Reaching Decision Makers within the Catholic Community
"A 7.0 earthquake struck the capital of Haiti today," read news and wire reports circling the globe. A compact, clinical description…until one sees the YouTube videos, listens to first-hand accounts and takes in the ensuing chaos, the cries of anguish, pain, loss and confusion….until one sees the make-shift Petionville camp that quickly swelled to more than 50,000 displaced men, women, and children who chose to sleep and set up temporary quarters on the third hole of a once-swanky golf course in the open air rather than inside a building... until one sees the local and imported doctors and nurses, many local medical professionals still stunned and grieving the loss of medical colleagues, yet all performing triage, amputations and surgery amid the rubble of collapsed and severely damaged hospitals and in makeshift tents.
In 35 to 40 seconds of terror—only 35 seconds—lives changed forever in Haiti, and around the world for those in solidarity with their suffering brothers and sisters.
Close to 50,000 Haitians now call the golf course at the Petionville Club home. CRS is distributing lentils, vegetable oil, and bulgar to those living at the camp. The camp now includes a market, make-shift beauty salons, and a place to make international phone calls.
Photo by Lane Hartill/Catholic Relief Services.
In less than one minute, Haitians in and around the nation's capital of Port-au-Prince had lost their beloved Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot and more than 97 seminarians, as well as popular sports figures and musicians, and at least 85 United Nations personnel, including Mission Chief Hedi Annabi. And in less than one minute more, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) staff, already present in Haiti, began planning their relief efforts.
Entire buildings—including the Cathedral of Port-au-Prince, the National Palace, the Archbishop's residence, the National Major Seminary of Notre Dame of Haiti (the only major seminary in the country), many Catholic schools throughout the region, hospitals and government offices—had collapsed in a plume of dust that rose and then engulfed the city for nearly 20 minutes; leaving hundreds trapped, or worse, in the rubble. Between 92,000 and 230,000 are dead. An accurate death toll may never be known, with mass graves hastily dug to clear unsanitary decay and stench accelerated by the tropical heat. It was a race against time. Survivors, the trapped and injured needed immediate attention to survive. The removal of rubble and debris blocking roads, repairs to the region's main airport and control tower, and fixing damaged ports were key to avoid further hampering of aid delivery.
What is left of the Eglise Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart Church), a Catholic Church in downtown Port au Prince, Haiti after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake rattled Haiti on Tuesday, January 12, 2010.
Photo by Lane Hartill/Catholic Relief Services
As of mid-March, more than 52 subsequent aftershocks greater than 4.5 had rocked the region.
And then Chile...
A little more than a month after Haiti's monster quake, on February 27, 2010, 3:34 am local time, in the black of early morning, in a country more than 3,500 miles from Haiti, an 8.8 quake lasting only 90 terrifying seconds struck off the coast of the Maule region of Chile. Eighty percent of the country's population felt the quake, as did cities in neighboring Argentina and in southern Peru. A blackout affected 93% of Chile's population, lasting in some places for days. A quake-triggered tsunami devastated several coastal towns in south-central Chile and damaged the port at Talcahuano.
By early March, more than 130 aftershocks had been registered, including 13 above 6.0 on the Richter scale.
Chile's earthquake was 500 times more forceful than Haiti's January quake, yet needs differed radically in the two countries.
Priorities change. Immediately.
CRS workers know the drill. After any disaster, it's impossible to know the extent of damages and human needs, so immediate assessment and planning begin simultaneously. Certain needs are primary—food, sanitation, personal safety and shelter.
"When an earthquake [or any major disaster] strikes," says CRS president Ken Hackett, a 38-year CRS veteran, "we have a set of professionals with various areas of expertise such as logisticians, engineers, shelter, sanitation and water experts, who are accustomed to designing effective disaster response.
"We bring these experts in from around the world to design an immediate and a long-term response to the disaster. They use computers, on-the-ground assessments, and, most importantly, the lessons learned from responding to many other disasters in other parts of the world…. Within hours of the Haitian quake a message had already been sent to these experts, saying: ‘Get ready, you're coming to Haiti!'… Some arrived in two or three days, others later. We stagger their arrival and departure so that no one burns out."
But CRS began offering aid even before the special technicians arrived.
Staff for Catholic Relief Services unload hygiene kits that were packed in the Dominican Republic. The kit includes items such as soap, toothpaste, mosquito nets, toothbrushes, and towels. Nine hundred and sixty eight kits were delivered to the CRS warehouse in Port-au-Prince, in addition to plastic sheeting for shelter, and food kits.
This programming was in response to the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on Tuesday, January 12, 2010. The earthquake killed and injured thousands of people, primarily the capital, Port-au-Prince. Photo by Lane Hartill/Catholic Relief Services.
Photo by Holly Inurreta/Catholic Relief Services
"We've had an operational presence in Haiti for 55 years," explains Mr. Hackett, "so we have people, compassion, experience and connections that are long-standing, robust, effective and agile. We were able to get moving quickly. We had supplies in place and people to move those supplies, systems to account for them, and to distribute them effectively."
CRS does not work alone in a major disaster, isolated from other charities or government response teams.
Part of a bigger picture
Catholic Relief Service is the official international outreach of Catholics in the United States to their brothers and sisters—whether Catholic or not—who are in dire need throughout the world. The organization was founded by the bishops of the United States in 1943, during World War II, initially to help Europe and its refugees recover from the ravages of war. As the postwar situation improved, the agency turned its attention to other people and places in need of assistance, opening offices in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
"Today we work in 100 countries around the world," says Michael Wiest, a 35-year veteran who began his CRS career at age 24 working in Africa and now serves as the organization's Vice President of Giving and Awareness. "We have about 55 offices overseas in 9 regions… We're part of the Church in the United States, owned by the bishops of the U.S., and mandated to serve the poor of the world on behalf of U.S. Catholics. "
CRS, which serves people in need outside the U.S., and Catholic Charities USA, which serves people in need within the United States, are together considered to be Caritas USA and a member of Caritas International. Caritas International is the umbrella federation consisting of 167 Caritas agencies, which are the bishop-run charitable organizations from each country, i.e. Caritas Brazil, Caritas Canada, Caritas Germany, and Caritas United Kingdom.
"Of all Caritas member organizations," notes Mr. Wiest, "CRS is larger than all the others combined. In terms of operational presence we have about 5,000 staff around the world. So when major disaster strikes, typically CRS can carry the heaviest load in a location. We work together."
"Volunteers of Caritas Concepci unpack clothing kits that have been prepared to help assist the displaced in the aftermath of an 8.8 magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami hit Chile on February 27, 2010. CRS sent technical support to Caritas Chile to help in the relief effort.
Photo by Holly Inurreta/Catholic Relief Services
"Historical realities of each Caritas agency are different," adds Mr. Wiest. "The size of resources varies, as does cultural background. The tradition of private giving is more developed in the U.S. Interestingly, U.S. Catholics give more than twice per capita than the second most philanthropic nation, the United Kingdom."
In fulfillment of is mission, CRS does more than respond to emergency situations. It helps rebuild societies in need through community-based, sustainable development initiatives. Its programs today include agricultural initiatives, community banks, health education, micro-financing and clean water projects, all of which are developed in a way which ensures that the local population is the central participant in its own development, and that a project can be sustained through the effort and resources of the local community.
In its more than half a century of relief work, CRS has handled a wide range of disasters—from the aftermath of devastating hurricanes or societal instability during intense civil strife, to the psychological and physical destruction left in the wake of the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Response and needs different in Chile
The Chilean bishops' Caritas Chile, which CRS developed for the bishops years ago, is now the strongest and most developed Catholic relief organization among Latin American countries. "They were able to walk in quickly and respond to the earthquake disaster with a lot of technical expertise," explains Mr. Hackett. CRS does not have an office in Chile. It is not needed. "Caritas Chile requested two specialty technicians from us, whom we sent down, and they are appreciative of any funds we can send their way…. While no less of an emergency situation, the need is different than in Haiti."
Overall, about $400,000 to $500,000 is anticipated for CRS relief efforts in Chile, whereas more than $170 million is projected for Haiti.
Hope, Courage and Light in the Darkness
Back in Haiti, a country estimated to be 80% Catholic, there's an unexpected note found throughout the makeshift camps. Singing. Heartfelt singing.
"In the camps, the religious spirit of the people was quite noticeable," blogs Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, OFM Cap, Cardinal of the Boston Archdiocese, regarding his early March 2010 trip as part of a U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) committee to assess the needs of the Church in Haiti. "They would sing religious hymns for hours every night. Everyone talked about how, in the refugee camps, you'd hear people singing hymns all night long."
The Cardinal and his group spent considerable time touring the area with Archbishop Barnardito Auza, apostolic nuncio to Haiti. They brought vestments for priests who had none. By the time of his visit, more than half a million refugees had gone to other provinces of Haiti, with CRS paying for tuition and food for children attending Catholic schools in these provinces.
And there are so many other lights...
"Working side-by-side, CRS and the hospital team pulled mattresses and bed frames from the debris, tunneled out medical supplies, pieced together three operating rooms and sectioned off several outdoor "wards" for patient recovery," reports Sara Fajarado, a CRS communications officer in Haiti.
"Each day the number of surgeries performed at the hospital grows. Wounds are dressed. Antibiotics are dispensed. Charts are dutifully monitored. The St. Francois nursing staff has returned and once again provides 24-hour care. Doctors from Baltimore and CRS work alongside residents, medical students and seasoned Haitian doctors. Signs handwritten in permanent marker direct visitors: the pharmacy, the in-patient clinic, and the pediatric ward. This small touch adds an air of formality to a place ransacked by nature.
"But it's the quiet yet dignified resiliency of the patients that stands out. For a place overrun with the bandaged and amputated, no one complains. They are close enough to one another to hear every sound made by their fellow patients, and yet it's as quiet here as a private room. Patients take comfort in their loved ones and allow the healing to begin."
Chairman of the Catholic Relief Services' board and Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan, right, greets fellow clergy prior to the funeral of archbishop Joseph Serge Miot and vicar Charles Benoit, on Saturday, January 23, 2010, in the courtyard of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Port-au-Prince Haiti.The two died as a result of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that ravaged the Haitian capital. The cathedral collapsed and buried in its rubble 4 o'clock mass-goers. Co-celebrants included Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York who represented the USCCB and Catholic Relief Services. CRS president, Ken Hackett, who was also in attendance said of the ceremonies, "It was necessary for all those people there because he (archbishop Miot) he meant a lot to the people there. It was symbolic to have in the courtyard of the damaged cathedral. This ceremony will help Haitians in their grieving process."
Photo by Sara A. Fajardo/Catholic Relief Services
The most important thing...
Woven into the fabric of CRS relief efforts—the response of the faithful throughout the United States to the needs of most recent overseas disaster victims—a deeper, distinctively Catholic principle is at work than mere humanitarian aid.
"The ministry of charity is as essential to our ministry as Catholics as are the Sacraments," says Mr. Wiest. "The ministry of charity is as much a part of parish life in the United States and elsewhere as are other facets of parish life that might be more immediately visible. It's integral to our life as Catholics. As the Pope says in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, "the ministry of charity is not extra-curricular. It is essential to our lives as Catholics."
"The passion that drives me," echoes Mr. Hackett, "is knowing that you can positively impact millions of peoples' lives. If you do your work correctly, lives can be transformed….it's a good thing to do, to positively improve people's lives in a sustainable way."
"…the exercise of charity is an action of the Church as such, and…like the ministry of Word and Sacrament, it too has been an essential part of her mission from the very beginning," instructs Pope Benedict XVI in Deus Caritas Est.
The face of love is the true face of all Catholics, no matter what their circumstances. As Michael Hill, CRS communications officer for sub-Saharan Africa, based in Baltimore, reports: "During a three-day period of prayer beginning February 12, Haitians across the country took time to observe the one-month marker. Singing could be heard across the city, coming from formal and makeshift churches, from camps and settlements, from people walking to and from prayer services, and even from the CRS offices where a handful of Haitian staff members worked over the weekend."
The work has only begun. Love persists. Writes Mr. Hill: "Now attention is turning to providing shelter as the rainy season looms a month or so away."
KAREN A. WALKER is Editor and Publisher of the Catholic Business Journal and Producer of The Catholic Business Hour radio show.
