www.theleaven.com | Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas | Vol. 31, No. 23 january 22, 2010
Haiti Gethsemane
CNS photo/Carlos Barria, Reuters
A woman sits at an open camp area in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 14. The death toll in Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake could run to some 200,000, and an estimated 3 million others will require emergency assistance, according to aid groups.
How You Can Help Special collection
In addition to the special collection that Archbishop Joseph Naumann requested all parishes take up for Haiti relief on Jan. 16 and 17, the annual special collection for the Church in Latin America will take place in parishes on Jan. 23 and 24. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has indicated the majority of that collection will be directed to help in Haiti.
Donate online
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international relief and development agency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. It has been working in Haiti for over 50 years and is one of several international organizations to have headquarters there. CRS has pledged an initial $5 million for earthquake relief. Staff members are working in bordering Dominican Republic to get basic emergency supplies into the country, such as food boxes, water, hygiene kits, mosquito nets, and bedding. CRS has set up an emergency Haiti page at its Web site, www.catholicrelief.org. It includes up-to-date information on how CRS is helping in Haiti, an option for donating online, and a spot to sign up either to donate or to receive updates through the texting option on a mobile phone.
Haiti struggles to overcome catastrophic earthquake By Joe Bollig Leaven staff
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — There is an old proverb in Haitian Creole that says, “Deye mon gen mon.” It means, “Beyond the mountains, there are mountains.” In other words, even when one challenge is overcome, there are a host of other challenges yet to surmount. The proverb might as well be the national motto of Haiti, which has struggled to overcome disadvantage, disaster, tragedy and injustice throughout its history. The latest blow came Jan. 12, when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake occurred about 15 miles westsouthwest of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. That’s 700 miles southeast of Miami, the home of a sizeable Haitian community. Incredible scenes of suffering and devastation have played out for nearly two weeks on television
screens and radio, in newspapers and on the Internet. Governments, private organizations and individuals across the globe have mobilized to help Haiti. And the death toll estimate keeps rising and rising — perhaps 200,000 dead and tens of thousands more injured. That’s the equivalent of everyone in Topeka, Lawrence and Ottawa suddenly dying. The true Haitian casualty toll may never be known. But even for a public used to regular disaster reports from around the world, the earthquake in Haiti seems to be especially cruel. That’s because after years of civil disorder, misgovernance, natural disasters and poverty, in recent years it seemed that Haiti had finally found some stability and hope. Within minutes, decades of painfully won progress were replaced with death, devastation and suffering in a crash and cloud of dust. “Deye mon gen mon.” “Beyond the mountains, there are mountains.”
Turn to “HAITI’S” on page 8