The plight of earthquake survivors in Haiti is the focus of the cover story in the latest issue of World magazine. The article discusses the Samaritan's Purse approach of working with local churches.

The following is excerpted from the story headlined “Aftershock.”

For some large relief groups like Samaritan's Purse, connecting with local churches is central to their strategy for delivering aid. South of the capital in the mountain town of Fermathe, the Boone, N.C.-based group has helped supply relief and doctors to Baptist Haiti Mission, a 60-year-old Christian ministry with a functioning hospital that is providing critical care for hundreds of patients since the quake.

Workers from Samaritan's Purse arrived in Port-au-Prince the day after the quake and began working with a network of church contacts to help with distribution of aid to particularly vulnerable populations.

Few populations are more vulnerable than the thousands of Haitians living in Cité Soleil, one of the largest slums in the capital. The sprawling shantytown has long been notorious for its filthy conditions and dangerous gang wars. The earthquake only deepened the misery, sending thousands into packed tent cities in the baking heat with few resources. Pigs wallow in a nearby riverbed overflowing with rotting trash, and children splash through open sewage.

On a hot afternoon, Jean Claude, an elder at Eglise Chretienne Des Cities, a local church of 1,600, says people are coming to the church's collapsed gate daily, begging for help. The church has little to give and tells people to wait. He says aid groups come only sporadically.

But within 24 hours, Samaritan's Purse was formulating a plan to care for the residents in a tent city a few hundred yards from the church. The team will organize sanitation, clean water, food, and hygiene kits, and point residents to the nearby church for spiritual care, while also providing clean water and other relief in more remote areas outside the capital.

For Jean Claude, it's an answer to prayer. He says he's been telling community members: “We will knock, and we know the Lord will open the door.”

Visit the magazine’s website to read the entire article.

Samaritan's Purse , Help for Haiti , Working Through Local Churches

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