Second Anniversary of Haitian Earthquake

Today marks the second anniversary of the crushing earthquake which hit Haiti.  

At 4:53 pm 330,000 people were killed and close to one million were injured in the worst natural catastrophe in recent history.   While billions of dollars and man hours have been spent, Haiti still lies in ruins.  Close to a million people are still living in squalid tent cities with insufficient water, food and hope.  UNICEF estimates that there are 380,000 orphans in Haiti, most of whom receive insufficient care. 

There is still no clean water, minimal electricity, no sanitation, no jobs and scarce food and medicine.  Cholera is still rampant, claiming the lives of thousands of people who have no choice but to drink contaminated water.  

As we go about our day today, eating more than we should, drinking clean water from our faucets, enjoying easy access to the best health care in the world, let's consider our neighbors in Haiti living desperate lives and dying horrible deaths only two hours from our border.  

Pray for the mothers and fathers who are losing their children to the painful death of cholera.  Pray for the grandmothers who are slowly losing the battle to starvation.  

Make a decision to help.  Live Beyond...

Mobile Medical Disaster Relief

MMDR.org

Connecting Forprofit company's with Nonprofits

Why CSR'S Future Matters to your Company
Susan McPherson, Harvard Business Review

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/why_csrs_future_matters_to_you.html

Great article on why it is important to connect for profits with non profits.

New Criteria for Success

Here we are at the start of another year.  

So, how did you do last year?  

Were you happy with your outcomes?  

What criteria do you use to evaluate your performance?  

Was it

How much money you made?

What size house you built?

How much stuff you accumulated?

Where you went on vacation?

How about a different set of criteria?

How much money you donated?

How much stuff you gave away?

How many hungry people you fed?

How many homeless people you housed?

How many poor folks you clothed?

How many sick people you cared for?

Jesus said, ”Give and it will be given to you... for with the measure you use to give, it will be measured to you.”  Give big, get big.  Give small, get small.

“Sell your possessions and give to the poor...for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”

MMDR.org

Under the Mango Tree

Under the Mango Tree

 We crossed Lake Volta for the second time, coming back to the island of Bakpa where we had previously met the chief under the mango tree.  Meeting under the mango tree means that our meeting was important enough to be accepted by the elders and the chief.  Coming back the second time meant that we honored our promise and would now be accepted as friends of the tribe.  As our underpowered rented boat approached the shore, the island children recognized the "abrunis" and danced and waved. Soon the news of our medical team's arrival spread throughout the island and we were surrounded by men and women who were excited to have the first medical on the island since our last visit 4 months ago.  They quickly directed us to the shady mango tree, produced hand hewn wooden benches and we resumed the friendly conversations that we had suspended months before.   As is polite in Ghanian tradition, they inquired about our mission and we honored the chief with questions about his health and his people. 
Our mission was to provide medical care to these terribly oppressed people in a way that both honored them and their tribal traditions.

As we erected our modern, portable medical clinic under the mango tree, the people of the village crowded around looking in wonder at the pulse oximeters, the immunohistochemical based lab equipment and the latest medications. Since they were without electricity, we set up solar panels to charge the sodium hydride batteries in our equipment. Since they were without clean water, we implemented water purifiers which employed state of the art electromagnetic chlorinators to provide clean water for the clinic.   

As patient after patient came into our clinic to be rid of their various diseases, it occurred to me that we honor them by giving them the best medical care possible and they in turn honor us by allowing us to sit under the mango tree.

Mobile Medical Disaster Relief