[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="208" caption="Rev. Sanousse Orelus"]
[/caption]A Haitian minister is making stops at north country churches to spread the word of continued devastation in Haiti since a massive earthquake Jan. 12.
The Rev. Sanousse Orelus, who oversees approximately 100 churches in and near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, said his visit to Northern New York has been a nice break from his inability to help thousands of Haitians looking for food, shelter and improved sanitation.
"The most important thing for people here to know is people there still go hungry," he said. "We need some help to reconstruct our churches. There are many kids still on the street. People use sheets for shelter."
He claimed his churches received no money collected from the American Red Cross's disaster relief effort.
His question of why the Red Cross hasn't helped the people of his churches rebuild their lives is one the agency hears frequently, according to the latest three-month progress update on the American Red Cross response to the earthquake, dated April 12.
"During these first few months following the earthquake, people have asked why the Red Cross has not spent money more quickly when the needs in Haiti remain great," the report said. "The American Red Cross could have adopted an approach of spending this money as quickly as possible, focusing all of our efforts on short-term assistance. But this isn't a race to the finish line to see how fast we can spend the money."
Of the $409 million in donations the Red Cross has collected since the middle of January, only $111 million has been spent, according to the report.
The Rev. Mr. Orelus said it's hard to focus on long-term solutions when thousands of Haitians are suffering now.
"People need to understand what happened to their money," he said. "Millions and millions of dollars are coming in, but we don't see any of it."
The Rev. Daniel F. Quinta of New Testament Fellowship, Route 12, and the Rev. Gary E. Mullin of Mannsville Full Gospel Assembly will head to Haiti later this month to try to help the Rev. Mr. Orelus find more answers.
As part of Team Haiti 4 Jesus, a Christian missionary group with the focus of feeding starving children in Haiti, the two north country ministers said they're hoping Northern New York residents will aid their efforts with either monetary donations or just getting people to talk about the issue.
"We're trying to get the north country to take on Haiti as their own mission," the Rev. Mr. Quinta said.
The Rev. Mr. Orelus will share his story at 10 a.m. today at Mannsville Full Gospel Assembly.
He heads back to Haiti on Tuesday.
Source: WaterTownDailyTimes
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