News

Port-au-Prince, September 18, 2008 - Défi Michée Haïti expresses its sympathy to all the people who suffer from the consequences of Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike. People have lost their lives, their homes, their possessions, and their harvest.

But let’s not lose our hope and solidarity. We ask churches to show our faith and love to our neighbors, to reach out to those in need of shelter, food, clothes, and medicines and to help rebuilding this country.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Matthew 25: 35-36

Micah Challenge Haiti

A global action for mobilizing Christians against poverty

Update on situation in Haiti

Port-au-Prince, September 9, 2008 - Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike; no names of innocent friends, but of four hurricanes that quickly followed each other on their way to Haiti. In a time span of just a couple of weeks, these hurricanes have had devastating effects on a country that is already struggling with many problems, including the rising food prices.

The city that has been struck the worst is Gonaïves, near the coast in the department (province) Artibonite. People have fled to the roofs of their houses, with nowhere to go. More and more roads get destroyed and bridges collapse, thus cutting off places from help and supplies. Hundreds of people have already drowned in the floods. Clean drinking water is no longer available, which makes people drink from the rivers. It is just a matter of time before diseases break out and add more victims. Crops get ruined and it is once again clear that erosion is worsened by the high rate of deforestation.

Haiti will need a lot of rebuilding; roads, bridges, houses and other buildings, trees, electricity poles. Not just for short term, but more importantly, for a sustainable long term, preventing similar catastrophes from happening again at this level. We can never prevent hurricanes from coming to this country, but we can do our effort to minimize the consequences. Micah Challenge Haiti continues to advocate in order to achieve sustainable changes.

Micah Challenge Haiti

Port-au-Prince, July 1, 2009 - Integral mission and advocacy

Micah Challenge Haiti is organising a series of seminars around the topic of integral mission and advocacy. Each of the ten departments is being visited for a two-day seminar focusing on the role of the church and a Christian.

What is a church? The integral mission of the church helps to identify the being of a church and the role it has in society. In short, ‘integral mission’ can be explained as bringing God’s Word into practice. Taking our responsibility as Christians in protecting the environment (caring for God’s creation), raising awareness about hygiene, health and illnesses, supporting local production, caring for each other, etc. It is essential to unite together, for together we stand strong. We look at the 8 millennium development goals and think about what we can do ourselves, moving away from dependency on external aid and instead working for our own development, proactively taking responsibility.

The second part of the seminar focuses on advocacy. What does the Bible say about Christians engaging in advocacy? What does it mean, ‘advocating’? Advocacy is possible on different levels, varying from individual/family through local authorities to international. United together, a community can put pressure on government (either local or national), in order to realise development goals, urging government to take its responsibility.

Together we are able to make a difference.