Why Haiti?

With the recent devastating earthquake that struck Haiti, the outpouring of support from the United States and other countries has been astounding. While I am glad people are moved to share their time and resources with those in need, I can’t help but question, why does it take a disaster as extreme as what happened in Haiti to prompt people to give?

I am not trying to minimize the need in Haiti or the poverty; however, I think it is easy to forget the great needs in our own country, our own states and cities when the needs of those elsewhere are constantly on our television screens.

For a little background information…

Homelessness in America
“One approximation of the annual number of homeless in America is from a study by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, which estimates between 2.3 and 3.5 million people experience homelessness.”
(http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/526/homeless-facts.html)

Hunger in America
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that in 2008:

• Of the 49.1 million people living in food insecure households (up from 36.2 million in 2007), 32.4 million are adults (14.4 percent of all adults) and 16.7 million are children (22.5 percent of all children).
• 17.3 million [additional] people lived in households that were considered to have "very low food security," a USDA term (previously denominated "food insecure with hunger") that means one or more people in the household were hungry over the course of the year because of the inability to afford enough food. This was up from 11.9 million in 2007 and 8.5 million in 2000.
  (http://www.frac.org/html/hunger_in_the_us/hunger_index.html)

Forgotten Children in America
According to a study conducted in 2008 there were 463,000 children in foster care with 123,000 of them were waiting to be adopted. These children waiting to be adopted had been in foster care 38 months (mean). (http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/tar/report16.pdf)

What Now?

I acknowledge my own ignorance to the immediate needs around me, though I am trying to open my eyes and my mind to see that it is there. It’s a lot easier to go about my comfortable lifestyle and turn and look away from those who are in need. I do not claim to have any answers, but I have lots of questions.

So what now? How can we even begin to tackle the massive problem of hunger and homelessness and forgotten children and other forms of need that are on our door steps as we sit glued to the TV about the latest tragedy across the globe? How can we love the people here and there? Should we be adopting children from Haiti and China and other countries when there are children in our own neighborhoods who need a family to love and care for them?

If you are in doubt about how real the need is in America, right here where we are, I can tell you stories. I have been in these homes through my work in a child welfare agency in Cincinnati. I have seen the empty refrigerators; I have had the children asking me for food. I have worked to find a homeless shelter for the family who has nowhere to lay their head. I have been the one forced to remove children from an unsafe home and drive them to a stranger’s house, and I’ve tried to explain to a 6 year old why her mom abandoned her. I've loaded a garbage bag with their only belongings in my drunk and spent countless hours in the car driving teenage girls from foster home to foster home – unable to give a reason why nobody seems to want them – why even their own family won’t open the door to them. I’ve seen the tears and the scars and the lonely faces. And now working in a juvenile detention center I have seen the confused children not understanding why they’re locked up when it is because there is nowhere safe for them to go. I have had teenage boys sit in front of me and sob, but also express gratitude of being locked up because they’re given clothes, food and a safe place to sleep.

This is real.

This is right here.

This is right now.

Who will speak for our neighbors and families and children? Who will give a voice to their need?

What now?

poverty is so hard to see
when it’s only on your tv and twenty miles across town
where we’re all living so good
that we moved out of Jesus’ neighborhood
where he’s hungry and not feeling so good
from going through our trash
he says, more than just your cash and coin
i want your time, i want your voice
i want the things you just can’t give me

[“Rich Young Ruler” by Derek Webb]