Haiti Servant Event 2010

Dear Friends,

Rich Bearup, Kate Bearup, and Andrew Temme from Martin Luther Chapel joined fourteen others from around Michigan to travel to Port-au-Prince, Haiti from March 3rd to the 10th. The group was coordinated by Kim and Keith Waller from Hope Lutheran Church in Warren. The goal of the trip was to rebuild the collapsed portions of the security wall at the orphanage in Lilavois and to offer help anywhere else it might be needed.

The group had an eighteenth member on the trip down to Haiti, Theo. Fifteen month old Theo came with his mother, Nadine, to Michigan and stayed with the Wallers after the quake. Nadine is the daughter of our driver, Leonard Isidor, and works for the UN. When the UN needed Nadine to return to work, she and her husband George (who was still in Haiti) made the difficult decision to leave Theo in the States with Kim and Keith until the group flew to Haiti.

The group arrived in Haiti around 3:30pm and cleared customs an hour later with no problems. Leonard, Nadine, George, and a few others picked the group up at the airport. Nadine and George were reunited with Theo. The group then headed out to the orphanage where they would stay for the week.

Lilavois is located about eight miles to the north-east of Port-au-Prince. The orphanage has been under construction for the past few years. The first team from Martin Luther Chapel traveled to Haiti in 2007 and helped to begin construction of the second floor of the orphanage. The compound consists of the main orphanage, a medical building (masonry work finished), a food storage building (foundation and some walls erected), and a small building for the grounds keeper. The entire compound is protected by a security wall approximately twelve feet tall. The entire western wall and approximately half of the northern wall fell inward. The medical building sustained little damage while the tops of some of the food storage building walls collapsed during the quake. The orphanage itself sustained a large amount of cosmetic damage. The building’s frame is mostly stable with two areas of concern which can be repaired.

On Thursday the group began working after morning devotion. Before the new security wall could be constructed, the old wall needed to be cleared. By the end of the day, enough rubble was cleared that some of the group and the Haitians started to rebuild the wall. This process of clearing rubble and building the wall continued throughout the rest of the trip.
The rebar of the western wall which connected the toppled section to the wall's foundation was removed by the end of Friday. This helped to allow the remaining rubble to be more easily removed, the usable block stacked, and the new wall to be constructed. Rubble removal continued on Saturday. A few group members started clearing rubble from the northern wall while others continued to lay brick for the new wall. The work continued on Monday and Tuesday.

At the end of the last work day, Tuesday, roughly 80% of the length of the western wall was nine blocks high while the remaining was four blocks high. A cap will be placed on the nine block high wall before another four blocks are added to it later. In addition, the northern wall's foundation was cleared so that construction could begin on the next section.

Some of the group went to Gertrude's house on Friday morning to help paint. Gertrude ran the guest house where the group has stayed on past trips. The guest house, Providence, was completely flattened in the quake. Gertrude's personal house seemed to be untouched by the quake. Here she runs an orphanage for both healthy and handicapped children. She is adding a second story onto the house so that she can open a small guest house again. The group painted some of her orphanage rooms and some of the new rooms while also helping to sort the donations she has received.

Saturday afternoon brought a break from the manual labor as the group lead a VBS session for over one hundred children from the surrounding area. With the help of Tijean, a good friend of the group, the children heard a Bible story before making a craft, a cross with stickers on it. Play time came after the craft. Games of soccer and red light, green light went on while some of the other children flew kites.

On Sunday, the group attended church at Delmas 89 where Pastor Louis preached about trusting in God in both the easy and tough times. While at Delmas 89, the group got to see the collapsed school. After church they drove to lookout point on the mountain south of Port-au-Prince. From there one can see all of Port-au-Prince, the surrounding area, and across the valley. Group members purchased paintings, carvings, and other Haiti memorabilia from vendors at lookout point.

From the mountain top, the group traveled to downtown Port-au-Prince. Here they saw the collapsed palace along with thousands living in tents in the surrounding parks. While driving around the area, the group was able to see some of the worst devastation from the earthquake. After the palace, the group went to the flattened Providence guest house to see it. After an emotional stay, the group continued on to Leonard's house for dinner.

Every night Leonard's family prepared a wonderfully tasty dinner for the group. Besides the food, the group enjoyed seeing Theo and spending time with the Isidors. Throughout the week, the team filtered and purified their own water from the well at Lilavois. The water filters and storage containers were left for other mission teams to use as they come to work on the churches, schools, and orphanage. The filters can eventually be used at the orphanage once it begins housing children.

Martin Luther Chapel gathered donations from members and others which included health kits and monetary donations. The health kits were delivered to the Lutheran church at Delmas 89 to be distributed. Monetary donations were split between Lutheran World Relief (25%) and being taken directly to Haiti with the team (75%). The money was delivered to the leaders with whom the group worked and will be used to buy rice, beans, and spaghetti which will then be distributed by the Lutheran churches in Port-au-Prince.

Going into this year's trip, the group knew that it would be a very different trip. No one knew what the damage would be like or how staying at the orphanage would work. Throughout the week, God watched over the team, providing them with food, shelter, water and safety. Each group member saw Haiti from a different perspective, whether it was their first trip or a return trip. Each had specific skills and talents to offer the group, the people of Haiti, and in service to God.

While the trip was a wonderful servant and mission trip, the team received troubling news a few days after returning to Michigan. Just after returning to his home Friday evening, March 12, Pastor Louis was killed during an attempted robbery. His wife was beaten but able to attended church on Sunday. A more detailed article can be found online at the LCMS Reporter website or from the Haiti Earthquake Relief group on Martin Luther Chapel's website. Pastor Louis was a strong leader of the Lutheran church in Haiti. Please keep his family and the church in your prayers.

The group is thankful for the all of the prayers offered during their trip. The group is also thankful for all of the support they received in preparing for the trip, whether it be in the form of monetary donations, health kits, or other donations. Please continue to keep Haiti in your thoughts and prayers. This was not the first trip to Haiti and it will not be the last.

In Christ,
Andrew Temme, Kate Bearup, Rich Bearup