Haiti: Msg to nations ass'ting w military

I'm not trying to be a nag, or to ignore security, or the lives of the service men and women who are eager to help in these dire circumstances.

I do need to point out a reality. A military is formed and trained with the expectations of facing and fighting determined foes. With that ability, I have to wonder a bit at the excessive fear of violence from a people who have demonstrated that they are probably the most compliant and good hearted, calm and retaining dignity of any who have been in such a disaster before.

People, think about it. Five days in circumstances that I assure you any American man or woman trying to get food, water or medical aid for their kin would have already completely flipped out over and you would have demonstrations and worse galore... and yet the people wait with unbelievable suffering for even the smallest amount of help, with desperate, quiet, desperation.

If you are trained to handle determined foes, can you not have a little more confidence in yourselves and the people you are trying to help that you can get your fannies out there and take a chance that someone, some people might panic and rush you.... but sheesh, are you not supposed to be able to organize (as I see on TV you have in a few areas) to promote order and calm in handing out supplies? I'd like to think our military (and those of the other nations) can handle that? I never thought I'd see the day that the military where they are desperately wanted, not opposed is so overly cautious that people are lying in the shit with broken backs and no food or water or medicine for five days. The five star general in the sky does not like that attitude very much, let me assure you of that.

Courage is not lacking, so what is it? Why are too many politicians and commanders acting as if the most highly trained militaries in the world cannot get the heck out of the frigging airport and set up situations where yes, there will be dodgy moments, but get these people some life in that hell?????

I think my USA paratrooper dad (who MP'd in World War II Berlin) could have handled this and not been "concerned" about "going out in the field" in case desperate hungry and dying people "rushed him." PLEASE GET OUT THERE AND SHOW THEM HOW IT's DONE.

Bible Reading: Psalm 131(132)14-18

While thinking about the suffering of Haiti and preparing for a Bible commentary, I opened to this passage.

"Sion will be my resting place forever; in her will I dwell, for I prefer her. I will bless her with abundant provision, her poor I will fill with bread. Her priests I will clothe with salvation, and her faithful ones shall shout merrily for joy. In her will I make a horn to spout forth for David; I will place a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but upon him my crown shall shine."


These are actual words spoken by God to King David, the pact where God promises that King David's descendants will always rule in Sion. You need to understand that God is always speaking of the present time and also the future, so there is the "here and now" meaning to King David and the Israelites, but also the "here and now" for their spiritual heirs and descendants. Thus Christians, such as those in Haiti, who are suffering today from the woes of the world can take some comfort in knowing that The Almighty God will never leave them, so long as they do not leave Him. Sion is now the spiritual Sion, the heavenly Jerusalem, which since Jesus Christ is no longer a physical place but the place of global faith in God.

Rather than turning their back on God, I see the Haitians seeing Him with even greater clarity since the earthquake tragedy. Those who honor the pact with God, sworn by King David, will find that God never leaves them.

In the Bible the horn often symbolizes power and authority, as the King and the priests use it to make the great sound. But it also represents the cornucopia, the outflowing of abundance and goodness. The horn that spouts forth for David is not of noise but of the arrival of Jesus Christ. The more that one puts one's faith in God and in Jesus Christ alone, the more that the goodness that only Christ can bring will flow forth from that horn.

Worldly well being ultimately depends on human rationality, righteousness, charity and neighbor-first priorities... all of which are very much needed in the chaos that has delayed for an unacceptable amount of time the delivery of goods and assistance in rescuing to the Haitians. The more that everyone embraces the pact, so that not only those who suffer turn their faces to Jesus Christ in hope and solace, but also those who are empowered with worldly means to help them, the more that the horn with overflow with what is needed to live, but also with eternal life and righteousness. Honoring the pact with God is the job of not just those who suffer, but also those who do have what they need, and more. I hope that Haiti softens and converts the hard and arrogant hearts of many bureaucrats, aristocrats, politicians, and professional "do-gooders," such as NGO's.

When one does not turn one's own hands and feet over to Jesus Christ on an ongoing day to day basis, one stumbles over one's own bureaucratic and selfish thinking (even when "doing good") when disaster strikes. That is because one is not truly prepared to drop everything and let Jesus be Lord. How can one find a way around shipping and airport obstacles, and fallen concrete, on the first day, if one does not have hands already open in anticipation of the need?

I hope this helps.

Haiti: message to young people

While this writing, as all of mine, are of course for all people, I am thinking of your special gifts and potential to serve, young people, as I know that you wish to do.

First, I am so proud at the outpouring of donations that I know many young people are leading in the appeal for funding to help mitigate and eventually rebuild from the disaster in Haiti. You are able to see in this, which I wanted to point out to you, that millions of you donating a little can rock the world. Many of your parents and teachers thought that "good deeds" require big bucks, you know, millionaires who build hospitals to have their name written on it. Notice, by the way, that St Jude in Tennessee is not named the "Danny Thomas" hospital. (Read the story of how Danny Thomas founded this great hospital in perfect humility and prayer.) Anyway, I wanted to point out the obvious to you, dear friends, because you are having your first chance to see how millions of you with a few dollars, Euros or whatever each can create an outflow of goodness that is based in modesty and collective anonymity!

But we are all frustrated at the usual problems with actually getting even a first response of aid at all, after four nights of this disaster, to hundreds of thousands of people. Young people, for some reason the older generations act like every time a disaster hit, they are seeing one for the first time. They come up with the same old bureaucratic processes, the same old infrastructure "barriers," the same old lack of creative logistics, the same old lack of organized grassroot responses. Young people, prepare to sweep that all away, if you all hope to survive, thrive and serve humanity and, of course, God.

As you watch the coverage (and I congratulate CNN for the most continual coverage, for it IS important, and it's NOT a problem "over there") use this as a case study to prepare yourselves for this same model of grassroots leadership that you are using in texting your donations in small but numerous components.

Look at the people and think about all these disasters. What is always lacking? The basics for people clawing by bare hands to get to buried neighbors. That is the first thing people in any disaster need. I mean, am I the only person to think, how hard would it be to airdrop gloves, pickaxes, car jacks, sledge hammers, crowbars, just even the basics to help until the heavy equipment gets there (if ever). Is that a "duh" or what? Do we not admire the strength and calmness of the Haitians who have suffered such a devastation, yet are digging with bare hands day after day? Am I the only Einstein of the obvious here? Could helicopters not have dropped bags of these types of tools collected from average citizens who are concerned, like you? I mean, sheesh, if I had been running this show I would have had every person in a city with a spare hammer or tool take it to a collection point and had it choppered there within hours. Many more people would have been saved if even ONLY that had been done!

So young people, study what you see and think about how, for example, many small collections delivered immediately by air drop in waves would have had immediate benefit and life saving grace.

Think of this in the waves of need. Drop the darn tools that the victims-who are their own first responders-need right away, not the "ideal" that arrives days later if ever. People do not live buried until "the right equipment" shows up.

Then once you have a working system of rapid targeted collection points for a specific need, continue the waves of small but numerous potent deliveries. So the second wave could be of water, food basics, but also lots of tubes of antibiotic cream. Imagine if all the young people in Miami, or Dallas, or any place bought a tube of antibiotic cream and took it to a place that bundled it into sacks of several hundred at a time and then choppers dropped those all over the quake area. I mean, again, I know I am Captain Obvious here, but am I really alone in seeing this? I've been thinking this for many years (say decades) and I wonder who really is asleep at the wheel of the Good Ship Logic Clue Phone.

The military (and bless their hearts) have the long term serious delivery mechanisms, but they are warehouse/pallets/cranes to unload/prepackaged assuming a certain disaster/needing all sorts of port or landing strip capabilities... they are simply too hide bound, too rigid and working on a bureaucratic model that, frankly, writes off as unsaveable many of the people who survive, but are trapped, wounded, deprived, the initial disaster. The government and military (AND THE AID AGENCIES, DO NOT KID YOURSELVES) simply do not use hive mind and Internets (you young people know what I mean) to get the needed stuff collected by many individual hands and flung out of choppers or ATV's by many individual hands within hours of the need. We need to start thinking, as we should always have thought, that those who survive the disaster are BLESSED and before the serious infrastructure gets there, we have energetic young people send waves of targeted deliveries of what is needed within hours of the need.

I mean, sheesh, how much effort would it take for young people in Brazil, the USA, Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico... everywhere, to collect hundreds of boxes of retail antibiotic and bandages, throw them in knapsacks and have someone with access to air service drop it over there? Trust me, I would have had that done on day one (right after the tools, since we'd have tested how well and how many drop points we could identify with the first gloves and tools drop), and they would not have even had to call it the MaryMajor Good Samaritan ain't she wonderful air drop.

So while this is going on and all our hearts bleed for both the disaster and the many tragic missed opportunities, use this to observe and use logic, thinking about what you would need if you were in the situations we see so well covered today. Think about how you can study more about this, if for no other reason than to be well informed and ready if things happen in your own community. Learn how to use the tools, learn more about urban infrastructure, and observe how people with ready, even wounded hands, lacked even the most basic first response. I mean, sheesh, how many helicopters are there in the world, in that region? (Now, please do not take off across the Gulf on one on impulse after being fired up reading this, we cannot afford to lose a single one of you, believe you me). But see the logic of what I am saying and break away from the moribund and tard mentality of even the most "well meaning" agencies who are once again acting like this is the first disaster, first earthquake, first inaccessible disaster they have ever seen. It's like they have logic Alzheimer's or something. Why have we not had hundreds of private choppers all ready identified in areas who could do it, and better yet, some MadMax ATV drivers in the unaffected areas ready to receive drops and then drive them into the affected city? True, I was flummoxed trying to drive in the mud on the Navajo reservation, ha, but there are plenty of drivers better than me (like the Navajo friend who took the wheel of my rental car and she drove it with perfection!) Hive mind figures out how to get knapsacks of tools and medical aid collected by many, dropped by the daring and able, and driven by the modest and mighty into town.

I hope you have found this helpful, thinking of you, miss you and again, I'm so glad to see your response and concern.

The Haiti school collapse tragedy

The pain and loss of these children in the collapse of the ridiculously substandard unreinforced concrete school is enormous.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/10/news/CB-Haiti-School-Collapse.php

This is exactly what I was warning about when I criticized the many "service vacations" where Christian volunteers go into some poor area to build a school or something and then leave. While this is not the case there (where the Protestant minister was a local), it is precisely this mentality that slapping something in place that is substandard is any way to "spread the love of Jesus" among the helpless poverty stricken. In fact, in my previous blog posting I specifically said that if Christians want to volunteer they should go to teach a trade, such as the carpentry, engineering or whatever, to a local instead of doing the work amateurishly and then leaving them with no way to maintain the results. This is exactly what I was complaining about only a few months ago on this blog.

What can I say. I have been pushing for Haiti to get some stabilizing and decent intervention for years now (I even wrote once to VP Dick Cheney asking him to cycle military Ready to Eat meals through Haiti when they have food shortages after storms and other disasters) but it seems like no one can get any job done in Haiti and that land just keeps suffering. This is not to take anything from the credit of those who are trying, including the UN and the Catholic Church. But Haiti needs a big time intervention and as they say in the above linked article, some stability and adherence to code and law. What an awful mess and needless tragedy.

Celebrities visiting Haiti

I appreciate it. I really, really do. As you know the Haitians are near and dear to my heart and I hate seeing their suffering.

But please do not go unless you also bring along with you supplies. Even a modest car load of supplies can make a huge difference. In other words, stock the kitchens, don't just "raise awareness."

When I sponsored Native American children and visited them in their homes, my husband and I always stopped at the grocery store on the way there and loaded up the rental car with food and toys for the children, and things for the bathroom. In other words, we stocked up and brought a full vehicle. Celebrities can and should do the same. Your luggage should be food and necessities, and you empty it out at the place that you visit. THAT is setting an example and trust me, even a modest amount of food is a God send to the people who have nothing.

I remember that absolute delight that my friends (family of nine at the time) had when one of our bags contained a giant jar of peanut butter. They had not had their own jar of peanut butter in the home in something like a year. When we brought milk it was the first milk they had for all seven of the children that was not saved for just the youngest to have, or obtained during the school lunch programs. One bag of groceries can provide incredible help to even a family of nine.

The days of the stupid "awareness raising" and "concerts for blah blah blah" are over. People are in trouble everywhere and sliding backwards in receiving assistance. It is time for people to be grassroots in their assistance. People who can afford to go to Haiti on good will visits should also be bringing supplies with them, just as was done in the early progressive days of charity and disaster relief. That is how it used to be done until the larger relief arrives and the systemic problems that cause the disaster can be addressed on a comprehensive level.

If the celebrities discretely left cash donations, not seeking publicity, more power to them and God will see and know. But they also need to teach the public how to help when institutional and large scale "fund raising" fails. If celebrities were "Martha Stewart" to the church food and supplies pantry for the day or week that they arrive, it has an enormous ripple effect.

So I thank you again for your concern that I know is genuine, and for your behind the scenes generosity where it occurs, but you must also be role models of modest scale "home making" for these desperate people. Stop waiting for the "big rescue" and "big projects." Fill up your stupid Hummers, rental cars, helicopter, plane, boat or whatever transport you used to get there with food and supplies, just as if you were visiting a huge family or clan in desperate need. You think that feeding a hundred people for a week is not large or good enough for you? Think again.

Please donate to Caritas for Haiti, thank you

http://www.zenit.org/article-23598?l=english

Caritas Needs $4.3 Million for Haiti

ROME, SEPT. 11, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A Haitian bishop is appealing for help to keep more of his countrymen from dying in the wake of the four deadly storms that tore apart the Caribbean island.

Caritas Internationalis has launched an emergency appeal for $4.3 million to help the 600,000 who were left homeless by the four storms that hit Haiti over the last month.

Gonaives, on the west coast, is one of the hardest-hit cities, Caritas reported. Its bishop, Yves Marie Péan, said, "Already many people have succumbed. Many more will die if we can't get them the immediate support they require. Help us provide for these many victims through the continued efforts of Caritas."

The series of natural disasters affecting Haiti comes at a critical time, as the vast majority of the population is already struggling with rising living costs. Haiti was the scene of violent food riots in April.

Caritas reported that the 2008 hurricane season coupled with the increase in food prices have considerably impacted people's ability to cope.

Benedict XVI appealed for help for the island nation during the address before praying the midday Angelus last Sunday.

"I am close to the whole nation and I hope that it will receive as soon as possible the necessary aid," he said.

Someone get the damn aid to Haiti-disgrace!!!

I can't believe what I am reading. Where are all the heroes with planes and helicopters and boats now? What the freak is going on? Why is not emergency rations and water being dropped by copter? The UN obviously needs some help. Where are the wealthy nations of the area? Where are the celebrities? This is a disgrace and an outrage.

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/WireStory?id=5726755&page=1


Rescuers Can't Get Aid to Starving Haitian City
Aid groups fail to deliver aid to flooded Haitian city; tens of thousands without food, water