{"id":1787,"date":"2010-01-21T00:00:51","date_gmt":"2010-01-21T00:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=1787"},"modified":"2018-09-04T03:41:45","modified_gmt":"2018-09-04T03:41:45","slug":"brethren-delegation-in-haiti-begins-reporting-from-earthquake-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2010\/brethren-delegation-in-haiti-begins-reporting-from-earthquake-zone\/","title":{"rendered":"Brethren Delegation in Haiti Begins Reporting from Earthquake Zone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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\nLudovic St. Fleur, mission coordinator in Haiti, surveys the\u00a0damage at\u00a0Delmas 3 Church of Eglise des Freres Haitiens (the Haitian Church of the Brethren) in Port-au-Prince.\u00a0St. Fleur\u00a0is one of\u00a0a four-member\u00a0delegation from the Church of the Brethren that is now in Port-au-Prince connecting with Haitian Brethren leaders\u00a0and doing an assessment of needs following the earthquake of last Tuesday. A photo album from the delegation is now available online, go to <\/em>PhotoAlbumUser?AlbumID=10115&view=UserAlbum<\/em><\/a>. Photo by Roy Winter<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Church of the Brethren Newsline<\/strong>
\nJan. 21, 2010<\/strong><\/h6>\n

A delegation from the Church of the Brethren has begun work with Eglise des Freres Haitiens (Haitian Church of the Brethren) in response to the earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince area last week.<\/p>\n

The delegation now in Haiti includes Ludovic St. Fleur, coordinator of the Brethren mission in Haiti and pastor of Eglise des Freres Haitiens in Miami, Fla.; Roy Winter, executive director of Brethren Disaster Ministries; Jeff Boshart, coordinator of the church program that has been rebuilding homes in Haiti destroyed when four hurricanes and tropical storms hit the island in 2008; and Klebert Exceus, consultant for the hurricane rebuilding program.<\/p>\n

Following are excerpts from a first report phoned in yesterday by the group. Winter made the phone call on Jan. 20 from Exceus\u2019 home in Port-au-Prince, where the delegation was meeting with members of the National Committee or leadership team of the Haitian Brethren:<\/p>\n

“Klebert started the meeting…by saying that God is with us. He allowed Satan even to affect Job, but He didn\u2019t allow Satan to destroy Job, and Job remained faithful. He said we have much to be thankful for. Even at this time, we\u2019re called to be thankful and give glory to God in all things.<\/p>\n

“It was very noticeable among the leadership team, most of whom I\u2019ve met before, how different some of them were and how their demeanor was very subdued and how tired and stressed and frustrated people were. It was absolutely heart-wrenching to hear them talk about it. As we discussed the next steps for us and evaluating the situation, they didn\u2019t want to talk about rebuilding–they wanted to talk about food and water and how desperate people were, including them.<\/p>\n

“To hear the leadership of the church–these are mostly young men, it\u2019s a young leadership–to be stuck in a time without food and water and to be so desperate for it, and to hear the anguish in their voices, it\u2019s so heart-wrenching. And they set that aside, and they try to think about what\u2019s right for the church.<\/p>\n

“They\u2019re all spending the night at Klebert\u2019s. Klebert is extending all of his hospitality and all of his resources, making them available to the Church of the Brethren right now so we can help these people recover.<\/p>\n

“It is abundantly clear, just after our short meeting, that we have a real need to be here and minister to our church members. They have some desperate need right now, and we\u2019ve got to find ways to support them and meet their needs.<\/p>\n

“We, the Church of the Brethren, are going to have a broader response. We\u2019re going to work in Port-au-Prince, we\u2019re going to be part of the Church World Service response. It\u2019s very important that we support that CWS response. This is something the Church of the Brethren is doing…in partnership and collaboration with Church World Service.<\/p>\n

“Delmas 3 was the \u2018mother church,\u2019 the first Church of the Brethren in Haiti, as far as we know. The church building was heavily damaged and partially collapsed. Of that membership, at least 30 homes are destroyed, many people are missing, and at least one life was lost. It\u2019s amazing that it was only one at this point.<\/p>\n

“Throughout the area, there\u2019s always the question about the people missing. Even up north in Gona\u00efves, families from the church there talk about their family or friends who were visiting or had gone to Port-au-Prince for a holiday, and they have not heard and they just don\u2019t know. The stress and the pain of not knowing–how that weighs on people.<\/p>\n

“The second church that was built here is Croix-de-Bouquets, and Jean Bily is the pastor. He and his wife and one-year-old son escaped unharmed, but their house was destroyed. They went up to the Gona\u00efves area to find someplace where they can get access to food and to live with family there. That\u2019s what many of the Church of the Brethren members have done if they could.<\/p>\n

“Pastor Ives Jean is the moderator (living in) one of the hardest hit areas. We hadn\u2019t heard whether he was alive until today. He apparently is alive but was injured. We\u2019re going to try to see him tomorrow. Many homes destroyed and loss of life in that area. We expect the preaching point there to be pretty heavily impacted–the real concern is for food and water.”<\/p>\n

In a follow-up call about the activities of the delegation today, Thursday, Jan. 21, Winter said:<\/p>\n

“The delegation is handing out the tents and water purifiers that they had brought to Church of the Brethren members. (The Haitian Brethren leaders) had held back 20 cases of canned chicken (that was donated by the US Brethren last year) for special events or emergencies. They\u2019re feeling blessed that they had the foresight to do that. The chicken was distributed, and it was a real blessing to the neighborhood.”<\/p>\n

Brethren Disaster Ministries staff reported today that the delegation “has yet to speak to anyone who has received direct aid. Perhaps that\u2019s because the Brethren in this area are staying put, and they aren\u2019t in the worst hit part of the city.”<\/p>\n

Today the delegation hopes to get closer to the center of the Port-au-Prince area most affected by the earthquake, and to visit Pastor Ives Jean.<\/p>\n

Daily updates from the delegation\u2019s activities in Haiti are to be posted at a new blog on the Church of the Brethren relief effort and related comments from readers. Find the blog at https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blog\/?p=41#comments<\/a> .<\/p>\n

The Church of the Brethren Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, director of news services for the Church of the Brethren. Newsline stories may be reprinted if Newsline is cited as the source. Contact cobnews@brethren.org<\/a> \u00a0to receive Newsline by e-mail or to submit news to the editor. For more Church of the Brethren news and features, subscribe to “Messenger” magazine; call 800-323-8039 ext. 247.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ludovic St. Fleur, mission coordinator in Haiti, surveys the\u00a0damage at\u00a0Delmas 3 Church of Eglise des Freres Haitiens (the Haitian Church of the Brethren) in Port-au-Prince.\u00a0St. Fleur\u00a0is one of\u00a0a four-member\u00a0delegation from the Church of the Brethren that is now in Port-au-Prince connecting with Haitian Brethren leaders\u00a0and doing an assessment of needs following the earthquake of last<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,12,380],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-1787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-church-of-the-brethren","tag-haiti","tag-leglise-des-freres-haitiens"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1789,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787\/revisions\/1789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1787"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=1787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}