Louder Than The Music

A very special night of worship will be taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 11th June. 'Heart For Haiti' draws in a superb array of worship leaders to raise vital funds that will impact a very significant project close to Port au Prince in Haiti. Organised by Compassion UK and Lemonaid, the event will feature worship led by Graham Kendrick, Stuart Townend, Brenton Brown and Cathy Burton. The event's host will be Andy Hawthorne, who, along with promoter Justin Dowds (from the Lemon Aid charity) and many of the worship leaders has made many previous trips to see the work carried out by Compassion in Haiti.

With the venue, backline and production all being donated free of charge, the event stands to raise a considerable amount of money which will add vital support to the essential rebuilding work needed to the Wesleyan Hospital on the island of La Gonâve, just outside Port-au-Prince. Since the earthquake struck in January, Justin Dowds and Lemonaid have made four trips to the country, taking with them tonnes of medical supplies and lending much needed support to the teams on the ground.

'Heart For Haiti' is being held at Edinburgh's Highland Hall, which will also play host to Scotland's Frenzy Festival the following day - which is also organised by Lemonaid. Tickets are only £5, or £1 for under 16s. For more information please visit www.heartforhaiti.co.uk.

Officially the poorest country in the western hemisphere, one of Haiti's islands, La Gonâve, is also one of the most water scarce places on earth. In the 1950s, La Gonâve had a population of 10,000, but a government-initiated shipping of 'undesirables' to the island increased the population to over 120,000 in just a few short years. The Wesleyan Hospital remains the only medical facility on the island and desperately needs to be rebuilt to cope with a population 12 times the size it was designed to serve. Even before the earthquake struck the 33 beds were inadequate, with patients regularly sleeping two to a bed and corridors forced to become makeshift wards. The operating theatre struggled to maintain clean air through outdated filters as dust blew in and the obsolete delivery room served as the only place for pregnant women to have emergency caesarean sections.

On La Gonâve there are 23 Compassion projects supporting 5,574 children and the Wesleyan Hospital is the only one available to them and their families. Prior to the earthquake the building that housed the hospital was condemned and cannot be used. Patients were left using a make-shift tent as the basis from which vital emergency assistance for the critically injured was delivered. Compassion UK have teamed up with Lemon Aid - a Scottish based charity currently involved in a number of relief projects in Haiti. The biggest project to be undertaken so far is the co-ordination of the rebuild of the Wesleyan Hospital on Lagonave. The dream is to build a purpose built solar powered hospital that will represent the very best for the very least.