope and our merciful kindness

"Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord." (Psalm 31:24)
"Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. (Psalm 10:12)
"(The Lord) upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry." (Psalm 146:7)
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me ...'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me (your God.)' " (Matthew 25:34-40)

God did not cause the disaster in Haiti, but He does ask much of us in taking care of the least fortunate of His children.

(Blogmeister's note: statistics and quotes from Associated Press Writers Alfred de Montesquiou & Mike Melia posted 1/19/10 on Yahoo News.)