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.
