Perspective Shift

We crammed and jammed a lot of upheaval into just one year – a global pandemic, stay-at-home orders, high unemployment rates, riots, re-emerging pleas for racial and social justice, travel bans, and the list goes on and on. 2020 was packed full of chaos to coordinate through. But it became our new normal. Nothing surprised us anymore. Nothing set us off. Nothing crushed us. Sure, some of it felt uncomfortable, even irritating. I cannot even count the number of times I felt inconvenienced. But we continued to have access to medical care, feed our kids three meals a day, and go to bed with roofs over our heads.

As I reflect on my first world perspective of 2020, I can’t help but think about the people around the world who live in worse chaos every day. The people who don’t know where they are going to get water today. And if they do get access to water, will it be clean water? The people who feed their kids dirt cookies because they can’t afford food. Not once in 2020 (or ever in my life) did I have to conjure up a snack or meal for my family made of dirt and oil, then bake it in the sun. And I don’t say any of that to make myself, or you, feel guilty about what you have and how blessed you are. But rather, it’s simply a glimpse of the heart of Lift Up. A quick perspective shift so we don’t forget that there are hurting people all around the world and we can quickly help them in tangible ways. 

Have you ever been to a developing country? If you have, I urge you to reminisce on your time there – what do you remember the most? What was tugging at your heartstrings the strongest while you were there? What social causes were prevalent and problematic? While I know we don’t all have the means to go, we do have the ability to learn about them. What do you know about third world and developing countries? 

Did you know….?

• 79% of the world lives without electricity. 
• 80% of the world lives on $10 or less a day. 
• Health and nutrition resources are minimal. Half of the world’s population lacks access to essential healthcare services. 
• More people die every year from unsafe water (or lack of access to clean water) than from any form of violence. 
• The closest third world country to America is only a 90-minute airplane ride away from Miami? I

Quick Facts About Haiti

Just a hop, skip and a plane ride away is Haiti. But how much do you really know about this country that has been hit by devastation time and time again? 

1. Cite Soleil is one of the poorest cities with one of the poorest neighborhoods in the entire world.
2. On January 12, 2020, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake destroyed most of the capital of Port-au-Prince and killed about 217,000 people. More than two million Haitians became homeless.  
3. Then ten months later, in October 2010, Cholera broke out in Haiti. This killed almost 7,000 more people that year. The country reported 771,000 cholera cases with a total of over 9,000 deaths over the next few years.
4. Only about 60% of Haiti’s population can read or write. 
5. Haiti is the most densely populated land in the Western Hemisphere with about 750 people per square mile.
6. Their life expectancy is 65 years. 

Five Facts About Haitian Women

What you should know about Haitian women and why they need our help: 

1. They are oppressed. They do not have equal access (in an already low accessibility country) to education, jobs, fair wages and basic rights.
2. Rape wasn’t even recognized as a crime in Haiti until 2005. Cases of rape violence (along with many other forms of violence) are severely underreported. But recent studies show that more than half of women living in the larger cities have been raped. 
3. 70% of mothers give birth without access to obstetric care.
4. For every 100,000 babies born in Haiti, about 500 women die of pregnancy-related causes – the highest of any country in the western hemisphere. This is twice as many as their neighbor, the Dominican Republic. And for context – less than 14 American women per every 100,000 babies born die due to pregnancy-related causes.
5. Most women do not give birth in a clinic or hospital, but rather on the street, in their tent or their home. 

Our Call to Action. How can we help? 

To rebuild developing and devastated nations like Haiti, it’s going to take many generations. But we can Lift them Up in tangible and impactful ways today. One way we can bring healing to their hurting country and change the trajectory is through maternity care and education. It takes only $23 to impact one woman and her baby with sufficient prenatal care, which includes an ultrasound machine to identify high-risk situations. We know every dollar makes a difference, so we give every single dollar of your tax-deductible donation away through our non-profit.