Haiti (MNN) ― Haiti's reconstruction plan could cost upwards of $14 billion. There is a conference on March 31 at which donor nations are expected to announce financial aid for Haiti.
After more than seven weeks since the devastating earthquake shattered Haiti's capital city, Port-au-Prince, it appears there's been little progress made in recovery.
Estimates show over one million people were left without shelter by the earthquake. Most of them still do not have adequate emergency shelter, access to potable water, food, or medical attention.
Ron Sparks with Baptist Haiti Mission says they are putting their plan together, too. "We've had reports back from only about a hundred of our 350 schools and churches. Out of those, we determined that 10 of these had been destroyed. There were 10 others that were seriously damaged."
Most of their churches and schools are in rural and semi-rural communities, but one of them, the Petionville Church and School, is in the heart of the Petionville tent cities.
Teams have already started work on rebuilding the Petionville Church and School and are making good progress. The church will not need to be torn down, as originally anticipated, but can be repaired. The savings will go to help rebuild other damaged churches in the earthquake zone.
Meanwhile, the Haitian government declared that all construction be overseen by an engineer. Sergo, a church member, is a civil engineer. He will oversee the reconstruction of the Petionville Church, ensuring its safe rebuild.
Baptist Haiti Mission continues to move forward in meeting physical and spiritual needs. Sparks says they've been working with other chaplains and found very receptive hearts to God's love. "In the midst of all the relief efforts going on, we had a great opportunity to share God's love with the people there, to reassure them that He is bigger than the earthquake that took place. "
In fact, many Christians say the crisis sparked a spiritual revival of sorts. With the nature question in hand, now comes the nurture part. "We have a great network of pastors and local lay leaders who are already in position to help with those spiritual needs--" explains Sparks, adding, "not only to share the Gospel with people, but also to follow up as far as their attending a local church, being taught God's Word and being helped with their physical needs as well."
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