HAITI ONE YEAR ON

A Christian church minister and Muslim Imam are visiting  Haiti, 12 months after the devastating earthquake hit on 12 January 2010, killing 200,000 people and leaving 1.5 million homeless.

Reverend Leslie John Griffiths and Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra will be visiting camps for internally displaced people that were established by Islamic Relief in the aftermath of the earthquake and speaking to survivors of the earthquake. Reverend Griffiths and Imam Mogra will view the ongoing reconstruction programme, including schools rehabilitation, which so far has benefited over 2,500 students and cash-forwork projects, which has supported over 2,000 families with an income. They will also witness cholera-preventative measures such as the daily supply of clean water, improved sanitation and hygiene promotion.

Reverend Griffiths said, “As a Christian leader I welcome this opportunity to visit Haiti with Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra and the Islamic Relief team. Poverty, suffering, injustice – these are monsters we must attack and defeat, and we do so more effectively by working together. I’m so impressed that Islamic Relief has given so generously towards the needs of Haiti and I’m delighted to have this opportunity to stand in solidarity with them through this visit.”

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, where over half of its population had lived on less than $1 a day before the life-shattering earthquake, and where the disaster has now driven even more people into poverty.