Team #1 Report [Jan 27-Feb 4, 2019]
Quest’s Haiti Team #1 consisted of Tori Nelson, Kevin Hughes, Kevin Bracey and Steve Haenchen. Also joining the team was Andrew Seley. As always, Bob Shelton was with the group this trip and he brought two additional guests: Chris Polski and Bill Elzilnger – who were introduced to WISH and their mission.
Andrew Seley is part of the Pastoral training program. This year, the pastoral training team held two levels of classes. For 3 days, Kevin taught one class while Andrew taught the other.
Because of our large numbers (8 of us), transportation into Anse A Galet was a bit of a challenge. To insure everyone could arrive by Monday afternoon, Kevin Bracey and Steve Haenchen traveled into Port O Prince on Sunday and spent the day there. The views from the Guest House of PAP were unlike anything they’d experienced.
Monday morning, the team took a car to Ortlip and took the Wesleyanna to LaGonave.
The team spent a good deal of time with Robin and Pastor Foglas discussing the project to rebuild the school. As part of the learning and planning process, they spent a good deal of time at the property in order to view, first hand, what work needs to be done as well as see the property that Pastor Foglas hopes to purchase in order to expand the school.
The area of the three previous class rooms that had collapsed is currently being used to develop a community garden to help feed seniors. The community garden is a worthwhile endeavor, so the hope is to expand the property in order to rebuild classrooms as well as being able to keep the garden to grow fresh produce which can be hard to find.
As part of the team’s discussion, they have agreed to purchase additional land for 3 new classrooms. Also as part of the school upgrade, there will be repairs to the existing rooms by way of finishing the walls with crepe. With Quest’s financial assistance and commitments, Pastor Foglas will be reopening his school this fall. Because the work on the school could not be started immediately, the team worked on several projects for WISH… or should we say… they finished several projects that had been in process. They were able to construct screens with wire and fiberglass screen.
After cutting, planning and painting the frames – then constructing the screens, the team installed the screens at the Youth Center. The hope is that by doing this, it will significantly reduce the insects and dust inside the center.
The team also worked on trim for all the internal doors at the Resource Center (Library), sanding and panting the trim for later installation by team #2. They also were able to replace several internal door locks to increase security for the youth classes.
The team was also able to take a bit of time to see more of the island on their trip. Using a 4-wheel drive Polaris, they took a jaunt up into the mountains to an cooler area with some agriculture. They saw the sout peninsula of Haiti from the high vantage point and found a beautiful church perched on a mountain top overlooking the south bay.
Team #2 Report [Feb 4-11, 2019]
Quest team #2 flew from St. Louis to Haiti on Monday February 4, 2019. The team’s five members arrived at Port-au-Prince (PAP) airport:
- Jon Rayner
- Molly Rayner
- Monty Washburn
- Bobbie Haenchen
- John Brown
Steve Haenchen had stayed over from his time with Team #1 and was waiting for for team #2 when they arrived on LaGonave.
Because MAF did not have the two airplanes that would be required to carry the team to LaGonave, they took a taxi from Port-au-Prince to Orlip. Doing anything in Haiti requires a large amount of flexibility. The driver that was scheduled to meet team #2 with a van for the 1-1/2 hour ride to Orlip did not show up. So, they needed to take a much smaller car. Monty, John and Bobbie squeezed into the back seat and Molly sat on Jon’s lap in the front seat! (Molly has not done that for decades!) It was like a clown car with everyone stuffed into it. Luckily, they all had a lot of good laughs along the route and arrived safely at the Orlip Guest House.
On Tuesday morning, the took the Wesleyana sailboat to LaGonave and thankfully had smooth sailing across the Bay of Haiti to LaGonave.
After a bit of WISH orientation by Robin Churchill on Tuesday afternoon, they got to work Wednesday morning. The tasks were construction – finishing work on moldings in the WISH Resource Center, finishing work in the Mission House and hanging plywood on the concrete walls of the new solar house that will hold the electronic brains for the solar electric field that is being developed.
On Friday/Saturday, Molly led a missionary women’s retreat. The ladies took the sailboat back to Orlip for a retreat on quietness and solitude with the Lord.
The Quest Advent Conspiracy Offering:
Quest raised $29,000 to build a new school for Pastor Foglas and the people of the Saline.
Pastor Kevin, Steve and Robin Churchill met with Pastor Foglas while team 1 was on LaGonave. The situation at Pastor Foglas church property had changed since the project was first discussed over a year ago. Pastor Foglas had repurposed the land where the collapsed school building had been to create a garden to grow vegetables. Pastor Foglas still desired to restart his school, so a new plan was agreed to: Pastor Foglas will use $2600 of the Quest funds to buy another piece of property adjacent to the church/school land. While team 2 was on LaGonave, Robin and Steve presented Pastor Foglas with a check to complete this purchase.
- Pastor Foglas will use $20,000 to contract for construction of a new classroom building on the purchased land – this undertaking will provide employment for local, Haitian men. Robin will monitor the project to assure that a sturdy building is constructed that can be also used as a storm storm shelter when needed.
- To be certified as an accredited school, Pastor Foglas will have to hire new teachers with teaching certification. $5,000 from Quest will be used as seed money to hire the teachers and restart the school. It was made clear to Pastor Foglas that this funding is for one year only with no promise of ongoing or future funding.
The Current Situation in Haiti:
While team #2 was in Haiti, widespread anti-government demonstrations broke out on the mainland. LaGonave, where the team was, remained calm, but there were road blockages and disruption of normal activities on the mainland. Thankfully, they were able to depart Haiti on schedule on February 11.
On Wednesday, February 13, the Wesleyan Church ( the sending agency for Robin and his family) instructed all of their missionaries in Haiti to depart due to growing food and fuel shortages, plus the threat of violence on the mainland. All of the missionaries on LaGonave, along with a group of nursing students from Indiana Wesleyan University, were helicoptered from LaGonave to PAP airport.
Before he departed LaGonave, Robin paid the WISH Haitian workers in advance and instructed them to keep all WISH ministries operating as normal. So the waterline, electric power generation, youth center programs, children’s feeding program and other ministries are continuing. LaGonave is dependent on supplies of food and fuel from the mainland, so hopefully those supplies will resume soon.
Robin and his family have now returned to Canada to wait for conditions to quiet down in Haiti before they return.
Please pray for Haiti!