A Tarp?

Imagine:

Right now, right where you are…

Sitting under a plastic tarp…

A terrible downpour…

You’re wet.  Your family is wet…

The little that you have is wet…

…and that tarp is your shelter for the next few months.

That is the shelter that is proposed until May 1st for about 250,000 Haitians.  I don’t know about you, but that just seems wrong.

From an MSNBC article:

Haiti’s homeless get tarps, want tents
Aid agencies tell quake refugees they’ll need to get by with plastic sheets

…

Instead the officials are mobilizing a plan they call the “shelter surge:”

– By May 1, one plastic tarp will be given to each of about 250,000 displaced families.
– Transitional shelters of 194 square feet, with corrugated iron roofs, will then be built.
– Shelters will have earthquake- and storm-resistant frames of timber or steel and are supposed to last for three years.

…

[Further details on this YouTube video.]

I’m sure there may be a logistic rationale for this, in reading several other articles, the general consensus of relief organizations is that tents take up too much room, but still – a tarp for someone who lost everything they owned?  And for upwards of three to four months?

It blows my mind…I’m sure it does yours as well.

Tents are needed – good quality, waterproof tents.

There are many non-governmental organizations working to address this need, but one that I’d encourage you to support is aHomeInHaiti.org, organized by Atlanta pastor Shaun King [featured in a Huffington Post article Tuesday].

From the aHomeInHaiti.org site, you can purchase approved, waterproof tents ranging from $55 to $800 directly from Amazon.com, have them shipped to Pastor King’s church in Atlanta, and ultimately shipped to teams he is working with in Haiti.  You can also donate cash via  the site/PayPal.

A tarp for shelter for the next few months?  It’s just wrong!

DO IT!

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.  Speak up and judge fairly;  defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Proverbs 31:8-9