“We hope for significant and measurable progress in the coming months in improving the lives of Haitians, helping to restore livelihoods, and stabilizing the institutions of communities and the nation.”
Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and the location of the largest Episcopal diocese was devastated by an earthquake on Jan 12, 2010.
The situation in Haiti is getting (as hard as it is to imagine) even more dire. The cholera epidemic is spreading, violence is spiraling and the fear of unrestrained mob violence is growing.
“We need a new way of managing… We need a new way of leading.”
The Episcopal Church isn’t alone in responding to the plight of Episcopalians in Haiti. Other provinces of the Anglican Communion are making commitments to increase
The new three-year loan from the IMF is intended to boost Haiti’s international reserves and help the central bank manage potential swings in the value of the local currency that could arise from large aid flows going into the country.
Unable to escape her captors, the young woman falls to the ground, and, after either being hit on the head with a wooden bat or slamming her skull against the concrete, her eyes roll back in her head and she falls unconscious, her thin, soaked body convulsing until it forms just a stiff board. A few declare her dead. Several cheer the rumour, announcing that justice is served.
Most people are ignoring the Haitian situation, as they have mistakenly concluded it has stabilized. It has not. You still have a milion and a half people, in a basically untenable situation, more or less homeless, with the heart of the country destroyed and not much ongoing reconstruction or reform.
A Shenandoah Valley-based news site throws the spotlight on several ways in which the Episcopal Church is functioning in Haiti, with an emphasis on what might be considered a few of the positives. Take some time to click through these stories.
Lauren Stanley, a priest in the Diocese of Virginia, told ENS that “because of the changing circumstances in Haiti, a request has been made for a different skill set in the position that I held. I am deeply saddened by this, but as I have said from the moment I arrived in Haiti, long before the earthquake, Bishop Duracin is in charge, and I truly believe that we need to let the Haitians be in charge of their own future.”