wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: Faith-based resilience in Haiti

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>World Council of Churches - Feature

>A STORY OF FAITH-BASED RESILIENCE IN HAITI

>For immediate release: 23 June 2010

>By Maria Halava (*)

When the earthquake hit Haiti on 12 January, Mitchelle Mothersil,  an
independent Pentecostal pastor, was lying on her bed in a two-story  house
in Carrefour Feuilles in the suburb of Port-au-Prince. When she  heard the
noise, which seemed to be coming from beneath the house, she immediately
knew that it was an earthquake.

”The house was shaking and I fell down several times when  trying to find
my mother and my children,” she says in describing the first  moments of
the quake.

She managed to get downstairs but could not open the door to the  yard. The
house next door had fallen on her house and blocked the door. The  fence of
another neighbour fell on them from the other side. When she finally
managed to get her children out of the house, she still needed help  from
the neighbours to get her mother out in her wheelchair.

Now the family lives in a wood and tin-sheet hut next to the ruins  of the
house.

”There is no way to explain what happened that day,”  she tells a
reporter five months later. "People in the streets were shocked,  and they
didn’t know what to do or where to go. Many of them were  calling for
God."

Recently, when an ecumenical delegation led by the general secretary  of the
World Council of Churches (WCC) visited Haiti, Mitchelle Mothersil
traveled with them as their interpreter.

>Radical woman pastor

Originally born to a Catholic family, Mitchelle Mothersil committed  herself
to serve God for the rest of her life seventeen years ago, while
worshipping at a Pentecostal church.

Later on, while living in the United States, she felt the call to  become a
pastor. She started engaging in Bible studies, preaching in different
churches and even hosted a radio show on biblical themes.

After four years in the United States, she felt led by the Holy  Spirit to
move back to Haiti with her youngest children and her mother. Her  two
oldest children stayed behind. But she knew in her heart that it  was meant
to be that way.

In Haiti she started a church, and to her knowledge became the first  woman
pastor serving there in a church. ”In the first service,  we had about 10
people,” she recalls.

The church-goers were mainly teenagers and university students who  were
searching for something and were willing to "have their minds changed".
But others thought Mitchelle Mothersil was too radical. That’s  also the
reason why her radio show in Haiti was terminated.

”I ask people realistically what they want God to do for  them if they
just sit at home without attempting anything. God will bless you  if you
work, but if you don’t work, you shouldn’t even  eat,” she declares.

She also urges people to take responsibility for their lives. ”As k God
what it is in your hands or inside you that can use to help things  change.
The change is not in the hands of your pastor, your mother or your  father.
It is in you.”

At the moment, her church has approximately 30 members. They join  in
worship services, prayer services and Bible studies. Many of them  have
sought support from the church after the earthquake.

”Even though the church was destroyed in the earthquake,  people kept
coming. We meet outside instead of inside,” she says.

She has explained to the church members that the earthquake was  a natural
catastrophy. She does not know why it happened, but she is sure  that God
was not absent.

”God is not responsible for how we build our houses,”  she said,
referring to the destruction of almost 1.5 million houses in the
earthquake. ”The quake in Chile was stronger than the one  we had in
Haiti, yet they survived with less damage.”

>Calling in Haiti

Many of the church members lost houses or loved-ones in the quake.  Together
with Mitchelle Mothersil, they have been talking and crying in the  ruins
of the church. ”Sometimes there are no words. Everything  would sound
like a cliché,” she admits.

Some people, like Mitchelle’s youngest daughter, don’t  want to talk
about the earthquake. Most of them do, because the quake affected  so many
people’s lives.

”Our theme song in the church for the year’s end  was I’ll Praise you
in This Storm. After the earthquake a lady who had lost her three
daughters in the earthquake told me: 'Pastor, we sang, I’ll  praise you
in this storm, but I did not know that the storm was going to hit  so
hard.' It was heartbreaking.”

Life has to continue, though, and what happened in the past is past.

Mitchelle Mothersil doesn’t know where she gets the strength  to continue
her life, but she knows that she has to do it. She is taking care  of her
90-year-old mother and her children who, after having lived a very
protected life, were suddenly living in the street.

”I cannot show them my weaknesses. I have to be strong for  them,” she
says with emotion.

Demolition work on the house and the church is underway. But since  it is
done by hand, it will take a long time. The most important thing  for
Mitchelle Mothersil is to rebuild the house.

”Food and washrooms are not priorities: we need help to  rebuild our
houses,” she says in anticipation of the approaching hurricane  season.

Life has not been easy during the past months. But Mitchelle Mothersil
knows that the future is in God's hands. ”God will take  care of his own,
I’m sure.”

She herself will stay in Haiti. Her calling is there, until God  tells her
to go somewhere else.

>[929 words]

(*) Maria Halava is communications and advocacy advisor for the  ACT
Alliance in Haiti.

Relief and development work by churches in Haiti (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=94dcf506dec8ea4939c5 )

More information on the WCC visit to Haiti (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=3e10a0ddb8bcf7cf888e
)

Country profile and WCC member churches in Haiti (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=537148993337ad542706 )

Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect WCC  policy.
This material may be reprinted freely, providing credit is given  to the
author.

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,  witness and 
service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship  of churches 
founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560  million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the  Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse  Tveit, from 
the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.