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Haiti |
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Maranatha continues to provide One-Day structures to be used as shelters, schools and churches in Haiti after the massive earthquake rocked the Port-au-Prince region Jan. 12. The organization, in conjunction with Adventist-laymen’s Services and Industries (ASI), has shipped 140 One-Day structures to the country.
Thirty of the One-Day structures will be used as classrooms at the Seventh-day Adventist University. More than 1,400 of the university’s 3,000 kindergarten through university level students will meet in three rows of extended One-Day structures.
The Haiti government mandated that schools begin April 6 whether or not they had adequate buildings. Most students and teachers are meeting under tents or trees until something more permanent can be found. More than 20 Adventist schools were condemned because of the quake, and Maranatha hopes to provide additional buildings to be used as classrooms at those schools.
“One of the reasons the buildings are extremely important is that parents are frightened and not willing to send their children to a concrete building for obvious reasons,” says Kenneth Weiss, Maranatha vice president.
“The need for education is massive, and it’s a way we can help immediately,” says Kyle Fiess, director of marketing and projects for Maranatha.
Several One-Day structures were built at the Auditorio church, the largest Adventist Church in town and home to a three-story school that served 600 students. Half of the school was occupied with students during the earthquake. The unoccupied side collapsed, killing a janitor. The remaining part has been torn down, and 500 of the 600 students are now in school under the One-Day structures.
Maranatha built five One-Day structures at the Adventist Hospital, which are being used for triage, ER, outpatient services and volunteer housing. Maranatha is also rebuilding more than half of the 1.2 miles of wall that collapsed around the Adventist University campus.
According to the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America, the church has been hit hard in Haiti. Current estimates indicate that 115 churches have been totally destroyed and 60 more have extensive damage. Five schools were also completely destroyed.
The church members in Haiti need your support. The infrastructure that took years to build was destroyed in seconds. If you would like to help provide temporary housing, schools and worship centers for Adventist Church members in Haiti, please click on the link below.
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