My brothers and sisters, if people say they have faith, but do nothing their faith is worth nothing.  Can faith like that save them? A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or food. If you say to that person, ”God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat,” but you do not give what that person needs; your words are worth nothing.  In that same way, faith that is alone – that does nothing – is dead.

                                                                      

James 2: 14-17

This past week Steve and I were privileged to participate in an outreach to the people of the town of Gonaives that was hard hit by the back-to-back hurricanes, Hannah and Ike.  Although it happened over two months ago, word had come through friends and coworkers that the town was still underwater in places, digging out from under tons of mud, and the spirits of those who chose to stay were discouraged and fearful.  Each year around this time, UCNH (Université Chrétienne du Nord d’Haiti) has a two-day retreat where students and faculty gather to pray, sing and bring the school student body together in a special way. This year something kept nagging their spirits about the suffering of the people of Gonaives. What could we do as a university to help, even in a small way? Many students and faculty had wanted to help but felt helpless. After much prayer and discussion the faculty decided to make their retreat a time of love in action. This was the first time anything like this had ever been attempted by the whole student body and faculty.

The Haitian people will be the first to admit that their country suffers from a lack of what is called “tet ansanm” (heads together), or the willingness to work together. With much prayer, tremendous planning, and hard work by the organizing committees and students, “tet ansanm” was exactly what happened. To help with the organizational aspect, students were divided into teams and assigned leaders. Each team was given specific tasks. It was a joy to behold and experience this amazing preparation. A few days before our departure, many hands helped to shop for supplies to be donated. Three hundred “care bags” were filled with rice and beans, clothing, toiletries, and diapers. Several of the businesses in Cap Haitian donated wheelbarrows and shovels. Steve, the campus nurse practitioner, Mme. Max Petit-Papa, and myself were asked to be in charge of the mobile clinic, with the help of some of the students. Medicines were purchased in Cap and prepared in small bags that would make it easier to dispense.

         

To mobilize 350 students, faculty and kitchen staff was no small undertaking. Many thought, “How can such a poor, struggling university afford to do such a big project?”  Thankfully, when word was sent out about this dream with request for prayer that it might become a reality, generous donations were immediately sent from concerned Christians in the United States, including American Baptists, Cooperative Baptists and Southern Baptists – a real answer to prayer! Though Gonaives is only 55 miles away, several enormous mountains with spectacular views separate us, and most of those miles the roads are not paved and are full of potholes.  Plans were made to make camp in the town of Ennery, not far from Gonaives. Pastor Cardichon, one of the faculty in the department of theology, offered to find housing for us there in a government school.  Missionary Flights International had received a large donation of tents from the Coleman Company after the hurricanes.  The students would sleep in them that one night and then give them to those in need in Gonaives. MFI also donated funds and food supplies. Many people came together to make this trip happen.

          

The evening before we left, the whole student body gathered outdoors on the amphitheatre for a service of dedication that included rousing songs and speeches that gave direction to the events of the days to come.  There was an atmosphere of excitement but some apprehension, too, as no one was sure what to expect. We awoke early the next morning to prepare for the journey.  Five rented school buses and four trucks loaded with students, staff and provisions started off through the town of Limbé to start our mountain climb over deteriorating roads. We could hear the students singing as we rounded the hairpin curves.  Several hours later we arrived at the Ennery government school.  With a spirit of joyful work, the trucks of supplies were unloaded using “chain pass” that made the work light. The kitchen staff quickly distributed our sandwiches for lunch and began to set up for supper. Their kitchen facilities were meager at best. Cooking for over 350 in two enormous cooking pots on open fires on the ground is nothing short of miraculous! 

In the meantime the rest of us took our first trip into Gonaives to see where our work sites would be for the next day. Just a few hundred feet from the town of Ennery, as we started down the road, we could begin to see the devastation. The bridge we needed to cross had fallen into the river during the hurricane. We cautiously proceeded through the river hoping the big buses didn’t get stuck. Soon we could see that not only was the bridge gone but the once swollen river had cut into the road as well. Road graders had had to dig into the mountainside to carve out a new road. In some areas, rocks had already fallen onto the road threatening another blockage. The road was still very dangerous. We saw huge trees uprooted in the river, evidence of the power of water.

About an hour later, we arrived in Gonaives and began to see what the population is up against.  Huge piles of mud block most streets, power-lines are down, cars and buses are buried in mud, never to be used again. There is little clean water available anywhere even for the most basics, such as to bathe and wash clothes. Amazingly, people were still going about their business as usual, carrying market goods (what little they had) on their heads. Dozens of motorbikes carrying school children in uniforms were navigating the wreckage and filth through streets that could no longer be called streets.  We saw how high the water had been as debris is still caught in the barbed wire on top of walls or stuck in the windows and roof- tops of homes. Some buildings and walls were completely flattened. Traffic jams are commonplace due to the piles of mud everywhere. Groups such as the UN, US AID, Doctors Without Borders and the German Red Cross have all been helping Gonaives. All were busy at their tasks. Most of the UCNH students had been assigned to help in general clean up in preplanned areas such as churches, schools, and homes.

          

Our own group finally arrived at the church where we were to set up the mobile clinic. The pastor welcomed us to his unfinished church. He had lost most of his congregation as they fled to other towns, and he didn’t know if he could afford or if it was even wise to continue to build. We set up in the front of the sanctuary where there was no roof, just a makeshift tarp over heads.  There was no running water or electricity available, but someone brought us one basin of water and a bar of soap. We used hand sanitizer to clean our hands. We did not remain long that first day and soon left to locate one of the teams of students and staff that had begun digging out Pastor Cardichon’s home. Our host in Ennery actually lives in Gonaives, and this team was responsible to help in his home. After climbing around hills of mud we found the small cement block home.  It reeked of dampness and mold.  The yard area was piled with mud, some hardened but most still heavy with moisture after over two months. Men and women students, gloved and with masks to protect them from the severe dust of the city, were working very hard, shoveling the piles of mud into wheelbarrows and dumping it to the farthest area of the property. Gonaives is in a basin below sea level into which seven rivers drain from the mountains with no place for the water to exit. Like New Orleans, I questioned if it made sense to rebuild with the hurricane season ready to begin all over again next year, when more devastating floods will likely occur. Without a major engineering feat, the future is bleak for the people who stay who have no place to go and continue to live in fear each time the sky darkens and thunder rolls.

We returned to Ennery late that afternoon, tired from the day’s events. It had already grown dark. Under dim lights, we ate the meal of rice and beans with chicken, which the kitchen staff had prepared for us. With tents pitched and bed rolls laid out, students and staff gathered for an evening of music, sharing, and prayer. Breathtaking stars above us made up for the school’s weak electricity. Steve and I slept in the truck, waking frequently, saying to ourselves, “We can do this for ONE night.” Before dawn, we were awakened by a horn honking, calling us to get ready for the day. With outdoor latrines and only a few spigots of water to share with 350 people, getting cleaned and dressed was a challenge! We enjoyed a breakfast of Haitian spaghetti and a slice of fresh orange.  Soon “camp” was cleaned, trucks reloaded with the care packages and medical supplies, and we were back on the bad roads and through the river once again. In spite of the lack of sleep, everyone seemed upbeat and ready for a hard day’s work.

When our mobile clinic group arrived at the church, we saw at least 60 people waiting quietly to be seen. Others soon started arriving and filling up the benches. We set up the pharmacy on tables and hung curtains providing a “room.”  Women students helped to organize and triage the patients. Not all who came could be consulted, but almost everyone went away with vitamins, or acetaminophen, or a can of nutritional vitamin powder donated by Reliv. Steve and Mme. Max were able to provide care for some very sick patients and start them on medication with directions on getting further treatment from Doctors Without Borders or other care providers. We had been told that we needed to leave Gonaives by 2:30 p.m. if we were to get home before dark, which is essential due to hazardous mountain driving. Upon arriving back in camp, we were welcomed with a hot lunch ready to go. Most of the packing up had been done by early arrivers, but we all helped finish with a sense of urgency to be back on the roads. The trucks and buses stayed together and traveled in tandem for safety. We arrived home around 7:00 p.m., soon after dark had set in. Just as we pulled onto the campus in Limbé, it began to pour down rain!  We were so thankful to have all arrived safely with no major mishaps; a miracle with that many people that no one was hurt!  Thank you, Lord!

Classes are back in progress now, but everyone was grateful for the opportunity to reach out to brothers and sisters in need. One could argue that what we did was just a “drop in the bucket” to the enormous needs of Gonaives, but the students and staff were able to show compassion, sharing of themselves with those in need, showing their suffering brothers and sisters that they have not been forgotten and there are those who care and want to help. The students themselves experienced the value of hard physical labor in helping others. You can’t learn those lessons in a classroom.  I believe that the experience for all of us was invaluable and something that may impact all of our lives in the future, like a small pebble dropped in a smooth lake, the ripples reaching a distant shore. In a small way, the students and staff were an incarnation of God’s unconditional love for all of us. May we continue, wherever we are, to serve Him, in thankfulness, to the “least of these."

In His spirit, we wish each of you a Blessed Thanksgiving and Advent,

Nancy & Steve James

Haut Limbe, Haiti