IVP - Strangely Dim - Ayiti apres six mois

Ayiti apres six mois

It's been six months and one day since an earthquake devastated Haiti. We at IVP/Likewise were a bit bewildered that day, caught up in the confusion that attends to an event taking place far away but affecting close relationships. Our friends John Engle (codirector of Haiti Partners) and Kent Annan (John's codirector and author of Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle) were momentarily unaccounted for; we heard soon enough from Kent that he was in Miami when the ground shook, and that John was OK. We also heard, however, that Kent's friends Enel and Edvard, whom many of us had met at the Urbana Student Missions Conference, hadn't checked in yet. Edvard, it turns out, was fine; Enel had survived the collapse of a six-story building (he'd been on the third floor). Meanwhile, three of the schools supported by Haiti Partners were thoroughly devastated, and many of Kent and John's friends and loved ones (like two million of their friends and neighbors) were left homeless.

Kent was under contract with us for a second book; six months of sixteen-hour days with regular travel between Haiti and Miami, where he lives, and a mind thoroughly preoccupied with such widespread loss and suffering threw that plan into disarray. Equally unsettled by the earthquake was the prospect of an IVP-sponsored trip to Haiti for "six lucky contest-winners": Should such a trip go on? Would it be safe? Would it be exploitative? Would it distract Haiti Partners from work they couldn't afford to suspend?

We worked it out. Kent's second book became a reflection on the problem of suffering, with Haiti as its locus. After Shock will be released early next year; ultimately, Kent tells us, it's been a help to him, forcing him to process the meaning of such an event and his responsibility in its wake. And ultimately we decided that our trip, and its participants, would help more than hurt, if nothing else by drawing more attention to the nobility and need that emanate from this perpetually vulnerable yet indefatigable country. I had the honor of accompanying this impressive group of young emissaries; they and I reflected here on what we saw and heard there, and I benefited from seeing up close and personal what I'd ultimately be editing in Kent's manuscript. ("That'll be in the book," he'd occasionally nudge and point.)

So today we enter chapter two of Haiti's recovery. Nations and NGOs are slowly, gradually but inevitably moving on to more recent (some might say more newsworthy) incidents of need; meanwhile, Haitians work deliberately and defiantly toward recovery and restoration from January 12--their 9/11, in many ways--and beyond that, to a brighter future for their children. If you'd like to attach yourself to that kind of audacity and resilience, do hop over to Haiti Partners and see how you can stay involved.

Posted by Dave Zimmerman at July 13, 2010 9:51 AM