A Report from Haiti

When the recent events in Haiti unfolded, Rainie and I dis-
cussed how this could not be something we looked at or read
about and only be content to say, “Isn’t that terrible?” If an
opportunity to serve in some capacity in Haiti came up Rainie
and I both agreed, I would go. However, I did not expect that
an opportunity to actually go would surface so quickly. What
was initially a one week trip soon became almost two weeks. My
wife was not thrilled at first, but was more than supportive (any
husband and wife thrilled at the thought of being separated for
two weeks please call me today). My oldest daughter cried sev-
eral times, but accompanied me to get most of my shots for the
trip and when it was time to leave she asked me, “Can I come
too?” My response, “You will very soon,” all the while thinking
to myself, “Are you crazy?”
Keith Flashberger and I arrived in Ft. Lauderdale Thursday
March 11th and got acquainted with our team members from
Crossroads Community Church led by Greg Barshaw. Though
I had only met Greg a couple of times in southern California,
others from the Barshaw family were a big part of my early
years as a Christian and I was eager to have the opportunity to
minister with Greg, whom I knew as a sort of ‘Indiana Jones’ of
missions trips, having traveled to over 50 countries.
We flew to Cap Haitien, Haiti’s most prominent northern city
that was mostly unaffected by earthquake damage, except for
the influx of many new residents who migrated up from Port-
au-Prince in the south. The pace of life is very, very slow-mov-
ing and even relaxed to the point of making Hawaii look like
Manhattan. The traffic, however, was intense with no traffic
signs in sight and with roads shared by trucks, 4-wheel drive
vehicles, a lot of motorcycles, and more than a few ‘swift-footed’
pedestrians.
The team settled in Friday and had the opportunity to visit the
“House of Hope Orphanage” (HoH) where we planned to build
two 12’ x 20’ sheds for 44 orphans. The orphans recognized
many from Crossroads Community Church who were just with
them the early part of January, prior to the earthquake. We
began work Saturday morning at HoH digging the foundation.
Our plan was to begin at 7:00am; God’s plan for us in Haiti was
8:30am. Our efforts and every sense of masculine fortitude were
greatly humbled as we were met that day with near 100 degree
temperatures with nearly 100% humidity.
The orphans at HoH were excited to see us and eager to receive
any and all attention and affection we could show them as the
Lord immediately seemed to melt our hearts for them. We
worked until we needed a break (“…which wasn’t long”) and
each time we came out of the sun for a much needed reprieve
the littlest ones were eager to jump into our laps. On Saturday
March 13th we worked as long as the bottled water lasted then
headed back for the wild ride back.
Sunday, March 14th, we were divided into three teams to minis-
ter at various churches on the northern part of the island. Keith
preached at the church at HoH among the orphans and their
neighbors. Veteran missionaries, Dr. Chuck Davis, Executive Director of Caribbean Vision
Ministries, a ‘wily old Southerner’ and Larry Dearmy, who has
had enough missionary adventures to humble the likes of Jason
Bourne, along with myself headed up to a “bush church” up in
the mountains in a small but densely populated town named,
“LaBolle” (…pronounced “Luh Bull”). The wild ride into the
mountains in the back of an old pick-up in our Sunday best
tops any roller coaster I have ever been on. The running line for
the day was the town bears that name, because it feels like rid-
ing a bull to get there.
We were warmly greeted by the pastor and 40-50 sweet Haitian
brothers and sisters. Though I understood little or nothing from
the worship service in Creole one thing was discernible, God
was alive among His people there. I preached from Esther 1 &
2 through my interpreter “Bobby,” who lost his daughter in the
earthquake while attending the university in Port-au-Prince. He
is such a kind brother with a gentle spirit and firm resolve to
serve the Lord in his native land.
The Lord brought light rain and cooler temperatures in answer
to prayer Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We dug, laid brick,
and when we sat down the orphans were all over us each time.
The financial reality of life in Haiti is quite sobering. All 44
orphans are fed daily for just $4.50 US and $30/month ensures
clothing, food, shelter, and an education for a HoH orphan.
Almost all education in Haiti is private and provided by Chris-
tian organizations based outside of Haiti. There is no real public
education system.
Our team photographer Alicia Michaelsen took well over 1000
photos and collected a complete profile on each of the orphans
in order to help organize providing them with sponsors. The
stories of these little ones can break your heart a thousand times
over. One in particular that stuck with me was one six year old
boy’s that read, “I woke up one morning and my father and
mother were gone. I was begging in the streets until someone
brought me to the orphanage.”
We worked as hard as we could and expended every once of
love and affection we could muster on the orphans. What was
especially memorable was hearing the littlest ones call out,
“Flash!” “Flash!” to Keith. One detail in this trip’s planning that
was a regular topic of conversation each day was, “When are we
getting the container with the sheds out of customs?” We were
eagerly anticipating its arrival as late as Wednesday (3/17) only
to find out that day, that it was still in port in Florida.
Naturally, the team was greatly crestfallen and wanted to know
how this could happen when we were told the container was in
port in Haiti, before we left for Cap Haitien. The Lord has His
own reasons not revealed to us as to why this happened. Our
team resigned to worship Christ amidst our disappointment
and seek the grace to find our identity that moment in the shed
blood of Christ on our behalf and not in the completion of a
task. Our last day with the HoH orphans was sad and sober,
yet filled with hope and anticipation. Our national host, Pastor
Elysee Joseph worked to get the container to Haiti and out of
customs as soon as possible. A couple of the men, including
“Flash” agreed to stay for another week to complete the task of
building the shelters for the HoH orphans. The last day in Cap
Haitien we provided the orphans with some much needed shade
for their open air church, as well as a water purifying system.
We did not complete all that we had hoped to do for these
kids, but we did leave them with more than they had before
they came. On Thursday we March 18th we were off to Port-
au-Prince, where we were greeted into the safety of the home of
our host Pastor Eddy Bezin. Pastor Eddy and his wife Miralande
were extraordinarily generous hosts. Their home is inside of a
walled compound that also houses their church, a school and
provides care in many ways to the local community. He was a
great encouragement to all of us and ‘choice’ man in Christ.
Pastor Eddy, Chuck, Greg, and Alicia visited another orphanage
in Port-au- Prince and took more photos and compiled profiles
on 50 more orphans. The other men on the team joined “Flash”
and I for a walk around the neighborhood. There amidst many
open air shops we saw areas left relatively unaffected by the
earthquake and others utterly devastated by it. The smell of death remains in the air as some places have not yet been ex- cavated. Yet among the locals and the homes that remained we
saw much creativity and resolve by many though they had expe-
rienced the great loss. One local shop owner whose building was
greatly damaged by the earthquake remarked, “Life is good.”
A sweet time of fellowship was enjoyed worshipping with a
group of people under Pastor Eddy’s care later that night. He
translated for me as I shared a brief meditation on the “The
Wise Purposes of the Sovereign God of the Gospel.” On Satur-
day and Sunday (3/20, 21), Pastor Eddy opened the compound
to the local community as the team assisted with a free medical
clinic (Sunday is a work day in Haiti so the Lord’s Day worship
service meets from 6:00-8:30am outdoors). It was exciting to
greet local residents and help take almost 200 people’s vital signs
before seeing the doctor.
The Lord enlarged our hearts for those in Haiti who are with-
out both Christ and life’s most basic provisions; He forced the
‘control freak’ Americans to learn patience, and revealed more
acutely to us how little control we actually possess in this life.
Throughout our time when plans changed (and they did…of-
ten!), we reminded one another, “This is not ours and it does
not belong to us to control, possess, or change according to our
will or liking.” The reality that the earth is the Lord’s took on
profound new depth as well His declaring the beginning and
end of all matters. We planned, we prepared as much as we pos-
sibly could, all the while knowing the direction and results were
the Lord’s and sought to learn contentment. If I was not aware
in the US of how little I actually could control in my life, my
time in Haiti made that abundantly clear. The words of Jesus,
“…apart from me you can do nothing” take on a profound real-
ity there.
Most of us left, Monday (3/22) from Cap Haitien, 90 minutes
after our scheduled departure, but I arrived in Ft. Lauderdale
just in time to catch my connecting flight to SFO, and arrived
home late that night. The Lord even granted a gospel oppor-
tunity at the SFO BART with a man having a difficult time
returning to the Bay Area from Denver. Keith Flashberger and
Roger Ruddick (retired LA Fire Department Captain) stayed on
for another week in hope that the container would be released
and allow for the completion of the two shelters for the HoH
orphans. Sadly for us, the container never left customs as Keith
and Roger were scheduled to return Monday (3/29). God’s
schedule for both of them was one day later.
It was difficult to feel like we joined the already long line of
people who have disappointed the kids at the House of Hope
Orphanage by not being able to complete construction of the
shelters, ensuring the boys no longer have to sleep outside. We
considered the purposes of God in Scripture that saw so many
receive promises that they would not live to see fulfilled. We
continue to pray that the Lord will in His timing provide shelter
for these orphans, that Christ will be proclaimed by Pastor
Delano, the pastor and school teacher at HoH, and that God
Himself will adopt these children into His family.
Keith and I, as well as our families, want to thank all of you
who gave to and prayed for our team and our ministry to the
people of Haiti. While it appears that our plans to build the
shelters for the HoH orphans were not His plans on this trip,
through it all we were greatly blessed, humbled, cared for and
encouraged. More than that both Keith and I pray the Lord will
allow us the opportunity to return to Haiti.
We pray some of you will personally consider joining the next
team going to Haiti as discussions for an August return are
already in the works.
Grace reigns!
(Romans 5:20, 21)
~Vince Cuomo