Showing resilience, reaching out: Haitians helping Haitians

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Nou sove. N ap serve.  "We survive. We serve."

Countless news reports have focused on the overwhelming worldwide response to the January 12 earthquake that shook Haiti. The continuing generous response of Christians around the globe will be necessary to help the Haitian people rebuild their crumbled nation, but make no mistake: They are not hopeless, and they are not helpless.

Tens of thousands of people died in the quake, and close to a million people are without homes. Hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of members of the Church of the Nazarene in Haiti have been affected. Still, more than 30 Nazarene congregations are using volunteers from the congregations to distribute food, water, blankets and crisis care kits to those with the greatest needs in their communities.

Right now, in tent cities and church distribution centers all over the capital city, Carrefour, and surrounding areas, church members are passing these lifelines to Haitian brothers and sisters. In the midst of such great need, simple acts of Christlike compassion are having a great and immediate impact.

A Church Delivers Hope

The Bel Air Church of the Nazarene is a stone's throw from the national cathedral and a short walking distance from the presidential palace, fallen buildings that have become iconic images of Haiti's brokenness and loss. The church is surrounded by block after block of devastation. Everyone in the area can point to collapsed buildings where their neighbors didn't survive. One woman gestured to the pile of concrete behind the church building to show where her pregnant sister had died. Before the earthquake, the area was home to one of the largest, busiest markets in the city, with people lining the streets. Now only a few people are out selling goods.

Resident and church member Marc Jean Louimette talked about his neighborhood in the days after the quake. The church lost eight members, and 50 more were injured. Some from the church recently visited 100 members who are sleeping in the streets. "[These people have] no food, no water. People are scared."

Prayer is bolstering many amid such fear, hunger, and loss. "It has strengthened people's faith," Louimette said. "People are praying harder and more." Still, he makes their practical needs clear: "People have to eat."

"It's hard," echoes Edgar, a neighbor from the area. "We all sleep on the street. Everybody. " Although he says he's not a Christian, Edgar admits to praying more than he used to.

Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM), in partnership with Heart to Heart International, has delivered food, care kits, and blankets to this congregation. Members are distributing these desperately-needed supplies to those living in the underserved neighborhood that has historically been marred by the effects of poverty and violence. In such a grave situation, these life-saving partnerships are strengthening and sustaining people daily.

Haitian Youth Exhibit Servant Hearts

The NCM/Heart to Heart International partnership has found strong and willing hands to help in the distribution effort. In the days following the quake, Haiti's national NCM coordinator, Walliere Pierre, organized youth volunteers through Haitian Nazarene Youth International (NYI) to sort hundreds of boxes of goods delivered through Heart to Heart.

Pierre described their theme simply: "Nou sove. N ap sevi" ("We survive. We serve").

In just the past week, the young people loaded box after box of care kits, blankets, food, and water onto a school bus that was then delivered to area churches. Those churches, using their own volunteers, are now distributing those life-saving supplies to their neighbors.

Christians Offer Encouragement

A sister church to Bel Air, Tabarre Church of the Nazarene experienced some earthquake damage to their building, but it continues to stand. Several hundred families who lost their homes during the quake are living behind the building in a spontaneous tent city. 

With support from NCM, the church responded to the need of these displaced families by setting up a distribution point in its building for supplies. The first day of distribution, more than 200 people from the tent city showed up to receive water and soup, blankets and hygiene kits.

Members wanted their neighbors to hear a simple message, Pastor Sadrack Nelson explained. "We wanted them to know that our church is concerned about the community," he said. "They can turn to the church when they need something."

"The church must be a source of encouragement," said Pastor Pierre. Setting up distribution points in churches all over the damaged city gives church members an opportunity to come face-to-face with their hurting brothers and sisters.

"It is our way to share in the suffering," Pierre said. "We feel as Christians it is our obligation to share in their suffering."

Building on Compassion

As we see the numerous ways our sisters and brothers in Haiti are doing what they can to ease one another's burdens, it issues a challenge to all of us: How can we do more of the same? The reality on the ground in Haiti is chaotic and daunting, and the nation's future is unsure. We are just at the beginning of the distribution efforts, and aid will be needed for months to come.

There are encouraging signs, and churches are finding creative ways to send aid. After Pastor Scott Walker from New Hope Church of the Nazarene in Fairfield, California, spoke to his congregants about specific earthquake needs, a church member called a contact at Far West Rice. After originally pledging 5,000 pounds, Far West upped its original donation to send an entire container-more than 40,000 pounds - full of rice. The company is also donating the container and covering the expenses of packing and shipping to Miami, where it will then be loaded onto a cargo container headed for Port-au-Prince.

The question is ever-present on the mind of our compassionate community: What can we do for our Haitian brothers and sisters? What lessons do we have to learn from the compassion that they are showing for each other in this time of need? The people are already resilient and resourceful. We can follow their example, both in Haiti and in our own communities, with generosity and ingenuity, encouragement and mountain-moving faith.

Now, more than ever, donations are needed to mobilize the necessary food and water to continue to meet the needs of Nazarene churches and their surrounding communities.

Persons and churches wishing to make a donation for Haiti Earthquake Relief online can do so through Nazarene Compassionate Ministries at ncm.org. Checks can be marked "Haiti Earthquake Relief ACM1204" and mailed to Global Treasury Services, PO Box 843116 Kansas City, MO 64184. In Canada, checks should be made payable and sent to the Church of the Nazarene Canada, 20 Regan Road, Unit 9, Brampton, Ontario L7A 1C3.
--NCM

 

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