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Touching Haiti with the love of Christ |
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Building, Painting and Moving People In  More and more houses are being built in Fonds Parisien by HCM and our partner organizations. We recently placed some photos of the housing construction progress on our website. You can check that out by clicking the link below. |
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A Home at Last
By Wendy Zehner
 | | Sam Merizema |
This past year has been one of huge changes for the Merizema family of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Sam Merizema is a 17-year-old young man who was living with his parents and five siblings when the earthquake of 2010 hit Haiti. He was at school that afternoon. "The teacher had stepped out early because we were finished with class. She said for everyone to stay in the room but a few of us went out to get a drink. The earth started to shake. At first, I could not believe what I was seeing. Almost all of my schoolmates inside died that day," Sam explained. "At first, there were kids crying out, 'I am not dead, help me! Can you see me?' but we could not get to them. I found my little brother and he was alive so we ran home. I found my parents there. After I kissed my mom I said, 'I have to go back and help my friends.' "
 | | Sam with his mother and siblings in front of the tents behind HCM where they live. |
Sam tells how he and his family lived out on the street for four days in the same clothes and could not eat or sleep. He tells about how sad he was for his little brothers and sisters to see the dead bodies in the streets and explains that sometimes it was necessary to step on the bodies in order to get through.
This family had a nice home in Port-au-Prince. Sam's father had been working for a bank that was taken over and let everyone go. From there his dad worked in construction and his mom sold goods in the market and along the street.
Sam recalls how he took sheets and clothes that he dug out of the rubble to make shelters until the help started to come. "We stood in long lines for food and water. It was very hot. Americans began to come to help the injured and I helped to translate. I even was told to do some medical work to help with people who had smaller injuries so that the doctors could help the ones worse off. We lived this way for four months," Sam said.
The family belonged to Pastor Brousseau's church, a large HCM church in Port-au-Prince. Jean Rigaud, Sam's father, called Betty Prophete to see if there was any work in Fonds Parisien. She invited his family to bring their tent to the mission where it would be safer and told them they could help with food preparation and medical care. Sam had a sponsor so he was able to go back to school when his family moved to Fonds. Sam went on to explain, "I like it better here. We are free to go outside and play. My brothers and sisters are safe here. It gets very hot in the tent and we do not have electricity, but we are grateful for what we have."
The family attends both the school and church in Fonds Parisien now. Sam is working on his future. He has learned more English and has become an interpreter for the mission. In this way, he can help his family out financially while still attending school. When asked if there was anyone he wanted to thank he quickly said, "My father! I would like to thank him for sacrificing for my education. My dad and I didn't talk about God much, but he was always a strong believer. Now we talk about God lots. I would also say thanks to Edwens Prophete who teaches me things and helps me to understand that I can be whatever I want. He is like a big brother to me. God tells us that He has plans for us to prosper and I can say this with strength. I need a relationship with God. I am busy working and going to school but am always praying."
Sam and his family will soon be moving into their new home that was funded by IDES. Mission teams sent by IDES also helped with the actual construction of the home. When asked what he was looking forward to on moving day, Sam replied, "We will be able to cook inside. We can sleep and have light! We can't burn candles in the tent. I want to sit on the porch with my family and friends. My family is glad for this gift. Now I know I will not see the people who have given my family this house, but I am asking God to bless them."
 | | The Merizema family (minus Sam) outside their newly built home |
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Words in Action
By Wendy Zehner
The Crusaders adult Sunday school class at Erie Christian Church in Erie, Illinois stepped out in faith and made these words come alive:
I John 13:
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
 | | Crusaders Sunday school class at Erie Christian Church |
Three years ago the members of the Crusaders class, hard working Americans living in the heart of corn country, took on the responsibility of helping a young man in Haiti, Philipe, go to school and committed to sending $30 a month. At that time neither Philipe nor the class members knew how important that connection would become for all of them. After the earthquake Philipe wrote a letter to the Crusaders detailing what his family was going through. That's when HCM got a phone call. Following that I had the pleasure of meeting Philipe and his mother. It was such an honor to tell them that Philipe's words and prayers to God had been heard and were being answered. Now ten months later, this family is anticipating moving into their new home next month! Philipe will continue to attend an HCM school and the family will live in a community of believers.
 | | Philipe and his mother |
Part of what makes this such a powerful story is the simple obedience we see. Davie Grimm, the class teacher said, "The only way we raised money was by crushing aluminum cans and by asking the other adult Sunday school classes if they wanted to help. Mostly we just relied on the Spirit to lead us and gave what he directed us to give." He went on to say, "What else could we do when we learned of the loss of his home, school building and the conditions he and his family were faced with when we were blessed with so much? They are our brothers and sisters in the Lord and we felt that we needed to do what we were led to do." Can it really be that simple? You bet it can. There are others out there who can make life-changing decisions to help a brother or sister in need. We are commanded to do it and yet we sit on the sidelines waiting to see what God wants us to do.
What is God prodding you to do? Maybe it is stepping up to sponsor a child at $30 a month, or maybe it's committing to building a home for $15,000 for a family living in a tent. Maybe it is speaking to your own neighbor and reaching out for the first time in Christian love. There need be no maybes about it. Just put the words into action! Thank you to Erie Christian Church and the Crusaders for reminding us of the power we have in Christ. |
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All in God's Good Plan
By Aslan Noakes, RN
Suburban Christian Church in Corvallis, OR
When our church first planned on making a trip down to Haiti with HCM, we were scheduled to be there just before Christmas 2010. When unexpected rioting due to political/election corruption occurred, closing the airport and in turn cancelling our trip, our team was really disappointed. We had spent a long time planning, raising money, and had scheduled time off from our busy schedules. We felt frustrated and downhearted...Why would God let this happen?
Disappointed that our trip had fallen through, we halfheartedly re-scheduled our trip for the end of April 2011. Because of the re-schedule, seven members of our original twenty on our Haiti team were unable to come with us. We started praying and brainstorming about how to spend the additional funds we had since the airfare for our team was significantly reduced. Hmmmm...maybe we could bring them water filters?? We agreed that it seemed like a fine idea. Basically the water filters were an afterthought, but not to God!
 We were able to distribute 100 water filters to rural communities around Fonds Parisien. These Sawyer filters run at 0.1 micron absolute, which removes 7 log (99.99999%) of all bacteria like salmonella, cholera, and E. coli. and 6 log (99.9999%) of all Protozoa such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium. One of our translators put it this way: "You are bringing life to these communities by bringing them clean water."
At one village called Sarrazin, a woman walked around with her hands lifted into the air praising God that we were bringing her a means to filter out cholera from the water. From our understanding, she said that her husband had died from cholera recently. What an unexpected blessing for both our team and these villages that we were able to bring them something they really needed. At the end of every training session I reminded the people that were learning how to use the filters that these water filters might give them clean water for life, but only Jesus can give you eternal life, to which they responded with a resounding, "AMEN!" Praise God for his perfect timing in the delay of our trip!
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| Left with Nothing
The families receiving homes from HCM were homeless. They lost everything in the earthquake and have been living in tents with the meager belongings they've acquired in the last year. They have no furniture as they move into their new homes. We've had a couple HCM supporters provide funds to buy furnishings for families, including the Merizema family written about above, and it is such a blessing. If you would like to help one of these families acquire a needed piece of furniture, please send your donation to our Kentucky address along with a note designating it toward purchasing home furniture. Betty Prophete recently shopped around Port-au-Prince to find out average prices. Here are some examples:
· full size bed - $200.00 (mattress, box springs and bed frame)
· twin bed - $150.00
· stove/oven - $334.00-$409.00
· table and six chairs - $275.00
· armoire (Haitian homes typically do not have built-in closets) - $300
· refrigerator - $402.00
 | | Two families who recently received new homes from HCM, Sony and Delianise and their three teenage children, and Levy and Solange who are joined by their two children, Levy's sister and their two nieces. |
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Other Happenings
· Oxilus, the pastor of the HCM church in Thoman, received a walker from Betty Prophete when she met with church leaders.
· A team from Suburban Christian Church of Corvallis, OR distributed 100 water filters in the villages of Thoman, Sarrazin, and Fonds Cheval as well as in the village across the lake that our teams can reach only by boat. They also spent two days with their sister church Fonds Cheval holding VBS, distributing food, and preaching.
· IDES completed another construction trip.
· Amy Heaney and a medical team from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota served over 600 patients in mobile clinics.
· A team from Georgia Tech served through VBS, construction, and food distribution.
· Foundation for Peace (FFP) partnered with HCM to hold mobile clinics in three villages. This organization has built a school at nearby Camp Hope, a tent community of displaced people managed by the American Refugee Committee and on Love a Child property. FFP is going to be doing more building in Fonds Parisien and will have a continued partnership with HCM. HCM has helped with food distribution in the community where they are working and FFP will be helping HCM acquire medical supplies.
· IDES provided a water filtration system for the HCM campus kitchen.
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