While many Canadian families head to the malls for amazing deals on Boxing Day, this year an Airdrie family will be boarding a plane to Haiti.
READ MORE: Canada allots $54M for Haiti disaster relief, long-term aid
Marc Honorat and his wife founded an aid organization called Haiti Arise and have been working in the country for sixteen years.
But the need has never been as great as now in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.
Marc recently spent six weeks helping communities in his native country rebuild.
READ MORE: Alberta volunteers, 2 search and rescue dogs return home from Haiti recovery mission
He says about 1.5 million have been affected and thousands are homeless.
“The people there are living under the sun, rain and it’s really hard to see. When I came back a few weeks ago I had a breakdown—I couldn’t think.
“It’s because when I went down there, I was right in the centre and I saw how the people were living and I wanted to help, but was very limited.”
His wife, Lisa, also spent ten days in the country following the hurricane.
She says two months after the storm, some people are still waiting for aid. Media attention has pretty much vanished.
“It’s actually worse than the earthquake in the 2010 because it has impacted more of the country,” Lisa said. “And the area that it has impacted…is like the bread basket of the country…and helped produce food for the rest of the country, now it’s all gone.”
The Honorats and their five children split their time between Canada and Haiti. They have already built 30 homes at about $1,000 each and hope to finish 200 more by June. They hope Canadians will keep Haiti in their thoughts this holiday season as they continue to battle through a very difficult time.
If you would like to volunteer to help Haiti Arise build homes or to donate you can go to www.haitiarise.com.
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