Could You Live on $1 a Day?

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326 – July/August, 2017

By Rachel Kooiker

• In 1994, Tropical Storm Gordon killed several hundred Haitians.
• In 1998, Hurricane Georges swept away more than 500 Haitian lives.
• In 2004, the rains of Tropical Storm Jeanne claimed more than 2,000 souls.
• In 2008, Hurricanes Fay and Gustav killed more than 130 people and destroyed 3,100 homes.
• In 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince, and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater, with a death toll that’s almost in- calculable. The initial earthquake claimed as many as 160,000 lives, with many more lost, injured, and impacted by the devastation.
• Add to that a cholera epidemic later that year, which killed another 3,597 people and sickened over 340,000.
• In 2016, Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti with catastrophic flooding of up to 40 inches. At least 1,300 people were killed and more than 35,000 were left without homes.

And all of this is in addition to the already overwhelming poverty resulting from years of political and economic instability in the country.

So what does the devastating history of natural disasters and poverty in Haiti have to do with horses? This year, the Premier Paint Sires (PPS) and Premier Quarter Sires (PQS) programs are on a mission to raise funds for specific projects that will bring life-saving food, shelter, and medical supplies to the men, women, and children of Haiti. One in six people worldwide lives on less than $1.25 per day. Half of all Haitians live on less. Read on to learn what it means to live on a dollar a day and what the Premier Paint Sires and Premier Quarter Sires fundraisers hope to accomplish.

A Call To Action

In December 2016, Western Pleasure and Cutting exhibitor and founder of the PPS and PQS, Claire Binkowski, traveled to Haiti on a short-term mission trip to the Global Vision Citadelle Ministries Orphanage in Mirebalais, Haiti. This was not her first mission trip. Three years earlier, she’d done similar work in Africa, but it was in Haiti that she developed a unique point of view that reconciled firsthand experiences of witnessing unimaginable poverty with a need for action. Binkowski explains, “Since the first trip in December, I’ve been over to Haiti three separate times, and I struggle every time I come home because I never feel like I’ve done enough.” Like many others who have been involved in volunteer and mission work, Binkowski has channeled that feeling into direct action. This action is about raising money for specific projects in Haiti, but even more importantly, it’s about encouraging people to get involved and give their time and talents to impact the lives of others, whether at home or abroad.

Click here to read the complete article
326 – July/August, 2017