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HAITI: Standing in solidarity one year after earthquake
By John Newton
A crucifix left standing by the Haiti earthquake
On the anniversary of the earthquake that struck Haiti, Aid to the Church in Need has reiterated its ongoing support for the country’s beleaguered people.
Aid to the Church in Need pledged its commitment to Haiti in a letter sent to the bishops to mark the first anniversary of the quake that took place on 12th January 2010.
Regina Lynch and Rafael D’Aqui – respectively head of projects and Latin America specialist – sent the letter to Church leaders in a country where hundreds of thousands are still living in refugee camps both in the devastated capital, Port-au-Prince, and elsewhere.
They wrote: “Please count on our humble efforts… for your needs concerning spiritual and pastoral formation, mission and reconstruction.”
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Aid to the Church in Need is committed to supporting the Church’s plans to rebuild the national seminary, churches and convents.
Miss Lynch and Mr D’Aqui added: “Our wish is that the reconstruction of the buildings may be accompanied by a true rebuilding of hearts and minds (spiritual healing).”
Meanwhile, Aid to the Church in Need’s UK Director, Neville Kyrke-Smith, said: “A year on, the earthquake in Haiti still has its after-shocks in the magnitude of challenges – as the country and the hope of the people need rebuilding.
“The solid foundation of faith and charity through the local Church is the solid rock that is needed for the future. Such rebuilding takes a time – perhaps even a generation.”
Mr Kyrke-Smith paid tribute to the charity’s benefactors for their generous support for Haiti in the people’s hour of need.
He said: “We can only thank the benefactors of Aid to the Church in Need for all that they have done – and ask them to continue to stand in prayer and solidarity with Haitian people.”
Following the earthquake on 12th January 2010, the charity’s benefactors responded with donations on a level scarcely paralleled in recent times.
Last month, Aid to the Church in Need’s UK office in Sutton, Surrey, paid out projects including solar panels for a parish, repairs to a school for prospective seminarians in Cap-Haitien, a new roof for St Joseph’s Church in Port-de-Paix as well as Mass stipends for priests across the country.
Read more about our latest aid payments for Haiti
The largest of the grants for Haiti was £68,000 to help 270 students for the priesthood who are urgently in need of help.
Their seminary buildings were destroyed by the quake, forcing them to use tents instead.
A further £42,000 has gone towards repairs to a religious Sisters’ convent, which is temporarily home to more than 50 sisters after the congregation lost most of its houses in Port-au-Prince.
The charity has also helped Sisters from Haiti attending a course at the Institute of Integral Human Development of Montreal in Montreal, Canada.
The course aims to help people to overcome trauma and enable some to provide help to others who have experienced similar suffering.
Aid to the Church in Need’s post-quake aid for Haiti dates back to the earliest days after the catastrophe when the charity despatched emergency aid through the country’s Apostolic Nuncio, via neighbouring Dominican Republic.
One of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, Haiti has received pastoral aid from Aid to the Church in Need since 1962.