For much of this week, Haiti has been on our hearts and minds. The reports continue to drive us to our knees: cholera is spreading, infecting every area of this devastated country.

Why does it take a disaster of this scale to remind us how tenuous life is in the developing world?

Yet a crisis may not bring widespread devastation we expect from hurricanes, earthquakes, or famines. It could be an illness. A lost job. An unexpected debt.

For Yovany, his crisis came in the shape of a grenade.

Yovany's family lives in Honduras. To make ends meet, they collect scrap metal for his father to sell. Yovany knew that very little bit helps, so he often picked up metal pieces on his walk home from school.

When he came across a grenade and felt its weight in his hand, all he knews was this heavy object could garner more money than the usual scraps. He placed it in his bag. When he arrived home and placed the bag on the floor, the grenade exploded.

Yovany was rushed to the hospital, where he had several surgeries to remove the shrapnel that ripped through his left leg, left eye, right hand, and abdomen.

Yovany's injuries alone are enough to qualify as a crisis. Yet because of the time he spent in the hospital, his mother lost her job. The hospital bill was steep, and Yovany required several medications to heal properly.

Mission of Mercy was able to respond quickly because of the resources in our Children's Crisis Fund. The fund helped pay for Yovany's medications and enabled the family to purchase another mattress. Yovany normally shared a bed with his siblings, and having his own bed allowed him to heal faster.

The Children's Crisis Fund is used in emergencies like Yovany's. It also helps Mission of Mercy respond to disasters like the aftermath of a cyclone in Bangladesh or the famine in Kenya.

Yet in order to be able to continue to respond immediately to the critical needs of our children around the world, we must replace the funds that we are using.

Please consider a donation to the Children's Crisis Fund today. It will bring life-changing help and hope to someone in urgent need. We are currently relying on the fund to provide cholera-prevention supplies to our projects in Haiti. Whether the crisis affects hundreds or just one young boy, God calls us to respond.

Yovany continues to heal. And his mother continues to give thanks to God for the donors who stepped up to help when all hope seemed lost.  We thank God for you, too.