Thursday, March 10, 2011

Click to play this Smilebox collage
Create your own collage - Powered by Smilebox
Make a free picture collage


The Apostle Paul lamented he didn't do the things he should and did the things he should not. Well, life goes too rapidly when I want it slow, but I am too impatient to wait for the things that take so much time. Perhaps these imperfections are what make us human. This Ash Wednesday week is all about looking at our humanity. Genesis 2, God says, you came from dust AND to dust you return. That is a very big "and".

I'm scheduled to return to La Gonave, March 20th. This time without Joe but with three who will experience Haiti for the first time. I want so much, but experience tells me the time will quickly pass as we meet to talk about issues of water, education, industry and construction on the Anse a Galets' Methodist Chapel.

Before leaving, there is a grant application to propose to UMCOR, a building estimate to somehow get from the contractor in AAG, a project profile to file, and even the need to finalize transportation to the island.

Involved in some of this is the Kansas East Haiti Task Force and Conference VIM/Disaster Response committees, who are probably wandering just how this all ties into our KEC / EMH Covenant.

Experiencing life in Haiti for two years and one week of the earthquake and the disaster of human suffering makes me impatient. I want people out of the muck, eating food on a daily basis. I want things "picked up and put away" and water pumping clear and clean. I want the chaos in the world to stop happening just long enough that we can "get things picked up and put away" like after a birthday party. The only pattern I'm finding in the chaos is more chaos. I want to understand that there are others walking the wilderness with me. I guess I've needed this Ash Wednesday week to help me understand the Lenten journey.

To focus on the "and" between the dust of birth and ashes of death for my life alone is not only scary but self-centered. The AND includes Haiti, Liberia and my daughter.

I'm sure there is an answer to the song, "What's It All About, Alfie?" But, like God said through Haggai, "my house is in ruin; rebuild my house." Not to worry about the "dust or ashes" but to trust the journey does not end in the wilderness.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Project La Gonave

Click to play this Smilebox collage
Create your own collage - Powered by Smilebox
Make a photo collage


We have been asked by the Haitian Methodist Church to finish building the church in Anse a Galets as a post earthquake project.

We visited with the pastor and his wife in early December for information related to publishing a project profile with the United Methodist Church. We took photos of the church where we had hosted construction teams in 2008.

The partially completed building has hosted three women's conferences since 2008 with the last, a large conference in July following the earthquake.

The women and congregation have been providing an outreach ministry to the poorest of Anse a Galets and local area with few resourses. We provided funding for the conferences and Shirley was honored to be a keynote speaker at the first scheduled conference. At that time birthing kits were distributed to many very poor, pregnant young women from the airport area of AAG.

Following our visit and photo shoot in Dec. we contacted a contractor, recommended by AAPLAG, to prepare an estimate to complete the building.

The Smilebox Collage, "La Gonave Project" has photos of the church, that will zoom with a curser click, plus other issues we noted in our December visit.

World Vision and Concern have been trying to address post earthquake issues by building some transitional houses and checking wells. The KEC Water Project is an on-going concern, particularly since most cisterns and wells were damaged by the initial earthquake and a 6.3 tremor that followed on the island the next day.

It is difficult to discern the exact damage to churches, schools and cisterns as most were damaged by previous hurricanes in 2008, numerous tropical storms and lack of upkeep.

We believe it is critical to the 16 Haitian Methodist Churches on La Gonave that recovery projects help them repair and complete churches in outreach ministry as we also look at providing transitional homes for the more that 1100 local homeless and 10,000 earthquake refugees on the island of La Gonave.

We ask for prayers this building project be approved and the UMC can join with other NGO's and Christian Denominations to help the broken people on La Gonave.