Seeing Hope One Year Later

Tents outside Port-au-Prince for those displaced by the earthquake.

In some ways it seems like yesterday and in other ways it seems like an eternity ago. But it was one year ago today – Jan. 12, 2010 – that the world watched in shock as Haiti was devastated by a 7.0-earthquake.

Buildings toppled, thousands of people were killed, and even more were injured and needing help. Some 1 million people were left homeless and many of those people are still living in tents, struggling to get by each day.

Volunteers with Haiti Foundation of Hope have been working since the days after the earthquake to give assistance and offer encouragement. That work continues.

In the next two months, we will be sending more medical teams to work at the Clinic of Hope in northern Haiti. And we are still supporting ongoing programs like community health, education and clean water. We know that our Haitian partners have been working tirelessly this past year and we are thankful for their example and dedication.

We don’t take lightly our name: Haiti Foundation of Hope. Sometimes it’s difficult to see hope and this past year in Haiti would be one of those times. But we know it’s there each and every day.

We see it in the excitement and nervousness of volunteers who travel to Haiti for the first time. We see it in the handshakes and hugs of returning volunteers who are reunited with their Haitian co-workers. We see it in the distribution of beans and rice, in the smile of a new mother after a safe delivery, and we hear it in the laughter of healthy children.

Secondary school students.

We watch it in the school cafeteria as students eat what for some is their only meal of the day. Hope lives in the eagerness and future of those students as they study and pass exams.

Hope is there in the classroom as young women learn trade skills like sewing and cooking. Hope travels with the community health volunteers as they go from home to home, checking on their neighbors. And we know hope exists inside and outside of the church walls of Terre Blanche.

Thank you to all who have supported Haiti this past year. Your gifts, contributions and prayers have been another source of hope. However, the struggle is not over and there is a long road ahead. Please consider how you might continue to support Haiti Foundation of Hope and those we serve.