Haiti Mission Team Report - by Henry Schaefer

Well the seven of us made it back from Haiti in one piece.  We had a blessed trip.

The weather was great, 85 degrees with light breezes.  No bugs.  Our flight connections were perfect – no lost luggage.  We met our great driver and guide Ansee without a problem.  No one got hurt.  Our accommodations were comfortable and our host Pere Soner was wonderful.  Importantly, we were able to complete all of the tasks and goals of this trip without exception.

Prayer works!

We thank you for your prayers of encouragement and support.  Trust me when I tell you that we felt them, that we needed them.

Prayer truly works!

What also works on a mission trip to Haiti is having strong and capable leadership.  Without a doubt we had that blessing in Andy Travers.  In the months prior to our departure Andy did a phenomenal job creating a vision for our visit and identified practical and attainable objectives for this trip.

Logistically he took care of the substantial number of details prior to the trip and during our five days in country.  He managed our expectations, provided a real-world view of the trip.  He was sensitive to our anxieties and helped us work through them.  He created a team where each member felt valued and appreciated and throughout was a positive and affirming leader.

With our hosts he was extraordinary, generous and thoughtful.  I wish you could have seen his presentation to the 400 or so students and staff of the Allison School or St. Timothee school as it is know in Haiti.  It was special.

After Andy’s presentation the student’s presented us with their love offering – a beautiful song.  First in Creole and then translated in English.  In their simple yellow and brown uniforms these lovely children sang to us a song of welcome, of love, of thanks, and of our mutual connection of Christ’s presence in our lives. Of course each of us were moved, we were touched, tears.  A wonderful moment.

And then Andy addressed the group and thanked them.  Then he told them that we too had prepared a song.  And then turning to our group he whispered “OK guys, you do know the words to Jesus Loves Me, right?  Ready on three….

Andy is a remarkable man and I was grateful that he led our team and thankful to call him a friend.

As I mentioned earlier, we were able to meet all of the objectives that we had for this particular trip.  One of those objectives was to install a small solar power source suitable to operate a water filtration system that we hope to put in later in the year.  This is no small task – in fact only about 30% of the Haitian population of 8 million people have access to power.  The St Timothee school now has an operational and suitable power system that is able to harness the able to harness the energy needed to power a water filtration system in large part because of the efforts of Travis Smith.

Haiti needs people like Travis – guys who can fix things, build things and figure out how to make things work when the conditions and equipment are substandard.  And guys who won’t quit until the job is done. 

Both Andy and Travis went to Arkansas last year to be trained on how to install this unique solar power system but without Travis’ unique gift of “tinkering” the system never would have been installed properly.  He carried nearly 50lbs of tools, equipment and gear and transformed a barren, concrete school office room into a power system.  And, at the request of Pere Soner, he jerry rigged (to code) 3 small lights installed in the Church sanctuary.  The St Timothee community was thrilled, it was very exciting.

Though most of the kids in the area will believe that the English word for electricity is “Smith Power”, Travis was the right guy, the guy, to put this system in place in this faraway village.  What a joy it was to see him work.

Our second objective of the trip was to identify a water source and figure out a way to bring water to the school so that it could be properly filtered and suitable for drinking.  In addition we hoped that we could figure out a low cost, relatively easy way to make the school grounds more usable and safer for the kids.  Because of the talents of Craig Favor we will be able in the upcoming weeks to put together such a plan.

There already exists at the school a small water cistern though we didn’t know that before our trip.  But the techniques of water collection are inefficient and the cisterns are too small.  In addition the filtration systems are inadequate. 

Craig, a skilled and well educated engineer, was able to quickly identify better ways to collect water from the school’s rooftop.  In addition he was able to work with a local contractor, a guy named “Dusibant” (sp) which means “God is Good” in Creole though that was the only English that he knew. Between Dusibant, Craig and our guide Ansee they were able to transfer enough information to establish a working plan for next steps.

As I watched Craig operate – and let me tell you he measured every inch of space on those school grounds in ways that I didn’t know people measured things – I considered how long the odds were that the people of St Timothee could benefit from having someone as skilled as Craig on site for two straight days.  But the odds are too long, it would never happen.  There are probably only a handful of engineers in Haiti as capable as Craig and there is virtually no chance that they would spend any time on this remote school.  Craig, like Travis, was the right person in the right place. 

If I had to identify the traits of the perfect person to have along on a mission trip to Haiti, the person would be a lot like Molly Bullington. 

Molly, if you did not know, is a Virginia Tech trained engineer who practiced as an engineer after graduation.  She was an enormous help to Craig as I heard them swapping slide rule lingo back and forth over the weekend. In addition she is a trained and certified teacher so she is great with kids and has a good sense of what teachers, students and schools need.  If that is not enough she is a skilled photographer and for anyone who knows Molly you know that she is very motivated, very organized and it seems to me to have a heart for this kind of ministry.

In the months prior to our visit Molly was the key contributor in collecting useful and thoughtful items for the school and the kids.  And while we were in country she took over 2000 photos along with many minutes of video recording.  To watch her interact with the people of Haiti with her camera was among the highlights of my visit.  Her approach was both inquisitive and curious but always caring and respectful.

As you can imagine it will take all of us time to process what we saw last weekend and it will molly a while to sift through all of the content that she captured.  Please be patient with us and with her.  We have every intention to present this to you in the weeks and months ahead.

Lori Earls, nicknamed “Doc”, played an important role for our group.  Lori looked after our team from a basic first aid standpoint and put together a very impressive medical kit, ensured we paid attention to our daily medicines, patched up our blisters and cuts and in general mothered us.

In addition she brought 50lbs of medical supplies that included stethoscopes, bandages and sutures of all sizes and connected these to the new doctor in Bainet.  Better health care and a more health educated community is one of Pere Soner’s priorities and Lori went a long way in beginning this connection from our church to their school.

Oh and if you want to learn the Rumba – just ask Lori to give you the lesson that she gave the kids on the second day.  It was fun to watch her. 

What can I say about Alec Travers?  I’ll begin by saying Andy and Anne have done a remarkable job raising this fine young man. 

Alec was everywhere and did everything.  His connection with the young people of the school was phenomenal and a connection that no one else on our team could have made.  His stamina with the kids was unbelievable.  They never wanted to leave his side .  He brought energy, enthusiasm and a unique perspective to our team and was a tremendous part of our effort.  We felt blessed to have him along.

For my part, I played a lot of catch with Haitian kids.  Held the ladder for Travis and passed him tools as necessary – believe me if you saw that ladder you would realize how important that job was.  When Craig was measuring, I held the line straight for him.  I filmed video as directed by Molly. In general I took it all in and marveled at the talents and gifts of our team.

As I said in my published statement on the black board in the gathering area, my goal was to see this school and to see if we as a congregation could and should be able to help.  Though my eyes and heart were open, I traveled to Haiti with probably the largest amount of cynicism of our group.  On my nightstand is a book entitled “Toxic Charity” and I read portions of it before we left.  I wanted to be able to answer honestly to people of this church who may never go to Haiti if our mission over there is worth it.  I needed to answer these questions to myself.

Are we throwing money away in a Haiti sinkhole?  Or worse are we somehow creating a more damaging culture of dependency among the folks who we hope to help?  Is this really about us, feeling better about ourselves?

Well certainly the trip had a profound effect on all of us, the seven who visited last weekend.  I fell certain that each of us will approach our lives here in Roanoke and in this church differently, with greater empathy and a greater sense of the wonderful bounty of our lives.  This, of course, is a good thing but it tends to happen to people who go on mission trips whether they be in Stubenville, Ohio or Haiti.

So why Haiti?

Why Haiti with its heightened State department warnings, its horrific capital city of Port au Prince, its massive and unimaginable poverty, its historically corrupt governments?  Why Haiti indeed?

I guess I would answer that it’s really not about Haiti.  This church can’t “fix” that country.  But we are not focused on fixing the entire nation of Haiti but we’re trying to help a small community that is a 5 hour rough drive by truck away from Port au Prince and based upon what I have seen I believe we can help.  

We can make a difference, a difference that is measurable and real.  What’s more we are that small community’s best shot, its best chance.

We are working with good partners.  The Haiti Educational Foundation (HEF) model makes sense and can work so as churches in the US who have agreed to partner with them – and we are one of those churches – get involved.  Our deliverables: the power system from our partner Solar Under the Sun and the water filtration system from Living Waters can work in these environments.  They are relatively inexpensive to purchase and, with guys like Travis, relatively easy to install – we can do this!

And I do not think we are at risk of creating a culture of dependency among the community of St Timothee.  These projects will not be completed by our church alone.  The people of the St Timothee community will build the new water cistern, they will build the water collection system on top of the school house rooftops.  But they need the Travers, the Craig Favors, the Travis Smiths, the Molly Bullingtons, the Lori Earls and the people of RCPC to help them along.

I have become convinced, I’m all in.  We can do this and should do this.

Thank you for your support throughout and your time and attention this morning.

God Bless.