wfn.org | Newsline: Brethren disaster project in Haiti close to completing five homes

[cobnews <cobnews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl Brumbau gh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org

BRETHREN DISASTER PROJECT IN HAITI IS CLOSE TO COMPLETING FIVE HOMES

(March 20, 2009) Elgin, IL -- A series of reports from the new Church of th e Brethren disaster relief project in Haiti are showing swift progress, wit h five homes already nearing completion. The project was initiated earlier  this year by Brethren Disaster Ministries and the Church of the Brethren Ha iti Mission following the destruction caused by the four hurricanes and sto rms that hit Haiti last year.

Jeff Boshart, who is serving as Haiti Disaster Response Mission Coordinator , has provided the progress reports. He is working with Klebert Exceus of O rlando, Fla., who serves as Haitian consultant for the project. The project  is funded by a grant of $100,000 from the Church of the Brethren's Emergen cy Disaster Fund.

The five homes close to completion are in the Fond Cheval area, a mountaino us region near the town of Mirebalais. The area was heavily affected by the  storms, and also is served by one of the Church of the Brethren preaching  points as well as a Brethren-related school.

Fifteen more homes are to be worked on in Fond Cheval. In addition, a house -by-house selection process is being carried out to identify families to be  served in the Mont Boulage area, where Boshart and Exceus received a list  of 34 families affected by storm damage, have made 28 home visits, and have  selected 21 houses for work. The project is budgeting $2,000 for each hous e.

"The personal stories of these families are all too familiar in Haiti," Bos hart reported. "A family of six children can only afford to send the first  three to school. A widow who had one whole side of her home collapse has mo ved away and hopes to come back if her children will help her rebuild. Youn g couples with no education and several children who have little hope for e ver moving beyond subsistence living.... In general these families have one  or two beds, some sleeping mats, a few cups and bowls and silverware, thre e or four chairs, and a few bags of clothing."

The project is working close to a school started by a Brethren preaching po int in Fond Cheval. "School fees at the small school started by the Brethre n preaching point are only about $13 for the year but there are still famil ies that can't afford to send their kids," Boshart said.

With the unemployment rate at around 60 percent, many Haitians are desperat e for work. The families being served in Fond Cheval are taking part in the  building work, Boshart said. Recipients of homes carry water from a distan ce to mix the cement, and also help transport sand and other building mater ials. Also, some laborers will be paid for their work.

When the home repairs get started in Mont Boulage, villagers who are not be ing served will be paid in food and cement to do the heavy work. They will  be responsible for their own home improvements. As the hurricane response p rogresses, Brethren Disaster Ministries will endeavor to bring in small gro ups of US Brethren to work with local Haitians once volunteer housing, safe ty, and transportation are definite.

In another aspect of the project, Boshart has met with a doctor and pharmac ist connected with IMA World Health to talk about cooperative work to provi de medicines and support to a hospital and clinic near an area flooded in l ast year's storms. Boshart and Exceus also met with Church of the Brethren  members in Gonaives and others in need of rebuilt homes in that area, as we ll as with an ecumenical pastor's group that may work with a micro-loan pro gram. They visited people who are living in homemade tents in Gonaives foll owing the storms and flooding.

The pastors in Gonaives "shared that things are slow to return to normal,"  Boshart reported. "Some people are starting to move back into their homes.. .. Typhoid and malaria continue to be present in high levels.... UN food an d water deliveries have ended.... Those who haven't left the city to live w ith families or move back into flooded out homes are living under homemade  tents made out of bed sheets and tarps and what pieces of plastic they can  find. We went to visit these tents and it is really tragic."

"It will be quite a challenge," Boshart said of the Church of the Brethren  project in Haiti, "but the Haitian people are no strangers to hard work and  sacrifice and seem to be eager to get going."

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continu ing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in  community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith t raditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrated it s 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts more than 125,000 members across the  United States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nig eria, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

># # #

>For more information contact:

>Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
>Director of News Services
>Church of the Brethren
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org