Seventy six church leaders from across Christian and Catholic traditions attended an inter-faith prayer meeting organized by World Vision Taiwan (WVT) this morning. All attendees mourned for those who were killed by the devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12 and prayed for those who are still suffering. Rev. Chow Lien-Hwa, Taiwan Baptist Theological Seminary President, called on all Christians to follow Jesus’ example to “weep with those who weep” and help children and families in Haiti.

Rev. Chow while citing scripture said that Jesus had compassion on those who were helpless and we should follow Jesus to have compassion on Haitians who are suffering.

“An estimated death toll is about 200,000. They all are someone’s parents, grandparents or children. We should really feel like we have lost our own loved ones,” said Rev. Chow.

Rev. Chow emphasized: “World Vision has worked in Haiti for a long time and sponsored 7,500 poor children before the earthquake hit. More children probably need to be sponsored after the earthquake.” At the end of his message, he asked God to move kind-hearted people to sponsor children in need.

During the time of prayer, Zhu Bai-Di, Pastor of Bread of Life Christian Church in Taipei, Tsai Rei-Yi, Executive Director of Taiwan Baptist Theological Seminary and Chang Zhen-Hua, Change Life Church Pastor took turns to lead the prayers. Although Haiti experienced massive damage, they prayed for God to help Haiti achieve swift reconstruction, to ensure all families and children in need were able to gain assistance, and that affected children would be strong and still have hope for their future.

In addition to praying for Haiti, many church leaders expressed eagerness to go to Haiti as soon as possible. Hank Du, World Vision Taiwan Executive Director, answered that World Vision has worked in Haiti for 31 years, so when the earthquake hit, the aid organization was able to immediately distribute relief supplies pre-positioned in Haiti.

At the same time, World Vision has commenced humanitarian airlifts from Denver, USA, Panama City, Panama, and Dubai, the United Arab Emirate. The airlift from Dubai funded by World Vision will arrive in Haiti tomorrow.

“I believe that relief supplies, medicine, medical volunteers are still lacking and we will continue to stay in contact with World Vision relief workers on the ground. Once the situation in Haiti becomes stabilized, we will inform churches to recruit medical professionals to go to Haiti,” said Mr. Du.

Hank Du emphasized: “And although not everyone can go to Haiti, the public can sponsor Haitian children or donate to Haiti earthquake response through World Vision.”