Local organization shares Haiti information with students

Gripping images of the earthquake aftermath in Haiti have been flooding news stations and newspapers since that devastating day in January. People across the world have responded to the call of humanitarianism with swiftness and compassion. Last Thursday an Eastern graduate spoke to students about how they can join the relief efforts and help to restore Haiti. Jessica Murphy, a recent graduate of Eastern, spoke to students about her involvement with Christian Flights International, a local missions organization in Richmond, that has had ties to Haiti for roughly 30 years.

"I became involved with Christian Flights my senior year after seeing their booth at City Fest," she said. "I signed up, volunteered two hours a week and was able to graduate with a job waiting for me."

Christian Flights International's mission is to support, equip and otherwise empower gifted Hatian leaders to teach, heal, train and restore their own people and their own land.

"We are very proud of the fact that we don't have any American staff in Haiti, we are 100 percent for Haitian sustainability," Murphy said. "There are only two American staff, myself and the director. The rest is composed of Haitian volunteers," she added.

CFI is located in Ranquitte, Haiti, where the group has been able to establish a school for about 2,000 students, as well as a medical facility. A fair trade coffee program was also recently thrown into the mix, Murphy said.

The school has provided Haitian students with an opportunity to learn from pre-school to grade thirteen. The literacy rate in Haiti has increased over the last few years. This is due to the government putting more schools in rural areas. Murphy said the school system goes up to grade thirteen because many Haitian children will not be able to afford to go to college.

Murphy shared with students personal pictures from her trip to Haiti three months ago, pointing out a small, cinderblock hut held together with stucco and covered with a tin roof which housed a family of 12.

"The mother that lives in this hut told me that she saved her money for 10 years so that she could buy herself the really beautiful china cabinet in this picture," Murphy said.

Murphy also shared with students some pictures of another common Haitian home. Many of the houses that aren't made with cinderblock are made with sticks woven together and covered in mud, along with scraps, aluminum and whatever else can be found to build a hut.

"One of the women that I spoke to lives in a house like this and she said that she and her kids sleep outside on windy days in fear of the hut collapsing on them," Murphy said.

Murphy shared facts with students comparing them from before and after the earthquake.

"In America, we eat on average about 3,770 calories a day," she said. "Haitians only eat about an average of 1,640 calories a day. That's less than half of what we eat."

Along with poor shelter and inadequate food, Haiti also has one of the worst water systems. Twenty-four well systems help to bring water to the village of Ranquitte, whose population is about 20,000.

"Dehydration is the number one cause of death in Haiti and it is not uncommon for people to have raw sewage in their water because they can't get clean water," she said.

The epicenter of the earthquake that hit Haiti happened in Port-au-Prince, which is only a few miles from the Christian Flights village in Ranquitte. The population in Port-au-Prince is more than 700,000 and as of last Monday, Murphy said more than 111,000 people have been reported dead. This is more than 55 times that of Hurricane Katrina.

Murphy said the main shipping port has been ruined and supplies aren't getting to people quickly enough. Hospitals have been destroyed and trained medical professionals have died, leaving civilians to perform medical procedures. The main jail in Port-au-Prince, which housed over 4,000 inmates has been destroyed, and all of those inmates have escaped.

At the end of her presentation, Jessica Murphy and Brian Perry, assistant director of community service and student engagement, gave students a call to action. Perry encouraged students to get involved with the Haiti relief efforts and help out their local communities.

"There are 20,000 people affiliated with Eastern. If we can get everybody to donate one pound of food, we will have 20,000 pounds of food to donate to Haiti and local food banks," Perry said.

Perry also told students about other ways that they can get involved. The Habitat for Humanity has a Global Village Program which sends students to build houses overseas. Students can also make monetary donations to the Red Cross, United Way and UNICEF.

"It's not about how much you give; it's about the sacrifice that you make to give," Perry told students.

Phoebie Dubreus, a sophomore nursing major from Port-au-Prince, Haiti attended the presentation.

"I feel like God has blessed America and the people here to be prosperous so that they can help other countries, so I'm thankful for what people are doing to help my country," Dubreus said.