Scenes from Haiti

by Fred Muffet

Fred and Sandy Muffet are leading a team of 23 in Haiti from December 31 – January 7. They are doing work projects for Mission of Hope and medical clinics. Get a glimpse into what they’ve experienced there so far, and pray for those in Haiti still suffering from the January 12, 2010 earthquake.

Bob, Todd, and I have been speaking at a Pastors’ Conference that runs for three days. The people of Haiti are starving for church affiliation, and Pastor Lex is working hard to fill that need. He also is working with the BeLikeBrit people who are building an orphanage next door to the church.   

Some background on BeLikeBrit: Britney Gengel was a 19-year-old American who was serving in Haiti at the time of the earthquake. While there, she sent a text to her parents that she wanted to finish school, move to Haiti and start an orphanage. Then the earthquake took her life. 

In her memory, her family and friends are building an orphanage on a beautiful hillside. The builders and the Gengel family are using Mission Of Hope International (MOHI) as a base camp while the orphanage is under construction. In fact, our power is coming from a generator owned by BeLikeBrit.

Pastor Lex is also involved in making block. He has a plant across the street from his church that employs 15 people, making two cement blocks at a time. This is a process that you might have expected to see in the US in the 1930s, but it is employing 15 people, and there is plenty of room for growth. The entire block in our compound and the BeLikeBrit orphanage are being manufactured by Pastor Lex’s plant.

The guys have been busy all day building the roof on the kitchen. It is coming along nicely, but there are difficulties: the building is not square, or even have walls the same length. The materials are not long enough, and it is plenty hot here. All in all, great progress was made on the roof for one day’s work.

Sandy led a crew of ladies on a painting project. They are painting some of the buildings that have been built here in the past few months. It is hard to believe that nothing was on this property only about a year ago. We originally thought everything here had fallen, but that was the church site about a mile away. This compound was donated right after the quake, and is a work in progress as well as the new church. From this compound, much of the progress in this area is being directed.

Kathie, Kenny, and Dave took on the job of organizing a tool room. It had tools strewn everywhere. They are organizing and building shelves so that what tools are brought, are kept safe and orderly.

January 3 we worked on the same projects: the medical team went into the village to the school to hold clinics; Todd, Bob, Sandy and I all held workshops at the church seminar; Dave and Ken organized the tool crib; a couple of the ladies painted; and the rest of the guys made great progress on the roof of the kitchen. 

Two from the team share:

Sally Heier: There is no way to describe the events of our first two days in Grand Goave. Before we could even get to the room that we were going to use as our clinic, there was a terrible accident. A little Haitian lady walked out into the busy main road. She was hit by a car! We arrived on the scene and both bones in her right lower leg were broken completely. She was conscious. No paramedic to call. We put her on a board and put her in the back of a pickup and off to the nearest hospital.  

Day two we were greeted with a mom and her one-year-old daughter. The little one’s temperature was 105.6. We took it over and over hoping that each thermometer was wrong. Alcohol baths, Tylenol, Pedialyte and a couple of hours, the temp was 101.4. That was success. We sent her home with medication and instructions for mom. It is hard to believe that there is no access to medical care in Haiti for the majority of the people. The medical team works together to make our days successful.

Todd McKenney: This morning we saw about ten Haitians baptized in the ocean in a moving ceremony celebrating the change in their lives. All dressed in white and supported by members of their church. We arrived during the three-day Mission of Hope Annual Conference, so several of us have not stopped preaching about how to grow in Christ and our need for salvation. The conference workshops are the most fun—thirty Haitians in their 20s and 30s asking questions of me about how to live as a Christian where they work. They ask good questions about hard issues. The people in the church need to be equipped for the struggle for daily life we see everywhere on the streets and it is an honor to be a part of it.

Please know that we have located a wonderful place for our efforts, and your generous giving! They are working with people’s physical, spiritual, and emotional lives here on every front. We are proud to be a very small part of it, and again thank you for letting us serve you.

–Fred, for the team