Missions Bring Hope To Haiti

By Nancy K. Crevier

As the Thanksgiving and holiday seasons arrive, Amy Thomas is “ashamed of how much we have. I’m grateful, but the things we spend money on are ridiculous,” she said.

The Newtown resident returned Saturday, November 13, from Furcy, Haiti, traveling with a group of ten New York and Connecticut residents, under the umbrella of the United Methodist Church, New York Conference. For Ms Thomas, a member of the Newtown United Methodist Church (NUMC) and an office manager for Kenny’s Oil Company in Newtown, the nine-day trip was the second mission she had accompanied to Haiti since a devastating earthquake rocked the island in January of this year.

“I look at all we have, and in my mind I see those little faces and big brown eyes. It has been harder coming back home this time, being in the throes of Thanksgiving season. We take a lot for granted,” Ms Thomas said.

Her first visit, this past August, as an early response team member representing NUMC, was a life-altering experience for her, said Ms Thomas. “Pastor Mel [Kawakami] first brought this up [a mission to Haiti] the summer of 2009, even before the earthquake, and I thought he was crazy,” she said. But that same year, her son, a reservist, called to tell her he had been accepted for the Special Forces for the Army Corps of Engineers. Already in the “warrior competition,” he told her that he “had a lot of work to do, physically, to get ready,” recalled Ms Thomas. That was when she decided that if her son could make all of the sacrifices he would have to, that she could give up eight days of comfort, to make a difference.

She planned to go on a mission in February, but that trip was canceled. When Reverend Woodsey of the New York Conference called this summer and asked if she wanted to go, she stepped up.

Getting to Haiti involved much more than just making the decision and getting on a plane. Because of January’s earthquake, the Conference required anyone going to Haiti to take Emergency Response Training. She received her ERT training and also her first aid certification, and then underwent a series of expensive shots to protect her from Hepatitis A and B, tetanus, and typhoid. She also had to take malaria medication while in Haiti, at an additional cost of $150 on top of the $500 for the shots. Altogether, volunteers spend more than $1,200 to cover their expenses. The team is also asked to raise $3,500, which is matched by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the not-for-profit global humanitarian aid organization of the United Methodist Church, if the team is able to raise the full amount.

The money is used to support projects, purchase supplies, and to pay two Haitian workers, per volunteer on the team, for work done the days the team is on site. “Plus, we feed them,” said Ms Thomas, whose job on the team was to manage finances.

Like her visit in August, the November arrival in Haiti was one of smells, sounds, and images she had never imagined. Although the sidewalks outside of Port-au-Prince Airport had been repaired in the months since she had first visited, repeated scenes of chaos played out all around her. People pushed and shouted, eager to carry her bags — including two bags of supplies brought in by each volunteer containing sports equipment, jump ropes, toys, vitamins, over the counter medications, and antifungal medications. She knew from the August trip leader’s admonitions, however, not to let her bags out of her own hands.

At the airport, the group boarded what Ms Thomas named “the paddy wagon,” a bus that took them to the Methodist guesthouse in Petionville, over roads still buckled and broken, and now muddy from rains brought by Hurricane Tomas, which was threatening the region upon their arrival. She was prepared the second time for the children pawing at the bus and begging as they drove through the streets of Port-au-Prince. “It was very unnerving for me, that first time,” she admitted. “I was way outside of my comfort zone. I thought, ‘Oh, Amy. What did you get yourself into?’” Ms Thomas recalled.

What people see on television does not even begin to tell the story of what is happening in Port-au-Prince and other parts of Haiti, said Ms Thomas. “It’s mile after mile of destruction. In pictures or on TV, you can’t smell it; you can’t feel the dust in your nose. There are tent cities that just break your heart,” she said.

Despite the dire circumstances that the natives of Haiti endure, what impressed her on both visits, she said, was the immense pride conveyed by the people of Haiti. “Their clothes are clean, their little space is kept swept and clean. They are doing the best that they can. Remember, two-thirds of the government was destroyed. The need before the earthquake was already great. Now, it is even greater,” she said.

Street Smarts

The hurricane kept the group at the Methodist group home for an additional two days in November, before they were able to travel on to their destination, the mountain village of Furcy. “Once I was at the guest house, I realized that I was going to be OK,” recalled Ms Thomas, “and since then, I have had no fear. You use your street smarts, and use the buddy system, of course, wherever you go.”

“Furcy has been an ongoing project, initiated first by the United Methodist Church of Wethersfield, around 2002. Furcy was not affected by the earthquake,” Ms Thomas said. In Furcy, the Conference supports a church, a clinic, and a school. “They have also started a farmers’ co-op.”

The “paddy wagon” took the team from the relative comfort of the guesthouse compound (where a trickle of cold water served as a shower and visitors were strongly cautioned to not drink any local water, even for teeth brushing), toward Furcy with their supplies. Because the roads are so poor, the bus could not travel the entire 20-plus miles. The group hiked the rest of the way into Furcy, carrying the supplies.

The heat and humidity is unimaginable, said Ms Thomas, and she quickly resigned herself to being “sopping wet” the entire time. Very little water available for cleaning up meant that the group “decomposed” as much as it “decompressed” each evening when they gathered to share the day’s events.

After a night spent sleeping on the cement floor of the church in the chilly mountain air, the team arose each morning to a day of hard labor alongside residents of the village. “It’s physical work,” said Ms Thomas, “with a lot of moving rocks and hauling cement. When the villagers found out for sure that we were coming, at the crack of dawn on Monday they were carrying bags of sand down the mountainside, on their heads, so we could make cement for the latrine. So when our kids complain about carrying in the groceries….”

Making A Connection

Interpreters were available at times, but often the team members relied on simple gestures and pantomime to communicate. “I really didn’t feel like communication was ever a problem. I worked next to a man from Furcy all one day, passing rocks down the line, and we had a great time. He didn’t speak English, and I didn’t speak his language, but we got on fine. A smile goes a long way,” said Ms Thomas.

The experience was wonderful, but also painful and difficult to process at times, said Ms Thomas. “One day in the clinic, we had a pregnant teenage mother come in, carrying another baby. She begged us to take the baby back with us to America, so it would have a better life…. You see so much heartbreaking stuff….”

Knowing that she can make even a small difference has inspired her to continue assisting missions to Haiti. Already Ms Thomas is planning a spring trip back to the desolate island. “I’d go back tomorrow if I could,” she said.

 “Keep these people in your prayers. Don’t forget them, just because they are not in the news every day. Support the teams that go, financially and emotionally, or help buy supplies for the teams to bring with them,” urged Ms Thomas.

Traveling to Haiti is not for everybody, she admitted, then added, “But everybody can help, somehow.”

To support the United Methodist Committee On Relief, visit new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/.