wfn.org | Newsline: Conversations in an earthquake zone

[CoBNews <CoBNews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service,

>News Director Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford,

>800-323-8039 ext. 260,

>cobnews@brethren.org

>CONVERSATIONS IN AN EARTHQUAKE ZONE

(April 12, 2010) Elgin, IL -- Following are snatches of conversation

with people living in earthquake-affected areas in and around Port-au-

Prince, Haiti--conversations that took place "on the side" during a week

of clinics offered by a Church of the Brethren medical delegation in

March. Haitian Brethren church leaders, members of congregations,

university students, Brethren Disaster Ministries staff--each had

something important to share. Several people's remarks were touching,

even heart breaking. Others pointed to the hope that is alive in the

>Brethren communities in Haiti.

-- Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, director of News Services for the

>Church of the Brethren

>A catastrophe on a catastrophe:

Jean Bily Telfort, pastor of the Croix des Bouquets congregation and

general secretary of Eglise des Freres Haitiens (the Haitian Church of

the Brethren), told me that Haiti has experienced a catastrophe on a

catastrophe on a catastrophe.... The damage from the hurricanes of 2008

has yet to be dealt with, and then comes the earthquake. And ever since

the earthquake, he said, the problem of malaria has become prevalent.

And now the price for medicine to treat it is exorbitant. His comments

were sparked by seeing a woman coming from the free clinic, holding

>malaria medicine in her hands.

>'I want to do something for my country':

One of the psychology students who were helping offer counseling during

the clinics, Alain Fleurimond, stopped to talk for a moment while on his

way between the intake area and the pharmacy area at a clinic site. He said

he wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate the members of the medica l

>team who had come from the United States.

Then he explained why he was taking part himself, working hard all day at

each of the clinics. He wants to do something for his country, he said.

For Alain, life is now divided between the "before" and "after" of the

earthquake: On Jan. 11, the world was okay--he had his studies, a job, and  a

house to live in. And then on Jan. 12, the earthquake hit and everything ch 
anged.

Now he can't go to school because the university isn't open, he has no job,  his

family lost their house, and he is living in a tent on the street.

>A beautiful view:

The view from the Brethren preaching point at Tonm Gato is gorgeous, a

mountain range with a white winding road climbing up the ridge to a small

>village across the steep valley.

Even more impressive, however, were the new bean plants growing in a small

terraced field right behind the preaching point's palm frond hut.

Jeff Boshart, Brethren Disaster Ministries coordinator for Haiti, explained  
that

the plants are the results of a seed loan program that has begun in the vil 
lage,

>with help from the Brethren.

"We're trying to do two things at once, not just a relief project but also  a

development project," he said. Farmers can get loans of bean seeds through  a

committee set up with the local church. Once the harvest comes in, the farm er

pays back the loan in seed, with interest paid in seed as well.

If the program goes well, the community will develop a store of seed that g rows

>each year.

>'The needs are so great':

The needs are so great in Haiti, pastor Joseph Erimer Remy of the Delmas 24

Church of the Brethren commented: "This is the most difficult moment in

>Haitian history."

The Haitian Brethren congregations in Port-au-Prince are receiving food thr ough

grants from the Church of the Brethren's Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) and

Brethren Disaster Ministries. Pastor Remy explained, for example, that peop le

at the Delmas 24 Church are receiving food supplies like rice, oil, sometim es

>canned fish--enough to make it.

Getting water is still a problem for them, however.

The church at Delmas 24 has a feeding program for school children, again

funded by EDF, working out of a Baptist school where some of the Brethren

pastors teach and where Klebert Exceus, Haitian consultant for Brethren

>Disaster Ministries, has a leadership role.

Pastor Remy said that last week they shifted the feeding program from one

in which children came to school for one hot meal a day, to children taking

home an amount of food once a week. Not enough to feed their whole family,

but perhaps enough that the food goes a little farther into the surrounding

>community.

Another reason for the change: it got to be too taxing for the church membe rs

to cook and serve daily hot meals for so long.

>Youth helping children:

While a clinic was held at Croix des Bouquets Church of the Brethren--a

house church that meets in the home of Sister Marie Ridore--the church

youth group took me to a tent city of some 3,000 people living on the groun ds

of Lycee Jacques Premier, a school just down the block.

The youth have started a program for the children living at the tent city.  They

call it "Care of Children." The youth lead activities for some 250 to 300

>children three days a week.

The Brethren congregation also is working at providing food for the childre n.

Sister Marie said that she and others in the church have been collecting fo od

as they can. She said they feel responsible for the welfare of the children  at

>the encampment.

One of the youth--17-year-old Marco--led me through an area where people

were waiting for food distribution. It was easy to see why the children's

program is so needed. At least hundreds if not thousands of the camp's adul ts

were packed into the line for food, waiting for hours in the hot midday sun

with no shade. So packed that there was no space between the bodies in the  
line.

There is very little time or energy to care for children when the quest for  
food

>is so difficult.

Even before we got into the classroom several children were running in ahea d

of us. They had seen the youths' distinctive shirts as we walked up. The yo uth

explained this was not one of their regular days for the program--otherwise  the

wooden benches in the classroom would have been completely filled with

>children.

James, the youth group president, explained the objective of the work. Neit her

the youth nor the children had school to go to, and the children are stress ed 
and

traumatized by the earthquake. Bernard chimed in: "We got together just to

work with the children, to give food and take care of them.... We want them  to

know that we think about them, and that they are still alive."

The youth are giving rudimentary education and providing something like Sun day

school. While I was there they led some very loud songs, had prayer, had th e

children repeat a memory verse, and invited some children to come up front  and

>sing for the group.

Marco showed me a map of Haiti that he had drawn in a notebook, with the ma in

cities penned in. This is how they have been teaching some geography, he sa id.

He displayed the section of the notebook where the youth are keeping carefu l

records of their work, each child's name listed, page after page, each memb er

>of the youth group listed as well.

Meanwhile the children sat, not quietly or still by any means, but with per haps

more patience than a group of American children might have shown. The child ren

obviously expected to receive some kind of attention...and finally when the

discussion ended they did. It came in a style that might not be completely

appreciated by US educators, an impromptu Sunday school lesson and then the

calling up of individual children to recite their memory verse in front of  the

>whole group.

But the smiles on the children's faces and their obvious attentiveness and

engagement spoke for the effectiveness of what was going on, as did the

supportive clapping for each child who recited a verse.

Earlier, Marco had expressed the group's desire to be able to do yet more f or 
the

children. But they don't have the resources they need. "We would like to ge t 
some

help for helping the children," he said. "What we have is not sufficient."

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 com 
munity.

The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith traditions an d 
is one

of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrated its 300th anniversary i n 
2008.

It counts some 125,000 members across the United States and Puerto Rico, an d 
has

missions and sister churches in Nigeria, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Ha iti,

>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