If you look at Haiti solely in terms of statistics, the picture looks bleak: barely half of Haitians over 15 can read and write, more than two-thirds of the workforce is unemployed, and about 15 percent of Haiti’s children are orphaned. And after the devastating earthquake in January, poverty and homelessness are on the rise.

Sedellia and her 3-year-old grandson, Marc, find hope in God after the earthquake.

But if you look at Haiti at the “people level,” you’ll see a different picture altogether, one of hope that comes from the Christian people of Haiti.

Take Sedellia Guerrier, 63, who survived the earthquake at her home in Gressier, which is just a few kilometers from the epicenter. When the earthquake hit, her house tumbled down around her, her son, and her grandson, Marc, 3. The damage appeared severe—a wall toppled on her son’s back and broke it, and her house was completely destroyed. But Sedellia looked through the destruction and saw God’s hand.

“The dust hadn’t settled when I began to pray and give thanks that my family was saved,” she said. By the grace of God, Sedellia’s son was not paralyzed from the injury. Marc, who had been inside the house during the quake, was found sitting on the roof of the collapsed home, which Sedellia calls a miracle. And after sleeping under a tarp with her family for three weeks, she praised God for sending them a tent to live in instead.

“When you don’t ask for something and it shows up, it could only be God that sent it,” she said. “A tent showed up and we slept in it for two months.”

Today, Sedellia lives next to the rubble of her old home in a one-room temporary shelter made of salvageable cement blocks and tarps. Seven family members live there with her. Despite losing everything, Sedellia thanks God for keeping them alive and knows he will help Haiti recover.

“It’s not money that makes you rich; it’s the power of God and love in your heart,” she says.

Click here to find out how Cross International is reaching out to earthquake victims like Sedellia—and how you can help!

In the midst of despair people around the world have been touched by the faith and resilience of the Haitian people in the months following the devastating earthquake that leveled Port-au-Prince on Jan. 12, killing thousands and leaving more than 1 million people homeless.

Cross staff members working in the field in the days and months after the earthquake saw this display of faith first hand. Our Haiti projects officer, Mike Henry, described this scene just a week after the earthquake:

“While walking amid the ruins of Port-au-Prince, I came across a spontaneous outdoor gathering of Haitian believers who had just watched their whole world crumble, now joined together in prayer and worship. The earthquake could take their homes and churches, but it could not take their faith! I was amazed by the joy, gratefulness, and prayerful resolve these Haitians were showing in the face of such devastation.”

And this wasn’t an isolated incident. NPR did a piece last week in honor of the six-month anniversary of the earthquake that touched on that very subject. A group of doctors shared an inspiring moment they experienced in the midst of tragedy and pain, at a makeshift tent hospital in Port-au-Prince. This happened to be there very same tent hospital that Cross supported with tents, medicines, and other aid after the quake.

In the piece, the doctors explain what happened: “…a man begins to play a guitar in the corner of the tent, and patients begin to sing.  Soon every Haitian in the tent is singing or clapping or dancing.  The song: “Jesus, thank you for loving us.” (Click here to listen to the full audio segment.)

These doctors were overwhelmed by the experience. As one put it: “It’s extremely humbling to be around a people that, in the worst time of their life, have it in their hearts to give gratitude for what they have left…”

This is reminiscent of the story of Paul and Silas praising and singing hymns to God despite being chained and in prison (Acts 16:25-31). And if you recall, through their worship the jailer came to Christ. Like this story, the Haitian people’s hopeful attitude despite the devastation caused by the quake is an amazing testament to the awesome power of God to overcome any circumstance.

Click here to learn more about what Cross has been doing in the last six months to help earthquake victims in Haiti.

More than 1 million people were left homeless after the earthquake. The survivors fled Port-au-Prince in search of temporary shelter and food.

This week marks the six-month anniversary of the massive earthquake that devastated Haiti on Jan. 12, killing more than 200,000 men, women, and children and reducing the capital city of Port-au-Prince to a field of rubble. Droves of traumatized survivors fled to the countryside in search of food, water, and shelter, and at least 1.5 million were left homeless.

As photos from Haiti published by the media this week show, the people are still in great need and it will take years for the country to recover. However, we at Cross are thankful for the progress that has been made with the help of compassionate Christians who have selflessly given to help Haiti.

Already, with their support we have been able to provide more than $73 million in cash grants and shipped goods to help those hurting in Haiti. This first helped us provide emergency relief — food, medicine, and other supplies — to victims in the days after the quake. It then enabled us to work with our ministry partners in the months after the disaster to provide recovery and relief to thousands of displaced earthquake victims living in refugee camps.

In addition to the food we continue to ship to earthquake victims, Cross has turned its efforts to recovery with a plan to build hundreds of earthquake-resistant homes.

Now, six months since the earthquake, we have been able to turn our efforts to long-term recovery — clearing debris to make room for new structures and rebuilding schools and homes. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we’ve also began a plan to build hundreds of earthquake resistant houses in Port-au-Prince and three other regions for families whose homes were destroyed.

Please keep the people of Haiti in your prayers as we continue to work with our ministry partners to rebuild the lives of the earthquake victims.

Click here to read a full report of what Cross has been able to do to help Haiti in the last six months thanks to the generosity of American Christians.

Romans 8:28 is one of those Bible verses that is easier to believe when life is going well. But when tragedy comes our way, that’s when we really need to hear that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”

Moise Vaval (center) and Cross Projects Officer Claudio Merisio (right) have worked together to organize aid distribution in Haiti.

This verse was a recent focus of our morning devotions here at Cross, and a very relevant one in light of the suffering we’ve been encountering in Haiti. God doesn’t promise us a carefree life, but he gives us hope in the midst of hardship and strengthens us to do everything to his glory.

One person who has displayed this supernatural hope is Moise Vaval, a Haitian pastor and long-time friend of Cross International. Moise lost his son Jean-Marc to the earthquake when a school building collapsed on top of him. Moise spent two full days digging through the rubble to find Jean-Marc, who was just short of his ninth birthday, but to no avail.

It would have been easy to succumb to despair, but instead Moise jumped into the disaster relief effort, all the while thanking God for sparing his other three children who had been in the same school. Moise’s volunteer service was crucial to our work, as he tirelessly coordinated the distribution of Cross emergency supplies to mission partners and refugee camps throughout the country.

God’s people very often shine brightest when times are darkest. Moise, like so many other compassionate Christians who work with us around the world, has been an inspiration to all of us at Cross. We can approach the difficult task of long-term recovery with cheerful hearts, knowing there is real hope for Haiti and for all who seek refuge in Christ.

After weeks of anticipation and a few bumps in the road, 10 containers of relief supplies from Cross being carried by a treasure-hunting ship reached our ministry partners in Les Cayes, Haiti.

The 20-foot containers — carrying food, water, medicines, and other urgently-needed relief supplies — were a welcome site to our ministry partner, who runs a home for more than 600 orphans and has been spearheading our efforts to help earthquake refugees pouring into Haiti’s southern region.

The crew of the 220-foot Sea Hunter, which partnered with Cross to ship the supplies, encountered three vicious storms that delayed their journey. But through God’s providence they have arrived safely with the precious cargo.

The Sea Hunter coming into the port in Miami, Florida, where it picked up 10 containers of relief supplies from Cross International before heading south to Haiti.

Because Les Cayes has only a small harbor with a wharf that cannot accommodate large ships, skiffs were used to transport the supplies to shore where they were trucked to our ministry partner.

Dozens of boxes of food were a welcome site to our ministry partner who cares for more than 600 orphans in Les Cayes.

Cross President Jim Cavnar and several staff members recently returned from a trip to Haiti. During their time in the earthquake-devastated country, they visited several of the ministries we are helping during this time of recovery.

In their first few hours on the ground the staff was struck by the empty streets of Port-au-Prince, which before the earthquake were teaming hundreds of vendors, children, cars, and animals.

Cross International President Jim Cavnar surveys the damage in Leogane where nearly all of the houses were destroyed by the quake. Cross is supporting an IDP camp of about 200 people who lost their homes there.

“It was like being in a ghost town on the set of a Hollywood movie — it was unreal,” Jim said.

Michele Sagarino, vice president of development, added, “The lack of life in the streets and knowing what that means was very hard to process.”

The group from Cross met with Gladys Thomas, who runs an orphanage and Christian school we support just outside the capital, to survey the damage her ministry sustained. She told them that they’ll have to completely replace one of their buildings and rebuild the tall cement wall that protects their property from trespassers. She also said that her ministry has taken in 20 new children since the earthquake.

Jim and the staff from Cross also visited an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp we are supporting in Leogane, which was at the epicenter of the deadly earthquake. Despite the extensive destruction, there was hope among the people in camp. They had just received another shipment of rice when the group from Cross arrived.

With tents and supplies from Cross International, Project Medishare was able to set up a makeshift hospital that is helping hundreds of earthquake victims in Port-au-Prince.

After visiting a few other ministries we support, assessing damage, and planning an approach to help, the team from Cross stopped by Project Medishare’s tent hospital. Jim and the staff were very impressed by the work being done there — work that has been going on since the first day after the quake. Cross donated tents and supplies to the ministry, which were of great use when the ministry set up makeshift surgical and exam rooms, an infirmary, a lab, and a pharmacy.

Overall the group was impressed by the work we’ve accomplished together with our ministry partners to help those suffering in Haiti. “Our partners are showing tremendous courage and faith in the wake of this disaster,” Jim said. “Though it was difficult to see the suffering, we were glad to also find hope among the people as we met with our partners. We feel blessed to be a part of the recovery efforts that are bringing relief to those hurting in Haiti.”

Click here to learn more about our relief efforts in Haiti.

In Haiti, one thing has always been certain. Through all the poverty, tragedy, and violence that has plagued the small Caribbean nation, Haitians have always celebrated Carnival.

Many churches were destroyed in the earthquake. But Haitian’s faith in God remains strong.

But not this year.

The lively annual festivities, which would have begun Sunday and ended today, have been set aside, so the Haitian people can observe three days of mourning and fasting. Haitian musicians cancelled their Carnival performances and instead are raising money for earthquake relief.

It’s amazing how God can use the worst of tragedies to remind us that he is in control. We are confronted with our own helplessness, with our absolute dependence in God’s mercy and compassion. Shortly after the earthquake struck, our own staff reported seeing groups of people openly praying and worshiping God amid the ruins of Port-au-Prince. Though the church buildings were destroyed, the faith of the people remained intact.

As Cross International begins to look forward to Haiti’s long-term recovery, we consider our spiritual focus an integral, rather than peripheral, part of our mission to the poor. The people of Haiti need hope, and our mission partners are there to lead them to the only hope that lasts. Whether we are feeding orphans at the School of the Good Sower, caring for the handicapped at World Harvest Children’s Home, or helping “restavek” children get some time away from the rigors of virtual slavery, we always make sure that the gospel is preached, because that is what changes lives. A meal will sustain a child for a day, and the sturdiest rebuilt house will eventually weather away, but the free gift of salvation in Christ Jesus is what sustains us forever.

This week, Cross staff met with Haitian mission partner Gladys Mecklembourg, who runs the Togetherness in Christ orphanage, to learn how her ministry is coping with the earthquake crisis. Cross supplies the orphanage with weekly deliveries of rice, beans, oil, and other food, and has provided addition funds to help Gladys meet emergency needs.

Togetherness in Christ orphanage is providing space for earthquake victims to stay while receiving post-operative care.

By God’s grace, all the children and staff at the orphanage were unharmed. But Gladys says the kids are afraid to sleep at night because of the aftershocks, and they are worried about relatives they haven’t heard from since the quake. The children will need a lot of counseling to recover emotionally from what has happened.

Gladys told us that four nurses are currently staying at the orphanage to provide post-operative care for medical patients who are being brought in from an overcrowded hospital. Gladys has an on-site clinic, and she has turned the boys’ dormitory into a temporary hospital where amputees and other wounded and ill patients can recover in safety and comfort. The boys have been relocated to other facilities on the 93-acre property. Gladys said there is also possibility of setting up a tent camp on the grounds for the many refugees who have no place to go.

Despite the challenges facing Haiti and our Cross mission partners in the aftermath of the quake, Gladys expressed a positive vision for the future, applying the words of Isaiah 61:3.

“We trust in our heavenly father to raise up a new Haiti, to bestow on us a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. We will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the lord for the displaying of his splendor. This is the word the Lord had given us at Togetherness for Christ, and we believe in this, and we know there will be a change in Haiti. Not only in the structure, but in the heart – the heart of the people…. There is solidarity among us.”

For the latest news on how we are supporting our Cross mission partners in Haiti, visit www.crossinternational.org/relief

Cross Projects Officer Mike Henry helped to hand out emergency aid in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Jacquet.

On Saturday, Cross International took part in another emergency aid distribution. The event was held at a church in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Jacquet. Much of the city remains in ruins since the Jan. 12 earthquake, and those who have not fled to outlying areas are still in need of food and shelter.

The distribution at Bethlehem Church was coordinated by our Cross mission
partner World Concern, to whom we sent an emergency airlift of food, water, sheets, and blankets. During the distribution, Cross and World Concern handed out half of the Cross-sponsored food supply of nutrient-rich meal packets, as well as rice, beans, and tarps, to desperately needy local families who have lost everything: their homes, possessions, livelihoods, and even loved ones.

Today, Cross is on the ground in Haiti working with our partner Arc en Ciel to distribute food to earthquake refugees at internally-displaced persons (IDP) camps. There is so much work still to be done in Haiti, even if the crisis is no longer on the front-page news, and Cross is keeping boots on the ground to help ensure that no needy person is left behind. Click Here to learn how you can support our Cross International disaster relief effort.

Between serving as a guide and translator for an NBC news crew and personally delivering pillows for all the beds at the main Project Medishare hospital in Haiti (as he put it, “My vehicle looks like a giant cotton ball!”), Cross International Projects Officer Michael Wilson has successfully established a food distribution network in the greater Port-au-Prince area and the badly damaged cities of Leogane and Jacmel.

Cross International arranged for this C737 cargo plane to airlift supplies into Port-au-Prince

The food recipients include long-term Cross partners such as the Bethsaide short-term shelter in Jacmel, as well as internally displaced persons (IDP) camps where many earthquake refugees are now living. These groups will benefit from a $1.3 million shipment of emergency supplies that Cross arranged to be airlifted to Port-au-Prince in two C737 cargo planes over the weekend. The shipment includes 50,000 lbs. of fortified rice/soy casserole, bagged corn, water, an electrolyte replacement drink, tarps, and diapers, and is now being stored in a partner’s warehouse near the airport, where the goods are already being picked up for distribution.

Michael also reported that one of the orphanages Cross supports has now relocated from Leogane to an open field in Tabarre, where the children are living in tents. On Monday, Michael visited CBC’s Butte Boyer School to offer our condolences to the widow of Pastor Guy, who was killed when the building collapsed, and to assure her that we will help the school and church recover from their loss.

Get more of the latest Haiti updates at www.crossinternational.org/relief