Haiti Update (11:45 PM cst 2/1/10)

From Joe Knittig live from Haiti:

Here’s some great news! We have 36 more children coming to start a new life tomorrow; 47 more on Wednesday. And more to follow! You are moving the chains, GO Family.

Today, I want to take you deeper into the great God stories coming out of Haiti. This will hammer home the point that faith, risk, generosity, and reliance upon God are necessities – not feel good punch lines.

We’ve spent the last 48 hours battling the Calix Syndrome. It has been tough, and a great victory.

The Calix Syndrome:

A strong man, Calix, and his wife care for 36 orphans at Bon Repost. They rent a house for the children. Quake hits. Bon Repost crumbles. The home is totalled. Mercifully, the kids survive. They’re living outside with no security, no shelter, no help. No aid is getting to Bon Repost.

We find Calix and the children late at night, 3 days after the quake, with the kids wriggling together like a litter of kittens. The kids are hungry. They have only a cup of flour. We show up with food. Praise God.

But what now?

Food won’t last there; everyone still needs to eat in the days and weeks ahead. The whole community is starving. Merely having food without security means danger. Are 36 orphans going to fight off adults starving to death?

Days later we return. We invite Calix to bring his children to safey at the Transition Village. He has the children get on the truck to go. Then off. Then on again. Then off. The kids need the help. But Calix is overwhelmed and scared. He and the children stay put.

Calix is scared to death of traffickers. He doesn’t know us. And kids get shuttled and sold here in Haiti. Does he take a risk with us? Does he let them die where they are?

So the kids go hungry again. No more food. The children start talking about dying. Calix prays. We go back for the third time with more food. Calix is a broken man. 3 weeks into this, he realizes that he won’t wake up to find this is just a bad dream. It is now reality.

So we bring Calix to see the village. We now have his budding trust. We explain again. We want to bring the kids to safety, for a season. We want to help them safely resettle with him – with the family in tact. This takes time. We can’t snap our fingers and make things perfect. But we can help.

Finally, Calix gets it. And fortunately, it’s not too late. Tomorrow morning, 36 new miracles join us.

Do you want to know what made it click? Calix knows we’ll stick with he and the kids through resettlement.

So here is the Calix Syndrome if left unchecked…
Disaster + Extreme Poverty + Orphan Care = Confusion, Denial, Languishing Death.

So many here caring for orphans suffer from the Calix Syndrome. They’re hurting.

To overcome this, we rely upon the Lord and you. We must go deep with Calix and the kids, and follow through to a homecoming resettlement. That is not “aid.” It’s relationship. Restoration is the Promise!

Thanks for going deep with us – for the long haul.

What an opportunity the Lord has given us!

Faithfully yours,

Joe