Written by CTV News
Published by CTV News on Thursday, January 12, 2012
Two years ago a massive earthquake shook the impoverished country of Haiti and now some are wondering why more progress hasn’t been made to rebuild the island nation.
The Presidential Palace still lies in ruins and half a million people are still living in camps.
Calgarian John Clayton responded to the disaster as an aid worker with Samaritan’s Purse.
Clayton’s first thought when he saw the destruction was that it would take a long time to deal with the devastation.
Samaritan’s Purse is working with local Haitians and has been an integral part of the efforts to rebuild the country.
“Operation Christmas Child has been delivering shoe boxes to children in Haiti for the past years, so immediately we had connection with people who were actually doing things in their own communities,” said Clayton.
Reija-Liisa Teigen is an aid worker from Calgary and is in Leogane, Haiti where she’s working on a Canadian funded aid project.
Teigen says Cite Soleil, looks the same as it did two years ago but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been progress.
“I think internally you’d notice change, people are doing things differently because of the education that has been provided,” said Teigen.
It is a national holiday in Haiti and the country is holding several special ceremonies to mark the tragedy and remember the 220,000 people who died.
Samaritan's Purse responds to humanitarian crises with physical aid and a message of spiritual hope for victims of natural disasters, famine, poverty, and war. Your gift will allow us to share Jesus' love through clean water, food, shelter, medical supplies, personnel, and other aid.