When is enough enough? Don’t you feel that way about Haiti? The Haitian earthquake earlier this year was one of the most devastating disasters of recent times. People ask me how Christian Relief Fund got there to help people so quickly. It’s because we had already been there for years. Haiti had immense problems without an earthquake. Then a hurricane comes. Now it’s cholera. So when is enough enough? Haven’t these people suffered enough? God, can’t you spare them a little bit?
And now so many organizations that were helping have left. The media isn’t as interested in covering the situation as much as it used to be. And most people simply don’t know what to do. Olivier Mills, who works for the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology, arrived in Haiti just about the time the cholera outbreak happened.
Suddenly, Mills found himself being called on for emergency advice and help. “In some ways it was chaotic because there were international non-governmental organizations that didn’t know the technical aspects of handling cholera,” he says, shaking his head. “In other ways, it was calm, because so many people living there didn’t know anything about cholera or, if they did, had a ‘whatever’ attitude to this latest crisis. They’re not complacent, they’ve just seen too much.”
It is like everyone is saying enough is enough.
And another big problem is that some who came to help may be hurting. Many are blaming the cholera outbreak on the U.N. workers from Nepal who evidently were dumping waste in the water. The cholera seems to be able to be traced back to Asia.
And it’s not just the helpers who aren’t helping. The ones to be helped are not helping either. In the north, there are now riots. My friend, Randy Uthe, who partners with Christian Relief Fund, is over there helping as a nurse. It looks like he may have to leave because of the riots there. Currently, he can’t even get out. He has done so much in medical help and water sanitation, but now the helper can’t help and needs to be helped.
And even the government has lost interest. Mills states: ”The government of Haiti is more interested in the upcoming election than the safety of its people. They are stating that the outbreak will be over on Dec. 12, which is completely nuts.”
So when is enough enough? I certainly don’t know. I would have thought a long time ago. So where is the hope when things just get worse and worse? Where is hope when your future doesn’t ever seem to get any better? What happens when you cry “Why?” and never get clarity?
I guess you don’t give up. Whether you are a victim, one who is giving assistance, the government, or the media—you can’t just quit. Answers that are profound usually take a long time to discover. And you will never understand some things. God asks us to have faith not knowledge. But nearly every good thing comes with perseverance and time. Certainly, the answer is not to lose hope. But it is often hard to find hope in incredible misfortune.
I think at times it is easier to know what the answer is not more than what it is. And the answer is not losing hope or giving up. And the answer is not to quit helping. So we pray, we believe, and we act. And we hope. You never get enough hope, and you can never hope enough.
It’s frustrating to not know any of the answers, and frightening to know that it wouldn’t take much to put us in the same situation. Civilization hangs by such a narrow thread! And how would we respond? What if it were our neighborhoods without clean water, our neighbors dying of cholera? This is why it is so important to have a church family full of committed, caring people who look out not only for each other, but also for the needs of the community. Even for those of us who don’t travel to distant lands, we can find all sorts of ways to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our own towns. And for those of us who have plenty and to spare, it is the least we can do to find ways to give hope to others.