What Does It Take to Heal a Country?

Haiti has been in the news often lately. In mid-October a surprise outbreak of cholera (an illness that can cause severe diarrhea) hit the Artibonite Valley area of Haiti, sickening thousands and killing hundreds. Now cholera has spread throughout the entire country with over 30,000 hospitalized cases and 1,700 deaths. Hurricane Tomas struck Haiti at the end of October, augmenting the flood-waters that spread the water-borne cholera bacteria throughout the countryside. The political situation remains tense after the 28 November presidential elections as well (results to be published 7 December). So what does it take to heal this country? Food, sanitation, jobs, and infrastructure all provided by international organizations? Of course these are necessary. But what is most necessary is that Haitians themselves develop the strength and the will to heal their own country. The goal of our training programs is to develop a new generation of church and community leaders that will “fill the gap” in Haitian society. For example, cholera can easily be controlled by use of simple hygienic methods like clean latrines and treated water. Victims of cholera can be treated effectively with simple oral rehydration regimens and antibiotics. For this reason, we will train our Haitian ministry partners in simple hygienic methods that can stop the spread of cholera. Timothy Training (above left), trains church leaders to take responsibility for the well-being of their communities. STAR training (above right) teaches Haitians to heal one another’s traumatic experiences so that psychologically healthy people can serve God in their communities. Pray for these efforts. Through them (and others like them) Haiti can be healed.