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Oh. Hi! It's me your friend. You know, the broken record.
Blah.
I played a game early on that is now backfiring. I said things like, "the kids don't need summer clothes because by the time it warms up here we will be home." And, "The kids should not enter into school here because by April we'll be back." And, "Why bother finding a chiropractor to help me when I won't be here very long at all." The weather got warm. The kids started tutoring. I still need a chiropractor. For a while the date was May 1. But then that seemed unlikely. And now, the dumb thing is, I am playing the same game only with my new totally made up date. By June 1 we will be home. That is my most recent fabricated and self-created coping mechanism and plan.
Sigh.
Sunday we went to Church Under the Bridge and then The Austin Stone in the evening. Both services were great. Totally different and great. We spent time with Joanna (lovingly referred to as "earthquake buddy") and the Iveys. It was good to be with these beautiful people. (See pics of Jesus on Palm Sunday - this is how he rolls in Waco.)
We are speaking in Houston, TX on April 18th if you're interested in details- shoot us an email. For those that asked, we will come to share Haiti stories and speak in mid-Texas. For now we're not able to go further than five or six hours from Waco. No expectations exist. We come to encourage and share first and foremost. We typically tell our story and all that God is teaching and doing and we and simply ask that you pray about and consider supporting either one of the two ministries or our family, as God so leads.Troy and I have been reading a lot of news. We were pretty disgusted with the Red Cross and the big power house NGO's and we continue to wonder how it is they can continue to be so successful when there is not much to show for BILLIONS of dollars. We're reading all the opinions and all the issues and listening to every side. The struggles and challenges for ALL parties to make wise choices for Haiti are very real. Even as small NGO's we would never wish to make choices that would set Haitians up to fail or to depend on us. I read all the criticism and I think a lot of it is dead on ... yet the answers are not easy and those who claim to have them are usually over-confident.
I continue to believe that investing in the lives of girls and women is of great value. That is what we hope to keep doing. (See this.) I am so excited to get back to Haiti and get back at what matters so much to all of us. Helping women get a hand up in a culture that has not made life very easy or fair for them. How amazing would it be if Haiti healed in such a way that no NGO large or small was ever needed. I pray to live to see that day.
Tomorrow we're doing a marathon counseling day in Austin. I am hoping to work on EQ P4 in the car.
Until next time, please don't forget to pray for Haiti.
Lydie and Phoebe on Sunday
tara
tara
14 comments:
Never will I forget to pray for Haiti! That was one of the things I couldn't grasp -- with all the money that was raised for Haiti why 2 months later (when I was there) was more not done AND where were the large NGO's!
It was disheartening. Haiti deserves more.
Shalom,
Denise
Thank you for posting once again from your heart. I can imagine this is a trying time for you. Praying for you as you press forward and wait patiently for the day you will return to Haiti.
I was in Haiti for 3 weeks in February and had an amazing time. I learned so much from the people. I am hoping to find away to go back for the next year or more. It is interesting reading your thoughts about small/big NGO's, etc. I am hoping to find the right organisation to hook up with.
I was able to share in 2 schools about Haiti yesterday, as they raised money for my trip. The provincial newspaper was also there- so hopefully Haiti will be in the spotlight again, albeit briefly. Still so much need...
Blessings,
Sandra Lako
sandralako@gmail.com
Tara....I have a friend that lives in Houston, where will you be speaking?
Love and prayers,
Karla
We've been praying for Haiti every night for the past five years-- and since Jan 12, more than ever. And yet, the reality is that so much more than that (prayer) needs to be done. The relief efforts-- ugh.... how to even begin to comprehend it all? It is mind numbing to try to collect my thoughts. I can't even imagine how tough it is for you and Troy. I think of you guys every day and I so hope that a peace that surpasses all understanding will someday come to rest within you. You so deserve it.
love,
hbj
We are definitely still praying for Haiti! Here is a link to us: http://threemenandababe.blogspot.com/
Those are some fun looking little girls!
Lindsay
Tara & Troy,
We have not forgotten Haiti here. We are working hard to learn how to teach fishing rather than give fish. And when we are to do that. Last spring I thought we would be there this spring. Now it seems farther away then ever. It seems that is how God works. We think 'next year', God says 'right now'...we think 'right now', God says 'wait on me'.
Praying for you and your beautiful family. Blessed beyond measure to have been able to work with you in November and hoping that we will have the privilege of getting to work with you two again.
Thank you so much for being willing to share your journey with us on your blog and giving us the opportunity to know how to pray for you.
Blessing to you on this beautiful week.
Much love to you all,
Tamara Bonacquisti
Thank you for letting us know about your journey through faith and heart and devastation and hard work. I am so appalled by what I'm hearing about the governmental "taxes" being demanded for relief supplies before they may be picked up and distributed. Also appalled by the Red Cross, sitting on multimillions of dollars donated by people who wanted to Haiti. What can an individual like me do to apply pressure in the right places? If you have any ideas, please let me know. My email address is enchantedoak@sbcglobal.net I don't expect you to have any ideas, but just in case you do...
Hi! I work at the Red Cross National Headquarters and would like to clarify some facts about what the American Red Cross has done so far with the donated money designated to Haiti.
Just yesterday we released a spending plan for what remains of the funds we received from the American public for Haiti. You can read about it, in addition to all the latest updates, here:
http://newsroom.redcross.org/category/haiti-earthquake-Jan-2010/
Our intention has always been to allocate the money as wisely and effectively as possible to help Haitians address immediate needs, recover from the damage, and rebuild for a better future.
We have also tried to provide reports and assessments as often as possible to let the public know what we're doing with the money. Every last dollar will be spent on recovery in Haiti, and this effort is expected to last at least several years.
I would love to engage any of you in a deeper conversation about what the Red Cross is doing if you have any questions or concerns. I work on posting content to our Disaster Online Newsroom daily, so I know that the link above is a pretty good resource for facts about what we're doing in Haiti. Another resource is http://www.redcross.org/haiti.
Again, I'm here to listen and discuss, if any of you have concerns. Thanks!
Gloria Huang
HuangG@usa.redcross.org
Never a fan of ARC since it was revealed after 9-11 what some of the problems were (six digit salaries with people's donated money?!), we have steered people towards you and Heartline again and again since the quake.
You are not forgotten . . . and we'll be waiting for the day you can go back (at the right time) to Haiti. In the meantime, REST AND TRUST. (And your daughters are just too cute--but you knew that already, didn't you?! :-) )
Amen for the day we will no longer be needed. I was asked last week when I spoke at a church if the small NGO's were doing more than the large organizations. The guy that asked it was about 16. Tough question to answer with all those people looking at you waiting for an answer. If all organizations had the attitude of helping Haitians help each other, that day could come.
Always praying for you...
Nate
Hi!
I live in Houston and would love to hear you and your family speak. Could you please send me the details! I have enjoyed following your story and praying with you!
Thanks a lot!
Jessica
jah019@shsu.edu
First time commenting here, but I've been reading for quite a while. The actions of the Red Cross & other NGOs should be seriously questioned. My office mate's little local non-profit set up a collection in this area to collect T-shirts for Haiti, since it's clear that the people in the tent cities are in desperate need, t-shirts are readily available, lightweight, climate appropriate & easy to make fit. His little local organization has collected just under 75000 t-shirts (yes, seventy five thousand) from businesses, schools, and churches. It's a few pallets worth. The organization he runs is well known locally, has strong connections in government at many levels & the Red Cross will not even speak to him about assisting with the transport of clean, size sorted, boxed & palletized shirts. He has a distribution channel there & needs nothing except transport. Now there are early rumblings that the gov't may begin investigating exactly where all that money went.....
Troy -
It's really great that your office mate's non profit was able to collect so many donations for Haiti. However, the Red Cross is set up to aid in the relief effort in specific ways, mostly in coordination with an entire network of international Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. We cannot accept in-kind donations, because there is a system of pre-positioned warehouses that we get supplies from, all around the world, specifically for disasters such as the one in Haiti. The amount of time and money it would take to sort these items and ship it overseas makes in-kind donations far less efficient than using our pre-positioned warehouses or buying items in bulk locally.
Although I am sure we would like to be able to help everyone who needs help in getting materials to Haiti, the fact is that transporting these items takes money, manpower, and time that we are already using for the coordinated effort with all of the other agencies we are working with. I hope this helps shed some light on the situation, and why it may seem like the Red Cross is unwilling to help your friend.
You can find more information about international disaster relief and how donors and agencies work together at the Center for International Disaster Information site: http://cidi.org/guidelines/guide_ln.htm
Again, I would be happy to continue this conversation, or help answer any other questions you have. My email is below...
Gloria Huang
HuangG@usa.redcross.org
I would never say that the Red Cross and UNICEF and the other ginormous organizations with huge budgets do no good ever ... but my personal belief is that they spend way too much of the donations on overhead and things that are of zero importance to me. When you give to a smaller NGO you often times will have almost 100% of your money go to help the people you've intended it to help. Heartline has volunteers or people who are self supported - no salaries are paid. Each person needs to take a good hard look at the record and results of the organizations they donate to - they should be able to show you what they've done with your money.
When on the ground in Haiti we did not see tamgible results with our eyes ... so this is our opinion. We're not fans of giant bureaucracies. Grass roots movements get more done.
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