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On Feb. 13, the last Wesleyan short-term mission team departed from Port-au-Prince International Airport, Haiti, headed for Warsaw. That team was composed of 12 individuals from Warsaw Wesleyan Church. Within the next week, the remaining career missionaries and physicians were called back to the states due to the civil unrest and regime change in Haiti.
Haiti is a French-speaking nation about the size of Maryland with a population of 8.5 million. It is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The average income is $310 per person. Unemployment is about 70 percent and most funds come from relatives outside the country.
On Feb. 5, a short-term missionary team of 12 persons (Mark Snyder, Mick and Stephanie Stanley, Brian and Penny Robison, Gloria Rigdon, Cathy Bentley, Tammy Taylor, Patty Ammerman, Sue Glover, Irene Hoagland and Pastor Dan Berry) departed Warsaw Wesleyan Church parking lot for Indianapolis International Airport bound for Haiti. After a short layover in Miami, the team arrived safely in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday afternoon. From the airport, they were transported by truck to the OMS Missionary compound in the city. After a supper together, they traveled on to the island.
On Saturday they left Port-Au-Prince for a two-hour drive down the coastline of Haiti north to a small boat dock across from the island of La Gonave. The 12-member team, their luggage and two crew members traveled the 12-mile jaunt across the bay in a 30-foot wooden boat powered by two outboard motors and a rickety sail. This harrowing experience gave the team a new appreciation for modern transportation.
For the next week, the team participated in maintenance at the hospital. They organized materials, painted, did electrical work, cleaned and cataloged thousands of dollars in medicines and sutures brought via donations from DePuy, a Johnson & Johnson Co., of Warsaw. Thankfully, the team was never questioned or searched at the airport for the medications and hospital supplies.
During the work week, the team had an opportunity to witness the impact the hospital is having on the indigent and poor of the island. This hospital serves as the only health lifeline for more than 100,000 residents. Pastor Berry said, "Thanks to donations from the churches, no one is ever turned away." The team members with health care and nursing degrees were able to use their skills alongside Dr. Kris Thedes at the hospital each day. The team also was able to provide ministry supplies for help with local church outreach with printed materials provided by World Missionary Press of New Paris.
One of the highlights of the trip took place Thursday evening before the team returned home Friday. A woman was brought into the hospital and required a C-section for delivery of her baby. Five team members were offered the opportunity to witness the surgery. To everyone's surprise, the single delivery turned into twins, and complications followed. Because many of the team members had helped reorganize and store sutures and supplies, they provided much-needed help to the surgeons as they fought to save the mother's life. With so much blood loss, one of the team members in the operating room was selected to donate blood.
Berry said, "By Thursday (Feb. 12) the news had started to come across e-mail that the conditions on the mainland were unpredictable and deteriorating. Global Partnership (the missionary ministry of The Wesleyan Church International) sent a message informing all missionary personnel to prepare to leave Haiti."
The team flew out of La Gonave Feb. 13 from a small dirt airfield on the west side of town. It took three Cessna MAF planes to shuttle the team to the airport back on the mainland. After arriving in Port-Au-Prince, the team members traveled a short distance by truck to the airport, where they were greeted by about 50 men ready to carry luggage and consequently receive remuneration. According to Berry, "Many of the team members commented that their most anxious moments were never with the common people of the mainland or the island of La Gonave, but at the airport. These 'professionals' are ready and ripe to demand hundreds of dollars for carrying luggage a few feet. Even employees of the airport and airline were not beyond requesting gifts. The common people are good people - there's no racism or hatred toward Americans. It's not like what you've been seeing on the evening news."
The team arrived home safely after an unexpected night in Miami International Airport. They will never forget the desperation of the people of Haiti. Few have jobs other than begging or limited agricultural work. Clean drinking water is limited to bottled water. There is a constant battle over the one mountain pipeline providing water for thousands of families on the island. In Port-Au-Prince it is not abnormal to see people washing their clothes in a gutter and a few hundred feet downstream children drinking from that same stream.
Electricity is limited to diesel generators that usually operate only 17 hours a day. The government provides few resources and often complicates life for the people. It is a nation where modern conveniences are incomprehensible and necessities nonexistent. Berry added, "It is a country where political paybacks and graft are commonplace for business and government.
"Haiti has suffered under 30 coups over its 200-year history. With such poverty, one can easily see why there was civil unrest with the government of Aristede," Berry said. "One Haitian Christian sadly commented to our team that 'things were better when Papa Doc was dictator of Haiti.' Members of the team commented that it's a sad commentary on a nation when the days of rigid dictatorship exceed democracy. Haiti will continue to be unstable without adequate enforcement of law, infrastructure and genuine foundations for democracy and self-rule."
After sharing their story with family and friends, many of the team members are ready to return once conditions become more stable. Berry said, "It only took a week in Haiti to convince the team members how blessed we are to be living in this great land. One can never again take for granted our freedoms, our abundance and our blessings."
More photos of the team can be seen at wwc.warsawwesleyan.com
