Foundry Mission Trips

NewsChannel 8 coverage of Foundry Haiti VIM team, Feb. 25

2012-02-27T16:52:00.001-05:00

NewsChannel 8 reporter Whitney Wild filed a segment about the Foundry Haiti VIM team after we returned to Washington:

Local volunteers work to rebuild Haiti (2/25/12, NewsChannel 8)

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/02/local-volunteers-work-to-rebuild-haiti-73027.html

The piece captures both the challenges Haitians continue to face in recovering from the 2010 earthquke and their spirit-filled determination.

Foundry VIM team visits Hotel Montana memorial site, Feb. 22

2012-02-23T09:59:00.000-05:00

The Foundry VIM team visited the Hotel Montana memorial site in Port-au-Prince on Feb. 22. Two UMCOR executives died from injuries sustained during the collapse of the hotel in the 2010 earthquake. Left to right: Mark Schoeff, Lauren VanEnk, Lynn Kim, Dawn Hand, Joe Brennan, Becky Hein, Ace Parsi, our interpreter Jean Claude, Harold Raymond.

Foundry VIM conducts Ash Wednesday service in Mellier, Feb. 22

2012-02-23T09:39:00.000-05:00

Foundry Associate Pastor Dawn Hand conducted an Ash Wednesday service in Mellier on Feb. 22, prior to the VIM team's departure. The ashes were a mixture of those from Foundry and Mellier.

Foundry Haiti VIM team: Day Six

2012-02-23T09:35:00.001-05:00

The last full day in Haiti for the Foundry VIM team -- Wednesday, Feb. 22 -- began with faith and ended with works.

Before departing the Mellier worksite, Foundry Associate Pastor Dawn Hand conducted an Ash Wednesday service for 20 people, including the nine Foundry VIM team members and 11 Haitians.

Pastor Dawn imposed an ash mixture comprised of ashes from Foundry and those gathered from the coals used by the four-person Mellier kitchen staff, who prepared the VIM team's meals.

Eguins Louissaint bid the VIM team farewell on behalf of the Mellier community.

"I believe one day we will be together again to worship in the (Methodist) church of Mellier," Eguins said. "We do not share the same language, but we share the same language of God. I love you."

After leaving Mellier, the Foundry team toured Port-au-Prince, viewing the national palace, which still lies in ruins, and a tent city that continues to occupy a prominent downtown square.

After lunch, the team visited the Hotel Montana, where Clint Rabb and Sam Dixon, United Methodist Committee on Relief executives, died from injuries sustained in the collapse of the hotel in the January 2010 earthquake. The team said a prayer at memorial on the site.

In the afternoon, the team returned to the Methodist Guest House in Petionville.

After relaxing briefly, the team reported to United Methodist Volunteers in Mission leadership about their Mellier experience, an important final action to complete their week in Haiti.

Over the course of more than five hours, the group met with Tom Vencuss, project coordinator for the Haiti Response Plan, a partnership between UMCOR, UMVIM and Eglise Methodiste de Haiti; Lauen James, UMCOR liaison to EMH, and Pastor Fede Jean Pierre, superintendent for the EMH circuit that includes Mellier.

Nicole Woo, Lauren VanEnk and Ace Parsi outlined several of the concerns related to them by the Mellier community, including teacher salaries and training, the hiring of local workers at the Mellier construction site, a school lunch program and micro-finance in Mellier.

In each meeting, the Foundry team sought to ensure that the $7200 Foundry raised to support teacher salaries and the school lunch program reached its intended recipients.

Pastor Fede said that his circuit is considering changing the worksite-pay system so that the workers are compensated directly by the church district instead of by the site boss.

He also said that he is trying to get local communities more involved in supporting their schools.

As Haiti struggles to recover from the earthquake, the Haiti Response Plan faces its own challenges in trying to help the country. The group is supporting 25 worksites while developing other initiatives.

"There's so much to do, and we have limited resources," said Pastor Tom.

On Thursday, Feb. 23, the VIM team will leave Haiti on a 10:30 a.m. flight to Miami. We're due to arrive in Washington in the early evening.
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Foundry team listens to Mellier community

2012-02-21T20:18:00.001-05:00

Harold Raymond conducted Q+A in Creole during the Foundry VIM team's meeting with the Mellier community on Feb. 21.

Foundry Haiti VIM team presents gifts

2012-02-21T20:12:00.000-05:00

Foundry Haiti VIM team leader Nicole Woo presents gifts to the school faculty and church leaders in Mellier.

Foundry Haiti VIM: Day Five, Feb. 21

2012-02-21T20:07:00.000-05:00

The Foundry Haiti VIM team reached out to members of the Mellier community today to learn about their daily challenges and pass their concerns along to the Haiti Response Plan in Port au Prince and to the Foundry congregation.

In the morning, Nicole Woo, Lauren VanEnk and Ace Parsi met with the faculty of the school in Mellier that convenes at the VIM site.

The teachers told the VIM team that they struggle with lack of training and low and inconsistent pay. But they continue on because of their love of education.

At the end of the day, the Foundry VIM team met with 30 Mellier citizens in the makeshift church on the site.

The Mellier residents cited a lack of water and a dearth of jobs as two of the community's biggest problems. The former is undermining agriculture while the latter results in idle youth who can cause trouble. Mellier also needs some kind of training school for post-secondary education, according to one speaker.

Lunch, too, was a community affair, with the school faculty and church leaders joining the Foundry team. After lunch, the team presented four duffel bags full of gifts for the school and the church.

For the second day, Lauren, Becky Hein, Lynn Kim and Dawn Hand conducted Vacation Bible School. They led 52 students in several activities.

Work on the construction site continued. The Foundry team played key roles on a cement-supply chain that produced substantial progress on support beams for a balcony in the church-multipurpose facility.

While construction was going on, Becky and other Foundry VIM team members taught local women to make jewelry.

Becky hopes the women will be able to start their own micro-business.

"Today we taught people how to fish," Becky said.

The Foundry team has built on the foundation of the two previous teams to journey to Mellier over the last year.

"We are touched that you have come to live among us," said Patrick Pierre, principal of the school.

The Foundry team benefited from the generous hospitality of the community. The cooks and interpreters were a blessing. They made our Haiti experience comfortable and joyous.

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Foundry VIM team at the tap tap

2012-02-20T20:21:00.001-05:00

The Foundry VIM team steps out of a popular form of transportation in Mellier -- a tap tap. From left to right: Lauren VanEnk, Harold Raymond, Joe Brennan, Nicole Woo, Becky Hein, Ace Parsi, Mark Schoeff, Dawn Hand, one of our interpreters, Caz, and Lynn Kim.

Preparing Vacation Bible School lesson

2012-02-20T20:11:00.000-05:00

Lynn Kim (l) and Becky Hein prepare a Vacation Bible School activity on Feb. 20 in Mellier.

Lauren teaches Vacation Bible School

2012-02-20T20:08:00.000-05:00

Foundry VIM team member Lauren VanEnk helped lead Vacation Bible School on Feb. 20 in Mellier.

Foundry Haiti VIM: Day Five, Feb. 20

2012-02-20T20:05:00.001-05:00

Monday was a holiday both in the United States and in Haiti, giving the Foundry VIM team a chance to conduct Vacation Bible School.

Lauren VanEnk, Lynn Kim and Becky Hein led nearly 100 children in arts and crafts, Bible lessons and games.

Meanwhile, the VIM team construction crew continued to work on the church- multipurpose building, forming a cement-transport assembly line to build a balcony in the structure.

Later in the afternoon, the VIM team toured nearby Leogane. We took a bouncy ride in a tap tap along unpaved side streets. Our visit included a stop at a sugar-cane processing facility, a hospital and the sprawling Leogane market.

On the way back, we passed a housing division comprised of new homes built in place of those that crumbled in the 2010 earthquake.
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Mellier at play

2012-02-19T21:52:00.001-05:00

Joe Brennan, a member of the Foundry Haiti VIM team, mixes it up with the kids of Mellier who visited the VIM living and worksite on Sunday, Feb. 19.

Making jewelry in Mellier

2012-02-19T21:49:00.001-05:00

Lynn Kim, a member of the Haiti VIM team, makes jewelry for children of Mellier following a meeting of community women led by the women of the VIM group.

Foundry Haiti VIM team participates in Feb. 19 church service

2012-02-19T21:45:00.000-05:00

The Foundry VIM team presented gifts to Eglise Methodiste de Mellier and led the congregation in singing "Marching in the Light of God" at the Feb. 19 service.

Foundry VIM in Haiti: Day 4, Feb. 19

2012-02-19T21:42:00.001-05:00

Two members of the Foundry VIM team delivered messages and the group sang and presented several gifts to the Eglise Methodiste de Mellier during the church's service on Sunday, Feb. 19.

The Foundry team was greeted warmly by the 160 people attending the morning worship. We led a Creole-English rendition of "Marching in the Light of God" and presented to the church four hymnals, a bowl, a chalice and a digital audio edition of the Bible in Creole.

Meditations from two Foundry VIM team members highlighted the service. Ace Parsi, a Haiti VIM veteran, told the congregation how happy he was to return to Mellier.

"God and the church are in the people here," Parsi said. "I have never felt the presence of God as I do when I stand with the people here."

Harold Raymond, another VIM team member and a Haitian-American, addressed the congregation in Creole.
Moved by the opportunity to share a message with fellow Haitians, Harold gave an emotional meditation, saying the Foundry group was responding to God's call to help Haiti rebuild and relieve its suffering.

He then led the congregation in a spirited version of the hymn "Quel Beau Nom."

Later in the day, the women of the Foundry VIM team led a meeting of nearly 50 Mellier women. They covered health, economics and education.

Afterwards, they made jewelry and played with the nearly two dozen children who attended the event.

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Foundry team and community work on project

2012-02-18T22:25:00.001-05:00

Workers from Mellier and other communities join Foundry VIM team members Lauren VanEnk (l) and Becky Hein (c) at the Mellier construction site. Becky is a member of Benevola UMC in Boonsboro, Md.

Foundry VIM team interacts with community

2012-02-18T22:21:00.000-05:00

Foundry VIM team member Ace Parsi (l) talked with Eguins Louissaint, a young man from Mellier working alongside the Foundry team at the construction site.

Haiti VIM: Day 3, Feb. 18

2012-02-18T22:17:00.001-05:00

Each time Foundry sends a VIM team to Haiti, it participates in a project designed to employ Haitians and boost the local economy.

The Foundry team in Mellier this week is rebuilding a multipurpose facility that will house a church and other programs.

The Foundry team is working alongside 11 construction personnel from Mellier and surrounding communities.

One of the leaders of the Mellier group, Eguins Louissaint, sat down with Foundry VIM team member Ace Parsi today. Here is Ace's reflection:

I asked a young man, Eguins, for one message to give to our congregation.

He said, "Continue to pray so God can bless the church and especially those in necessity so that God can make a way for them, too."

There is certainly necessity AND potential in Haiti. Eguins, in his early 20s, has finished his second year in college-level economics and can't afford to continue.

Similarly, Haiti's soil is rich and ideal to grow rice, but all around we see bags of rice with American flags. These bags represent the subsidized crops that put many Haitian farmers out of work.

Answers are not simple. The people pushing the bags of rice thought they were hiring American farmers and feeding a nation, not taking the livelihood of others.

Well-meaning answers are not enough. We must be willing to sit with the discomfort, ask people how we can walk toward their dreams, not the dreams we hold for them -- and work for solutions that are long-term and sustainable.

I asked Eguins to close our conversation with prayer. He said, "Dear God, even though we have a different skin color, language and culture, you have made it so we worship one God."

Late Saturday afternoon, the Foundry team took a walking tour of Mellier, a small town that was hit hard by the 2010 earthquake.

We saw rebuilding and striking economic progress as well as deep challenges that remain for the vast majority of its residents.

God, give us as a team and as a congregation the wisdom and the resolve to be true to the spirit of brotherhood Eguins and we pray for.
Amen.

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Foundry VIM trip to Haiti: Construction site, Feb. 18

2012-02-17T21:26:00.000-05:00

Foundry VIM team members Harold Raymond (l) and Nicole Woo participated in a cement-conveyor belt at the Mellier worksite on Feb. 17.

Foundry VIM team arrives in Mellier: Feb. 17

2012-02-17T21:23:00.000-05:00

Lauren VanEnk (l) and Ace Parsi (r) were engulfed by the children of Mellier, who were happy to see the veterans of previous Haiti VIM trips return.

Haiti Day Two: Feb. 17, 2012

2012-02-17T21:09:00.001-05:00

Nearly a dozen children rushed to greet the van carrying the Foundry VIM team this morning as it pulled into Mellier.

The buzz demonstrated that previous Foundry teams created an enduring connection to the people in this rural community about 10 kilometers east of Port au Prince in Leogane, the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake.

The following is a reflection by Foundry VIM team member Lauren VanEnk, who is on her second VIM trip to Haiti:

Everything is growing! Today we arrived at our work site in Mellier, and the only thing familiar about it was the shining faces of the children. The church community center had grown from a bare foundation to a full two-story building.

The rocky path behind the kitchen was suddenly a full garden of tomatoes and green peppers.

Even the number of children at the school has grown. The progress is amazing!

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Haiti VIM team arrives

2012-02-16T22:45:00.001-05:00

On Thursday, February 16, 2012, wrote:
By Dawn Hand

Greetings. The Foundry VIM team arrived this evening, Feb. 16, at the Methodist Mission House in Petion-Ville, outside of Port-au-Prince.

We had an adventurous ride from the airport through the Haitian capital on the back of a paddy wagon.Nine people and luggage bounced around on the dusty, winding roads.

During the journey, we saw some of the effects of the 2012 earthquake that left 300,000 dead and 1.5 million homeless.Signs of rebuilding -- new housing structures rising from the ground -- stood alongside reminders of the devastation -- several tent camps.

As soon as we arrived at the Methodist Guest House, we sat down for a dinner of fried chicken, rice and beans, yams and salad. Yum.

Following an orientation session by a Haiti Response Plan official, the Foundry team met. We distributed devotional books and reflected on our first impressions of the country.The team will be sleeping on bunk beds tonight in the guest house.

Early Friday morning, we will head to Mellier, about two hours outside of Port-au-Prince.I'm glad to be here and to be working with our team, which includes Ace Parsi, Becky Hein, Harold Raymond, Joe Brennan, Lauren VanEnk, Lynn Kim, Mark Schoeff Jr. and Nicole Woo.

In Mellier, we will help with construction of a multi-purpose facility and help teach Vacation Bible School with the kids.

Mark Schoeff Jr. contributed to this report.

2011-10-15T22:13:00.000-04:00

Saturday October 15, 2011

As I sit here looking out the window, beyond the runway at the mountainside and landscape of an over-populated and crisis-ridden country, I can't help but feel a huge sense of guilt for leaving it behind as I head back to Washington, DC.

What was my second mission trip to Haiti in less than eight months, can now only be spoken about through photographs and personal testimony. I have spent the last nine days witnessing children, families and those who somehow seem as if they have been forgotten, struggle to make peace of the hand they have been dealt after the devastation that fell upon them on January 12, 2010. Who could believe that almost two years ago, on a beautiful sun filled day, a terrible earthquake would essentially rock their world?!

The one thing I would like to convey to folks reading this is how much HOPE the people of Haiti have for themselves and one another.

Almost every single young person I came across is currently in school or trying to find a way to enroll in school if their parents cannot provide the necessary resources. The biggest problem I saw was that most students that reach the age of 18 or older and "age out" of school have no way of continuing their education because it is extremely expensive. That is a very poor message for these kids to be taught. "Go to school, invest money in your education instead of learning a trade or just quitting at a young age and getting a menial job and then when you reach the age of being eligible to enter college (20+), their won't be any other options for you unless you have the money that it takes to attend".

Unlike the United States, there are no options for student loans or forgiveness programs or even scholarships. It is a very brokem system!

The people of Haiti are filled with hope and love! They are extremely gracious and generous with what they have. I will end this entry with a story of how one night after dinner, a young man named Egans c

ame to the site carrying a heavy "old skool" 19' television set and a portable dvd player.

He carried these things almost 1 mile from him home so the team, as well as many other kids from the village could watch a movie (being powered by a generator). You see, this young man had been talking about the movie The Sandlot with our team mate Brian all week and how he wanted him to watch this movie so he found a television set, a dvd player and somehow purchased the movie from a street vendor and made it happen. WoW! Talk about being resourceful, not to mention extremely thoughtful!

I hope I was able to convey how lovely everyone is and I realize this is just a snapshot of the kindness and hopeful nature that the Haitians hold for other people. I had an amazing experience and the pleasure was all mine. I cannot wait to go back again soon!

Laurie

With God EVERYthing is possible

2011-10-15T06:51:00.005-04:00

It was a running joke this week between team members and those in the community we met. It was possible for it to rain hard, and it was possible for it not to. With God, everything is possible. It was possible to go to bed and possible not to. With God, everything is possible. It was possible for a young man, Eagens, to carry a large TV and DVD player hundreds of yards through rural Haiti so that we could watch a movie together and possible for him not to. With God, everything is possible (and as it turned out in the case of Eagens probable).

This running joke about possibility defines my Haiti experience. It reflects that with God, the seemingly impossible can happen... or it could not. It’s possible for people who don’t speak the same language to come together and sing joyously together. It is possible. As I got violently ill by mid-week, it was possible for the women in the community to run to me, wash my head, and wipe my face with their bare hands as I knelt and vomited. In Haiti that kind of love was possible. It’s possible for people who have been beaten down by years of injustice and desperate circumstances to continue to have faith, to work, and show such great love. It is possible.

With our Haitian brothers and sisters, these weren’t mere possibilities. They were miracles that happened that created inextricable bonds in Mellier and why we felt so strongly about questions we would ask back at the Methodist guest house. How had the teachers we’d met last time still not gotten their fair pay? How was it that though we’d paid for workers to get 5 days of food, that they hadn’t eaten the last day? How had the work not progressed more since our February trip?

We reflected on these questions with Tom Vencus, the UMVIM Director in Haiti, for over two and a half hours. Together we wrestled with the difficult questions of how to make sure that the people we came to love and share community with could be served and engaged at the level they deserved. Our role in this was clear. It is not simply to move dirt from one place to another for a week and come home. It is to create and nurture the deep relationships we made and through these relationships become advocates for the people we met. Our presence and questions serve to continue to help hold leaders feet to the fire and more effectively serve those whom we came to know and love.

With God everything is possible. We learned that this week. Yet it’s not divine grace alone that creates these miracles. It’s a combination of divine grace and persistent human action and willingness to make the hard decisions. Through these decisions and actions justice is possible and yes, injustice is possible. Authentic community is possible and yes, deep distrust is possible. Love is possible and yes, indifference is possible. With God everything is possible and we as a church and ministry team must do our part to make justice, community, and love here in Haiti the possibility we know it can be and that our Haitian brothers and sisters deserve it to be.

(Note I'm responsible on reflecting on day 8 of our trip here. Stay tuned for other members entries for other days!)

2011-10-13T18:08:00.004-04:00

Thursday October 13, 2011

Started around midnight with a beautiful moon halo, which some members of our team had never seen before.

Brian and Kaiyra and Onel and Pierre Louis finished the dirt pile! The rest of us did our part to make the work go faster by watching it happen. Someone has to do that. Brian continued working up a storm with the workers, along with Angie and Kaiyra. Some of us helped clean up the classroom that had been flooded, and put up tarps to keep out the rain.

We invited the teachers to have lunch with us. We heard their anger and frustration as Ernson told us they hadn't been paid since June. They told us how they felt there was a lack of support for education. In their words, if the schools close, the jails open. Caz talked about the potential of young people, but also their hopelessness because of the lack of opportunity.

Pastor Jacob visited us. It was great to see him again. The teachers and Patrick expressed a lot of trust in him. We shared our concerns with Pastor Jacob and he encouraged us to continue to raise the questions.

We found out that the workers had not received lunch, although we had provided VIM funds for this. This was really upsetting.

Pastor Fed and other church leaders arrived for a meeting. Ace and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to speak with him and Pastor Jacob and Patrick about the issue of the worker lunches, and the teacher salaries. We didn't get clear answers, but we expressed our concerns.

The issues and relationships are so complex here. On one hand, it would be completely naïve to think we could possibly understand what's going on in a week, or even in a year or 5 years. At the same time, we were clearly being encouraged to use our voice to ask the questions, to ask for accountability. Our team was not of one mind, as we struggled to be faithful in such a challenging context. I can only imagine the choices and challenges our Haitian sisters and brothers face each day as they too struggle to be faithful people and leaders in the midst of such injustice.

Jana Meyer

2011-10-12T19:59:00.000-04:00

Wednesday October 12, 2011

'One Day at a Time'

On a day like today you are not awakened by noisy commuters passing by below your window, nor by car horns asserting themselves as each vehicle moves down the block, or even by a siren in the distance rushing to an emergency. Rather you are awakened by a cacophony of the animal kingdom both of land and air. When you arise it is barely day break and the people have already commenced daily activities of setting up

Such a full day today. In the morning, our team was able to teach the school children a condensed geography lesson. We showed US and World maps and our connection to each other. The children are so bright and there is so much energy and love in them despite the incessant impressions of hopelessness they face everyday they offer so much hope for Haiti. The children shared with us that they like colors, cars, soccer, jump-rope, and one very vocal young man said he loves to make his garden! It is painful to know that even if most of these kids are able to make it through primary school there is little support that would allow them to matriculate to high school or even finish and for a great majority of them college is out of the question. shop at the marketplace, gathering hand tools for the days work, or carrying water from the well. In each activity in each day there is such a sense of community, everyone does his/her part and the movements continue all working individually for a collective purpose.

My eyes have definitely been opened up to new ways of performing routine tasks; washing and drying clothes, storing food, cooking food, cleaning dishes. It really is a different way of life, a simple life, a resilient life, a get-up-everyday-and-do-what-is-required-life.

In the afternoon we visit Leogane, the epicenter of the earthquake. Haiti once thrived on exports to sustain her economy yet due to constant political unrest and a shift in agricultural resources Haiti now imports more goods than it exports. Here in Leogane we visited a sugarcane factory which was once a thriving business and was nearly disposed of with the fall of the Duvalier government. The factory continues to run today but not as robust as it once had. We did see a silver lining in the cloud when we visited a Co-op. Local growers are able to come to the cooperative center to turn their peanuts, fruits, and other crops in to marketable goods such as peanut butter and confiture. The center was initially funded by foreign investment but now is fully funded without outside endorsement.

In the midst of broken buildings, disturbed roadways, and collapsed homes the spirit of the people is resolute. The effects of the damage from the event will be everlasting for most because all people lost something or someone. Often we forget these images and struggles because they no longer reside even in the depths of our memory once the cameras are turned off here and show furor of the next cataclysm. We need to remember that our Haitian brothers and sisters were already living in a world of fear, pain, disappointment, and poverty. Thank God for the resiliency of Haiti because she refuses to be kept down.

Kaiyra Greer

2011-10-10T21:29:00.000-04:00

Monday October 10, 2011

Today was the first day of work at the construction site in Mellier. We are working alongside a Haitian construction team to build a new Methodist church because the former church was badly damaged in the January 2010 earthquake. In fact, most buildings in this area were destroyed since Mellier was at the epicenter. Our primary task on the site is moving dirt, which we have all become quite skilled at in a short time.

However, the work is not the reason we are here. We're here to spend time with the children,

with the workers,

and with the community members who choose to show up each day after nearly two years of construction to keep building their church.

In spite of accomplishing so much today, it was a day characterized by nothing but rain. Rain, rain and more rain.

The rain started mid-afternoon during a game of football with the kids, and it continued in the evening and night. The storm drove us all to find cover from the rain which led, of course, to games of uno and dominos.

The flooding began just before dinner. People began to show up out of nowhere in order to help. They moved quickly, hanging tarps, fillings cracks between the walls and floor, sweeping, mopping, and ultimately digging a ditch to drain the excess water building up.

It's a strange sensation, the selflessness of people around us and the instant bonds with total strangers.

Why is it that at home, this is so hard to come by?

[Listening to music in the rain]

2011-10-09T06:53:00.006-04:00

Foundry Mission Trip to Mellier, Haiti: October 7-15, 2011
Sunday October 9^th2011

After a breakfast of eggs, ham, pancakes, and fruit we made our way to church by 9 o’clock to worship God with our Haitian brothers and sisters. Before the service, Terry, Brian, and I met District Superintendent Fed, who oversees the Methodist church in Mellier and several others in the region. He is a strong-featured, tall, dark-skinned, man with salt and pepper hair that is more salt than pepper, with a bearing that presages his wisdom before he speaks. We asked him what he thought about the recent election of President Martelly and his answer was essentially that Martelly’s campaign reflected the prevailing ethos—the longing for competent government because it is understood that such stability would enable Haitians to improve their lives economically; Fed is hopeful that Martelly’s campaign promises, including increased access to education, come to pass…and while hoping, he continues his efforts to meet people’s spiritual (and economic) needs through the church.

Fed and Ace shared the pulpit, and without prior coordination their sermons dovetailed seamlessly: Superintendent Fed discussed the passage from Exodus when the Israelites erect the golden calf (Exodus 32) and Ace discussed the passage in Matthew concerning the treasure we store on Earth versus that which we store in heaven (Matthew 6). In his remarks, Fed stated three reasons why God did not kill the Israelites as God initially intended: (1) God is forgiving and merciful and willing to change his plans to bring us into closer relationship with him; (2) Moses has an intimate relationship with God and has the courage to challenge God on behalf of his people, demonstrating Moses’s commitment to discipleship while remaining in solidarity with his community; and (3) Moses argues compellingly that killing the Israelites would contradict God’s covenant with the Israelites and undermine his capacity to convert non-believers.

Not to be outdone, Ace admonished the audience not to seek personal achievement as a source of fulfillment, but rather community—while using our gifts for constructive purposes is useful as far as it goes, we should not conflate putting our energies toward productive ends with earning what God has given freely (even lavishly!). Our responsibility is to accept these bounties and to see in our neighbors—those we meet personally and those we don’t, but to whom we are inextricably connected nonetheless—another of God’s creations made in his image. We love others as we love ourselves, and as Christ loves us, by sharing openly and compassionately with one another; by singing, dancing, eating, working, and sharing in each other’s struggles, we a construct a space that allows us to engage dynamically the paradox of being an individual but an individual who is only fully realized in relation to other individuals, and by living into that paradox we move ever close to bringing to fruition the kingdom of heaven on earth.

To encapsulate Superintendent Fed and Ace’s messages: God’s heart is larger than we could ever imagine and as such he accommodates our frailties and missteps; nonetheless, he has given us guidelines for how to relate to ourselves, each other, and to him, guidelines that we have the free will to use or not use; however, if we do commit to making real God’s vision for us as his children, we’ll know we’re getting closer to it when it models faith, love, compassion, justice, and equity (all the while knowing that there will always be more we can do; to quote a Haitian proverb: “Beyond mountains, there are mountains” or, to paraphrase existentialist philosopher Albert Camus, we must imagine that Sisyphus found meaning in the effort he put forth regardless of the outcome).

Before either Ace or Pastor Fed spoke, we presented to the congregation a Bible inscribed by Foundry’s senior minister Dean Snyder. Then we sang “God Is So Good” in both Creole and English. This “gesture” to use Jana’s word, we hope demonstrated our desire to be fully immersed in our experience as members of the Mellier community, despite language and cultural barriers.

As the two-hour service progressed, I was captivated by the sights and sounds around me. Of particular note was a mother dressed in a fine eggplant-colored blouse, a black pencil skirt, three-inch strappy sandals, her hair smoothly pulled back in a dignified bun, soothing her fourth-month old daughter—the baby in a white lace gown—as she sang, stood up and sat at the appointed times that the choir was called to make its soul-stirring, joyful sounds. The emotional and physical dexterity she demonstrated were inspiring to witness. This woman was among the over 100 congregants who showed up for church in their Sunday best, admittedly looking far better than us that day, or most other Sundays for that matter. And it’s important to note that when in the States we by and large have the material conveniences to make our grooming and other aspects of our morning preparations far less onerous than most Haitians’ we met that morning—I can’t recall the last time I went to a well for water to wash myself or used fire-heated rocks to iron my clothes. Laurie and Lauren made fast friends with two children under two—both of these children sat with them throughout the service; Laurie was not able to take communion because the girl she was holding was sleeping so peacefully in her lap that Laurie dared not disturb her.

After church, we took a van to the local beach. At the beach entrance, we were greeted by a security official with a machine gun. After we paid our entry fee (and passed the muster of his glare), we made our way to picnic tables on a patio-like structure, and ordered food—fish, goat, and chicken. It took us well over an hour to receive our food (…what my hurry was, I don’t know…let go, Angie, let go!), but it was quite satisfying once we got it—food tastes even better when you have extra time to anticipate it! Over our meal, Jana and Lauren did an excellent job of using Creole and French to engage Dina, the woman who cooks for us at the worksite and who joined us on the trip. We were grateful that she was open to taking time to enjoy herself in our company!

To pass the time on the shore, some of us read, worked out (I did a few pushups and air squats to get the blood moving!), and others chose the universally appreciated game for inserting a bit of fun and interactive vigor into the day—soccer (…er non-pig-skin football)! Terry, Laurie, our translators Jean Claude and Kaz, Patrick—the man who drove the van and who is also Mellier’s school principal—and his sons, showed great skill, though not infrequently a kick would just miss its intended target and someone would schlep into the water to retrieve it. Others of us swam (or waded, to be more precise), and while we did all of these activities, we were surrounded on two sides by undulating bluish-green hills and mountains, and were able to see our feet in turquoise waters that came up to our waists 50 yards out from the shoreline.

The luxury of the beach’s beauty and easy tranquility were a stark contrast to the want for basic necessities evidenced by the makeshift homes and meager roadside stalls we passed on the trip back to the worksite (…which, of course, were there on our way to the beach…it’s just that our guilt for having just taken in such great pleasure left us disturbed as we saw the needs of the people before us).

It started to rain as we made our way back and we spent the remainder of the evening doing quiet activities—journaling, reading, playing cards (Uno was a crowd favorite), chatting with our new friends in a pidgin of gestures, Creole, French, and English. We had a light meal of okra and oatmeal—a combination I’d never had before, but is a tantalizing blend of textures and flavors—for dinner, given that we’d had a late and filling lunch. At around 8 o’clock or so, we capped off the evening with singing, each of us lending our voices to the harmony of God’s creation—individual voices evident, but clearly part of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Angela Simms

2011-10-08T21:44:00.002-04:00

Saturday October 8, 2011

We assemble for breakfast, the packing of the van and final briefing by Tom Vencuss as we set out for Mellier.

The van is full to the gills with of our luggage, food for a week, cost for 12 people, shovels and water. We receive our last minute briefing from Tom about safety, customs and procedures, and we circle for a prayer and leave with anticipation. Passing through Port au Prince and then on to the highway to Mellier we witness the swirls of market day, women with large bundles of goods balanced on their heads, scores of beeping mopeds, Tap Taps and autos speeding past thousands of blue tarped tents and temporary dwellings , home to thousands of displaced persons in the quake zone. We will come to know the constant dust, debris and animation of the Haitian life. Noises are everywhere, barking stray dogs, skinny and disliked; crowing rooters, chiming in at 4:30; strange sounds in the night of birds or who knows what. It is a scene which will be repeated throughout our week when we venture forth from the Mellier countryside. We will also come to know the constant warmth and welcoming love of the Haitian people and their children. We pick up our trusted interpreters, Jean Claude and Caz in Carrefour, who are well known from the prior VIM trip in February, and with good cheer we rumble on towards Mellier.

Arriving at the site, we see a small work crew shoveling dirt into the stem wall foundation of the new church and are greeted by young children who run to our prior VIM team’s members, bursting with animated greetings. Setting up our "camp” in the temporary school rooms and unlading supplies takes several hours at which point we break for a light lunch and are introduced to our loving cooking/ support team of Dina, Betty, Claudie, Michelin, and Marlene. We bring water to the workers and visit the temporary church/schoolhouse.

A light rain begins to fall mid-afternoon and an impromptu recreation session starts in one of the school rooms. We assemble crayons, color paper, paste along with a session of UNO and reading and 20 or so children of all ages along with several parents sit around the desks as we color, play and get to know each other.

It is a warm and loving introduction to these wonderful children of Mellier who glow in the attention and laugh at out bad French and silly jokes. For the first of many cycles, our tiny tape recorder is put to good use as we listen to one the two tapes of kids’ music we have brought: Cajun Boogaloo. As with many things in Haiti, we lean to improvise, make do with what we have and to slow down time to relish relationships and the simple things in life, held together by the palpable sense of common caring for each other that is thick in the air.

Later in the afternoon as after the rain has subsided, Jean Claude and Caz take us on a walking tour of Mellier. We amble down the rutted roads of the village, past vast sugar cane fields until we arrive at the local river, brown with silt erosion from the mountain, and a large gravel digging site, in which 40 workers and several large dump trucks are busy digging grave

l from the river. We pass by the homes of the villagers: clusters of three of four temporary tents, with outdoor charcoal fires for cooking in front, surrounded by the few possessions they have. We pass several of the large mapou trees known for their spiritual power in voodoo ceremonies, and we stop at the one bar in Mellier for a well-deserved cold Coke and reflection.

After a wondrous supper of goat, fried okra, beans and rice, plaintines, banana and mango, we have our evening reflection. We share our first thoughts on what God has put before us to understand: widespread poverty, endless displaced persons, damaged homes and amongst it all, the Haitian people, survivors, making the best of a desperate situation, bound by family, friends and a powerful sense of the Sprit. After dark we gather outside under the stars for the first of our evening Creole hymn sessions, led by Caz and the women of our team who know each of the hymns by heart; they are sung with a deep devotion and rhythmic repetition, showing the powerful soothing powers of these hymns for all of us. Our Creole is bad but we sing the hymns with gusto, and interlace English versions that are also known by our Haitian friends.

Our evening ends with the sounds of the Haitian night arising around us, a cool breeze and a sense of anticipation for the remainder of the week.

Terry Birkel

Haitian President Welcomes Foundry VIM Team

2011-10-07T21:45:00.006-04:00

On Friday October 7, 2011, Foundry United Methodist's VIM team arrived in Port au Prince, Haiti where they met President Martelly at the airport.

Foundry's VIM team will spend one week working in Mellier alongside Haitian construction workers to rebuild the local church and spend time with the children in the community.

Stay tuned! best picture is still to come!
posted by Lauren VanEnk

Sept. 18 at 4pm: Foundry Showing Film "Children of Haiti"

2011-09-15T23:11:00.003-04:00

Foundry's Haiti Ministry Team invites you to view this film about Haitian street children and their struggle for survival, education and acceptance, on Sunday, September 18 at 4:00 PM.

Followed by discussion of the film and the current situation in Haiti, led by members of the Foundry VIM trip to Haiti in February. Snacks will be served.

Please RSVP at http://foundryumc.org/calendar/index.html, or contact Ace Parsi at workforchangetoday@gmail.com for more details.

In the midst of Haiti’s lush mountains and historical relics, hundreds of thousands of orphaned and abandoned children wander the streets day and night. Known as the Sanguine (“Soulless”) and forgotten by their own people, they have struggled for survival since long before the devastating 2010 earthquake. STRANGE THINGS: Children of Haiti follows three teenage street boys, who reflect on their country and their lives, sharing a common dream of education, government assistance and social acceptance.

Following the evolution and transformation of these boys into young men, this cinematic documentary provides direct insight into Haiti’s ongoing abandoned youth problem. In the voices of the street boys themselves, the film examines a complicated issue which has not only plagued the country for decades, but grows more severe every day.

Shot in the historic northern city of Cap-Haitien over a period of three years, Children of Haiti reveals the country’s strange contrasts; a land of breathtaking landscapes and remarkable heritage, but also great human tragedy, all seen through the eyes of these prolific, poetic boys. Despite the nearly insurmountable obstacles, they show that a few can still manage to find hope, and even a little joy, in this harsh reality.

Terry Birkel reflects on preparing for Haiti

2011-09-06T17:07:00.003-04:00

From Terry Birkel

In June I applied to be part of the VIM team traveled to Haiti during October 6-13. This is my first VIM mission and although I have listened with interest to other VIM participants report their joy in mission work and have watched with wonder my children's beaming return from Appalachia Service projects. I always assumed I was too busy to fit in a similar trip for myself. I had gone on three trips with my family to New Orleans for post Katrina cleanup up work, and found them to be transformative. So that Sunday in June as I walked up to Ace Parsi and Jana Myer at the Haiti mission table, I put my “upside versus downside” analytical lawyer instincts on hold, went with my gut and jumped aboard. I sensed that it was time for this 64 year old to worry less about his golf game and to lift a hand for others -- a instinct I know now was one to feed my soul.

This non-decision of faith, of course, has proven to be correct. From the moment I filled the questionnaire asking for a description of my skills and what I thought I could add to the mission team, I began to re-experience the joys of voluntary service to others in need. We have had a number of team meetings where we discuss some of the nut and bolts of caring for oneself in a tropical, disease infected climate, etc. but more importantly with grappling with the exploration of what can one or a group of ten do when the problems are so immense.

We have shared fears of ourselves being at risk and how we draw on faith to follow a path that freely assist others, without specific training but by simple love, intentionality and openness. Personal beliefs were shared with the group. I recalled my post Katrina work trips and the sense of doing Christ's work in serving those in despair. I recall the friends I have made amongst the "victims" and the sense of accomplishment and connectedness I gained simply because I ”dared to be ordinary", showed up and said by word or deed, how can I help you; you matter to me; you are not forgotten; thank you for allowing me to be of service to you in your time of need; thank you for trusting me. This is the core of our Christian values, and it does not flourish, I learn time and again, unless I put myself on the line, share the dirt, backache and sweat of physical work; the anxiety of the unknown and of rejection and confusion, and remember that God has placed me on this path for a reason and as my kids say "it is all good."

I have also learned what it is to make new friends with Foundry members and the deep and abiding faith, an amazing vitality of my fellow congregants. Sometimes one attends church with a large congregation and although you know people, you really don’t know them until you have shared an experience such as this. A diverse group of people came together as a team to share their love and beliefs in hard work with people many miles from home. Working together our team has that quiet calm of purpose -- each easily sharing responsibility for the greater good. One evening in July, after exiting from a VIM team meeting onto the vibrant social crush of P Street and DuPont Circle, I tried to remain with that sense of purpose achieved in a room filled with my VIM team members, ordinary folk (as Dean would no doubt say) seeking to work as a group to plan to assist strangers in great need.

That sense of calmness has stayed with me -- despite our own recent earthquakes and hurricanes which left a 70-foot tree sprawled across my backyard. I frankly admit to some fear, having gotten shots for hep A and B, typhus, tetanus and secured my anti-malarial pills and mosquito bed netting.

In preparation I have read with wonder and remorse about the Haitian people and the seemingly unremitting history of despair, and rebirth. I have thought deeply about what I can bring to those who have suffered so much. I have read about Dr. Paul Farmer who has changed minds and medical practices in undeveloped world with his hospital in Haiti, and his identification with the philosophy that : "the only real nation is humanity.” I draw inspiration form his life work -- an example of a life based on hope as well as his abiding understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb “Beyond mountains there are mountains”: as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, so you go on and try to solve that too. I have no doubt, as always is the case when I have put aside inertia and given freely of myself, that I will return from our Haitian trip with the feeling that I have gained far beyond what I will have put in.

the ground shakes for all of us, but harder for some than others

2011-08-23T23:32:00.001-04:00

Some times as we go through our days, we are confronted with experiences that lead us to reflect more deeply about the conditions of our brothers and sisters whom we inhabit the world with. Whereas those connections may have been superficial and weak earlier, an event suddenly brings them into an intense focus. Layoffs at work may lead to reflection on the anxiety of the millions of families across the country wondering how they will make ends meet; a sick parent may lead one to think about the many in this country who still haven't benefited from the healthcare law; feeling excluded and demeaned for a quality can cause one to think about the struggles of those in the LGBT community who are still too often rejected for a quality God blessed them with. The more intense our experience and the deeper the reflection, the more likely that our feelings will take us beyond simple empathy and lead us into more proactive solidarity.

It may have been that I was coming back from getting my last shot in preparation for our VIM team's October trip to Haiti, but this was my experience today. As I was walking to my office, I saw people outside buildings in our DC community seeking safety and couldn't help but think about the continued struggles of our brothers and sisters in Haiti as they recover from last January's earthquake. Our nation's capital was hit today with a 5.9 magnitude earthquake. This led staffers working in the White House, Capitol, and other offices across the city out of buildings as a precautionary measure, soon a rumor came that one house in DC may have collapsed, and I received texts and calls from friends and family to see whether I was ok. Luckily, for the most part, our community was spared of anything worse than mere inconvenience.

As I stood outside my office building, I began to imagine what it must have been like last January as Haitians faced a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake. What would we have done had our Capitol collapsed today killing nearly half of our elected officials as happened in Port Au Prince? What had Haitian parents and citizens been going through as they faced the reality that they didn't know their loved ones' whereabouts and had no way to reach them? What if the city's infrastructure today charged with leading the recovery was also left decimated? Even as a wealthy country, how fast would we recover as families? How fast would we have recovered as a nation? Unfortunately, Haiti's problem did not start today. It's part of a cycle of injustice that originates from its history as a French slave colony and has continued through decades of both internal and external exploitation.

Tomorrow, we'll go back to business as usual (pun somewhat intended). Still, the decisions made in our city will determine whether Haitians will have the resources to help them on their road to recovery and ensure that this recovery will be sustainable. Moving forward, let us not forget about this common and unique experience we had. The ground beneath our feet shook. Though the implications for us were much different, let this experience plant a seed of deep empathy within with hopes that for some, this state will grow into a more concrete state of solidarity. We owe this to our broader world community, our faith, and ourselves.

The Door of No Return

2011-08-21T04:01:00.013-04:00

Today I stood inside Elmina Castle on the Ghanian Cape Coast at The Door of No Return. For thousands of Africans, this was the last piece of Africa they would ever see since Elmina stood on the primary port for slave trade during the 1600-1800's. It's likely that Haiti's ancestors crossed through The Door of No Return. In fact, Haiti was once the most prized and prosperous colony of the French, and this attracted much attention to the little island of Hispanola. Today, however, it seems like one has to beg the global community to focus attention on Haiti, literally.

The history of Haiti is so rich. From its inception, Haiti has had a cosmopolitan story, its inhabitants coming from so many lands around the world. It is a story filled with tensions of politics, economics and race but also of deep strength and spirituality. Standing today on African soil and knowing in a few short weeks I'll be in Haiti sends shivers down my spine. I'm eager to trace those steps of history from Cape Coast to Haiti, thankful to know that the story is still being told.Foundry UMC Haiti Website: https://sites.google.com/site/foundryumcmissions/

Elminda Castle

Map of Slave Trade

July 10: Foundry's Haiti Ministry Team Showing Film "Strange Things: Children of Haiti"

2011-06-30T12:04:00.003-04:00

The Haiti Ministry Team invites you to view this film about Haitian street children and their struggle for survival, education and acceptance, on Sunday, July 10th, at 12:30 p.m., at Foundry.

The viewing will be followed by discussion of the film and the current situation in Haiti, led by members of the February 2011 Foundry VIM trip to Haiti. Light lunch will be served. The event will end by 2 p.m.

Please RSVP on the Foundry calendar website, or contact Ace Parsi at workforchangetoday@gmail.com for more details.

Here's a description of the film from its website:

In the midst of Haiti’s lush mountains and historical relics, hundreds of thousands of orphaned and abandoned children wander the streets day and night. Known as the Sanguine (“Soulless”) and forgotten by their own people, they have struggled for survival since long before the devastating 2010 earthquake. STRANGE THINGS: Children of Haiti follows three teenage street boys, who reflect on their country and their lives, sharing a common dream of education, government assistance and social acceptance.

Following the evolution and transformation of these boys into young men, this cinematic documentary provides direct insight into Haiti’s ongoing abandoned youth problem. In the voices of the street boys themselves, the film examines a complicated issue which has not only plagued the country for decades, but grows more severe every day.

Shot in the historic northern city of Cap-Haitien over a period of three years, Children of Haiti reveals the country’s strange contrasts; a land of breathtaking landscapes and remarkable heritage, but also great human tragedy, all seen through the eyes of these prolific, poetic boys. Despite the nearly insurmountable obstacles, they show that a few can still manage to find hope, and even a little joy, in this harsh reality.

Foundry's Haiti Ministry Team Welcomes Thomas Kemper

2011-06-07T18:12:00.000-04:00

This Sunday, June 19, promises to bring mission into focus when Foundry welcomes Thomas Kemper, general secretary of the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) of the United Methodist Church, and a former missionary in Brazil.

A recent blog post by Kemper reveals the reverence and humility he experienced alongside dispossessed Brazilians that deeply affected his own sense of mission. As Foundry has chosen to emphasize Haiti as a sustained global mission focus through 2014, Kemper will no doubt excite insight into our ministry.

A special offering will be collected Sunday, June 19, as part of Foundry's ministry focus on Haiti. Donations will support teachers’ salaries in Haiti—through the UM Volunteers in Mission program—and the school lunch program—through the UM Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the mission agency of GBGM. Foundry’s Haiti Ministry Team is seeking to raise $5,000 before the next VIM trip this October.

While in the village of Mellier in February 2011, Haiti VIM team members appreciated the importance of advocating for, and ministering with, children in poverty. “Ultimately, these children will take their places in their communities as educated citizens and leaders,” said mission participant Margaret Yao. “They are the future, the next generation, who will lead and strengthen their own nation.” Mellier was near the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake.

Purpose and hope must be nourished in the near term. "We witnessed firsthand the educational needs of the children of Haiti,” said Laurie Watkins, another team member. “Unfortunately, the Haitian communities, nongovernmental organizations, and religious organizations have been unable to adequately fund education due to the challenging poor conditions.”

Kemper, who will base his sermon “Jesus at the Gate” on Hebrews 13:12-16, visited Haiti in January at the one-year anniversary of the earthquake. Kemper was elected to his post a day after the earthquake that devastated much of Haiti. GBGM’s relief and partnership efforts in Haiti include supporting programs for teacher training in camps in Port-Au-Prince, housing and construction, work training, agriculture, and microfinance.

Insanity on the Border

2011-04-01T10:10:00.002-04:00

By Bill Jordan,
(originally posted at Off the Wall Perspectives, a blog from volunteers at No More Deaths)

Made it back to DC late last night & want to post something today, while the experience is still fresh in my mind & in my heart.

How do you sum up the week in Nogales, how can you put into words an experience like we had?

On Thursday night Brenda asked us what we would take back with us, & for me it's the stories that I heard.

I had been to the border once before, with Borderlinks, in October, 2009, & sad to say I learned this week that the insanity of our immigration policies continues unabated, & perhaps even worse than before.

I heard so many stories of men & women who had lived a significant number of years in the US, who were stopped by police for something petty, or were caught up in a raid by ICE, & then deported, leaving behind husbands, wives, parents, & children, with very little chance of ever returning to the US, except for trying another border crossing, with all of the dangers of the desert.

There was a woman, 7 months pregnant, from Oaxaca, who had lived 10 years in Florida & had 2 kids who are US citizens. She went back to Mexico with her kids in June, 2010, to see her family, but her kids haven't been allowed to enroll in school in Mexico, because they don't read Spanish. She spent a day & a half in the desert, hoping to return to FL, so that she could arrange to bring her kids back to US, but then was found by the Border Patrol. She was waiting in Nogales for bus fare to return to Oaxaca.

Another young man with bad blisters on the bottom of his feet had lived for more than 10 years in California. He went to Mexico for his father's funeral, then tried to return to his family in CA, but was caught.

Another man lived for 20 years in Arizona, with 3 kids (all US citizens). He went to pick up his daughter from her job & while waiting his youngest child started skateboarding in the parking lot. A local policeman came to stop this, then somehow with no justification whatsoever, questioned the father about his citizenship status, result, father deported, family broken apart.

The stories went on like this all week. There were also many stories from first-time crossers, who simply wanted a chance at a better life, & were caught in the desert. Some were determined to try again. I think if people in the US could hear these stories & meet some of the people I met, they would be able to see that these are our neighbors, not "aliens" & not threats to our "way of life." I want to bear witness to the stories that I heard, so that maybe the anti-immigrant sentiment so rampant in our country can start to change, & hearts can be broken open, to welcome the newcomers.

All week long & today I have been overcome by waves of sadness as I remember the stories I heard & the people I met. I expect these waves of sadness will continue for a while. In many ways I hope they will, because they keep me connected to those I met. I wonder what will become of them, in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years. I doubt that I will ever know.

But I do know that they don't need my pity. There was great strength & resilience in those I met. Actually, I feel sorry for us, as Americans, that we don't get it, that we are refusing to change insane & broken policies, in the name of national security, or protecting our way of life, or whatever.

We are diminished as a nation when we treat migrants inhumanely. In the mural at the Comedor Jesus breaks bread with the migrants, men, women, & children, & breaks down the borders & barriers that separate us. May we do the same in our home communities.

Foundry volunteer returns to the Mexican border

2011-03-15T14:00:00.004-04:00

From Bill Jordan:

In October 2009, I had the opportunity to go on a VIM trip with Foundry to the Arizona/Mexico border with a group called Borderlinks. It was a great trip and I learned a lot.

I work in a clinic in D.C. where many of our patients are from Central America or Mexico, and a good number of them are undocumented. I see the effect of our broken immigration system every day on people who have very little hope of ever legalizing their status in this country. I wanted to see for myself what it was like on a portion of our southern border, and ever since I came back I've been looking for a way to make a return trip.

As part of the Borderlinks trip, Foundry members met with a guide from No More Deaths who took us on a hike through the desert (see photo). No More Deaths is an organization based in Tucson that is trying to address the humanitarian crisis in the Arizona desert by leaving water in the desert and searching for those who might have become lost. I will be going to Tucson and then on to Nogales, Mexico, for an alternative spring break from March 19-26.

In Nogales, No More Deaths provides help at aid stations on the Mexican side, by providing first aid and by helping migrants who have been deported make contact with their families in various parts of Mexico. I am very much looking forward to this return trip and will let people know how it goes.

Remembering Haiti on Ash Wednesday

2011-03-09T09:02:00.000-05:00

Today is Ash Wednesday, a reminder for some that life is short...and precious...and unpredictable. This picture of sunrise over the small town of Mellier in the Western Department of Haiti was taken at a pensive moment during my recent church work trip. On that morning, I was thankful to not be working, thankful to not be moving fast like I always do and not talking so much and to just stand still in the beauty of the moment. I remember not wanting to leave that place, to leave that moment in time. The fields and mountains felt so peaceful, the neighbors tending crops so friendly, the air soft and forgiving. Yet, I knew that it could not last forever.

A few days later, back in Port-au-Prince, a small 4.1 scale earthquake shook the earth once again and perhaps woke everyone out of any small sense of normalcy that has slowly grown. Me personally, I didn't even feel it. Yet, everyone could feel the worry, and then the sad memories seeping back into the social fabric. Perhaps nothing was physically broken in Port-au-Prince that day, but it reminded all of us that each day is unpredictable. We have a choice to either fear the uncertainty, or to embrace the possibilities...to hold on to the pain and anger, or to let go of all that holds us back.

My husband, Mark, and I are hoping to join our church this Lenten season in what they are calling a "money fast"...only making purchases for the week at one time and not spending anything that isn't absolutely necessary. (So, no chai lattes, unless I make them myself.) It seems like a very small exercise towards letting go of that which we don't really need, and embracing something healthier. So, I think I will hold onto this sunrise picture of Mellier during Lent, in order to help me to keep my perspective. I can reflect back on that morning and remember that the most precious moments in life are usually free.

Blessed and Annointed

2011-02-27T21:33:00.002-05:00

Here's a post-trip reflection from team member Susan Ozawa

People have asked me for some quick reflections on my time in Haiti and I have been slow to find the words, but a couple of words keep repeating themselves in my mind.

The first is "blessed". Our group of ten was truly blessed. Through prayers we were covered by God's protection every step of the way. All our logistics were smooth and no one was injured or ill the entire trip. This is profound because we were working on a site of a former church/school which was rubble, filled with metal wires, and shards of rock and cement we were moving with shovels and our hands. We were safe from cholera and malaria. God watched over our every step in Port-Au-Prince as we visited Action Aid and an artist cooperative. There was no static or tension when we left the part of Mellier where we were staying and went to the beach after church. All eyes were on the foreigners at the local beach where there was lots of drinking. Another team member, Laurie, and I just got a soccer ball and started up a pick-up game. Our translators Jean-Claude and Caz were always nearby to make sure we were okay. Despite being women and foreigners and not speaking the language, we played together and laughed together. God found a way to keep us all in community and communion with the people we met despite our limitations (many Haitians spoke 2-3 languages).

Another word that keeps coming up is "anointed". I know that God anointed us with the right words at the right moments as we struggled with God's purpose for us in Mellier for such a short time. God anointed the children as conduits for the adults. They led us like little guardian angels through the streets of Mellier, filled with a significant amount of structural destruction, human loss and continual poverty in the middle of a gorgeous and prolific countryside. Instead of being seen as spectators and onlookers, we were seen as friends invited in as the kids held our hands the whole way and taught us new words in Creole. "Marche ver" or walk fast they would say, laughing the whole time. Our smiles were always reflected back to us by the community. God anointed the leaders of the community--Josephina who was a member of the Methodist church's women's group who prayed with our women for hardship and pains and journeys we all travel; Benoit, a local young man in his early 20s who was always around, and extremely talented at playing soccer and playing the drums as we sang in worship in Creole and English every night; and Betty, an older woman who cooked and cleaned for the Methodist teams in Mellier. Betty had a stern face until you said "bonswa". Her face would light up beautifully, with joy and welcoming love that was all the more powerful for the contrast. These people were always around us. Pastor Jacob, Principal Patrick and Boss Vech, the site foreman were always there to guide us and to pray with us. Jean-Claude and Caz, our translators, clarified our words as we stumbled. They made poetic our scattered words. God truly anointed the people we witnessed and anointed our words and actions while we were there, so that the community would see our hearts were filled with love, despite our privilege, despite our loss of words, despite the small gift of our labors. They knew we were united by God as brothers and sisters and were as glad we were there as our team was. We laughed together, cried together, sang together and worked together but we mostly laughed together. Our group and the community was also anointed with the gift of humor.

I know these blessings and this anointing was the holy spirit hard at work. I knew people were praying for us; our friends and families, our home church Foundry United Methodist Church, and I knew my father intercessors would be praying over our time there. Whenever, the heat seemed oppressive and the emotionality of despair seemed not far, I would pray and take comfort knowing good people around the world would be holding us up in prayer. And everytime we prayed, God answered our prayers. When we asked for guidance on how we should give, when we asked for greater personal connection with the community, when we prayed for God's love to compensate for loss of words across languages, these prayers were answered in less than 24 hours! It was amazing and powerful to witness.

Thank you for your prayers and for your continual prayers for the people of Haiti, as they heal, rebuild and use the love of God to guide them in working with their brothers and sisters from all over the world to move out of trauma and poverty to prosperity, stability and peace.

Lessons from Mellier

2011-02-24T12:29:00.001-05:00

Elise (far left), one of our interpretors, Caz, Deanna (our amazing chef!), Molly, Claudie (another amazing chef) and Ace singing some Creole hymns together.

This morning constituted a tearful goodbye for us in Mellier. We had just enjoyed a lively last community dinner and night of singing and dancing with our new Mellier Methodist Church friends the night before. It was such a joyful event. Everyone noted that we rarely see this side of Haitian life in the US media. Even though 43 students are no longer able to attend the Mellier Methodist school after last year's earthquake, the teachers get paid only $60 per month and go for months sometimes without any pay at all and a number of skinny children and adults in the community are consistently malnourished, we still saw a clear picture of Haiti. It has great beauty, strength and wisdom to share with us. The Mellier Methodist Church community taught us what it means to share, to rejoice in music, to appreciate even the small things that one has. We bring these many lessons back to DC tonight and will continue to process and work together towards greater understanding and action in the days and months to come. Here are a few team insights for the road, though, in the words of our team members.

Doug: "It’s been bittersweet. I’ve made a lot of friends that I now have to leave. I’ve learned about capacity to give, including figuring out how much capacity I personally have…and what I don’t have."

Doug (far right) offering a gift of workers gloves to Mellier Foreman, Boss Wech

Susan: "I learned to love with a broken heart."

Susan, taking a picture in the back of our "Tap Tap" as we cross over bumpy Leogane roads on our way to buy papayas (which Nicole is holding.)

Laurie: "I learned to manage expectations…both my expectations and other people’s expectations. For being such a broken country in many ways, Haiti is still such an incredibly beautiful one. I wish that more people would take time to learn the history of the Haitian people."

Laurie helping Joseph, a 17 year old previous student who can no longer afford to attend school, review English lessons.

Molly: "I learned more about what it truly means to accompany people and really be present to them…that it is a long, but satisfying journey."

Molly (on far right) with Nicole, Elise, Jana, our interpretor Jean Claude and Mark...moving some dirt for the church!

Ace: "I learned that there are limitations in power to physically change things, but there is enormous power in love and community."

Ace with some of his new Mellier friends, Harold on the left and Jean Claude on the right.

Margaret: "I learned how to be prayerful and trust in God."

Margaret, 4th from the left, was an amazing addition to this small group meeting with women from Mellier Methodist Church. She had a special rapport with the women, especially being the only person with children on our team!

Mark: I learned that life is most fully lived on the challenging edges.

Mark helping Mellier 5th and 6th graders write letters to some of his students in Baltimore.

As we have a 3 year long commitment to Haiti mission, volunteer and advocacy work, we will continue to partner with the Methodist Church of Haiti in identifying the areas where we might be of greatest service. We're hoping to maintain and continue to grow this special relationship with the Mellier Methodist community in the middle of this work. And hopefully, God willing, we'll be able to come back in October so that we can learn and share at an even deeper level.

The Long and Short of It

2011-02-24T00:11:00.000-05:00

See these faces? This morning, we were preparing to leave Mellier and those with whom we shared, prayed, ate, danced, laughed, and cried. The blue bags were filled with notes of appreciation for the gifts each of us brought to group -- our team from Foundry and seven of our Haitian friends. The mix of emotions one may be able to make out in this picture capture a few of my own.

Tonight, as I write this blog back in Port-au-Prince so tired and still with so much to process, I am first filled with gratitude. Our theme was the body of Christ and, while construction of any sort was the least of our gifts, our diversity brought forth a full and amazing web of true human connection with the diverse community we were hoping to discover. I felt we saw God everywhere -- in serious conversation with the teachers and their families, in the light of children's faces, in the sincerity of the community leaders, in personal connections such as mine with a bright and charming 17-year-old girl named Dona, and in a conga line, too. Our prayers for discernment were answered, opening inside each of us a place to take in new, unexpected experience every day.

"Grangou" in Creole means "hungry." We were surrounded by beautiful and hungry children. Secondly, I am struggling with hunger myself. It is a gnawing within. We are part of the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM), a remarkable that works. As Team #13 at Mellier, we accomplished the short-term mission of heart-felt connection in our brief experience (and we moved some dirt too). The hunger is about how to strengthen and grow our connection over the long-term. What is the most sustainable way for us to support Haiti? To support Mellier? The regional "circuit" ? Education? Agriculture? Health? Capacity building? We are determined to creatively and effectively do our part. If our team struggles to work through this through prayerful discernment, bringing our diversity of perspectives and seeking to expand engagement, we can do our part.

But, if we don't remain hungry, the children will.

Signing off from Port-au-Prince,
Margaret

A day of worship. A day of praise. A day of rest.

2011-02-20T23:45:00.004-05:00

A day of worship. A day of praise. A day of rest. We woke up from our first night of sleeping on cots in open-air wooden structures in Mellier, Haiti. After a filling breakfast, including especially good oatmeal, we got ready for the morning church service. Worship took place in the unfinished structure right next to the church construction site on which we're working. The sanctuary filled with people, row upon row, around 180 who came to join together in praising God. We were led by a female lay leader, Josette. The pastor, Jacob, was at a different church on his circuit of three different congregations.

Methodism in Mellier is alive, in a predominantly Roman Catholic society. The faith is most apparent in the children and youth in church! The children's choir sang a beautiful anthem. A young teenager stood and gave the Sunday school report. Two young men were welcomed into the church and testified about their faith in God. Additionally, the adult choir led the congregation in many hymns, both in French and Haitian Creole. My favorite was a French version of "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" sung by the choir.

We as a team were invited to participate in worship. Jana and Margaret made an offering from Foundry to God and the congregation in the form of altar table vestments. Our team stood together in our pew and introduced ourselves. Then with the aid of our translator, Jean-Claude, both Ace and Elise delivered a message, reflecting on the parable of the Good Samaritan. Ace said that he felt that his encounter with the destruction in Haiti had left him feeling like his spirit was broken. He felt like a spiritual traveler beaten on the road to Jericho but that the Haitian people he had met had been for him spiritual Good Samaritans in lifting him up. Elise brought a message of greeting, thanks, and solidarity. Said Elise to those gathered, "Americans have a lot to learn about being good neighbors from Haitians, who have shown us what community life can be like." She recounted the story of survival from Leigh Carter, our fellow Foundry member who almost perished in the January 2010 quake while working in Port-Au-Prince. She was saved by a Haitian employee of the development bank where she works, a true neighbor in her time of need.

Many contrasts were evident to me throughout worship. I wear casual clothing to a Sunday evening service. Our Haitian neighbors dressed formally early in the morning. I listen to a twenty-minute sermon that is podcasted. Our Haitian friends worshipped for two-and-a-half hours with no childcare provided. I drive my car. Our fellow Methodists sometimes walk for miles. All but one person on our team has children. We were surrounded by families with kids.

Yet we share in the same humanity and faith. We share in a common hunger for economic justice. But I guess from two sides of the economic divide between rich and poor. We believe in a faith based on the redemptive power of the love of God. And of one another. The sharing of love with and from the Haitians we have met contains so much power. For a church community where so much was destroyed, perhaps the best we have to offer is just to share our love freely, given our lack of capacity to do construction at a scale required to make an impact.

A glorious day. A beautiful day. A day of blessing. Today being the Sabbath, we worshipped and then rested by taking a trip to the beach. Gilou beach, in the village of Laferone, is a short half-hour, slightly harrowing, tap-tap ride from the worksite here in Mellier. Behind the metal gate, the rocky beach was filled with young people listening to music and soaking up the sun. We laid our towels out on a couple of concrete benches. Jana and Caz, one our interpreters, enjoyed some cool drinks. Elise and Mark shared coconut water from a split-open fruit.

Several of us boarded a couple rowboats. Away from shore, Caz, pointed out the Isle of the Gonave and in the distance, the northern peninsula of Haiti was visible. Even though it was plain to see that the mountains there are significantly deforested, the glory of the Caribbean and its clear blue waters were all around us. Thanks be to God for creating such a beautiful place in Haiti. Nicole had a turn at rowing one of the boats. Ace, Laurie, and Susan dove in for a swim.

Sometimes the simplest things in life can be what bring people closer together. We are always so concerned about the polarized way in which we interact. We are relatively well-to-do Americans encountering poor Haitians. But at the beach, instead of us providing soccer balls to children as we did yesterday, Laurie and Susan just joined in a pick-up soccer game with men on the beach. It was the unifying power of sports in action. Or, in the rowboat, as we started to turn back to shore, I asked our boat captain, a man from Jacmel, to row us around the bay for another tour so that he, Caz, and I could spend a bit more time with the pretty young women in our boat. He turned us back out to sea. I guess it was the unifying power of women.

As we prepared to leave the beach, Ace and Elise remarked that it was good for us to see how Haitians spend time relaxing and having fun even in the face of hardship. I couldn't help but think of how tourism could add significantly to the Haitian economy someday again.

A day of witness. A day of sadness. A day of helplessness. We drove to Leogane to buy some fresh fruit and gas. Leogane was severely damaged in the earthquake, and we were surrounded by destroyed buildings. The sadness and destruction were punctuated by empty markets, closed on Sunday. Mark reflected that this was the most physically devastated town we had seen. We stopped on a street corner where a vendor was selling fruit, including papaya, cashew fruit, and abricot. On the other side of the partially flooded street was a crumbling building that had lost its roof. Across the corner, there was a camp of internally displaced persons.

Elise, Molly, Jana, and Jean-Claude went to buy the fruit. Ace, Caz, Margaret, and I were accosted outside our vehicle by a drunk man asking for money. I asked him when was the last time he had eaten, and he responded not since yesterday. We refused to give him any money. He persisted, and our interpreter asked him how he had gotten money for the cigarette he was smoking and the alcohol he had drank. The man retorted to Caz that he should understand his hunger as a fellow Haitian. As I struggled to think of something to say, I felt bad that we had perhaps put Caz in an uncomfortable situation. I wanted to tell the man that we were here to serve and build a church in Mellier. But It seemed such an inadequate response. We drove off, the several of us upset, passing signs instructing citizens how to wash hands to prevent cholera infection. We filled up our truck's gas tank, paying more than $60.

The way I acted during the encounter contrasted with the story of survival and heroism that our translator, Jean-Claude, had told earlier at lunch today. When the earthquake struck, he was interpreting for a surgical team from Alabama in a Port-Au-Prince hospital. He was buried in concrete by the quake. Jean-Claude owed his survival to his ever-present cell phone. One of his colleagues who had been outside the building rushed inside and was able to recognize Jean-Claude in the rubble by his hand holding his cell phone. Jean-Claude was severely injured and could not move having sustained head trauma and fractures to several cervical vertebrae. He told his friend to go away and leave him to die. He feared that his friend would be injured if he attempted a rescue. A beam was about to fall from right above. But his friend stayed and got him out.

Incredibly, once freed, Jean-Claude's thoughts turned immediately to the Americans who were also buried. He knew he had to help them because they had no other contacts on the scene. Ignoring his horrific injuries, he managed to get the attention of United Nations personnel passing outside, and he told them in English to rescue the doctors and nurses who were buried. Many of them survived because of his actions. Jean-Claude said, "I feel there was a reason I was there with that team, and I feel that God had a reason that I survived. And God has a reason for why I am with you all now."

A night of struggle. A night of challenge. A night of conviction. We returned to our camp at Mellier to shower and eat dinner. After dinner, we gathered for what became a difficult conversation. We considered these questions: who to give charitably to, how much should we give, how does our giving fit into a group of people's needs. Our team is governed by a Volunteers In Mission policy that limits us from giving to individuals and instead encourages us to give to community leaders (like the minister, school principal, construction foreman in Mellier) for them to distribute. I brought up the encounter with the man asking us for money in Leogane and the inadequacy I felt of my response. Others talked about how they had given food to several clearly hungry children individually.

At issue are whether we have the capacity to give sustainably and the judgment required to give appropriately. What if we give money to one desperate man in Leogane and then don't have enough money to give equally to the next person who asks? What if some hungry children ask for and receive snacks from us and then a hundred children appear and ask for the same snacks? What if we give a soccer ball to one boy and then he gets attacked by other kids who steal the ball? What if we gather enough money to pay tuition for a student but teachers quit and the school closes because they are not getting paid? What if we bring school uniforms for students and displace business for seamstresses in the local community?

We argued intensely for a time and lined up on two sides. Those who are in favor of giving in every instance to anyone in need whenever we have resources. And those who are in favor of giving to community leaders and relying on them to distribute and judge appropriateness of donations.

A convicting word came from Margaret. She felt we should not waste any more time in getting engaged in the community and investigating how to build relationships at least at that level. With many feelings and issues still unresolved, we decided at least to plan to invite everyone in the Mellier community to some sort of party where we can share collectively. We decided to talk with Patrick, the school principal, and Jacob, the church pastor, tomorrow to explore with them what we can give to them as community leaders.

I think Jesus's call to love our neighbor by sharing is quite clear. He said, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink...Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me." But I feel that Jesus also showed a love that was challenging even to the poor and destitute. He covered a blind man's eyes with mud and then commanded him to walk, while still blind, to Siloam to bathe in the pool to heal himself. We have got to find a way to love freely, sustainably, respectfully, productively.

This evening ended without singing. Just a simple chant: "How we will live? Together. How will we die? Together. How will we rise? Together." We repeated it over and over convincing ourselves that we are worthy of our mission.

Posted by Doug

Haiti First Impressions

2011-02-19T07:41:00.000-05:00

Our Foundry United Methodist Church volunteer group just arrived yesterday in Port-au-Prince. As we jostled along the bumpy streets , sweating out the DC rat race and in the Haiti heat, it was wonderful to hear the team's reaction to experiencing Haiti for the first time. Here are a few of the observations:

Mark: Haiti is full of life: barking dogs, crowing roosters, car alarms at 3 in the morning, sellers peddling goods in the market, artists showcasing their colorful paintings. I hope to listen this next week and be a part of the wonderful community of this church and of Mellier.

Margaret: For me, the main thing is community. My first impression is that there is an importance of community here. I know that at least a dozen of the children in Mellier have lost their parents after the earthquake. From what we have heard, the community their has really embraced those children and is helping to raise them. I'm looking forward to witnessing this first hand. Second, for our own Foundry group...I feel like we are part of a larger system.

Doug: The American and Haitian methodists we've met so far have been incredibly friendly. I'm really looking forward to seeing the other parts of Port-au-Prince, especially where the center of the earthquake destruction has happened. And, I'm eager to arrive in Mellier, and see what rural life in Haiti is like compared to the city. From what I've heard, it seems like there's big divide. Fresh air sounds good as well.

Laurie: I was impressed with Petionville. Restaurants are running, some people are working. People are kind and friendly and seem to really be helping one another. At least some good things are happening. To each person whom I said "Bonswa," everyone responded with a smile on their face. I came across a few people selling art on the street. My impression of them was that they were extremely kind, very educated (tri-lingual!), very friendly. After talking for a while, I was able to ask them where they were the day of the earthquake. They were thankfully outside, getting some sun and laying up against a building. The ground started shaking right before their eyes and they ran for safety. Thankfully, they were alright. I look forward to getting to know people better throughout the week and just listening to their stories.

More to come!

A Love Song for Haiti

2011-02-16T14:21:00.001-05:00

This is a post from Foundry Haiti VIM team member Susan Ozawa:

Listening to music in the car on Valentine’s day, I sang along to the Fugee’s remake of Marley’s No Woman No Cry. I thought about that song and how it reminded me of my time in the Philippines working with women who were trapped in lives of prostitution, during the Asian Economic Crisis. Some of these women had been lied to, drugged, assaulted, trafficked and were able to tell their story, find help, begin to hope. Some found a way out, advocated for themselves and others in courts internationally against the world’s most powerful and monied black market syndicates. Some joined the NGO I worked for, some joined the Board of Directors and were the heart and soul and backbone of the organization. The cover of No Women No Cry had just come out and it played on heavy rotation in activist circles in the Philippines and on my discman. The Fugees adapted it to capture encouragement for their brothers and sisters from Haiti and refugees from all over the world, for those marginalized by poverty and racism, for those who have lost family and loved ones. The song of encouragement was for the woman who carries all these things in her heart and cries tears for all the pain and injustice in the world and for those who have no more tears to cry. It was a song we all needed to hear.
Everything’s gonna be alright, the song sings. Everything’s gonna be alright, the song means, because there are people who love you, because there are people who have also despaired but who are here for you now. The song under the song sings, everything’s gonna be alright because God’s with us all and because we are even closer to God when we need him. Everything’s gonna be alright, because the sun always rises and love and God are stronger than pain and loss. This was the message, and in the secular words we all felt the healing of the sacred blessing of love, compassion and solidarity; the message Rev. Dean would say, was the wheat in the weeds.

As our Foundry VIM team prepares to leave for Haiti, we will carry a song in our heart. We will carry the collective songs of the congregation. We will carry the soprano’s triumphant, It is Well With my Soul. We will carry, Amazing Grace. We are carrying Great is The Faithfulness and we know these songs, that have brought us comfort, that brought generations and generations before them comfort, will resonate with the songs in the hearts of those we meet in Haiti.

May God bring us together to sing a song of praise and thanksgiving to him! May God make beautiful music of our broken hearts. In this modest contribution of our time and energy, and the resources of the congregation, may miracles of God’s blessings rain down on us all.

This is my payer for us, that no matter the melody, the song we sing will always be a song of love.

Getting ready to go

2011-02-14T19:20:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe we’re about to finally leave in three days. After so many months of planning, the thought of going to Haiti isn’t any longer some distant after thought. It’s very real and I’m incredibly excited and nervous. My clothes are on the ground ready to be packed and I’ve gotten all my shots. I’m sure our hosts will be happy to know that I’m immune to both rabies and tetnis and am ready to enter any work site regardless of how many rabid squirrels or rusty nails present themselves :).

I find that I’m bracing myself right now to have my faith both challenged and affirmed. One of the challenging aspects of our faith is grappling with the fact that a loving and merciful God could stand by and watch such suffering happen. Even more than this earthquake, it comes down to centuries of injustice that the Haitian people have been exposed to at the hands of the French and US governments. I don’t have an easy faith answer to these dilemmas. I doubt I will in a week a half. At this point, I’m open to just getting some perspective.

That said, being part of the VIM team has already strengthened my faith. To this point, this strength has come through our community. We have a very amazing group of people going down there. While a bunch of policy wonks going down to build a school sounds more like a Chevy Chase comedy than anything else, I think we have a lot of gifts to offer. The team seems ready to support each other in both our strengths and weaknesses. Beyond our VIM team, it was very humbling this week to get the send off from the Foundry community. I go to the 5 o’clock service and as members’ hands lay on my shoulders, I felt so fortunate to be part of such a radical, authentic, loving, and real community. God has really blessed me in more ways than I can imagine.

In that vein, as we get ready to go to Haiti, community is obviously not the only blessing to be thankful for. I’m so humbled by my stress at work, getting logistics together, and getting vaccines and feel guilty at how relatively trivial these concerns are when compared to what the people we will meet are facing. I’m a progressive because I believe that God could have just easily created me in those circumstances. To that effect, I wonder what my role is in this global suffering. As Christ said, “to those whom much has been given, much will be required” and as Spiderman said, “with great power comes great responsibility.” I wonder how I’m doing at following Christ and the prophet, Spiderman’s teachings :).

On a final note, if you’re reading this I ask your prayers and your voices. I ask these not only for our team going, but also for your continued prayers for the Haitians who recently hit the one year anniversary of the earthquake. The tv cameras are no longer covering the earthquake after effects and it is a calling of people of faith to not forget our brothers and sisters in their time of need. Their need unfortunately does not turn off with the cameras. If you’re still reading this, may God’s peace be with you.

Last day...sad to leave.

2010-10-15T09:31:00.010-04:00

It is Friday and we will depart Goldsboro, NC around 11 AM and head back to Washington DC. We did a lot of important work this week and were very happy to see Phyllis this morning. She is the lady who runs Shiloh Farms the daycare and camp for children with disabilities. She has fallen on a lot of hard times and she just wanted to let us know how much she appreciated our work on her place. There are several new lights around the property so that she can feel safe. (Thanks Ken for hanging the lights and figuring out other electrical problems!) Phyllis also commented on how great the game barn looked after we painted it. (Thanks Caroline and Jim!) And of course the horse shelters! Now the animals have a place to cover themselves when bad weather comes. (Thanks Krista!)

This morning before we go, the Foundry VIM team is assembling school kits. This week Foundry contributed lots of supplies to the school kits, health kits and flood buckets. (186 tubes of toothpaste, 119 nail clippers, 80 erasers, 75 rulers, 30 bottles of household cleaner, 24 bottles of laundry detergent, and 23 pencil sharpeners.) These materials were paid for using the funds raised from the2010 VIM silent auction at Foundry UMC.

Several churches in the area have donated birthing kits for Haiti, but the MERCI center has no way of getting them there. So, I've piled about 75 birthing kits (flannel baby blanket, gloves, soap, string, and a razor blade) into my car and will take them back to Foundry UMC. We will then combine them with the ones that the Foundry congregation will put together for the Great Day of Service. All of them will then be sent to Haiti.

Cleaning out the gutters and North Carolina bbq

2010-10-14T19:38:00.005-04:00

After the rain ended, we cleaned out the gutters at a house of a widow. Barbara's husband was a retired Methodist minister. She held Krista's ladder as Krista cleaned out the gutter. Caroline and Jim took turns climbing the other ladder. This picture shows the crew pointing to the clean gutters!

For dinner, we ate at Adams Roadside bar-b-q just down the road from the MERCI Center. It is only open Thursdays through Sundays. We had to order our food early because they run out fast. Our orders were ready for us when we arrived. We took our food outside and ate at the picnic tables in the parking lot. The food was sooo good.

After dinner we stopped at Shiloh Farms to admire our week's work. The vapor light that Ken put up on the barn we painted came on so Ken was happy it worked. We all stopped to watch the 5 week old puppies. They are very cute!

Rain, rain, go away!

2010-10-14T12:08:00.002-04:00

Today it is raining so we had to go to plan B, assembling flood buckets, school kits and health kits. These items are distributed to the people in North Carolina affected by the recent floods. Some of the items are also sent to Haiti, Afghanistan and other locations by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). We ran short on nail clippers, erasers, pencil sharpeners, and laundry detergent so Jim went to the store again and bought a bunch of supplies using funds raised using the VIM Auction held at Foundry in the spring.

Another work day and the barn got painted with the second coat!

2010-10-13T22:03:00.020-04:00

This morning the Foundry group was in charge of providing the morning devotion for the volunteers at MERCI Center. We decided to use our church statement of call as our basis then read the key scripture (Mark 12: 28-31). Of course we had to sing a couple of songs including "rise and shine and give God your glory, glory..." but we couldn't remember all the hand movements but did include the clap.
After the morning devotion we got right over to Shiloh Farms and began our work. The painting crew worked steady and by lunchtime we had the barn painted with the second coat! The only thing that is left is for Ken to install the floodlight at the top. He did that later in the afternoon.

The folks that were setting up the tent garages in the field also completed there work and started to hang wood underneath a metal awning so that the horses wouldn't hurt themselves on the sharp edges. There are several other projects to be done....and we will get to them tomorrow. We did have time to meet some of the kids that attend the Shiloh Farms after school program. (See the picture of Caroline and I with Phillip).

This evening, we decided to host a dinner and invited the Nomads group. At 6:30 PM we had the chicken ready together with veggies, rice, spaghetti and sauce. Did I mention that we also had freshly baked cookies! We had a great time of fellowship around a camp fire. (Thanks to Eric for cooking our food ahead of time and sending them with us frozen. Your meals were delicious!)

Second day of work

2010-10-13T07:48:00.002-04:00

Caroline and I did a lot of painting!!!! Wow....the weather was hot and the sun was out but it didn't stop us from painting a small barn at Shiloh Farms. Together with the Nomads we put on the first coat of paint. Can you believe that we had enough paint? We only had one 5 gallon bucket but we used every drop.

First day of work

2010-10-12T17:13:00.004-04:00

Monday was work day #1. We started by attending an orientation with Bob the team coordinator at the MERCI Center. In addition to the Foundry UMC group, the United Methodist Nomads are here too. http://www.nomadsumc.org/ These are retired United Methodists that travel the country in their RVs and work in ministries such as MERCI fixing up homes, repairing, churches, and are first responders after a disaster.

Getting back to the orientation this morning...Bob gave us a great over view of the organization and how much this ministry is needed in the area. Goldsboro, NC is the poorest county in the state and has been hit by numerous hurricanes....recently heavy rains came through the area just north of here and caused a lot of flooding. MERCI has a large warehouse of supplies such as flood buckets and health kits which have been given to those affected. However, they are 7,000 tubes of toothpaste short! So, using funds raised during the Foundry Volunteers in Mission (VIM) auction, I spent $500 on several hundred tubes of toothpaste, and I also bought nail clippers for the health kits, and laundry detergent and cleaner that goes into the flood buckets. Flood buckets contain the materials needed to help clean up your home once a flood comes though.

After lunch, all 13 of us (4 from Foundry UMC and 9 Nomads) went to Phyllis' house. She runs Shiloh Farms which is an after school program for kids including several with disabilities. Phyllis has run into hard times and has several projects that need to be completed ASAP. So, Ken from Foundry volunteered to work on wiring and hanging lights, Krista is setting up tent garages to that the horses have shelter during the winter, and Caroline and I are painting a small barn used as a game room. We have a lot of work to keep us busy for several days!

We arrived in Goldsboro NC!

2010-10-11T17:55:00.003-04:00

On Sunday morning October 10, 2010 at the 9:30 AM service, the Foundry Volunteers in Mission (VIM) team was commissioned. There are 4 of us on the team Jim, Krista, Caroline, and Ken. After the service, we loaded our gear in the cars and drove to Goldsboro, North Carolina. We will be working until Friday at MERCI Center. www.merciumc.org It is a United Methodist organization that was started after the hurricane that hit Eastern North Carolina in 1999. We will be doing what we can to fix up homes in the area and also work to improve a camp for disabled children.

So God is like mud ....

2008-10-17T07:45:00.004-04:00

It's our last day here in Dulac, and I'm not quite ready to leave. We've got half a day of work left to do on Glenda's home, and then we're off to New Orleans, a city I've never visited. I've heard all kinds of crazy things about that place, which was so devastated by Katrina three years ago. I hope it lives up to expectations!

Yesterday was such a productive day. We keep beginning earlier and earlier - hence my decision to just post pictures yesterday rather than try and make a coherent sentence at 7:15 in the morning! The team went again to Glenda's house to finish dry wall, mud the walls (which i now understand is the correct term for putting up joint compound), and start the flooring. We're putting down luan over the sub-floor of the trailer so that Glenda and her family can have hard wood floors in their home. I'm thankful to be gaining all of these new skills - i can now measure and cut for drywall, put it up, and then mud over it to make a wall. The members of the VIM team who've done this type of work before are really excellent teachers, so I'm confident I'll be able to use these skills on my own home some day.

All the progress in the house means that we're one step closer to leaving. We're worn out - I can see it in the faces of the others, I see it in my own face when I look in the mirror. Not many of us are used to being on our feet for so long during the day, or if we are, we're certainly not this active. I feel like I've been doing Walk-in Mission every day all day for a week - it's exhausting! Although we're tired, I get the sense that folks here would love to stay and see our pet projects until the end. I would love to be present when Glenda's grandchildren (the five that live with her: Debo, DeNisha, Jordan, Roger, and the other I can't recall) see their new house, the place where they'll sleep and eat and play and grow. I would love to hammer in that last nail, put that last floorboard in place, paint that last stroke - whatever it takes to bring Glenda home. Phyllis, the site coordinator who's been working with us this week, promises us that she'll send a team back on Monday to continue the work that we've done, but selfishly, I wish it was our team that could do it.

At devotions this evening, I led the group in some reflection time. Where have we seen God this week? What will we take with us back to Washington DC? How will this journey change us? While each person's answer was compelling, it was Jim's that struck me the most. "I think I've seen God in the mud this week." He meant, I think, that just as we see bayou mud from the hurricane all around us, everywhere we go, really, God is all around us, too. I don't mean to suggest that the presence of this mud is a blessing in Dulac - it's not. But it serves for me as a visible reminder of something I'm prone to forget - that even when I forget to look, even when I'm not paying attention, God is staring me in the face. God's love is all around us - we're surrounded by it. God's love sticks to us like the mud - and just like the mud, it's hard to shake off, and in Dulac, impossible to escape.

Although I'm sad we leave today, I'm comforted to know that the love of God will continue to surround these people that we've come to care about so very much. May we all keep this love at the forefront of our minds - and may we not need bayou mud to remind us how precious we are to the One.

Dulac in pictures

2008-10-16T14:47:00.022-04:00

Here it is! The Dulac Community Center of the United Methodist Church. The building on the far left with the tarp houses the clothing rooms, library, and some storage facilities that were all flooded during Ike. The middle building is the gymnasium that's currently a distribution center. The right building are the administration offices, classrooms, and kitchen. Behind the last building is the guest house, where we're staying.

Here we are at the Dulac Community Center! This sign is on the front of the community center's main building, which for now is acting as a warehouse until its back rooms are repaired.

Muddy boots left over from the volunteers last week. They were mainly responsible for mucking out houses. We've been fortunate so far to not have this as a task!Here's the mud I was talking about. It's five inches thick in some places, is black, and won't go away unless hauled out with a shovel and/or power washer.We're joined on our VIM journey by two other teams, one from Ardmore, Oklahoma, and another from Yukon, Oklahoma.The new mural that they'd just had painted in the library a month before Ike hit and destroyed everything. Doris was so proud of this!The water line reached 5 feet in the community center. Here's evidence of the flood, marked in grass debris, on the door leading outside.
The gang, minus me (photographer) and the Broadwaters, at Schmoopy's, our favorite restaurant in Dulac!Here's a before picture of the house we demolished in our first two days.Lots of wires to be trimed, wall board to be torn down, before we could get the roof off the house. Bobbi is taking care of these tasks!The roof had five layers of shingles. Here's Brenda peeling one away.Team leader Ken from Foundry and John from Yukon supervise the tear-down of the left part of the house.

I got tired of posting these one by one, so check out the rest of what I have taken so far at: http://picasaweb.google.com/katy.wheat/VIMToDulacLouisiana

More gravel!

2008-10-16T11:59:00.004-04:00

This morning I continued shoveling gravel outside the community center. The parking lot was full of water pockets so we moved the gravel from three big piles into the low spots around the area. The hot sun sure does not help when you are moving heavy gravel. After while, Chris the local guy in charge of the gravel move, remembered that his friend had a large tractor that could move these rocks more efficiently. He called him up and the friend said that he would bring the tractor over soon. Thus, I did not have to spread any more gravel in the hot sun.

Create anyway

2008-10-15T08:22:00.004-04:00

This one will have to be quick, since we're getting up progressively earlier and earlier. I can't handle this 8 am in the morning start stuff. Lucky for those of you who have begun to tire of my long posts.

It's been raining a lot the past few days. Monday night we lost power for 4 hours and ate in the dark. Yesterday it started raining at 5 and didn't really stop until early this morning. I fell asleep listening to the rain on the tin roof of the guest house.

I'm frustrated by this rain. Maybe it's because I'm not at home, under a blanket, snuggled up with a book - which is the only way I like rain. Maybe it's because it forces us inside and unexpectedly halts our work. Maybe it's because this rain flooded the community center on Monday evening, and Jane Northern and I spent all of the morning yesterday throwing away the wet clothes - donated by the Mormons - that were stored on the floor. Maybe it's becuase this rain reminds me of the flood and the hurricane that got Dulac in this mess in the first place.

It's on my mind much this week that as we participate in this recovery work, we're only putting a band-aid on larger problems - ineffective levy systems, broken government systems, hunger, poverty, and the list goes on. I worry that once we leave here, the good work we're doing will be undone by those powerful forces, and then what will be the point? All the blood and sweat for what?

And as God often does with me - it's something we do, me and God - I was gently reminded in a poem Bill shared with us for devotion. The line that struck me reads: "What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway." Create anyway. Even though you're frustrated, I'm being told, do my work anyway. It's what I've called you here to do. Although a storm may come and tear down all you've done, these are your brothers and sisters. Do what is right by them, with them. Stand with them in solidarity. Build friendships with them as you laugh about boyfriends and children, parents, and heartache. Smile as you meet their grandchildren, giggle as you play with their new puppies. Make their homes liveable, their lives more joyous, even if only for a little while. These are the things that no hurricane can destroy. These are the things worth creating.

Caked, baked and more rain!

2008-10-14T18:44:00.005-04:00

The mud is everywhere. Outside the Dulac Community Center the mud is about 3 inches thick. Right after the hurricane Ike, Jame who is the director of the Dulac Community Center, cleaned out the gym all by herself because she hoped that relief supplies would be on the way. The community center is a local distribution site for such help.

Yesterday with lots of supplies inside, it rained and flooded the floor of the community center. Clothes got wet that were to be distributed to needy individuals. Katy Wheat and Jane Northern cleaned up what they could and sorted more clothes into piles.
It is raining right now so I hope the community center doesn't flood again.

Here are a few pictures so you can see the mud and the rain.

A thousand invisible threads

2008-10-14T09:00:00.005-04:00

We began work yesterday, albeit quite slowly. Speaking with my friend Stephanie on the phone yesterday, she remarked "But you're not expecting anything to be fast anymore, are you? I'm sure you've noticed by now that things in Louisiana go at their own pace." How true those words rang yesterday as we waited around for Darryl, the site coordinator, to give us a task. We just wanted something to do. Armed with knee pads and protective eye wear, sunscreen and deep woods bug spray, we sat around enjoying the morning breeze, but altogether without a job to do. Some of us wandered away to work in the warehouse unloading relief supplies for folks in the community who come daily to pick up the bottled water, ice, gallons of bleach, diapers for their children. Others (ehem, me), went to exercise their talents and clean up the common room some more.

Finally, a job! We were sent to tear down a shed just five houses down the road. Wait, already gone. Well ... "I guess you can go into Grand Caillou and work with that other team from Oklahoma that's tearing down that house," said Darryl. So we hopped in our cars and headed 12 miles down the road to a community of mobile homes. "This looks much different from Dulac," one of our team remarked. And it did - driving into this neighborhood, we saw intact siding, no piles of rubbish on the side of the road, no signs that said "FEMA, buy us out." But as we traveled further into the neighborhood, we were able to see why we'd been sent. A tan home, set on three rows of cinder blocks, was in the process of being torn down by the team from Yukon, Oklahoma. Yellow spray paint marked the side - "NO TRESPASSING." Not wanting to invade any one's demolition territory, but wanting to help, I cautiously climbed the ladder to the roof and began to tear off one of the five layers of shingles the house had. It was soon obvious that even before the hurricanes, these folks were in dire straights. Holes in the rotting plywood covered the front part of the roof. The back was simply insulated and covered over with sealed tin sheeting.

It took us most of the day to get the house down, but down it came. Folks worked tirelessly - carrying debris to the trash heap, sawing away at support beams. First the left side of the roof, then the right. We were mostly finished when the rain came pouring down and forced us to find shelter.

"We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along those sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results." Ah, Herman Melville, you wise man. I thought of the inter-connectivity of all God's children frequently yesterday. By the end of the day, I had never been so thankful to have a place to stay, to have assurance that I'll have a roof over my head every night. And a roof that doesn't leak, to boot. And it makes me think that, as DOrothy Day pointed out, as long as there are folks living in poverty, as long as there are folks with roofs that leak, as long as there are children with hungry bellies, we are all of us never really rich, or housed, or full. We are connected, all of us God's children, all one body, connected by invisible threads that should make it impossible for some to thrive while others suffer. I can only hope that when this recovery finishes on Friday, those of us working here will bring home a raging fire of passion for justice, desirious to work together to bring about the kind of world where everyone has a safe home and food to eat.

The owners of the house watched us tear down their home yesterday. The woman of the couple was summoned by neighbors who told her "the angels are here." She stood under the shade of the grand old tree in front of her home and spoke with LeEtta, Joanne, and Carolinda, chatted away for half an hour and watched as we destroyed her home. She was looking forward, they told us later. Gustav badly damaged the home, and it was damaged further by Ike, by the water that came into the community in waves. Having reported the Gustav damage to FEMA, they wouldn't let her 'double dip' and get extra money from Ike damages, too. Still, the FEMA money was enough that they were able to take some out of savings and buy a new home, which will arrive on Thursday. They are looking forward with hope.

Look the part

2008-10-13T08:57:00.005-04:00

"I thought, do they want me to look the part, or do they want me to be the part?" Pastor Kirby of Clanton Chapel UMC spoke about Matthew 22:1-14 yesterday morning - the Parable of the Wedding Banquet. He reflected on his time as an insurance agent in the 1970's, and how he was told at the outset of his employment that he was required to 'look the part.' But what use is looking the part if you're not actually qualified to be the part? What good does it do to show the world a person that doesn't really exist?

I reflected on this all day yesterday as we went about celebrating the sabbath. We enjoyed the Voices of the Wetlands festival at nearby Southdown Plantation and ate delicious alligator sauce piquant, jambalaya, and shrimp etouffee, washed it down with Dr. Pepper, and feasted on home-made pecan pie and red velvet cake for desert (is your mouth watering yet?) We rearranged the common room of the guest house where we're staying. The hurricane washed away the extra guest trailers, so when a youth group of 50 stayed here last week, many of the youth had to sleep on cots in the common area; it was a mess, as a result. Then it was time to eat again.

Why do humans feel the need to put up a facade? To show other only what they want to see? We make all kinds of fuss over looking the part, but often neglect to cultivate the life that should go along with it.

God calls us to something more: to not only talk the talk, but also to walk the walk. As Christians, as those who profess a love for Jesus Christ, we are called to witness and testimony - and this may be done with our words, our songs, and our sermons. But I often find myself forgetful that there's more than talking like a Christian. I am thankful of the words of St. Francis of Assisi in these moments: "Preach the Gospel at all times," he says. "If necessary, use words." We are called as followers of Christ to truly follow Christ - to walk with God as God walks with us. To live our lives with the full knowledge that we might be the only Gospel that others every read.

How is this done? With acts of kindness, to be sure. In caring for one another, to be sure. In standing in solidarity with our brothers and sisters through this difficult time, most certainly. I am certain that we walk with God this week, as we begin the long process of recovery here in Dulac. Works of mercy are necessary - to meet the immediate needs of our brothers and sisters is an essential business. But to truly become the part, to truly preach the Gospel, it is necessary to work towards the Kingdom of God in other ways. We as a church, as a people of God, as a nation, must strive towards justice. Justice for the Houma people here in Dulac means recognition as a Nation. That they might have as a right, access to medical care and proper education for their children, protection and care of their elders, the ability to govern themselves, the ownership of their land. Justice for the people of Dulac means that when the next hurricane hits the bayou, as it will, people have safe homes, high in the sky and floating like little islands amid the flood waters. If we are truly to be a people of God, committed to the Good News of Jesus Christ, we must walk towards justice and in solidarity. We must be the part.

Amid devastation, hope.

2008-10-12T09:54:00.007-04:00

So we're here! Our group arrived yesterday afternoon in New Orleans, Louisiana, to blue skies and a refreshing breeze. I've never been this far south. It's gorgeous country; lots of trees, very swampy, everything covered in Spanish moss. It was an hour drive from the rental car station into Houma, most of which I slept through. Traveling early in the morning doesn't work well for me!

I awoke as we were driving into Houma, because we got lost looking for the Wal-Mart (or any store that sold drinkable water. It's still not safe here). It seems most of the road signs (if there ever were any), have been blown away by the hurricanes. Evidence of devastation is everywhere in Houma. Winding our way through this small city, trying to pick out our way to Dulac, we saw piles of debris and personal belongings by the road side. Homes, a month after Ike, without roofs, walls, windows. Trailers abandoned, condemned. Grass from the bayou in great piles like mountains - signs of the months, maybe years, of recovery work ahead.

Houma, a city of about 30,000, is 40 minutes from where we are staying in Dulac. It's a small (and I mean small) town right on the bayou, home to 3,000 people. It's been harder hit by Gustav and Ike than Houma was. Dulac weathered Katrina and Rita pretty well, Doris (the mother of the community center's director, Jamie), tells me. Evacuated from their homes, and hearing of the devastation elsewhere in the state, they expected the worst, but arrived home in 2005 to find only mud and a few feet of water in their homes. Still, it's damage that's taken years to repair. Most folks in Dulac have raised their houses as a result of the hurricanes of 2005; they sit, like Great Egrets of the bayou, perched on 9-foot stilts. Folks here weren't so lucky during 2008's round of hurricanes. The Dulacians, as they call themselves, were evacuated in late August for Gustav. Many fled into Mississippi and upper Louisiana to escape the storm many predicted would wipe their town off the US map. Yet Gustav, which made landfall just 15 miles from Dulac, was kind to this place - as kind as a hurricane can be, I suppose. Hitting on September 1st, Gustav felled trees, blew power lines, ripped off the community center's roof, and spread mud and several feet of water from the bayou into its gymnasium. Damage, but damage that could be repaired once the flood waters receded with some elbow grease and a good power washer. Ike, which hit less than two weeks later, was less forgiving. It put the entire town of Dulac under 5 to 6 feet of water. The newly built guest quarters of the community center, where our group is staying, was untouched, as it had been constructed on the requisite stilts. But the community center, a vital part of this nation, was flooded, and much of its contents destroyed.

Doris showed me around yesterday. She's worked here long before her daughter became director of the center, she tells me. Her clothing room, of which she was so proud, and which served the residents of Dulac so faithfully, is gone, gutted, with a lone clothing rack waiting in the middle of the room to be filled once more. The library, the storage rooms (which held construction materials for home improvements in the community), the offices, all ruined. There's still a water line visible on the walls, as tall as I am. The gymnasium is full of relief supplies - cans of water, blankets, food - and will have to wait awhile before it sees children on its basketball courts again. And the mud. All around us is the mud. It covered everything, Doris says, three inches thick, stinking, rotting mud. It took days to power wash it away. There are still thick, wet blocks of it under the guest center.

Yet amid all this devastation, we see hope that things in Dulac will turn around, that this vibrant community full of interesting characters will thrive once more. Although there are piles of ruined materials all around the community center, the employees and volunteers that stay here were able to salvage building materials, new appliances, and even a toilet and two sinks. There are three Volunteers in Mission teams in the community center right now - the team from Foundry, and two teams from Oklahoma. Most importantly, the residents are committed to recovery. Recovery of their homes, their community, and recovery of a way of life that they love so very much.

I'm off across the street now, to the Clanton Chapel United Methodist Church on the center's property. More to come later.

Preparing for the journey

2008-10-09T15:14:00.001-04:00

As we leave in two days, I cannot help but wonder what Dulac will look like, what we will find when we arrive. Here are some useful links that those of us on the VIM team have been passing around about where we'll be going. They help me to visualize, ever so slightly, what we'll see once we're on the bayou.

This website displays postings from the Dulac Community Center's Director, Jamie Billiot. Read her thoughts about the evacuations and flooding from Gustav and Ike:
http://www.reznetnews.org/user/jamie-billiot

Here's the website for the United Houma Nation, the Native American people that populates much of Dulac and Houma. Especially interesting are the sideshows of the area right after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. You'll find that link on the right hand side under 'Hot Topics.' Click on the link for either Gustav or Ike. http://www.unitedhoumanation.org/

More once we're there.

An update from Betty Lundy

2008-07-26T20:25:00.002-04:00

For those former VIM team members following our blog, please see below an update written by Bobbie Hodges, daughter of Eleanor McClean, who recently visited the home of Betty Lundy. The VIM team that visited New Orleans in 2006 worked on Ms. Lundy's home. They installed insulation and over 100 sheets of fresh drywall in her house.

Bobbie says ...

I just got home from New Orleans and wanted to give you an update on Betty Lundy. Feel free to forward this to others who worked on her house. My parents and I visited Betty on Tuesday afternoon. The house is completely fixed up on both sides now and looks beautiful. She has a rose bush planted out front. Her daughter is living in the left side of the house as you look at it, where we did drywall. Betty lives in the right side, where we did insulation. She moved back into the house in the fall of 2007. She had let her niece's family move into the little rental house she lived in when we were there, so she was living in the FEMA trailer for several months before her house was finished. She is happy to be taking in foster children again, and has a nice room fixed up for them. She had a four-year-old girl who had just left to live with grandparents when we visited. She said they have a good foster parent support group that meets in a church and some CASA volunteers, but a lot more help is needed in child advocacy work. She had knee replacement surgery about a year ago and is still doing therapy and trying to get completely healed. Many other houses in the neighborhood are already fixed up and a few are still in progress. I think only two had to be torn down. A new church has just been built diagonally across the street from Betty's house. She was planning to go to the dedication ceremony the evening that we were there. Betty was excited to have a visit from us, and would love to have news and pictures from anyone on the work team. She still gives great hugs, and sent one to everyone else on the VIM team!

Bobbie Hodges

Photos from last few days

2007-11-19T06:37:00.018-05:00

We brought cards and pictures from the children at Foundry for the kids at Hialeah - and they made cards for us to take back to the kids at Foundry. Here they are showing off their cards.

Lucian with a Hialeah church member, leading the kids in song.

This is the area surrounding Hialeah church.

Stephen and Rebecca talking with the kids before we left.

One of the kids showing off his puppet handiwork.

Here we are after the Bible school in front of Hialeah. Lots of people had left by this time - we estimated that we must have had at least 150 kids coming and going.

Our interpreter Jimmy, and Catalina who organized much of our trip are on the far left. The rest are the team with some of the Methodist pastors in Nicaragua. We had dinner with them one night. There are 13 Methodist churches total in Nicaragua - all quite small and in poor communities.

I believe these monkeys are native to Nicaragua - but not to where we saw them. We took a boat tour on our last day around these small volcanic islands near Granada. Some are just big enough for a house and a small yard. Most have been bought by wealthy folks - and there are some beautiful homes. One island was only occupied by trees...and three or four of these monkeys. They were brought there by someone on one of the neighboring islands. We were told that they are fed by that neighbor (I think I heard that he's a veterinarian), passing tourists - and the mango trees on the island.

Our team with Pastor Elmer at the volcanic lake. Lucian, Rebecca and I went swimming. From left to right: Sarah, Stephen, Yadira, Fred, Elmer, Lynn, Rebecca, Jana, Lucian.

Closing comments

2007-11-19T05:52:00.000-05:00

Saturday, November 17, 2007

I’m writing here on the plane home and am just starting to process. I am a person who needs time alone and space before I can really think and feel. Luckily, there’s nobody sitting next to me.

This morning, one team member was sharing about how the poverty of all the children in Hialeah affected him – and how hard it was then to enjoy our luxurious day and meal at the volcanic lake the next day. I then wondered why it hadn’t really bothered me when we were there or at the lake the next day. I dug into my nutritious and delicious meal of fish, rice, french fries and vegetables, with bottled water and beer and enjoyed it. And I didn’t think at all of the desperation of the food distribution at the church the day before. I honestly didn’t think of the little girl that was trying to get some water for her little brother – and who I didn’t give any to because we didn’t have any cups and I didn’t want her to drink out of my water bottle and start a stampede with all the other kids who were thirsty and most likely had no source of clean drinking water. All after we had just had Bible school and done an activity and skit about the Good Samaritan and that when people are thirsty, we should give them water.

I thought of a few reasons why I wasn't bothered:

1) My natural instinct when I am overwhelmed or when I have not had any time to myself, is to withdraw or avoid.

2) I suspect that I’m a little burned out in general. I sometimes find Washington overwhelming in need…and causes…and feel “cause fatigue”. Just at our church – we have so many ministries for so many things – all very important and all very needed. And I just have to remind myself of all the wonderful people in the world, and all they are doing on behalf of those in need. I don’t have to, nor can I, nor should I, try to do it all myself. As we’ve kept saying on this trip – we each have different gifts.

3) Through different living and traveling experiences abroad and in the U.S., I’ve seen different kinds and levels of poverty. Upon reflection, I think that has led me to become a bit cavalier (or sometimes fatigued) to the point of losing some capacity for compassion. Sad but true that I wasn't shocked at all seeing the conditions people were living in.

This trip and those kids have really humbled me. I'm comforted in knowing that I do have respect for and think of those living in poverty as my equals. But it’s easy for me to confuse pity with compassion. Pity for those in poverty (I'm thinking of material, but I suppose it applies to emotional or spiritual poverty as well) feels paternalistic to me. I don’t want to “feel sorry” for people – because that is taking away their power. But it is something else entirely to be compassionate and empathetic.

[Disclaimer: I'm not saying that one shouldn't be shocked, angry or depressed by poverty or feel bad for people - people just experience things differently. I'm left wondering if my sense of justice isn't jaded because I wasn't more emotionally affected.]

Today, Monday, November 19

Going back to work this morning. I want to post some last photos. I'm not sure how long I'll keep this blog up - but at least for a little while. We plan to do a short presentation in church and a longer one after. I hope to post our presentation/photos from that, so those of you not in Washington can share with us.

In closing - I'd like to say it was a challenging and very rich experience. These type of short-term mission trips are as much or even more about helping us grow and learn, as it is about helping the people in whatever country. Growing and learning is a worthy goal, and I think my team members would agree with me in saying that God stretched and grew all of us. Our hosts did a fantastic job of setting up meetings with many organizations, to give us a good overall view of the work being done in many areas. So many thanks to all of them.

Our specific trip was meant to help build longer term relationships - and I think we have accomplished that. I'm excited to see the fruits of this trip!

Some quick parting photos and thoughts

2007-11-17T11:21:00.001-05:00

Well, we are getting ready to leave for the airport. It has been a very intense and busy week. The stress of dealing with 130 children in poverty is something we reflected on this morning - and that we'll all continue to process. I have to go now - but will write more later. I had hoped to upload some pictures - but it's not working. Hope to finish up in Miami - if not, when we get home.

Photos from Volcano Masaya and Shopping

2007-11-14T22:57:00.000-05:00

These pictures are from yesterday. The sign is from an organization we visited - the Consumer Protection Association of Masaya. I found it fascinating. Most of the complaints they work on seem to be focused on the major utilities - and most of the problems seem to be related to corruption, both high and low level. That was our one meeting, then we went shopping. We bought several things to sell in the Foundry auction - one of the major fundraisers for Volunteers in Mission. Foundry members - we've got some great stuff!! We went to the "new" market and the "old" market. One geared more towards locals, one more towards higher-end tourists. I didn't read the history of the "old" market - but in the mural picture - it's on the far right, inside the castle looking building.

After that we went to the Volcano Masaya - which is actively steaming. The last eruption was in 2001 I think - and the warnings we got on park information said that if it erupts...you should get under your car. I was thinking molten lava - and that I wouldn't want to be on the ground - but I guess the problem really would be rocks and ash flying through the air. It was really incredible - I'd never been to an active volcano before. And it was really nice to get a little hike in - I've been missing my workouts and walking.

Bible School Day 1

2007-11-14T21:59:00.000-05:00

Photos finally! We moved hotels today and are staying the one we had originally planned for (before we had to cancel our trip to San Francisco Libre) and behold the wireless connection!

The first is of the group this morning before heading out. The second is of Lucian with the kids at Hialeah United Methodist Church. It was a total madhouse - but really fun. Hialeah is a community church - and the community definitely showed up for the American show. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see everything else that was going on. Stephen planned all these activities (God bless him) and there were 4 activities going on simultaneously. Lucian and I had the "making a wooden toy" station. They were little kits - so the kids went home with a toy. Lynn and Yadira led a "tooth brush demo" - along the lines of when you're at the dentist and they ask you how you brush your teeth. Fred and Jana had a game going with kids outside - involving a big, blow up globe/ball...geography and throwing a large object all in one game. And they also did coloring/prayer/scripture lesson with Rebecca and Stephen. I understand that the toothbrush and scripture got combined...as we didn't have space to split those groups. Holy toothbrush!

All in all it was a really busy and hectic day and I think we're all exhausted. We could certainly use your prayers for continued patience with each other, with our hosts, the children and situations beyond our control.

Right after the Bible school - we met with Hialeah church members. Pastor Elmer suggested that as a next step that both our congreations form a committee to stay in touch. They've already identified 4 people, representative of their congregation. One woman, one man, and two youth - one girl and one boy. Their church has a lot of programs - they offered 8 scholarships to high school/university students of $50-$80 dollars each.

[We're right now practicing for tomorrow's bead activity with women...Lynn sends a shout out to her sister Lahn - who has been good at commenting on the blog!]

I'd like to end with a thank you for the life of my Aunt Kathleen, my Dad's sister. She passed away last week of pancreatic cancer. She was such a lovely person with such a lovely laugh. Her memorial service was today in Denver. I'm sorry that I won't get to hear all the stories and the memories of her at her service. But I felt okay about traveling this week as she and my Uncle Sid traveled a lot in their retirement all around the world - and I know she found a lot of joy in that. I've been thinking about my family and our group has been praying for them.

Monday Nov 12

2007-11-12T23:03:00.000-05:00

Sorry - but I can't seem to upload any photos. Might just be the connection.

This is really a post of just regurgitating what we saw/heard/did today from my notes, so it might be a little "in the weeds" for the recreational reader. I’m also a little tired to be doing a whole lot of reflection. I will say that it has been nice that Yadira built in time for us to pray and have devotions – which I often don’t make time for in my daily life. Tomorrow we’re going shopping in Masaya market for tourist stuff – and buying items that we’ll sell at our auction fundraiser at church. We’re also visiting a volcano and one organization. We had a really full day today so my brain is a little fried. AND our trusted guide and interpreter, Marcos, LIED about the weather. It did rain, when he said it wouldn't. [I’m just putting that down because I threatened to blog about him.]

Today was a great and very full day. Miguel and Nan spent the day with us. We first visited the Los Caracolitos (little snails) school. The enrollment is around 85 kids, ranging in age from 7-15, with basic education classes for adults at night. Most of the kids work in the market that’s nearby, the school is free and doesn’t require uniforms. They go half days and it is an accelerated primary school in 3 years. When they finish, those that can manage, go on to 6th grade. Some of the kids are teenagers who never went to school and are playing catch up. The school director, Alicia, has been running the school in various locations for the last 13 years. I think they’ve been at their present location, thanks to Nan and Miguel’s support, for the last 5-6 years and have been slowly improving the school. We had some very basic classes and sharing with the kids. Was born from census in community about what needs were. Started providing lunches and breakfasts when at evangelical church. Teachers paid $40 mo – and . Other pre-school in area run by Catholic church and charge 40 cordobas. $200 month for food. Looking for sponsors to help kids go to secondary school. Currently have 4 teachers. 18 months to get a teaching diploma – which they would all be interested in doing, but they don’t have the resources.

We also got to hear about the organization, Mujer y Comunidad, that we had planned to visit in San Francisco Libre. Dr. Rosa Silva (MD) spoke with us about her work in the women’s clinic. They offer birth control and pap smears, among many other things, all having to do with women’s health. What I found really impressive was how much they cooperate with so many other organizations, including the Ministry of Health.

Foundry made a contribution from our Mission budget of $1850, specifically to buy birth control, as that was what was identified as the greatest need by Mujer y Comunidad. That should fund a one year supply of birth control pills for 300 women. They used to get most of their birth control donations from the UN – but about a year ago, that all dried up. Nan attributed that largely to prevailing U.S. policies against family planning and their influence in the UN. The other medical donations we brought from CrossLink International had a total value of $5210 and Foundry paid $352 for pre-natal vitamins and toothbrushes.

An attorney, Sandra Welasca Melendez, who works on domestic abuse cases for Mujer y Comunidad, also spoke with us. She told us of two specific cases, and shared about the legal system in general.

Our last stop was at Centro de Mujeres Acahual. Acahual is an indigenous word, meaning Land of Sunflowers. What a lovely name. The area where we visited was near the town dump of 55 years – which they pointed out is a curse but also provides employment for many people. The Center’s main objective is to give attention to the women in the community. They work hard not to overlap services with other NGOs – and see the main health threats as diabetes, hypertension, and cervical cancer. Nan pointed out earlier that HPV (human papilloma virus) is a serious threat – and both this clinic and Mujer y Comunidad provide or have arrangements to refer women to the public women’s hospital for procedures to prevent cervical cancer. The Center doesn’t receive any government donations. We talked quite a bit about HIV and AIDS as well – but I’ll be honest – I was snoozing through this whole presentation because it was right after a very filling lunch and I was exhausted. I promise to write more and get more info from other trip members for our trip report!

Arrival at last!

2007-11-11T23:12:00.000-05:00

No pictures for tonight - I have to spend some time downloading photos. Will post some tomorrow. We actually have internet/computers at the hotel - so I should be able to post something every day.

Today, we did finally arrive and the planes were fully functional, at least as far as we know. The weather is really pleasant - in the 80s probably. Lucian (our group member who arrived on Wednesday) greeted us at the hotel in a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and a Panama hat - and we knew we'd arrived. We had fish, rice and cooked vegetables for lunch - excellent - and had a fantastic dinner of rice and beans, a dish with rice, chicken, raisins?, and spices (I'll have to get the name) and made from scratch, chocolate cake! (Thanks Millie!)

We've spent today getting acquainted with some of those people who have been working with our trip leader over the last several months to plan our itinerary.

Nan met us at the plane. Nan and Miguel are in ministry here in Nicaragua (I hope to learn tomorrow more about all they do) and have visited Foundry to speak about Nicaragua. We also met Catalina, one of the main organizers of our trip, Marcos - our interpreter/guide, our driver (who's name is slipping my mind because I don't have it written down) and Ron and Millie. Ron gave us a great overview of Nicaraguan history and the current political/economic situation - and spoke a bit about CAFTA-DR (Central American/Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement). I'm sitting here thinking that I've really got to start taking notes because I'm having a hard time remembering even overall themes, much less specifics. Ron did talk about the successes, which were many, of the Sandinistas when they were in power, as well as some shortfalls of that government.

Ron and his wife, Millie spent some time in Washington, and went to Foundry while living there. They, and their adorable 2 yr old son, graciously hosted us for dinner tonight. We brought grits as a gift.

Yes, you read that right. Millie is a transplanted and true Southerner...and the woman needs her grits. We were so glad that we could be the grit-givers.

Some issues we talked about today are the recent law in Nicaragua, that doesn't allow abortions of any kind - even in order to save the woman's life - and what a dire effect that has had on women's health. We've also talked about just how people make it by here - as some statistics we saw put unemployment/underemployment at 50%. Nicaragua is the poorest country in the hemisphere, after Haiti (according to stats I've seen) and one can't help but wonder how people put food on the table.

What a blessing it is to be getting to know all my group and all our new friends in Nicaragua!

Romans 12: 4-8 - Many Gifts!

2007-11-10T22:13:00.000-05:00

The verses that we chose as a theme for this trip are Romans 12: 4-8. Paul speaks about how we are all one body in Christ - and that we each have different gifts according to the grace given us. (Note: I can only reference it thanks to the Gideons and their hotel Bibles. My Bible's in my suitcase at the airport!) Indeed, our team has many gifts and I've already seen them in action.

Lynn Kim has demonstrated her prowness in negotiation - at the very ugly scene at the gate counter, at the re-ticketing counter, and for taxis as well. I'm following her at the airport. (Top pic: Lynn's on the right - she and Yadira are diplomatically talking up the re-ticketing agent).

Stephen has shown his incredible organizational talents. We learned today that he has a personalized binder with all his trip materials...and highlighted portions of what he's responsible for to boot! (He's in front on the plane picture...expressing his love for American Airlines).

The last is a photo of us suffering for Volunteers in Mission at sunset at South Beach. (Left to right, Stephen, Rebecca, Fred, Yadira, Jana).

We are very disappointed to be missing out on our planned activities in Nicaragua today - and we'll also unfortunately be missing the church service tomorrow at Hiahleah United Methodist Church in Managua. Foundry supports the pastor there. Luckily - we do have one team member already in Nicaragua. Lucian Caspar went down on Wednesday (not sure if he was on American Airelines ;-), so he has been there to represent us. I believe that now our activities meant for yesterday will be done tomorrow. Our team has been taking all the changes in stride - one gift God seems to have blessed all of us with is a good sense of humor!

2007-11-10T21:58:00.001-05:00

Here's the door on the American Airlines plane. EVERYBODY got on the plane...full, mind you...and then they couldn't shut the door.

By the way...there was a little nervous laughter from the group around the discussing of photos on the blog. It was suggested that there be prior approval of photos before posting was allowed. So it will most likely be some nature, some group shots, mechanical devices like airplane doors, or only extremely flattering photos up here.

I haven't totally figured out the posting of photos either. Will try a few more.

Still...uh...mission trip working in Miami

2007-11-10T21:31:00.000-05:00

Saturday, 1:45 pm
Nope – we’re not in Nicaragua yet. In fact, we haven’t yet left Miami. Apparently, the karma of VIM is to be flexible and we are proving we are VIM-worthy.

We are now offloading for the second time. The first plane had mechanical problems – we had mostly loaded and then had to unload. The good news was that they had another plane for us waiting. So we had about another hour wait while they got that plane ready. Started loading on that plane at 12:30. Now we’ve been waiting on the new plane for over an hour – and they’ve realized that the front door won’t shut! I've got pictures to prove it :-) More to come…

Night Before

2007-11-09T22:35:00.000-05:00

Of course, it’s 10:30 p.m. the night before the trip and I’m still packing. So this post won’t be long…

Members of the VIM trip are:

Yadira Almodóvar, Fred Beamer, Lucian Caspar, Sarah Cook, Lynn Kim, Jana Meyer, Stephen Roberts, and Rebecca Shoaf

Our fearless trip leader, Yadira, has done a fantastic job!