BC pastor feels aid agencies have failed Haiti
Posted October 21, 2016 12:12 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
NELSON (NEWS 1130) – A pastor from Nelson who has been helping building homes in Haiti since the devastating earthquake in 2010 says in a lot of ways the country was hit harder by Hurricane Matthew a few weeks ago.
Jim Reimer says it might take ten years for the country to recover from the storm.
Reimer is pastor of Kootenay Christian Fellowship and says while the death toll was only a fraction that it was back in 2010, 20,000 homes were flattened and entire farms, gardens and plantations were wiped out.
“That particular region is worse off right now than when the earthquake hit,” he says, describing the area of Grand Goave, in the southwestern part of the country.
He’s proud to say the 85 homes his church’s charity, Each One Build One, has built since 2010 are still standing.
He says sadly that’s not been the case for other new houses.
“Relief agencies built all kinds of houses and they are all gone, because they weren’t built to withstand hurricanes, earthquakes and these kinds of natural disasters.”
In his opinion, donations to large organizations go “into a melting pot and just disappears.”
“I would just to encourage folks to really check out who you are donating to. I’ve done humanitarian work all over the world. There are a lot of no-so-good agencies out there.”
Each One Build One works with Haitian organization Haiti Arise. While teams are sent from BC and materials for the home are provided for by the charity, beneficiaries of the homes must own their own land, and must have had a hand in building another home in the program.
Reimer points out that while his charity continues to focus on well-built homes, they’re also currently raising money to buy banana shoots and seedlings for fruit bearing trees, to replenish the devastated landscape.
