Visiting our Haitian partners

Final thoughts from Haiti

Neyret Camp School, Port au Prince

Those who travel in airplanes will be familiar with HSBC’s poster campaign, using two photos and two words describing each photo alternately.  Aside from the business acumen this series attributes to HSBC, it conveys a clear message about perspective and value; about the difference people bring to interpreting what they see.  The poster series uses humour and beauty in images and language to nudge us from the assurance of our worldview.  Differences of perspective and value are acknowledged with care and integrity.  We differ and disagree as the beginning of understanding and appreciating another.

It has been a little like encountering juxtaposed messages this past week, in Port au Prince, Leogane and surrounding areas, and in Hinche, Canje and Montrouis.   Not that twisted metal, stories of deceased students and friends, cramped living conditions in emergency shelters can be described by a single word.  And I don’t mean the earthquake of January 12th can be understood as intrinsically positive, depending on one’s perspective.   The deep devastation of January 12th continues to be a living hell for 100,000s of people; homeless, jobless, school-less, without the tools of their trade, without transportation, reliable or safe food and water, living vulnerable to illness, trauma, violence and further loss as hurricane season descends.

Rather, I have wondered ‘What do Haitian people see when they look around?   What do I see?  What do others see?  By what words and actions are we revealed in our differences and similarities?  In whose understanding is the authority for what comes next, and what does not?  What would healing, abundant life and peace with justice look like here?’

Many people are asking these kinds of questions, aloud and often within the program bodies and parishes of the Episcopal Church of Haiti, and national ecumenical and interfaith organizations.  International church partners, civil society and government are working to identify the breadth and depth of the impact of January 12th, interpret it within a countrywide context, and develop integrated plans to move out of and beyond emergency humanitarian response.

My brief experience in Haiti this past week leaves no illusion that quick fixes or neat solutions will work.  Haitian society is complex.  Yes, clearing and rebuilding has begun.  Yet, the scale of devastation to human life, land, local economies, physical infrastructure and future generations has been enormous.   Plans and programs to restore and improve upon what has been lost will require long term commitments of good governance by Haiti’s leaders, and long term companionship from partners in the process.

I have been inspired by the sheer determination, courage and stamina of people struggling to survive.   As our friend and partner Canon Ogé Beauvoir says, ‘Life goes on.’  Indeed, in every way imaginable. More than music in the night air, blazing bougainvilla and beautiful sunsets, mango trees heavy with fruit where coastal mountains meet the sea, ‘life going on’ is also the cacophony of human industry, fires of burning garbage, salvaged cord low with laundry, and people meeting people where rubble meets the road.

Let us remember the people of Haiti in our prayers this Holy Week and Easter, and let us pray for all who accompany them at this time.  Let us give thanks to God for the indefatigable spirit of the Haitian people, and for their deep faith in the promise of a new day.

Andrea

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Dimanche de la Passion, Paroisse Saint Simeon, Croix des Bouquets

Glwa pou bondye adorasyon pou bodye
Chapo ba pou bondye li merite lwanj

Créole Onoré puisans non Jezi

Palm Sunday. Photo by Andrea Mann

With the blessing of fresh palms and the assembling of acolytes, crucifer, choir and musicians, the congregation of St. Simeon, as Anglicans and Christians all over the world, began its remembrance of the entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem more than 2000 years ago.  Our language of song and worship was Creole and French.  We were children and elders, women and men, Haitian, American, Canadian.  A special ‘merci’ from the Sunday school of St. Simeon is sent to the children of St. Alban Anglican Church, Richmond, BC, for their poster and greeting.  The morning was bright and clear and warm, and when the service was over we met one another under the shade of a large mango tree.  It is the beginning of mango season here and trees everywhere are heavy with unpicked fruit.

Our day continued on the road to Montrouis along Haiti’s north east coast, between the sea and coastal mountains. Quisqueya, Montrouis is the former site of the national Episcopal Seminary, now temporary home to 46 residents and staff of Ecole St. Vincent pour Enfants Mal et non Voyants, Port au Prince.  St. Vincent School was partially destroyed on January 12th, killing six students and several staff members.  The setting in Quisqueya is idyllic and, as one of the staff members reflected, the children in her care have settled in well.

On April 5th, Quisqueya will also become temporary home and classroom to the church’s 17 seminarians, faculty and staff gathering to finish their winter term by the end of the month.  Canon Beauvoir, Dean, is hoping resources will be found for an additional term to complete the academic year by late August.  Meanwhile, building plans for restoring the Port au Prince seminary to safety codes have been endorsed.  Again, financial resources are needed to begin reconstruction.

Our conversation about the educational ministries of the diocese continued into post-earthquake priorities of the diocese’s Bureau Anglican de L’Education en Haiti (BAEH).   In addition to the objectives of BAEH’s strategic 5 year plan (2009-2014) for Episcopal schools and education for all Haitian children, an immediate priority is getting children back to class.  Most of the country’s elementary and secondary students have been out of school since the start of Christmas break in mid-December.  Their return to class in 2010 was cut short on January 12th.

The re-opening of Episcopal schools is scheduled for April 12th.   Of the diocese’s 254 schools country-wide, more than 100 have been directly affected by earthquake damage in Port au Prince, Leogane and Jacmel.  Remaining schools have been affected indirectly by the migration of families to regional towns and villages, adding thousands of students to classrooms and teachers workloads already stretched to capacity.  Where schools in the earthquake zone have not been damaged, children and adults are experiencing ‘concrete trauma’.  They are afraid to enter buildings and prefer to live outside under tents and tarps.  Efforts to work with people suffering from this post traumatic stress are beginning.

Large tents will be erected this week by the BAEH in Leogane at the site of 19 Episcopal schools, in partnership with Lutheran World Fellowship and Finn Church Aid.  Desks, chairs and blackboards have been salvaged in readiness.  Additional teaching and school supplies will be forthcoming, as will 6 months of teachers’ wages so that families are spared the costs of fees while they seek to restore employment income.  Many, many more school tents and much more financial support is needed, especially in the more remote areas.  There has been no formal discussion as yet about the rebuilding of permanent schools.

As we returned to Port au Prince after a long day, the sky was aglow with orange and pink light filtered through the ever present haze of smoke and dust. The quiet of Montrouis gave way to the clamour of traffic.  Open sea and sky and land gave way to close, congested sidewalks and alleys, crowded buses and mounds of rubble and litter yet to be cleared.  Was this at all the experience of those who accompanied the Nazarene on his final trip into Jerusalem centuries ago?  Was their wide,clean joy and enthusiasm reined sharply in by the realities and struggles of what they encountered within the city walls?  Were they nevertheless inspired by the One who continued on, redeeming in God’s love all that was broken, hurting, dying everywhere?

In peace,
Andrea

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Port au Prince to Hinche

There is a T-shirt worn in the streets of Petionville which says, in English, “I am, because we are”.   These words and their wisdom are attributed to many cultural traditions, and are at the heart of the ministry of Église Episcopal d’Haiti (Episcopal Church in Haiti).

Setting out early Thursday afternoon from Port au Prince with Canon Oge and Serette Beauvoir, we began a 6 hour journey to the city of Hinche, in the north east Central Plateau region.  The low lying area around Port au Prince changed dramatically into and beyond the coastal mountains.  Vast plains and steep hills, wide valleys and millions of hectares of arid and arable land stretched to the furthest horizon.  The road on which we travelled was both smooth and bumpy, and busy with heavy construction equipment, cars and SUVs, UN trucks, private taxi vans, motorcycles, bicycles, boys on donkeys, and pedestrians.  Roadside markets bustled with the coming of Sainte Semaine. Children excitedly left books and classrooms for the long Easter holiday.

Our first stop was le Paroisse de St. Mathieu, Mirebalais, where two seminarians are working with the parish priest as interns.  This internship for the Episcopal Church Seminary was unplanned, as the direct result of the January 12^th earthquake.  The quake left all but one of the seminarians, and all faculty and staff homeless.  Though the seminary still stands it is unsafe.  Estimates and plans for cleanup and restoration are underway.  It is expected the costs of repair will exceed CDN 90,000.

St. Mathieu, Mirebalais and le Paroisse de St. Andre, Hinche have put 7 of the 17 seminarians to work, with responsibilities for area mission oversight, pastoral care and counselling , liturgy and education, depending on their years of seminary training.  St. Andre, Hinche, is home to 12 mission congregations in outlying areas, and a large elementary and secondary school, which also includes a nutritious meal program for children in greatest need.

Ordinarily, L’École de St. Andre provides education to 870 students.  360 additional students have arrived from Port au Prince with parents and siblings seeking refuge with extended family members.   These additional students, their unique emotional and social needs, not to mention the school’s need for additional chairs and desks is putting a strain upon teachers and classrooms already stretched to full capacity.  The extra burden is taken on willingly, pragmatically; We have no other option but to live.  People are working hard to survive says Canon Beauvoir.

The annual grant we received already from Partnerships is making this unplanned internship and the assistance of seminarians in schools possible.  We will with these funds also resume classes in the former site of the seminary in Montrouis.   After Easter, seminarians and faculty will travel to Montrouis for a two week intensive completion of the academic term, interrupted on January 12^th until now.

In the days to come, we will visit other places, parishes and programs where the Episcopal Church is serving communities working hard to survive. St. Pierre Camp on the grounds of the former St. Pierre School, Port au Prince, is one such ministry, caring for more than 1000 people.   Today we travel to Leogane, epicenter of the earthquake, to Episcopal priests, seminarians and lay leaders working there.

In peace,

Andrea

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Day 2: St. Therese Park, Nerette Camp, and Petite Riviere

St. Therese Park Camp, Port au Prince, site of Lutheran World Federation (LWF) work, supported by PWRDF. Photo by Naba Gurung/PWRDF.

St. Therese Park is home to 4,356 families, displaced January 12th by the earthquake that destroyed much of the city centre of Port au Prince and claimed more than 220,000 lives. Many of the dead remain trapped in demolished buildings. Many who survived left Port au Prince early for the distant homes of relatives and friends. Yet many more remain in camps such as St. Therese, without personal options, awaiting news from government about what happens next. Recent reports reveal plans to end the general distribution of support to camp infrastructure at the end of this month, to relocate people to safety during the razing of unsafe buildings and removal of rubble. it isn’t clear, less than 10 days before this evacuation is to begin, where people will go or how they will be moved. Much remains uncertain.

St. Therese Park is among the number of camps supported by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), with PWRDF funding, as part of the Action of Churches Together Alliance (ACT Alliance) relief response. Canadian Anglicans are contributing to LWF work at St. Therese Park, and in at least two other camps visited yesterday: Nerette in Port au Prince and Petite Riviere near Leogane.

To the 4,356 people of St. Therese, LWF/PWRDF is distributing rice, beans, milk powder, specialized food for infants, nursing mothers and pregnant women, cooking utensils, charcoal, buckets and drinking water. The people of St. Therese are concerned about their immediate future, and health, as sanitation and other services provided by international and national relief forces will be withdrawn. There are no answers at present to their questions and fears.

Tents in the Nerette camp. Photo by Naba Gurung/PWRDF.

Nerette Camp, situated on the former site of the Italian Embassy, houses 250 families (1250 children, teens, women and men). This hilltop tent village is clean, shaded, well organized by community leaders. Latrines, showers and a day school operate as the result of collective community analysis and decision-making. The school is supported by LWF/PWRDF with the provision of school supplies bought locally and a feeding program. LWF staff work with Nerette residents and distribute basic food and cooking kits as at St. Therese.

In Petite Riviere, 40 youth leaders from the 21 sections served by the local municipal council, met today to elect an executive team responsible for developing a new community centre for local children, youth and young adults. Through a lively, entertaining and open process of ‘grassroots’ democracy, 7 men and women were chosen. Two possible sites were visited, which currently house small tent and tarp camps complete with solar generated power, antennas for radio and television programs, and basic amenities. The community centre, with LWF/PWRDF support will provide educational, sport, and recreational programs. The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti is a local partner in this initiative, and a strong pastoral presence in the municipality.

On the move, into Port au Prince along the sea road. Photo by Naba Gurung/PWRDF.

The slow, dusty return to Port au Prince took us past beautiful, open grazing land and low mountains to our right, the sea on our left. Re-entering the city limits, we were immediately taken into the busy, bumpy pace of people returning home from work and market, or shopping for supper, or delivering goods to stores. Noise, traffic, lineups, cement dust, litter, cows, goats, and the smell of barbecued chicken leave cleare and lasting impressions. So does the ebb and flow of people moving, bartering, laughing, shouting, meeting with neighbours into the evening of another day now ending. We will travel into the city centre another day, to the sites of the Episcopal and Catholic cathedrals and schools, and seminary.

I will join Canon Oge and Serette Beauvoir tomorrow to travel to Hinche to stay with seminarians displaced from Port au Prince but continuing studies and internships on the Central Plateau. Naba will remain in Port au Prince and Leogane to meet emergency and relief organizations, including other members of the Canadian Church Alliance and CIDA. We will resume our visit together with Oge and Serette on Saturday.

In peace,
Andrea

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Port au Prince, Haiti

Rev. Canon Ogé Beauvoir testing water in Haiti

The slow, single sound of an alto saxaphone called into the night, streets finally quiet for a few hours, empty of trucks, cars, people, the sounds of generators. Port au Prince is sleeping, for just a few hours.

Naba Gurung, PWRDF, Jim Hodgson, United Church of Canada and I have made our base at ACT Alliance Guest House, a small hotel recently rented for use by visiting relief and aid partners. The amenities are basic, but enough, and so much more than what many people have day to day. The presence of UN, international government and humanitarian relief agencies is everywhere, from the huge Hercules aircraft and rows of khaki tents at the temporary airport, low flying UN helicopters, cars and trucks carrying the emblems and logos of international organizations, to the many temporary tarp and tent camps throughout the city. Mountains of rubble, constant, hazy dust, pancaked buildings, lopsided and partially collapsed walls, burnt out cars and houses, tattered drapes fluttering at squashed window, single sandals and abandoned clothing testify to an enormous devastation and death. And yet life goes on. Sidewalks, roads, parks are teeming with people walking, driving, shouting, selling, sitting, resting. Signs and sounds of the enterprise of survival.

We will begin to see and hear and learn more today about life this week for the people of Port au Prince, meeting those living and working in the temporary communities and camps in this city and in Leogane. Will connect with The Epicopal Diocese of Haiti, and begin to travel with Canon Oge and Serette Beauvoir tomorrow.

In peace,

Andrea Mann
Global Relations Coordinator
Partnerships

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