Good thoughts on balancing how we help and may hurt after disasters and suffering, from Covenant World Relief Director, Jim Sundholm:
While the desire by concerned donors is to move quickly to offer homes for housing displaced families, that offer of help often needs to come once the affected families have come to grips with the reality of their situation – accepting the fact that they may never be able to return to their former neighborhoods and will need to move on with their lives. “That is something that each person has to work through at their own pace,”
One must also be sensitive to the other emotions that are at work in these situations, including the feeling on the part of many displaced people that they are losing control over their own lives and destinies. “We offer assistance with the best of intentions, but we must be careful that those affected do not see the offers of relocation and other assistance as another potential loss of control over their own futures,” Sundholm observes. “It is a sensitive time.”
Full article on ECC involvement after Katrina and CWR’s response.