Tashia Moseley spent nearly two years working in a health clinic with the Peace Corps in the rural northeastern region of Haiti
Local relief workers try to maintain hope in Haiti
BY DAVE MONDAY
Of The Post and Courier Staff
Local efforts to improve life in Haiti are on hold until the situation settles down. Haiti has been a special focus for the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and the Charleston Atlantic Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church USA.
Still, despite years of unrest that have made Haiti the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, local volunteers refuse to give up hope.
'ABSOLUTE LOVE, ABSOLUTE DISDAIN'
Tashia Moseley of James Island spent nearly two years working in a health clinic with the Peace Corps in the rural northeastern region of Haiti. She spent several months learning to speak creole, the predominant language of the former French colony.
She was forced to leave about three weeks ago as rebels closed in on President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was forced out of the country Feb. 29. "I still don't feel complete," she said. "I'm going to try to go back."
Peace Corps workers try to stay out of politics, so she has no opinion on what Haiti needs to solve its root problems. "Haiti does not have a simple answer," she said. "There is no simple answer. People are coming in looking for a quick fix, and there is no quick fix."
While she was there, she kept busy trying to help where she could.
In addition to her work at the clinic and educational efforts going from house to house, she worked growing what the Haitians call the miracle tree because it can be used for so many things. She also taught people to raise goats through Heifer International, since it's too dry for cattle.
She remembers Haiti as beautiful and tragic.
"I've never had the feeling of absolute love and absolute disdain at the same time," she said.
MISSION TRIPS GROUNDED
Several local Presbyterian and Episcopal churches have been forced to cancel mission trips.
"We were supposed to be there now," said the Rev. Don Day, associate pastor at First (Scots) Presbyterian Church.
Volunteers from First (Scots) Presbyterian, St. Andrew's Episcopal, St. Michael's Episcopal and St. Philip's Episcopal were scheduled to be on the island of de la Gonave, working in a medical and dental clinic for a week. The trip was canceled when American Airlines quit flying into Haiti. The roads from Port-Au-Prince, the capital city, to the ferry to the island also were considered unsafe, he said.
The church on the island is Anglican, and the Rev. Dick Guess, associate pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church, always is impressed by the faith of the people.
"You go there once and it just grabs you," he said. "They have absolutely nothing, but their faith is more vibrant than anyone I run into over here."
Haiti can never improve much until fundamental changes are made in the government so that money can be freed up to create a national electric power grid and better roads, he said. There is no strong national military, no real police force and no sewer system in the capital city of 2 million people.
Yet the changes are hard to imagine in a society in which 5 percent of the population owns 95 percent of the wealth.
"For them, it's not broken," Day said. "I don't know if things will ever get fixed, using an American definition of fixed, in my lifetime."
Meanwhile, Christians continue to fix one life at a time, he said.
"When I'm away from there, it's hard to have a lot of hope," he said. "But we are touching lives and making lives better for a few people."
When he's in Haiti, he holds the tools while a dentist pulls teeth.
"When you have a 20-year-old man come in who has been in pain for years and needs all his teeth pulled, he is being helped," Day said.
The Americans also are trying to prevent cavities by treating children's teeth with fluoride.
"It's by small degrees, but lives are being touched," Day said.
ON THE RUN
Guess had to cancel a trip that was planned for this weekend.
His team supports the St. Joseph Home for Boys in Port-Au-Prince; Wings of Hope, a home for the disabled in Fermathe, near the capital; and Trinity House, another home for street boys in Jacmel, a couple of hours south of the capital. All three homes rely on their guest houses to meet their budget. The fighting has caused missionaries and tourists to cancel $50,000 worth of business since January, according to an e-mail from Renee Dietrich, who oversees the three homes through Hearts with Haiti, based in Raleigh, N.C. (heartswithhaiti.org).
A trip with volunteers from the College of Charleston and The Citadel during spring break also had to be canceled, Guess said. It was to be led by his wife, Deb Guess, director of campus ministries for the Charleston Atlantic Presbytery.
'TOO UPSIDE DOWN'
There is no greater need in Haiti than clean water.
Water Missions International of Charleston has teamed up with the Rotary Club of Myrtle Beach to put portable water units in several Haitian villages.
But the rebellion put the project on hold. Contractors have not been able to give reports to get the job started.
George Greene IV, an engineer at Water Missions, has been getting reports from David and Judy Heady, missionaries with Global Outreach.. They run a compound about 15 miles north of Port-Au-Prince.
"We would love to be able to give you the info you want, but right now many phones aren't working, they have burned and looted most of downtown, and we don't have any idea what businesses are even left to contact," the Headys told Greene in a March 1 e-mail. "We haven't been able to be on the road since Saturday. Sorry we are unable to help you in any way right now. Things are just too upside down."
Water Missions' engineers studied six Haitian towns last summer. The Rotary Club will decide which ones to fund as soon as it can get the information.
The towns under consideration are St. Simeon Church Compound in Croix des Bouquet, St. Michele Church and School in Thomazeau, St. Marc Church Compound in Lilavois, St. Sacrement Church and School in Fond Parisien, a church and school in Gorman, and St. Albert Church and School in Crochu.
'SENSE OF CHANGE'
Gerry McCord heads up the Haiti mission team at St. Philip's Episcopal Church, which is working on the island of de la Gonave.
He gets regular updates from Cullie and Judy Woodall, missionaries with Harvest International. The latest was sent last Monday from Port-Au-Prince.
"Cullie was able to get started on the cement project at the church next door. He worked about 20 Haitian men most of the day. He has concerns for food for the local people. This week will tell what lies ahead. So many people in our neighborhood are not able to work as things are shut down for various reasons. Some businesses have been burned down, others are just closed because of unrest.
"We did not go anywhere today at all as we were advised to stay put. We were told by those that did venture out that nothing was open anyway."
The Woodalls reported that most of the residents they talked to were excited that Aristide was gone.
"Praise for the sense of change among the Haitian people," she said in the e-mail. "All we have heard is positive comments from everyone we talk with."
'IT'S SO DESTITUTE'
The American government doesn't usually pay much attention to Haiti unless there's a crisis, said Col. Ed Davis, professor of international relations and comparative politics at The Citadel.
"But the United States needs stability in its own back yard," he said. "Any time you have instability, you have a threat to world security."
The U.S. government also starts getting worried when the situation in Haiti gets so bad that refugees start pouring out of the country, he said.
"We don't want instability, and we don't want waves of immigrants coming," Davis said.
President Bush was forced to take some kind of action in Haiti to prevent a tide of Haitian refugees from arriving in Florida, a key state for his re-election bid, according to an analysis last week in The New York Times.
Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that the next government in Haiti will be any better for its citizens.
"It really is a tragic situation," Davis said. "Haiti was once the jewel of the Caribbean, and now it's so destitute. It's not a situation that generates a great deal of hope."
Dave Munday covers religion and can be reached at 937-5720 or dmunday@postandcourier.com.
