Skip to main content

Haiti Support Letter 2013


This will be my third year going to Haiti. The first two trips were very different from one another, so I'm curious about this one. This is my support letter, which will go out with the letters of the rest of the team on Monday, February 18th. Because the Haitian government has closed orphanages in the country for not adequately taking care of their children, officials have asked the Hands and Feet orphanage in Jacmel to take in some of the displaced children (some of those not returned to their parents). As a result, the number of orphans with Hands and Feet has increased. Informal conversations with the missionaries there show that they genuinely care for these kids.

Dear Sir or Madam:

Over the past two summers, Quail Lakes Baptist Church has sent teams to an orphanage in Jacmel, Haiti, called the Hands and Feet Project. This small compound, along with a second orphanage in southern Haiti, cares for over 100 Haitian children who have either lost or been given up by their parents. While Quail Lakes has already done much to improve the well-being of these children, a third team is leaving for Haiti this June to do still more.

Whether we help with building the additional living space needed for incoming orphans, improve the compound through painting and installing, or use each team member’s gifts for more specific needs, we do know that our intent will be aligned with the mission of Hands and Feet: “to care for the orphaned and abandoned children of the world with the love of Christ.” To do so, however, we need your help. Each team member must contribute $2,000 for his or her travel and accommodations. If you would like to contribute, you would simply write a check to “QLBC” with the words “Haiti 2013 Team” in the memo line and return it to the church in the enclosed envelope by Friday, March 15th.

Whether or not you decide to give, please pray that our God would continue to encourage the missionaries of the Jacmel and Gran Goave orphanages as they support the children there and as they communicate the freedom we have through Christ. If you would like to know more about the Hands and Feet Project, please visit http://www.handsandfeetproject.org. Thank you for your consideration and prayers.
Sincerely,

Tony Sciarini

“If for any reason I cannot go on this trip or I raise more money than needed, the funds will be applied to this or a similar ministry. To satisfy IRS requirements, to qualify designated gifts as tax deductible contributions, the church must maintain control of all funds received with the understanding that the church will attempt in good faith to honor your preference.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Heroes

Although we have several examples of heroes in our day, one of the best known is of a woman named Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (“Gonja Bojaju”), who devoted her life to sustaining the “poor, sick, orphaned, and dying.” Her venue was Calcutta, India, where she served as a teacher until she began to take notice of the poverty there. Seeking to do something about it, she began an organization that consisted of just thirteen members at its inception. Called the “Missionaries of Charity,” the organization would eventually burgeon into well over 5,000 members worldwide, running approximately 600 missions, schools and shelters in 120 countries; and caring for the orphaned, blind, aged, disabled, and poor. As her personal work expanded, she traveled to countries like Lebanon, where she rescued 37 children from a hospital by pressing for peace between Israel and Palestine; to Ethiopia, where she traveled to help the hungry; to Chernobyl, Russia, to assist victims of the nuclear meltdown there; and to ...
2 comments
Read more

The Nice Guy Fallacy

I read part of a poem recently by one of my favorite poets. It reads: I envy not in any moods The captive void of noble rage The linnet born within the cage That never knew the summer woods. I envy not the beast that takes His license in the field of time Unfetter'd by the sense of crime To whom a conscience never wakes. Nor what may call itself as bles't The heart that never plighted troth But stagnates in the weeds of sloth Nor any want-begotten rest. I hold it true, whate'er befall I feel it, when I sorrow most 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. At base, Tennyson contrasted a life of risk, and consequent pain, with one of security. He sides conclusively with the life of risk, and says he fails to envy those who have faced no hardship. I agree with him; and, for good or ill, his words are just as relevant today as they were in the nineteenth century. Like then, there are those today who choose to live their lives with as little risk as...
2 comments
Read more

Comparative Medical Care

One thing I'd like to understand is why there is such a difference between medical costs here and those in Haiti. At the time the book Mountains Beyond Mountains was written, in 2003, it often cost $15,000 to $20,000 annually to treat a patient with tuberculosis, while it cost one one-hundredth of that-- $150 to $200-- to treat a patient for the disease in Haiti. Even if the figures aren't completely accurate, the sheer difference would still be there. Indeed, the United States pays more per capita for medical care than any other country on Earth. My first guess for why the disparity exists is that there is a market willing and able to pay more for medical treatment, so suppliers see the demand and respond with higher prices. According to at least one doctor (go to http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2009/05/what_is_the_cause_of_excess_co.php), part of the reason is administrative prices here. People here have a higher standard of living, and so the cost of care is shifted to ...
2 comments
Read more