A key ministry in the life of the Diocese of Alabama involves our companion relationship with our brothers and sisters in the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti.
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Medical Team Completes Successful Mission
The team, consisting of members of Episcopal Churches from across the diocese, worked side-by-side with their Haitian counterparts to provide much needed medical care to people who would otherwise be unable to afford the cost of a doctor's visit.
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Medical Mission Arrives in Haiti
A team from several churches in the Diocese of Alabama is spending a week in Haiti providing medical care to people unable to afford the cost of healthcare. The seven-member medical mission team arrived in Port au Prince Saturday afternoon, Feb. 2 and will return home Feb. 9.
Construction Mission Accomplished
Monday, Oct. 22, 2007
| Alabama team arrives in Miami after a successful construction mission |
The seven member team from the Diocese of Alabama arrived home from Haiti late last night after a successful week-long construction mission to build classroom furniture for two Episcopal primary schools in the Parish of Croix des Bouquets. For details of the mission, see the daily postings from Haiti below.
Saturday, Oct. 20, 2007
On their final full day in Haiti, members of Alabama's mission team visited Foyer Notre Dame, a home for the indigent elderly in Port au Prince. The home is operated by the Sisters of St. Margaret an Episcopal order based in Boston with a convent and ministry in Haiti's capital city.
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| Foyer Notre Dame furnishings provided by the Diocese of Alabama |
The team toured the facility, met its residents, and inspected a recently finished two-apartment guest house that will be operated by the sisters to help support the home. The Diocese of Alabama provided $2,500 this year to furnish the apartments. Each is now equipped with a dining table and chairs, refrigerator, toaster oven, dishes, two twin beds, a bed-side table, and miscellaneous other furnishings. The sisters are accepting reservations, and are scheduled to receive their first guests in the next two weeks.
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| Holy Trinity Cathedral, Port-auPrince, Haiti |
Team members also visited the Episcopal Cathedral of the Holy Trinity and the Episcopal Museum in downtown Port au Prince. The Cathedral features masterworks of art depicting familiar biblical scenes in the Haitian primitive style.
The team departs for the United States tomorrow, Sunday morning.
Friday, Oct. 19, 2007
| Finished desks at Gorman, Haiti |
Alabama's construction mission team finished its work in Haiti today. The team transported and assembled 22 desk-bench combinations for a new Episcopal primary school at the Transfiguration Church in Gorman. The school which opened this fall is housed in a temporary shelter situated adjacent to the church building. It is supported by poles made from tree limbs and its roof and walls are made of mats woven from palm fronds. Classrooms are separated by the blackboards, and until today, most children had to bring chairs from home to sit on during class.
| Applying finishing touches to assembled bench |
Like much of the rest of the week, today was a day filled with special moments.
"With our Haitian partners assuming the lead, it was fulfilling to realize that after working together for a week, our friends here are now in a position to take a lead role in constructing much needed additional classroom furniture for their other parish schools," said the Rev. Polk VanZandt, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Selma. "In the future, we missioners will be able to assume more of a supporting role in the construction of additional furniture of this type."
| Team member surrounded by excited children at Crochu, Haiti |
In another moment -- on arrival at Gorman -- the team was surrounded by a playground full of excited children. "As we worked, we heard the children singing in French the first verse of ‘When the Saints Go Marching In.' We instantly recognized the tune and spontaneously responded in English and they in turn responded in French," said Jane Berry of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Huntsville. "It was a moment of realization that in spite of the barriers of language, and the extreme differences of culture, we truly are brothers and sisters, one family in our Lord, and saints of God all."
Tomorrow, the team will visit the Episcopal Cathedral in Port au Prince, before returning home to Alabama on Sunday.
Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007
| School children help move desks into the classroom at Lilavois, Haiti |
Today, part of Alabama's mission team assembled desks at the Episcopal school in Lilavois, and visited the church and school at Thomazeau, while other team members traveled to the isolated mountain village of Crochu to participate in a clinic for malnourished children.
Accompanied by Parish Priest Father Fritz Valdema, team members and their Haitian partners assembled the first 10 bench-desks at St. Marc's School where students previously used chairs turned backward as their desks. "You should have seen how excited and appreciative the children were to finally have desks on which to work," said Jeanne Randall, a team member from St. Thomas Church in Huntsville. While at the school, members of the team visited each classroom and were greeted by the students with a special song of welcome.
At Thomazeau, team members inspected a water project that when complete will provide clean drinking water for students at the school. At present, no water is available at or near the school and students must bring it with them. To date the well has been drilled. However, the security wall has yet to be completed, and a pumping, holding, and distribution system still needs to be installed. The Diocese of Alabama has contributed resources to help with the project.
Three members of the team traveled an hour by four-wheel-drive vehicle and another hour on foot and horseback to visit the small
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| Nutrition Clinic at Crochu, Haiti |
village of Crochu high in the mountains above Port-au-Prince. This is the smallest and poorest village in the Valdema's parish. There, team members participated in a mobile nutrition clinic operated by Father Valdema's wife Carmel. Today, Mrs. Valdema and her small staff evaluated and provided worm medicine, vitamins and - where necessary a protein supplement -- to 176 children from the community. They also provided nutrition education to their parents. Many of the children in this village are significantly malnourished, but the mobile clinic is working hard with good success to change that.
With several of its children in tow, team members also toured the tiny village. They were overwhelmed by the hospitality and love they experienced. As they walked through the village one young boy ran into his home and brought out a chair offering a seat to a member of the team. Another tugged a team members arm inviting her to see his modest home.
"It is hard to imagine that those who have so little can love so much," said Mary Balfour VanZandt, a team member from St. Mary's on the Highlands in Birmingham.
| Home in the village of Crochu, Haiti |
"When you look into the eyes of our brothers and sisters here - especially the children - your find yourself looking deep into the eyes of our Lord," said the Rev. Deacon Dave Drachlis, co-chairman of Alabama's Companion Diocese Commission. "It is a deeply painful and yet simultaneously wonderfully warm and loving experience."
Tomorrow, the team will visit the village of Gorman where it will continue to assemble bench-desks for the Episcopal school there.
Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007
| Sanding desk components at Croix des Bouquets, Haiti |
Alabama's Haiti mission team today completed fabrication of components for 32 school desks for two Episcopal primary schools in the Croix des Bouquets parish. The desks will be used by students attending St. Marc's Church School at Lilavois, and a new school at Transfiguration Church in Gorman.
"One of the most rewarding parts of our mission has been working side-by-side with our brothers and sisters in Christ here in Haiti," said the team's carpenter Rick Vise of All Saints Church in Birmingham. Two carpenters and several parishioners from St. Simeon Church in Croix des Bouquets have been working with the team on the construction project. "They have been eager and quick to learn," said Vise. When we leave, they will have the skills and tools to continue to build much needed classroom furniture for other parish schools."
Future home of "Hope for the Children" nutrition clinic under construction at Croix des Bouquets, Haiti
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This afternoon, the team visited the site of the future home of "Lespwa Timoun," (Hope for the Children) a clinic for malnourished children operated by Carmel Valdema, wife of the priest-in-charge of the Croix des Bouquets parish. Thanks in part to support from the Diocese of Alabama, the foundation for the facility has been laid. Additional funds are needed to continue construction of the facility which will house an in-patient clinic for severely malnourished children, a facility for the manufacture and storage of a vital nutrition supplement, and clinic offices.
Tomorrow, part of the team will assist in the assembly of the first 10 desks at the school in Lilavois, and then visit the church and school in Thomazeau. Three team members will visit one of the Lespwa Timoun mobile nutrition clinics in the remote village of Crochu.
Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2007
| Desk components are assembled at Croix des Bouquets, Haiti |
It was another busy day in Haiti for Alabama's mission team. Today, members of the construction team, working with parishioners from St. Simeon Church in Croix des Bouquets, completed manufacture of components for eight school desks, and about half of the components needed to build another 24 desks. A significant part of the team's effort was focused on training members of the parish in carpentry skills they can use to continue this and other construction projects after the team leaves.
In preparation for Alabama's Feb. 2 -10 medical mission, several members of the team met with Carmel Valdema -- a Health Department nurse and the wife of the priest in charge of the Croix des Bouquets parish -- and visited a pharmacy in
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Desk components being prepared for transport to Lilavois and Crochu
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Port-au-Prince to investigate the local purchase of and medical supplies. They also spent time learning about her program for severely malnourished children in the villages they serve. Some members of the team also visited an annual fair and open market in the center of Port-au-Prince. The fair coincides with the Oct. 16 holiday commemorating the death of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, one of Haiti's national heroes, who helped free the country from French rule and became its first chief of state.
Monday, Oct. 15, 2007
Cutting lumber for student desks
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The seven-member mission team from the Diocese of Alabama arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti yesterday (Oct. 14) after an unexpected overnight stay in Miami due to aircraft mechanical problems.
On arrival, the team visited St. Simeon's Church in Croix des Bouquets, one of six churches in the parish served by the Rev. Fritz Valdema. Sunday afternoon a special choir comprised of parishioners from each of the six churches, and a music group from St. Simeon welcomed the team with Haitian hymns and other Christian music. (Listen 1) (Listen 2)
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| Church choir performs for Alabama team upon arrival |
The team also met with Rev. Valdema and his wife Carmel and made measurements and plans for construction of school furniture.
Today, team members worked with two local carpenters and several St. Simeon parishioners to begin construction.
Alabama Mission Team Heads For Haiti
A seven-member mission team from the Diocese of Alabama will spend more than a week in Haiti this month constructing classroom furniture for schools in the Episcopal parish of Croix des Bouquets.
The team is scheduled to depart the United States Oct. 13 and return Oct. 21. While there, team members will work side-by-side with Haitian carpenters to construct desks and benches for Episcopal primary schools in the villages of Gorman and Lilavois.
