WHEN Bob Craddock graduated from West Kelowna’s Mount Boucherie Secondary, he never saw himself in Haiti organizing relief efforts after a catastrophic earthquake.

“Did I envision this? Not in the least. The only part was that I always knew I wanted to travel.”

Craddock, who spoke to BCCN  a few days before he left for Haiti, is program manager for Forward Edge International (FEI). Although eager to get to Haiti to begin some heavy lifting, Craddock admitted: “I know it will be shocking. I’ve seen a dead body, like, once. It will rock my world.”

Following the earthquake, the scene that moved Craddock most was like many of the images seen in the media: “A 16 year old girl was standing on top of a car, trying to look over the rubble into a building – where her parents were trapped. She was screaming for them.”

He realized so many kids had lost parents – and in a country where children are exploited.

“Thinking about those kids – it’s unfathomable.”

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In Jacmel on the coast, FEI is connected with a pastor who fed 75 homeless kids daily before the quake. Craddock was unsure how many were being fed after the disaster. That city’s population surged from 40,000 to 80,000 as people fled from Port au Prince.

The FEI group found buildings in Jacmel flattened, tents lining downtown streets and thousands squatting in a soccer stadium.

Still, the spirit of the people was extraordinary. Squatters outside a church building were meeting three times a day to pray and worship. Reportedly, at least 23 of them have accepted Christ, so far.

FEI has started two projects: a feeding program for kids; and construction work at a girls’ school. Other projects identified by Craddock’s team include food distribution in Port au Prince, a need that will exist for months; more permanent shelters for tent people in Jacmel; and long-term rebuilding.

Contact: forwardedge.org.

– Dorothy Brotherton

March 2010