The Mission Magazine of the United Methodist Church
Pastoral Leadership in Times of Crisis
by
Keith Rae
A woman hangs clothes to dry as her children play outside their home in Port-Au-Prince.
Image by: Paul Jeffrey
Source: New World Outlook
Action by Churches Together (ACT) is providing this woman and her son, who live in Petite Riviere, Haiti, with sustenance for the present and the future. UMCOR is a member of ACT.
Image by: Paul Jeffrey
Source: New World Outlook
Pastoral Leadership in Times of Crisis
A well-known proverb in Haiti says “Behind every mountain,
there is another mountain.” In the Caribbean nation of Haiti, behind every
crisis there seems to be another crisis: civil strife, environmental
catastrophe, and intense poverty.
Haitian Methodist clergy and key lay leaders met in
Port-au-Prince in June to reflect on recent troubles and sharpen their skills
in dealing with the aftermath of a series of recent crises: the overthrow of
the government of President Bertrand Aristide, occupation by troops from the
United States, and floods that took the lives of more than 2000 people along
the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The event, “Pastoral Leadership in Times of Crisis,” was organized
by the Methodist Church of Haiti (a district of the Methodist Church in the
Caribbean and the Americas [MCCA]) with the assistance of the General Board of
Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church.
A team of Haitian psychologists and specialists in crisis
management led the group of 15 in two days of intense pastoral education. The
team consisted of RosnyDeroches,
Dr. Hubert Morquette, Marjorie Michele, and LuniseCerin. Also taking part
were the Rev. Raphael Dessieu, president of the
Methodist Church of Haiti; the Rev. R. Randy Day, General Secretary of the
General Board of Global Ministries; and I, Keith Rae.
Crisis, a Permanent State
It is no surprise to find that Christian hope and faith
formed the first line of proactive defense as the pastors encountered an almost
endless progression of crises.
“While we found the Methodist pastors to be hopeful and
positive about the future,” the Rev. Day said in reflection on the worship,
“they are living and working in a country exhausted by political turmoil,
economic crises, grinding poverty, ongoing violence, and the recent deadly
flood. Weeks after the floods, doctors and others are working hard to prevent
and control outbreaks of malaria, dengue, diarrhea, and scabies.”
RosnyDesroches,
a member of the leadership team, stressed that times of crisis can become times
for change and development—including changes of attitude, analyses, means of adaptation, social negotiations, and consensus building.
An ongoing challenge in Haiti is the lack of resources upon
which to build a viable economy. Mr. Deroches
described how an increase in population and decrease in production for local
consumption increases a chronic economic crisis. This is only partially offset
by the almost one billion dollars that Haitians living abroad send home each
year.
Environmental factors also contribute to the constant
problems. Deforestation— primarily, cutting trees for fuel—has resulted in the
loss of topsoil. It once took five days of constant rain to produce flooding. A
single day of rain now can cause widespread damage.
The Church in Haiti
The Methodist Church in Haiti is growing. It has 60 to 70
congregations, mostly rural, scattered across the island. Many of those run
schools, which also serve as sites for hot-lunch programs, financed in large
part by United Methodist churches in the state of Michigan.
Dr. Hubert Morquette helped the
pastors focus on practical organizational steps that could assist the church in
responding to crises. He discussed the importance of community organizing to
develop plans for crisis situations. Specific projects might include simple
alarm and evacuation systems and the construction of shelters.
Rev. Day said he was hopeful that Haiti would become a major
mission focus of the General Board of Global Ministries and of The United
Methodist Church. He urged church members to support general programs and
relief appeals for Haiti, along with sponsoring mission-volunteer teams and
individuals.
There are 15 projects in Haiti that can be supported through
the Advance for Christ and His Church, the second-mile mission- giving program
of The United Methodist Church. They cover education, community health, agroforestry, agriculture, water conservation, food, and
child care. These can be reviewed online at http://gbgm-umc.org/advance/.
Prior to the April government crisis, Haiti was one of the
most popular destinations for United Methodist Volunteer-In-Mission teams. A
few teams have returned in recent weeks. Board personnel visited Haiti in July
to explore opportunities for voluntary service, especially in ways that will
underscore the ministry priorities of the
Haitian Church. Contact Mission Volunteers, 212-870-3825, for more information,
or send e-mail to voluntrs@ gbgm-umc.org.
* Keith Rae is the Executive Secretary for Church Development and Renewal in the Evangelization and Church Growth unit of the GBGM.
Interview with Paulette Holly in Haiti
I’m a Haitian and I work at the Methodist Church Center as a retired deacon.
I was doing my third year of nursing when I received Jesus as my Lord, and then I was looking for a church. I stopped at the Methodist church one evening. The minister there welcomed me and I felt so good among them that I joined. From there, I heard the call to be a deaconess. Today, the office has been changed to deacon. There was a time that they didn’t have enough ministers, so I was ministering to three churches: La Saline, Le Soleil, and Quarter Mission Church. It was really a very good time for me.
At La Saline we tried to help some of the young people who live in the area who have very little education. The church enabled them to go to school. We channeled them to the government nurse’s aid school and after a year they received a diploma or certificate. They could go and work for themselves.
If there was something you would want to share with the Christians in the United States, what would it be?
I am very grateful for the help that the Methodist Church is receiving from The United Methodist Church in the United States. Very often, people will say, “If we send you money, you could do the work.” I say, “Yes, we could do the work with your money, but when you come and sweat with us, and feel with us, there’s no money that could pay for that.” And they realize, many of them, the blessing that they have received when they come and work.
* Interview by Jeanie Blankenbaker, Coordinator, Mission Volunteers, General Board of Global Ministries.
My name is VenelCelin and I’ve been working for the Methodist Church of Haiti for 7 years as a driver, maintenance person, and interpreter, as needed.
Are there some hardships that you and your family face each day?
I’ve been married for four years and there were only two of us in the house, but now we’ve got a new baby. That’s changed our whole life. Life is kind of expensive, so you have to think about money to buy milk and things for the kid.
What do you want for your kids?
I want for my son to be an educated man. He is 2 1/2 years old and we hope that he can start school in September. Kindergarten is very expensive here; it’s like university. So just the tuition for his school would cost about $5000 Haitian dollars.
Is it difficult to make money here in Haiti or to find a job?
Yes, it is very difficult to make money. And I’ll tell you, it’s very, very difficult to find a job because not too many jobs are available.
And because of the political upheaval, are there things that you can’t do now?
Because of the political situation, there are things that we couldn’t do—especially last February, when things were really bad. Like, if you had money in the bank, you could not get it. The bank didn’t open. You needed to buy food for a family and you were not able to do it. But now, because of the US and UN troops, things are a little better.
Did you see or experience any of the violence occurring in February?
One of our family members was shot dead shortly before President Aristide left.
Can you tell us how that happened?
She was a saleswoman. Early in the morning on her way to the market, she didn’t know they were shooting on the street. She was walking by and she was shot by someone unintentionally.
What happened when the rains came?
Here in Haiti, our rainy season is in May. But this year, it was totally different. For me, because I live up in the hills, it wasn’t too bad. But down on the flood surface and also on the Dominican border the worst flooding happened. From what they reported on the radio, 1500 Haitians died and another 300 from the Dominican Republic disappeared, assumed dead. Another 200 in the southeast of Haiti disappeared and I think they’re assumed dead.
Do you know if the church in Haiti responded to the floods?
Yes, we did. People from Hen- nepin UMC in Minneapolis gave money to help. Two weeks ago, we took two trucks from the guesthouse filled with rice to FondsVerettes, which is on the Domin- ican border. We brought rice, cooking oil, and beans.
Do you think violence has any effect on making life in Haiti better?
Not really. Some fathers get killed, and for some families here, the man is the only one who has a job in the family, so the kids and wife and everybody depend on that parent. And when that person dies it is very hard. So I don’t think it’s a good thing.
How can the US church help in Haiti?
The US has been helping a lot. Education is a big thing here. It’s very expensive for school. You can help by sending some kids to school. Also, if you go into the countryside, you see people worshiping under the coconut trees. So building a church is a good thing. And also helping to build clinics and assisting orphanages are good things.
* Interviewed by Jeanie Blankenbaker, Coordinator, Mission Volunteers, General Board of Global Ministries.
I’m an unemployed guide in Haiti and I have a singing group with my cousins and my brothers. We call it the Union Brother Singers.
Would you tell us about life in Haiti for you now, day to day.
In Haiti, the unemployment rate is very high and a lot of people don’t work. You have to eat every day and not many people do that in Haiti. What we do is get up in the morning and have a cup of coffee and a piece of bread. Some people don’t have that. They have to wait until they find something from someone else to eat.
There are many faces to violence in society. What would you say are the ways in which the people in Haiti have experienced violence?
What the Haitian people need the most is food. If you go down to Port-au-Prince or CitéSoleil, you find more violent people because they are hungry. They will do anything to get food. If they know that you have food, they’ll threaten you.
Not very many people are educated. They do things that they shouldn’t do. It’s not because they are hungry; it’s because they are angry. So that’s part of the violence.
Sometimes you’re in need, and there are things that you would like to have, but you can’t have them. If you keep thinking about those things, then you will be someone who’s under pressure or stress. I don’t do that. I’m a happy person and so I live by faith. I always know that God will take care of things and I don’t have to worry. That’s how I live as a Christian, just by faith.
Are there signs of hope that you see?
The only hope that I can see would be if we have more schools in the country so more people can be educated. We need more people who are really, really interested in developing the country.
* Interviewed by Jeanie Blankenbaker, Coordinator, Mission Volunteers, General Board of Global Ministries.
The Mission Magazine of the United Methodist Church
