Brethren Disaster Ministries

From tragedy to hope - Brethren are building 100 homes in Haiti

“I’m praying that God will bless the Church of the Brethren which is helping the poor,” declared Brother Klebert. “The people in Fond Cheval (Haiti) say God’s visible hands are supporting them.”

The four hurricanes that swept over Haiti last fall severely compounded the extreme poverty that many Haitians face daily.  As an active mission point, with five Church of the Brethren congregations and ten smaller house churches, Brethren Disaster Ministries was compelled to respond quickly to help relieve suffering and improve the lives of many Haitians. Read more about mission work in Haiti.

Through grants totaling $305,000 from the Emergency Disaster Fund, Brethren Disaster Ministries has developed a multi-faceted response designed to support the local Brethren and the people of communities they live.

Call to Action
Brethren Disaster Ministries has finished construction or repairs of 50 homes, and 20 more new homes are near completion. With your help, we can build 30 more. 

Give to the Haiti response

$4,000 builds a new home
$2,500 completes major home repairs
$1,500 provides a new roof & strengthens walls
Any gift will help.

Volunteers are needed for the workcamp in October.

Pray for all the people and families in Haiti.
Pray for Jeff Boshart and Klebert Exceus, who lead this effort. 
Pray for the Church of the Brethren in Haiti. 

Resources

Haiti Workcamp, August 2009 (photo album)
Haiti Hurricane Recovery, April 2009 (photo album)
Haiti Hurricane Recovery, March 2009 (photo album)
Haiti bulletin insert (PDF)
Haiti poster (PDF)

Major response initiatives in Haiti

Home building

• In Fond Cheval, construction is completed on 20 homes.
• In Mont Boulage also, 20 homes have been completed.
• In Gonaíves, plans have been finished and recipients selected for 60 new block homes. Thirty of these are nearly complete, but funds are needed for the remaining 30 homes. Help fund the remaining homes.

Other intiatives

• Micro-loan programs: $20,000 is already providing $200 loans for purchasing livestock or starting a small business.
• School-based feeding programs: a container of food for the schoolchildren in Gonaíves arrived in April.
• Canned chicken provided by the Southern Pennsylvania & Mid-Atlantic Districts will be shipped in May 2009.
• Medical supplies: critical medicine and supplies are being sent to Gonaives through our membership in IMA World Health.
• Capacity building: Haitian Brethren leaders are being mentored to help with future disasters in their community.

Brother Klebert Exceus, our Haitian consultant, and Jeff Boshart, Haiti disaster response mission coordinator, are doing much of the legwork and planning related to the hurricane response.

 Read Jeff Boshart's notes from the field.

Brother Klebert paints a grim picture of life in Haiti. “The local people are saying that anything God can do for them is ‘too good’ … many think it would be better to die than to live because what they are doing is not truly living.” He described the situation further:

• At a school with 200 children and 3 teachers, the students spend 5 hours a day in class with no food or water.
• A person who sells things in the local market earns the equivalent of $25 US dollars each year.
• Since the hurricanes, 10% of the population in the target area has been forced to beg for a living.
• Families eat once a day, and depend on what they grow in their gardens.
• Children sleep on dirt floors on mats made from banana leaves.
• A typical small house has 2 rooms for a family (average size 7 members).
• Women walk 3 km. to fetch a bucket of water, which they carry on their heads.