God's Heart for Haiti

This Update follows a meeting last month with the leadership of College St. Pierre, the Bishop of Haiti, and Dubois Eggleston (Head of School, Porter Gaud, Charleston, SC), Patrick Martin (English Professor, Porter Gaud), and Bishop Thomas Johnston

Dubois Eggleston and Patrick Martin

Leadership Team from the June Meeting

Accomplished to date:

+ All rubble and debris from the destruction of CSP has been removed from the school grounds

+ Temporary classrooms have been constructed and classes have resumed (535 students / 40+ faculty)

+ Administration and Faculty are preparing for national examinations

+ The Bishop of Haiti has had on-going meetings with the national leadership of Haiti in an attempt to secure additional land for College Ste. Pierre’s future

+ A preliminary report by the Bishop’s Task Force on assessing damage to Diocesan Structures has recently been completed and will be released in the near future

Short-term Needs to prepare CSP for the Fall

The first of October marks the beginning of a new school year for College St. Pierre and the beginning of a temporary season in the life of CSP (at least two years before a new facility is designed and constructed).  In preparation for a new start, the administration of the school has identified the following as priorities and needs for this next season.  [A certified engineer who is currently working with the School and the Diocese has provided the following estimates]:

+ 5 Laptop computers for administration use  (approximately 6,000 USD)

+ Photo copier for the School  (approximately 2,000+ USD)

+ Security is a significant problem for the School and there is an immediate need to repair portions of the security wall surrounding the campus.  The entire wall needs to be replaced at some point in the future; however, we can patch certain areas temporarily to meet this pressing security need.  [$42,000 USD for the entire security fence and iron gates and approximately $15,000+ to patch the portions that have been destroyed.]

Damage from a thunderstorm to one of the temporary classrooms

+ Construct a one-story administration building that would connect to the existing library.  They are currently using the library for administrative offices and this would return the library to its proper function.  This building would have seven offices and two restrooms, $78,000 USD.

+ Repair the existing computer / laboratory building.  The engineer has determined that this building (which was the newest one in the College Ste. Pierre complex) is structurally sound, but it is in need of repair before students can use it.  This building houses four large classrooms one of which is the computer-lab and functions as the main entrance to the School.  The computer lab is essential for accessing curriculum, online classes, and connecting the students and administration to emerging partnerships.  This is a very important piece of our short-term strategy of returning to academic excellence even as we are in a much longer-term building program ($18,000 USD).

Existing Building to be repaired

Computer Lab to be repaired

A friend and partner in the rebuilding of College Ste. Pierre passed on the following video to me about the demolition of the School.  All the footage is from College Ste. Pierre.  At one point in the video (shot about four weeks ago), they speculate as to the kind of temporary structures that will be used for the school.  As you can see from my posts below they have worked very quickly to put in place temporary structures so that the students could resume classes this past week.  You will find the video below interesting:

Source: Global Nomads Group

(LtoR) Harry Anglade, Principal; Steve Hickman; Pere Rigal Lucas, Administrator

Steve Hickman (Head of School of Episcopal Collegiate, Little Rock, AR) and I met with the leadership of College Ste. Pierre (CSP) this past Saturday.  Our meeting took place in an administrative office of the School.  It was a productive time.  The most significant things that emerged from the meeting were a clear desire on the part of the Haitian leadership to thoughtfully position CSP for a new mission that is committed to both excellence and one that is internationally recognized and accepted.  The desire is to serve emerging leadership from all of Haiti and to provided not only academic excellence but also to raise up a next generation of leadership that can address, the environmental, social, political and spiritual needs that are peculiar to Haiti.

The most encouraging part of the meeting was a genuine engagement of issues and what I sensed was an openness and eagerness to form a working partnership in the design and development of CSP.  A very clear next step was identified and eagerly agreed to and will be pursued in the days ahead.  +TJ

Temporary Classrooms

College Ste. Pierre has undergone significant change in the four weeks since my last visit.  The damaged and destroyed buildings have been removed, temporary classrooms have been constructed by the Haitian government, and over half of the those living on the soccer field in tents have been moved to make room for the temporary classrooms .

Classes resumed this past Monday (19^th) in the open-air rooms and among those refugees remaining in tents on the School grounds.

Open air classrooms among refugee tents

Construction of the Wall @ Lespwa Timoun

I visited the construction site of the clinic for Lespwa Timoun and found that amazing progress has been made in the past four weeks.  The barrier (outer wall) is nearing completion and that will allow the drilling of the well and the construction of the cistern and generator house.

Carmel and I also visited and explored several new venues where her medical and nutritional work with at risk infants and their parents is expanding.  One such place is a very large refugee center where many thousands are (and many more will be) living in a semi-permanent tent city.  This tent city is being constructed just outside Croix-des-Bouquets.  Carmel hopes to set up a nutrition center within this tent city in the near future.  She is part of the team that is designing and overseeing this project.

The needs are amazing – recent estimates are close to 2 million people living in temporary structures throughout Haiti and just over 800,000 in Port-au-Prince alone.  You can financially support this work by going to the Haiti Relief Fund tab above.  +TJ

Carmel checking on a mother and daughter

Student's at St. Simeon School

I am just back from a visit with Pere Valdema and his wife, Carmel.  All six of his schools have been repaired and re-opened this week.  I was amazed by the many things that have been accomplished since my last visit four weeks ago to prepare for this re-opening.  Many of the students will not go into their classrooms because of fear of building collapse and, therefore, many classes are meeting under tarps or temporary structures.  There is so much to do, but I rejoice in what has been done.  +TJ

Demolition of CSP

The removal of the debris and remains of what was College Ste. Pierre (CSP) is well underway.  This is both a moment of hope as we look toward a new CSP and also a moment to remember those faculty and staff who died in the earthquake.  I thank God that he is a God of new beginnings — “³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” ⁵He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making all things new!” (Rev. 21:3-5).”

If you would like to be part of the new birth of College Ste. Pierre contact millie@stpetersmp.org or you can make a contribution above.  +TJ

Demolition of CSP

One of the images relating to the earthquake that Bishop Duracin used when we met with him was that of baptism and new life through Jesus.  It is the image of passing through death into life that he believes will be the enduring word coming out of the January 12^th earthquake.

That was also the tone of the first meeting that we had on March 10th with the leaders of the Diocesan Committee overseeing the reconstruction of the infrastructure of the Episcopal Church in Haiti, including College Ste. Pierre.  Even as Haiti continues to struggle with the immediate affects of the earthquake, many are praying for and working toward a life-giving future.  That certainly was the focus of our initial meeting regarding the future mission of College Ste. Pierre (CSP).  In the days ahead, I will share with you both the history of CSP and the emerging hopes and dreams for its future.

The challenge of re-building will be enormous, the hope and impact that the New CSP will have will be defining for a new generation of leadership in Haiti.  I am thankful for the privilege of being part of this effort and I invite you to join with me in building the New CSP.  +TJ

Rebuilding the wall at St. Simeon School

The schools that are structurally safe and have the capacity to function are tentatively set to re-open in April.  Pere Val and Carmel’s main school (within their network of churches – parish) in Croix-des-Bouquets has been undergoing repair with the help of the funds that have been given through St. Peter’s Church and the Anglican Mission.  Yesterday, I had an opportunity to see the work at St. Simeon and it is 80% complete and there will be no problem opening the school by April.  This school / church also has a water project and supplies water to significant portion of the local community.

One of the challenges that all the schools that Pere Val oversees (and this will be true throughout Haiti in the foreseeable future) is the need to greatly expand their capacity to accept new students.  For instance, the number of displaced people who have moved into the Croix-des-Bouquets area has doubled the number of people we see in our medical clinic on a daily basis.  The same effect will be seen in the schools.

Thank you for your prayers and support.  +TJ

Today we focused on the work of Lespwa Timoun (Hope for Children).  We had an amazing day, we started at the Lespwa Timoun clinic in Croix-des-Bouquet that was filled with a variety of health issues and went from there to the village of Thomazeau.

The nutrition workers associated  with Lespwa Timon were conducting their monthly follow-up with the parent’s and children in the nutrition program in the Thomazeau area.  The children are monitored on a monthly basis and given vaccines, vitamins and food supplements like plumpy nut and AK1000.  They stay in this program from three to six months depending on how they respond.  Today 58 children were monitored and treated at Thomazeau (which is one of  six monitoring stations – with more being planned).

The results are incredible but the need remains staggering.  Toward the end of today’s clinic, Carmel sent the driver to check on a mother who had not been following up with the program.  He brought both mom and child back with him.  The child is very sick and extremely malnourished.  She is two years old, weighs 12 pounds and can neither walk nor talk.  Although extreme, this was not the only child at risk.  Of the 58 who were seen today at Thomazeau least 30 were identified as significantly malnourished.

The work of Lespwa Timoun has been going on for seven years and each year has brought an expansion to the scope of this work both in terms of numbers treated and geographical area covered.  The Haitian government has asked Carmel to oversee basic health care for children in another five villages.  At the present time we are focusing on completing the “base camp” for this ministry.  We have purchased three+ acres of land and are in the process of constructing an expanded clinic.  Donations can be made by using the tab at the top of this page.

Tomorrow we will review plans for construction of the clinic and then go down town Port-au-Prince to meet with the Haitian leadership of College Ste. Pierre.  +TJ