I bring greetings from our brothers and sisters of Church of the Brethren in Haiti (l’Eglise des Freres d’Haiti), from the general secretary, the moderator, the National Committee of the church, and from the delegates and nondelegates!
An appropriation of $143,000 from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) is being directed by Brethren Disaster Ministries for a humanitarian response to multiple crises in Haiti. The money will provide emergency food distributions at all the congregations and preaching points of l’Eglise des Freres d’Haiti (the Church of the Brethren in Haiti).
“The only hope many people have is the light of God in the church,” said Ilexene Alphonse, describing the desperate situation of the Haitian people. Living as the church in Haiti right now is “stressful and it is painful, but the most part is that everybody, they live in a limbo. They are never certain about what will happen,” he said. “There is the constant fear of being kidnapped.”
L’Eglise des Freres d’Haiti (the Church of the Brethren in Haiti) has sent a response to a pastoral letter from David Steele, general secretary of the Church of the Brethren. The pastoral statement for Haiti was sent to the church in Haiti on March 7. In related news, brief updates on the situation of the church in Haiti have been received from leaders in l’Eglise des Freres d’Haiti. Vildor Archange, who works with the Haiti Medical Project, reported.
The staff of Brethren Disaster Ministries and Iglesia de los Hermanos (the Church of the Brethren) in the Dominican Republic (DR) are working together on an effort to aid displaced Haitians. A grant of $5,000 is being requested from the Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to provide emergency food to Haitian citizens fleeing across the border to the Dominican Republic and away from the violence in Haiti. Haiti and the DR share the same Caribbean island.
Church of the Brethren general secretary David Steele has shared the following pastoral statement for Haiti during a state of emergency and widespread violence in the Caribbean island nation. The full text of the pastoral statement follows in three languages: English, Haitian Kreyol, and French:
Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to respond to multiple crises in Haiti, support continued Brethren Disaster Ministries work following 2022’s summer flooding in the central United States, aid displaced Ukrainians with disabilities, provide school kits for displaced children in the Democratic Republic of Congo, provide flood relief in Rwanda, and support a summer program for migrant children in Washington, D.C.
Eglise des Freres Haitiens Miami members traveled to Haiti in July. Twenty-eight people made decisions to follow Christ, 7 couples were married, 12 people were baptized, and 13 children were dedicated.
The Brethren Disaster Ministries staff have directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to support the work of Church World Service (CWS) responding to the Ukraine refugee crisis; to support long-term programing and a new house construction phase of the 2021 Haiti earthquake response; and to finance the opening and initial phase of a new Brethren Disaster Ministries rebuilding project site doing flood recovery in Waverly, Tenn.; among other recent grants.
When we at Eglise des Freres Haitiens in Miami, Fla., decided to ship a container to Haiti, we had no idea how it would play out. We didn’t know how much it would cost and whether we would have enough money to ship. We didn’t know whether we would have enough supplies to fill a 40-foot container. We didn’t know anyone in Haiti who knows the custom system, with the connections to help us. But we didn’t give in to the fear and concerns that we have felt. We stepped out in faith and God made it all possible.
