children of haiti

It's been a year since the devastating earthquake of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

I caught wind of a new independent documentary called Children of Haiti that's been in the making for 3 years. Looks pretty inspiring; here's the trailer:

Watch the full episode. See more Independent Lens.

And if you have never become involved in any way with bringing hope to Haiti, please visit Friends of Ft. Liberté's website and think about going on a trip soon! It simply will change your life.

Haiti V$ Chile

In case anybody still wondered, money can thwart an earthquake.

Well, not entirely of course, but when you read that an earthquake in Chile that was 500 TIMES STRONGER (yep, you read that correctly) than the one in Haiti killed 700 people and the Haitian quake killed 220,000, you have to wonder what the difference was.

Read the sad, monetary truth here.

Haiti still needs help. Pull out your cell phone and text to donate, or click here.

my mom's Haiti vid

So here's a video my mom (director of Friends of Fort Liberté) did to let people know some ways you can help with the community and church we work with! (If you're viewing this on Facebook you need to go to my blog to see the video: kingfriend.blogspot.com)

The cries of Haiti break my long silence

I haven't blogged in some time, but with the utter devastation that is occurring right now in Haiti, I just have to join the many others who are pleading for your involvement.

I've been to Haiti four times. It is the poorest, most over-populated, under-educated nation in this hemisphere. And it's right on the doorstep of America.

My mother has been a part of or led mission trips to a small community in the north called Ft. Liberté for 35 years. She, along with my deceased father (and many other wonderful people), started an organization called Friends of Ft. Liberté that has done some amazing things over that time, both for Haitian lives and American souls. Everyone needs to see people in situations much worse than their own. We need to remember to 'share your food with the hungry, and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood' (Isaiah 58:7).

I was talking with some people last night about the earthquake, and someone mentioned that 100,000 people could be dead, and I said, 'Surely not that much? Maybe in the tens of thousands but 100,000?' But it seems to be unbelievably true (though the numbers are almost impossible to determine).

Haitians are literally digging out friends and family from rubble WITH THEIR HANDS. It's so terrible. Please, even from the comfort of your keyboard, take a moment to try and take that in. Let the sorrow overwhelm you for a moment. These are our fellow men and women and children, our own flesh and blood.

Haiti is possibly the worst place in the world for something like this to happen as far as relief efforts go, because communication and transportation is so bad. That's why the international effort DOES need to rival that of Katrina. The world's eyes must turn to Haiti. Let your eyes turn there also.

One very easy way to help, if you text, is to text the world HAITI to the number 90999, and you will donate $10 to the Red Cross International Relief fund, which is very much being focused in Haiti right now. It will be added to your cell phone bill. Easy. Please consider doing that now.

My mom (Annette Crislip) said that refugees are arriving in Ft. Liberté now, which thankfully was fairly untouched by the quake. So that community is going to become important in relief efforts and will need lots of resources. I'll keep you posted on ways you can help through Friends of Ft. Liberté, which will be sending money to our beloved Jerusalem Baptist Church whom we've worked with for 35 years. They will be doing everything they can to help their fellow countrymen.

Haiti

I don't even have time yet to get into all that occurred during my recent trip to Ft. Liberté, Haiti (because I'm about to leave with the fam for vacation), but I assure you, I will write on it.

Let me just say for the time being that every American needs to leave America at some point in his or her life. They need to see other people's situations, other country's conditions. Not just poor ones (like Haiti), though that's important too. There are things that the mind simply can't conceive until the eyes perceive them.

I'll have plenty of pictures coming soon to my Facebook page as well...