Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association relief news update from Haiti.

Following a series of storms that plagued the island nation since late September and into October, more than 30 fatalities were reported with many more injured and thousands of families affected. A majority of the more than one million survivors of the traumatic January 2010 quake had already been struggling without adequate food or jobs to provide for themselves. Meanwhile, local officials, the United Nations and others have been working to assist some of the storm victims. Supreme Master Television’s relief team member brought us a report.

(Report in Spanish)
Correspondent in Haiti (F): We are in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where tropical storms affected the whole country, bringing rainfall for about a week. These rains affected more than 12,000 families, leaving them with absolutely nothing.

(Victims interviews in Haitian Creole)
Victim (F): We are really sad, and in these circumstances we do not have food to feed the children.

Correspondent (F): Families who have waited for many months to obtain a tent after the emergency they lived through due to the January earthquake of this year, these families now have lost everything and now must sleep on the streets using the rocks as pillows and cardboard for beds.

Victim (F): When the strong winds and strong rains came, the wind carried the tent away. It just took it and we all together then had to hold the corners of a canopy. But that brings us sorrow; we ask ourselves how long will this continue; we do not have an answer.

VOICE: Expressing her condolences and prayers, Supreme Master Ching Hai donated US$15,000 to help the most desperate, asking our Association members to check with officials to find out what aid was most required. This amount could purchase US$535,000 in urgent supplies, if bought in the United States, based on Haiti’s cost of living.

Our Association’s relief teams from Costa Rica and Colombia first arrived in the neighboring Dominican Republic to work with the Director of Santo Domingo Civil Defense, Mr. Luis Reyes, and Pastor Ezequiel Batista and his charity group, in coordinating the purchase and delivery of food packages for 850 families.

(In Spanish)
Pastor Ezequiel Batista (M): This aid that we could receive served to give them courage and give them encouragement so that they could move ahead.

(In Spanish)
Luis Rafael Reyes Director of the Region Santo Domingo Civil Defense (M): Master, my name is Luis Rafael Reyes, Director of the Region Santo Domingo Civil Defense. We would like to give thanks on behalf of the Haitian people, for such a lovely dispatch to facilitate the lives of so many poor families in this country, Master! Thank you Master, for giving us the opportunity to share. Thank you very much!

Relief recipient (M): We thank deeply the lady who is in charge of this program. For we will never forget her gesture towards us.

Elderly relief recipient (F): In the name of all the ladies of this church home, we say thank you to the lady who sent us this assistance.

Correspondent in Haiti (F): Reporting for Supreme Master Television from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

VOICE: In response to this report on our Association’s relief work in Haiti, Supreme Master Ching Hai sent the following message: Please purchase again extra tents for those desperate, as fast as possible. I will send another US$30,000 for this. Thank you (h) (h) P.S. And please convey my love, prayers and utmost sympathy… I am so sorry! The total donation of US$45,000 could acquire US$1.6 million in emergency supplies obtained in the United States, based on the cost of living in Haiti.  

VOICE: With thanks to Haitian officials, United Nations personnel, the Santo Domingo Civil Defense and Pastor Ezequiel, we also join in appreciation for Supreme Master Ching Hai’s loving assistance, and for the diligent work of our Association’s relief team. With Heaven’s blessings, may the Haitian people be safe and comforted in their recovery as we strive to eliminate such tragic disasters by choosing kinder lifestyles that are more in harmony with nature.