Friday, March 26, 2010

Caring for their Own - Video Blog #4

Whether it's supporting widows, aunties and grandmas to hold onto their extended family's orphaned children, providing free education for orphans like these, or providing family-style homes for children who have no other options, this church in Haiti really gets it.

Help us to help them care for their own!


Caring for Their Own - Haiti Video Blog #4 from World Orphans on Vimeo.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Haiti Orphan & Vulnerable Child Program Details

Thanks to all of you who have been following our stories from Haiti. The team has been busy since they arrived back in the states outlining exactly what the HORT response will be. The following information details the "Haiti Orphan & Vulnerable Child (OVC) Program".  (Download the PDF flyer.)

Orphaned in Haiti
The confirmed earthquake death toll in Haiti is now well over 200,000. With countless collapsed buildings still unmoved, that number will rise. That means there are thousands of orphans, children who lost one or both parents as a result of this catastrophe.

Placing children in orphanages has been the primary mechanism of orphan care in Haiti for some time. But these orphanages are now overwhelmed with children. But as the Haiti Orphan Relief Team (HORT) saw during their initial deployment in February, many of the children orphaned by the earthquake have been taken in by extended families, friends and neighbors. Orphans are being cared for in families!

The challenge before us is to support these families as they care for the orphans, preventing them from being abandoned as resources continue to be stretched thin and families struggle to make ends meet.

Through church-to-church partnerships the U.S. partner church will provide resources and support so that the Haitian church can implement an Orphan and Vulnerable Child (OVC) program.

Orphan and Vulnerable Child Program Details

Under the Haiti OVC program, each Haitian church will care for 20 orphans and vulnerable children by:
  • Forming an OVC committee of 4-5 church members
  • Providing education (most churches run private schools, 20 more students would require an additional teacher
  • Providing a meal for each of the children during the school day
  • Assigning committee members to visit each family every other week to provide ongoing support, encouragement and monitoring of the 20 families
  • Providing medical care as needed, including quarterly check-ups
  • Providing trauma counseling (as able and appropriate) to the orphans and families
  • Teaching the families the biblical example of adoption, that as we are co-heirs with Christ, so too these children are equals in their new families
World Orphans is providing management of these church-to-church partnerships and will work with various Haitian denominational structures, network partnerships and in-country staff to provide financial accountability. We will also work with other HORT partner ministries to leverage their core competencies such as biblical training, holistic care, and trauma counseling.

Through church-to-church partnership churches in Haiti will empower families to stay together. U.S. churches will petition God with the needs of these families, children and churches as He, in His goodness and grace, provides the comfort, care, restoration, and healing they desperately need. When the time is right, the U.S. church will be able to send short-term teams to serve with the church in Haiti as they lead the way in rebuilding their country.

Next Steps
To date 24 churches in Haiti have been identified for the Haiti OVC initiative. World Orphans is looking for U.S. churches that can partner with them, providing the $750 to $1000 a month they need to begin this important ministry (exact budget being finalized).

For more information on how your church can be a part of this tangible, ongoing restoration effort in Haiti, contact your existing World Orphans representative or fill out our contact form.

NOTE: One of our HORT member organizations, Loving Shepherd Ministries, is working to develop a response where individuals can support children not yet placed into families. Details will be forthcoming on their program in the next couple of weeks.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Walking Alongside Them - Video Blog #3

There are few images of Haiti that haunt me more than the body of a small child laying in the remains of what used to be an orphanage for disabled children. I still see her in my dreams. I could have literally reached out and touched her, removed her from her temporary tomb. Why hadn't somebody done that? Why was she just left there, like many others, to be a gruesome display of tragedy's indiscriminate toll? 

Below is the third video in our series from Haiti. The camera briefly shows part of the scene I described in my blog entry, We Walked with Authority. This is where I encountered the little girl who I now can't get out of my mind.


But the video is one of hope also, and speaks of the dozens of Haitian churches being visited, as well as our desire to partner US churches with them . . . for the sake of many little girls who did indeed make it out, but without their parents.

*** WARNING: Graphic content. Some viewers may find some of the images disturbing or upsetting. ***


Walking Alongside Them - Haiti Video Blog #3 from World Orphans on Vimeo.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Grief, Resiliency, and Hope - Video Blog #2

This new video gives good general overview of the current state of affairs in this disaster-stricken country.

The vantage point for this video was the rooftop of the house Paul Myhill described in his post, Peering into Tin Cans. We hope you are moved by the grief, resiliency and hope of the Haitian people.

NOTE: This video contains a few shots that may be too graphic for some viewers.



Haiti Blog 2 from World Orphans on Vimeo.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Radio Interview w/ Paul Myhill

Last week Paul Myhill, president of World Orphans, was interviewed by a local radio station about the recent trip to Haiti.

Host Charles Oster asked some great questions. You can read a transcript of the interview on Paul's blog.

Monday, March 8, 2010

School of Rubble - Video Blog #1

While the initial Haiti Orphan Relief Team (HORT) assessment group was in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas recently, the World Orphans members of the team shot daily video blogs. Unfortunately our Internet connection in Haiti was less-than-desirable and we were unable to upload the videos while in country. So for the next ten days or so we'll be posting some of those videos. They'll give you a "moving" experience of what we saw there, in the aftermath of the worst natural disaster any nation has seen in recent history.

As you view the whole series of videos, you'll see some pretty unsettling stuff.

But you'll also see the hope and resiliency of the people and the churches that stand ready to help.

Check back each day and forward to friends. Please don't forget about Haiti. These are the images of today, the suffering of the present. Even though it has long left our news reports here in the U.S., the people are left waiting . . . and hoping, for YOU to help.

Here is the first one:


Haiti Orphan Relief Team (HORT) from World Orphans on Vimeo.