Update from Rebecca Lovelace

Episcopal Bishop Tommy (TJ) Johnston has just returned from a critical assessment visit to Haiti. He met with Pere Val, the Haitian Bishop and toured many sites of devastation. On Sunday, Kathy Benson, Bill Greene, Jeanne Fourrier and I met with TJ, and representatives of the group that does mission work on La Gonave, where Pere Val worked for 14 years. TJ spent almost a week in Croix des Bouquets, staying part of the time in the courtyard at St. Simeon Church, and a few nights at Pere Val’s home. The first night he decided to sleep inside was the night of the big 6.1 aftershock, which woke him from a dead sleep. He caught us up on the big picture, and the smaller picture.

The big – “macro” picture – is the immediate food and shelter relief that needs to be done for all the newly homeless people in PAP. That is best done by groups such as Unicef, Red Cross, Salvation Army, Episcopal Relief and Development. ,etc. If people want to feed and shelter these, then have them give to one of these groups. The smaller “micro” picture is helping our existing Haiti programs, and working through Pere Val and Carmel. This work will still be going on long after some of the big groups have pulled out, and long after Anderson Cooper goes home.

We are in a unique position because of our long-term relationship with Pere V and Carmel – two proven, effective local Haitian leaders who know how to get things done. TJ said Carmel continues to run her nutrition clinics, and of course, has added children to the program. As a result over our recent donations, she has scaled up the program to handle more than 600 children. She has 2 doctors working with her, and is tireless. Pere Val is still in the process of assessing damage to his properties . The biggest loss was the church at Gorman. I guess the good news there is we had not built a school there; the existing classes were being conducted outside, so there was no school to collapse. A real priority will be to get the schools back in session again – that will probably be at least 2 months away. The government has to give the green light for the re-opening of schools. Meanwhile, the teachers will need to be paid, and there is no tuition coming in, and won’t be coming in for the foreseeable future.

For those of you who have been to Haiti, some individual updates: Jimmy, our driver on the last few Chap trips, lost everything; Bienvenue, the superintendent of Pere Val’s 6 schools, also lost everything; 8 of the people who work with Carmel in the Nutrition Program, are also homeless. There are about 60 people sleeping at the St. Simeon property now. Through a minor miracle, the generator was repaired Friday, and now the well is pumping good clean water. Also, the Rotary well at Gorman is putting out good water, and is providing water for that entire community.

You may have read in the newspaper that the Haitian government is placing a large refugee tent city in Croix des Bouquet. But, as of yet, we don’t know exactly where, but probably near the Nutrition Center, because that is the only area with open land. So, Carmel could be getting lots of new cases for the Nutrition Program.
Going forward: Chap will definitely need to continue sending money for our 2 major on-going programs – nutrition and schools. Carmel thinks they can start accepting mission teams by mid February (but I think this is a bit unrealistic). Any team that goes in the near future would have to sleep at St. Simeon; the Visa Lodge, being one of the few hotels still standing, is overrun with all the people down there. We will explore with Pere Val a construction team for the summer, that would help build something at Gorman and camp out there. Thanks to Rotary, there’s a well and a nice new two-seater bathroom that survived the quake.

What do we need?

1. Prayer – for all the folks there, especially Pere Val and Carmel, as they deal w/this huge tragedy. They need our prayers more than ever.

2. Money – to help us help them. Checks can be made payable to CHAP; PO Box 70132; Myrtle Beach 29572. Mark them earthquake relief; they will be a tax deduction for your 2009 income tax return, if you want to use it for 2009. Or tell folks they can give through Pay Pal on our web site, www.chaphaiti.org – click on the donate button.

3. Consider going on a mission trip, once we get the green light from Pere Val and Carmel. If you’re serious about it, consider getting your shots up to date, and making sure your passport is current. I will try to call Pere Val tonight, with Pierrot’s help, and will update you later.

Rebecca Lovelace
Past-President
CHAP