It boggles my mind that children are in a life-and-death situation and people are actually saying out loud that saving their lives is not worth whatever consequences may ensue? Really?

RQ, keep screaming it from the rooftops. If this was the only good that ever came from your megaphone (as if), wouldn’t you consider this all worthwhile??

“Everyone seems surprised that Haitian kids, can survive 6 days without food and water. The average Haitian kid DOES NOT EAT EVERY DAY and drinking water is very limited on a daily basis without a quake. We need to wake up to the realities of Haiti before the quake to understand what is happening today”.

Thanks to your generosity, ****** has raised over $20,000 so far. Kevin is so excited about being able to help from here-please don’t let Haiti fade with time!”

So, like I said, we’re all contributing what we contribute best. I’m very proud of my friend’s son.

Us ”affluent westerners” have the power to make things change..a little bit. Just by the pressure we here in Quebec placed on our Goverment (with the help of journalists), they are bringing children already with paper worked processed plus trying to bring also the 50 or so babies who’s paper work was not all finished. Since the families are giving the pictures of their babies at the begining of the adoption process, it is unbearable to imagine you child in a dangerous situation in an orphanage where food and water is rare.

I am all in favor of bringing babies to meet their parents, even the babies that were already in orphanages but that paper work was not process. These babies were already abandonned, they need to be in a safe environnement and it would permit children roaming in streets to be placed in safer place. We are here putting pressure on our Canadian goverment to make sure our troops their to what they did in Kosovo, making sure orphans are safe and have the food and water they need. I am an adoptive parent, our family is complete, I am not in this to make things easy for me to adopt another baby. I am calling people, making things move just for the sake of those babies who need the help they deserve. If we do not speak for them, who will.

Security on the ground means workers can clear roads and debris safely and construction can begin. As those things are going to be done the first places where wells are restored and functional there will be temptation to fight and reserve for self or control the area by gangs within the village. This is a tiny country.

As one person said on a news show I was listening to….if any of us were in this situation and we saw armed folks coming for security and no food, water or medical care, we may do anything to get those things to our family members.

We are all seeing and listening to different things but we really have no idea what is going on. My gut tells me that there is more support and goodness on the ground than we see and we are seeing and looking for the horror.

Much like during other crises, such as Katrina, if adequate REAL aid (food, water and medical care) comes in, then “security” is not needed.

We should all pray that the aid actually comes to the people in need in a timely manner before more die.

http://www.ijm.org/ijmnews/breakdownofruleoflawputshaiti_svulnerablechildrenatincreasedriskforhumantrafficking

(If any NGO has the clout to step in and make a difference, IJM is is!)

The facts are, however, that this huge crisis hit a country that already had trouble taking care of its own. Land-wise, there aren’t too many options for people to get out of the wreckage and survive well for long (we’re talking about a tiny island country). Certainly not for the number of people involved. When Katrina hit, there was still land all around within our own country- cities for the people to settle in until the waters dried up and a plan was made for the future, other cities with resources. We all know that restoration took (is taking?) a LONG time. It will probably take even longer for a place like Haiti because there were already so many issues before the earthquake.

It only seems reasonable to me that if the orphanages can not provide for the huge number of stranded/ separated/ orphan children that are trying to enter them for shelter that the children are taken temporarily to a place where they can be helped.

Some organizations are preparing for the possibility of providing a foster-care solution if large numbers of children (that aren’t already in the process of adoption) are able to enter on a humanitarian parole visa. Where I am in Nashville, the Middle Tennessee Orphan Alliance is compiling a database of potential families to do this.

I’ve listed the original e-mail below for anyone else interested in the surrounding Nashville area:

~~~~~~~~

Hi everyone, undoubtedly you have wondered how you might get involved more in the tragedy of Haiti, particularly as it relates to orphans. The situation is very fluid at the moment and there is a chance that a number of these orphans will need to come to the United States for temporary or permanent care. Organizations such as Lydia Home in Chicago area (Where Safe Families has originated) and 4Kids in South Florida are two of the organizations who have been asked to help. But the numbers would be overwhelming for either of these organizations and they will need massive help.

To be proactive, the Middle Tennessee Orphan Alliance (MTOA) is building a database of willing families who also have been through some of the process in either the area of foster care, adoption home studies, or safe families.

This is only a first step and is only meant to be building an information database of willing families to work through in the Body of Christ. IF CALLED UPON in MiddleTN, the appropriate agencies will be in touch with more information and to get more information from you. Please feel free to forward this to contacts you have at other churches in the area.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED in being on this list, please complete the following brief survey.

http://tinyurl.com/MTOAforHaiti

Thanks so much.

Greg Buzek
President – IHL Group
Donor Trustee – Retail Orphan Initiative
615-400-7319