SHELTERS IN HAITI

If you laid all tarpaulins that have been distributed by Shelter Cluster agencies end on end, they'd reach from Sydney to Perth, London to Baghdad, Lisbon to Moscow or New Delhi to Beijing.

The earthquake created approximately 20 million cubic meters (26 million cubic yards) of debris that have to be removed. To put this into perspective: after the Pakistan earthquake in 2005, that number was 2.3 million cubic meters (3 million cubic yards).

If you put all the debris in shipping containers and put them end on end, they would reach from London to Jerusalem, Melbourne to Perth or New York to Las Vegas. The majority of Haitians are removing debris from their plots by hand.

Over 18 months, Shelter Cluster agencies are planning to build approximately 125,000 transitional shelters. These will provide safe places to live for approximately 625,000 people. This is slightly more than the number of people living in the cities of Las Vegas, Gold Coast or Glasgow.

Shelter Cluster agencies are planning to build enough transitional shelters for 55,000 people per month. This equals the population of Hereford, UK; Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia; Limerick, Ireland; or Cheyenne, WY, USA.

Welcome Home

In my experiences of emergency and disaster relief I believe I have proved that it is people that have suffered most that are often the most gracious.

One of the men (JR) that works with the Salvo Team here in Port au Prince has suffered terribly, (and is indicative of so many). His wife was killed in the earthquake, leaving him with three young children. He volunteered to help in any way he could in the early response and has stayed on with us, and eventually was offered a role. Whilst working for us JR visited a remote area, and the truck he was travelling in rolled over the side of the road: stunned and bruised he crawled out of the wreck, picked up his cell phone and dialed his wife, only to get a message saying the service to that number had been cut – and remembered that his wife was dead.

JR is one of the most gracious and grateful people I have met so far. He works hard and refuses to accept a wage, instead asking that his wage be placed in trust for his children’s education.

When I am introduced to a Haitian person they always greet me with a huge smile and the phrase: “Welcome Home”. I love that. For me it immediately puts you off guard and makes you feel that you belong. JR’s story, of course is not unique, but despite the destruction and the human tragedy the Haitian people are gracious and welcoming.

First (Day) Impressions

It was in Sri Lanka as a young boy when I first heard the harsh scratching of a straw broom on hardened ground in the early and cool hours of the day. So when I was wakened, on this, my first full day in Port au Prince by the warm breeze and that familiar sound, I was a little disorientated. “Where was I?” It took a moment, but then I remembered, and the next question was; “Why?”

I was soon on the already (at 7:30am) congested road to the office: a road pockmarked by potholes and bounded by remarkably neat piles of rubble scraped from the road to the curb. Street stalls selling everything from pungent deep fried fish, bags of water, and FEMA (camp) cots to medicines of all shapes and colours were already doing business in front of mounds of torn concrete and bent steel, the remains of houses and shops.

Erroneously I had assumed that when an earthquake struck, along a defined fault line, that the destruction would be more ‘ordered’, that there would be some sort of pattern to the demolition, but this is not so. The destroyed buildings reveal only how indiscriminate, and unpredictable the destruction is. Alongside a mound of torn and broken concrete there is a building that looks like it was the same, little affected. Buildings that may not have been up to any code, remain intact whilst buildings, like the Presidential Palace, (which you would assume were well built) had imploded and looked like a Lego house after a tantrum.

New communities of tents and shelters of all shapes, colours and sponsors have appeared around the city. One of these is the Place de la Paix, (in Delmas 2, Port au Prince) an IDP (Internally Displaced Peoples) camp which is managed by The Salvation Army with the help of some other NGO partners. About 20,000 people live in this camp, on a soccer field, next to the Salvation Army Haiti Headquarters. These shelters, which range from sticks held together by tarpaulins through to wood frames and corrugated iron roofs are crowded together and offer little to no privacy, but this is one of the good camps. Some enterprising people have converted their shelters into variously stocked shops which offer the necessities of life – and, amidst this colourful and aroma filled canvas life goes on.

On the Way

I am sitting in Miami International Airport watching CNN tell me that the world is failing Haiti - that despite the huge outpouring of sympathy and money people are dying as the money fails to arrive at the places where it matters.


It is easy to fly expert commentators in and say nothing is happening; to show images of dying children and debris strewn streets and to make bold statements that suggest that Aid/NGO Agencies are failing to make any difference. I think we may need to stop and define what 'success and progress' looks like.

To import key activities and outcomes without contextualising them is a mistake too often made. And from a person that has still not arrived in Haiti that sounds like it may be the case in Haiti. So in about 4 hours I will land in Port au Prince, and God helping me I will make a difference.

Haiti Disaster Recovery

I'm off to Haiti for eight weeks where I will be joining the International Emergency Services team in Port-au-Prince.

Just in case you forgot: the earthquake hit in January 2010 and The Army has been invloved in recovery programs from the first day. At the moment we are running an Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camp for about 20,000 people and running a number of other programs throughout the country.

I'll tell you more in a while.

When people's sense of injustice is engaged, mountains can be moved.

I'm not an environmental scientist. I don't pretend to understand all the intricacies of climate change but I'm not blind either, and like you I have noticed that there appears to be a number of 'extreme weather' events that could be a result of changing weather patterns; which could be a result of a 'rich humanity's' exploitation of the environment; and which seem to impact most, the poorest and most vulnerable.

Climate change and its impact on the world is not just a scientific debate, it’s primarily a social justice issue. But until now all the rhetoric and argument has been presented as a problem of collective guilt. ‘We’ must repent and mend our ways.

This assigns blame in a way that mocks democracy and pretends that the poor and the rich are somehow equally responsible for the political gamesmanship that drives the agenda of governments and multinationals. Meanwhile the real crime – the very existence of rich and poor – continues to create havoc.

There are rich and powerful interests who will be quite content if social justice stays out of the climate change debate and no doubt will fight (as Copenhagen suggested) to keep it off the agenda. There are also climate change activists who seem to care little about the rights of their fellow humans, let alone their happiness.

But we had better start taking an interest because until the grievous infringements of dignity that most of humanity endure are addressed there will be no answers to climate change and its increasing influence on our world.

I am a Human Being

It was 'revealed' this morning that a number of Asylum seeker families have been 'detained' under security in a suburban Motel in Queensland - without the knowledge of the locals. But now that it has been revealed that their neighbours are asylum seekers they are not happy.

One of the residents interviewed suggested it was 'not right, who knows what is in that hotel'!

It reminded me of the hysteria whipped up in the wake of the Tampa incident when Australians objectified the situation. With our capacity to blur out the individual faces and ignore our shared humanity we are able to depersonalise the story and claim that we are only protecting our own.

The human tendency to prejudice and xenophobia is born and grows in a climate of ignorance, selfishness and unwillingness to learn.

The unfounded and irresponsible reporting of the TV journalist further inflamed the situation when she claimed that the hotel borders on 'a playground, a school and a main road'. What was she suggesting: that the 'asylum seekers' (let's keep them faceless commodities) 'were paedophiles looking for a quick get-away and an opportunity to silently melt into our community'? And what made it worse apparently was that the school is one of the areas most respected.

This kind of irresponsible reporting will result in tragedy. I hope I am wrong, but I bet this is not the last we will hear of the small motel in the suburbs and the frightened parents that have sacrificed a huge amount in an attempt to provide their kids with a new, safe and hope-filled life.

Be A Lifesaver

Australia has a proud history of helping refugees fleeing war and persecution. But in 2010, in the lead up to a Federal election, our politicians are trampling on this record and punishing these most desperate of people to score political points.

On Saturday 8 May, people around Australia are gathering to form human life rings, and show our politicians on all sides that they've got it wrong - Australians do care about saving lives and we won't accept punishment of people to win votes.

JOIN US on SATURDAY 8 MAY to create a human life ring, wearing your brightest red and yellow clothing.

SYDNEY - Bondi Beach11am - 1pm
For more details - http://www.amnesty.org.au/nsw/event/22927/

MELBOURNE - St Kilda Beach- front of surf lifesaving club11am - 1pm
For more details - http://www.amnesty.org.au/vic/event/22926/

BRISBANE - King George Square1pm - 3pm
For more details - http://www.amnesty.org.au/qld/event/22928/

ADELAIDE - The Human Rights Wall, Barker Gardens, Corner of Prospect and Alpha Roads,1pm - 3pm
For more details - http://www.amnesty.org.au/sa/event/22925/

Australia is a lucky country - most of us don't have to worry about persecution or the horrors of war. But do we care about people who do?

This event is supported by:
Actionaid - http://www.actionaid.org.au/
Amnesty International Australia - http://www.amnesty.org.au/
Asylum Seeker Centre - http://www.asylumseekerscentre.org.au/
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre - http://www.asrc.org.au/
Australian Council for Tamil Refugees GetUp - http://www.getup.org.au/
Hotham Mission - http://asp.hothammission.org.au/
Human Rights Law Resource Centre - http://www.hrlrc.org.au/
Jesuit Refugee Service - http://www.jrs.org.au/
National Council of Churches - http://www.ncca.org.au/
Refugee Council of Australia - http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/
Uniting Justice Australia - http://www.unitingjustice.org.au/
Rise (Refugee Survivors and Ex-detainees) - http://riserefugee.org/home-page
Union Aid Abroad (Apheda) - http://www.apheda.org.au/
Liberty Victoria - http://www.libertyvictoria.org/

Crystal's Story

A few weeks ago a young woman walked into our building. A friend had given her a Bible, and she was trying to read it but wanted to know more about God and faith - that was the beginning of Crystal's journey with us here at Preston Salvos.

Crystal's story could be a movie script. Fighting addictions and 'demons' from her past she is a survivor and through her regular involvement with The Salvos and the mentoring of local leaders she has become a vibrant part of our family.

Crystal listened to the stories of need in countries far away during our recent 6 week Self Denial Appeal and at the invitation to bring a sacrificial gift of money she was the first one to walk down the aisle and place her envelope on the altar. This was new to her, she said, never before had she thought about the poverty and the need in her world.

Three days later Crystal was at church again, talking with a mentor; she looked pale and drawn; just a little melancholy, not the usual bubbly, excited person we have come to know. On questioning (and insisting) Crystal explained that she had not eaten for three days because she had put all of her money in the self-denial envelope. She explained: "I listened to the stories and saw the need; and after all, I was asked to deny myself, I was asked if I would give a gift that was self-sacrificing!"

Condemned

I watched a movie the other day that had one of those profound throw away lines.

Scenario: A prominent Christian man accosts a woman who, in his opinion, has acted badly and committed a sin against the church and God. The man yells at the woman: "you must ask God for forgiveness". The woman turns to the man and replies: "No I don't need to. God doesn't condemn me".

The words hit a raw nerve in me: why is it that (too) often people are condemned by the church and Christians? Especially when the Master we follow made it pretty clear that he "did not send his Son into the world to condemn".

I have cringed too many times as I have heard (or read) a self-appointed protector of a religio-centric moral code condemn and exclude people thereby marginalising and belittling them. A wise man once challenged me by saying: "show them Jesus and He will tell them what is right and wrong, not you."

The God I strive to know is not mean and exclusivist, a God who wins disciples through fear: the agenda of the Architect (I think) has always been, and remains, inclusion through grace.

"To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing."

(quote from Welsh novelist and critic Raymond Williams)

(In case you didn't know) the fiasco we know as The Copenhagen Climate Summit concluded last year with no targets, no binding agreements and no attempts to tackle the root causes of global warming. But despite the display of global (first world and corporate) bullying there were and are kernels of hope seeded.

The positions taken by some of the leaders of Majority World countries should have embarrassed their more affluent neighbours, but regardless of the response one man stood out. Evo Morales, Bolivia's President, has seized the initiative and called a new global summit - The People's World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth's Rights. This will take place in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba on April 19-22 of this year.

Amongst the aims of this Summit are proposals for a global referendum on climate change; the adoption and promotion of 'earth rights' and their transition into law; and the establishment of an international Climate Justice Tribunal.

The Objectives
The Peoples’ World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth Rights objectives are the following:

1. Analyze the structural and systemic causes of climate change and propose substantive measures that facilitate the well-being of all mankind in harmony with nature.
2. Discuss and agree the draft Universal Declaration of rights of Mother Earth.
3. To agree on proposals for new commitments to the Kyoto Protocol and projects for a COP Decision under the United Nations Framework for Climate Change that will guide future actions in those countries that are engaged with life during climate change negotiation
4. Work on the organization of a people’s world referendum on climate change.
5. Analyze and draw up a plan of action to advance the establishment of a Climate Justice Tribunal;
6. Define strategies for action and mobilization in defense of life against climate change and for mother earth rights.

You may or may not agree with the arguments of Climate Change, but regardless of your position maybe you can agree that our earth seems to be throwing up a regular number of awe-filled catastrophic events. At the moment most of these are happening in the majority, disadvantaged and 'easily ignored' world. But are we really going to gamble that the money and knowledge of the 'developed' world can keep disaster away?

The church needs to get behind The People's World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth's Rights. We need to pray for the leaders and we need to hope that common sense - that is sense for the common good of the earth - will prevail and people will seek to live for one another.

ANZAC Concert