One Haitian Tragedy

A pediatrician and public health specialist with 50 years of experience, Dr. Arns Neumann zeroed in on the tragedy of child mortality and malnutrition. The Child Pastoral (Pastoral da Criança) mobilizes some 240,000 volunteers who care for and watch over newborns and their mothers. Its work is practical and tangible and it has grown from tiny roots into a nationwide program that is now being replicated in other countries. Tightly integrated with the Brazilian government's health service and with the Church, the program is world famous for its intensive monitoring and learning systems.

It is also admired because it has achieved extraordinary results. The program and Dr. Arns Neumann have received numerous awards, including the million dollar Opus Prize.

Amid the tragic news coming from Haiti, Dr. Arns Neumann's legacy is one that offers solace, practical ideas and hope. There is a way forward given faith, will, and discipline. Dr. Arns Neumann achieved miracles through love and faith.

She began by caring passionately about the unfairness of children born without a fighting chance. But she also showed what organization and discipline can achieve. Her army of volunteers follows specific protocols, undergoes constant training, and works to specific standards and measurable results. Tens of thousands of children are alive because their mothers received visits, knowledge, and help. Dr. Arns Neumann showed what an alchemy of faith and science, caring and discipline, imagination and organization can achieve.

Haiti is blessed with an extraordinary galaxy of faith-inspired organizations, many with a long history and deep roots. Catholic Relief Services has worked in Haiti for over 55 years, the Salvation Army since 1955. Baptists, Mennonites, Episcopalians, Jewish World Service, Salesians, and countless other organizations have years of experience and an infrastructure in Haiti. They run orphanages, clinics, schools, programs for youth, and support for the aged. They work in slums and in villages, highlands and lowlands. In short, they are everywhere and they have a vast pool of knowledge, relationships, and experience.

In the weeks ahead, this galaxy of organizations and the communities that are behind them have the capacity to achieve the kind of miracle that Dr. Arns Neumann showed was possible. It will, however, take her kind of organization, coordination, and discipline to translate potential into results. She exemplified skill and openness to partnership and both will be desperately needed in the weeks ahead. But her brand of hope and confidence that the seemingly impossible is possible is part of the lifeblood of most faith-inspired organizations. Haiti's reconstruction could offer a unique opportunity to hear, learn from, and mobilize their efforts.