More from Rev. Harrison

LWR's board member Matthew Harrison, Executive Director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care, returns to Haiti

Today (February 1) we made our way slowly through the refugee camp at Jacmel, south of Port-au-Prince. An area some 175 yards square, encompassed by a high concrete wall, surrounds perhaps a thousand makeshift tent shelters. At one end of the camp, smiling ten-year-old boys fly kites made from garbage (soaring to amazing heights), indicative of the resilience of the human spirit in dire crisis. All around the camp in the heart of the city, home after home is collapsed. The rubble has been pushed and swept aside so that cars can pass. Tents (Coleman is a very popular brand) pop up everywhere and fill the streets to impassibility in the evening. Most feel unsafe sleeping inside buildings, even three weeks out. A great many of the buildings left standing are not safe.

Pastor Markie Kessa’s eyes betray fatigue. “All this happened in 28 seconds…” He shakes his head as tears well. The LCMS Mercy Medical Team commenced a clinic this morning and treated some 150 patients by afternoon. We had been alerted to critical need at a local hospital and diverted our orthopedic surgeon, one emergency doctor, and a nurse to assist. There were 300 there today, including an infant with head injuries who had survived three days buried in the rubble. While her mother clutched her, not 25 yards away another large family was on death watch for their beloved mother. Children and the elderly, and all in between, occupied makeshift beds outside under tarps. There was deep appreciation for our prayers and pastoral care.

What strikes me most about today is that the Haitians here south of Port-au-Prince are overwhelmingly alone. The Canadians occupy the small airstrip and were certainly cordial and supportive of our presence. The soldiers we spoke to in the refugee camp looked exhausted. I asked, “What’s the most significant need you are dealing with?” One quipped, “The need for a shower.” They’d been on the ground nearly from the beginning of this three-week marathon. Everything about them longed for home--or at least longed for anything but this muddy, noisy, foul-smelling, makeshift camp.

We drove through the traumatized streets of Jacmel. We saw no police, no military, and no heavy equipment to remove rubble--no government presence whatsoever. A few NGO vehicles passed by now and again. As far as Jacmel is concerned, what struck me was that the Haitians are handling this virtually alone. Passing by block after demolished block, I was struck by the massive nature of this problem. If this had occurred in the U.S., the entire area would be cordoned off, surrounded by military. Building by building would be demolished. But I saw nothing of that. Individuals digging in mountains of concrete stared blankly as we passed, gloved hand hanging in fatigue by their numbed sides. Still the streets in places are bustling with activity--makeshift shelters, street carts, shops, and the omnipresent Coleman pup tents.

It’s rather obvious to me that there will be no grand solution to Haiti’s ills. There will be pockets and places that receive attention and a lot of it. There will be fantastic aid given and capacity increased. There will be confusion and chaos. There will be hundreds of thousands, yes millions, who go about their lives “falling between the cracks,” as it were, with homes neither totally leveled nor safe for continued dwelling. They’ll patch the cracks as best they can and turn to the future. In other words, Haiti will be Haiti.

I am struck again by the kindness of the Haitians--their ready greetings, their deep appreciation for a word of love, a touch, and a prayer, a blessing in Christ’s name. This graciousness has been universal thus far. I’ve seen thousands upon thousands of traumatized people. I’ve spoken to hundreds and not been put off, not sneered at, not jeered once--not a single time.

Everyone has a story. Every story is filled with significance and meaning and pain and death and lives spared. The most significant factor here in Haiti is a people who--in the midst the greatest chaos, corruption, and government dereliction in the hemisphere--manage to rise each day to a new task, a new opportunity, a new hope. And the majority of those I’ve met are Christians, know they are baptized, and say things like, “Pastor, I don’t know… I just trust in God.” Or, “I know Jesus.”

Honestly, I feel exhausted and empty tonight. We will be able, are able to help such a relatively small number of those affected. For some reason, Jesus’ parable of the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to seek the one, turns in my mind and has been doing so all day today. Our vocation is not to save the ninety-nine, but to seek the one. One at a time. One here and one there. One child cared for. One person nursed to health. One life saved. One hurting soul comforted with the name of Jesus. One man loved. Our vocation is not to change Haiti, or to change the whole world, or to change the economic realities with which Haitians wrestle. Our vocation is to act and make a life-changing difference one at a time. And acting one at a time, we find that over some hours, over a few days, and over a couple of weeks, the flock of those helped in the name of Jesus has grown to be surprisingly large.

Pastor Matthew Harrison
Executive Director, LCMS World Relief and Human Care
Board Member, Lutheran World Relief

Luterana

Community gathering place built with LWR funds

Pastor Meredith Keseley traveled with a Lutheran World Relief study tour to Nicaragua on a Marian Stegemoeller Memorial Scholarship in 2005. She recently led a group from her congregation (St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Washington, DC) on a mission trip to Nicaragua. She is preparing to take a new call at Lutheran Church of the Abiding Presence in Burke Virginia.

Pastor Meredith shares her reflection on the impact of Lutheran World Relief in Nicaragua:

Luterana
 
What a difference five years makes! Five years ago, I first visited the cooperative project in La Reyna. The community had just started the eco-tourism project when I visited with a group from Lutheran World Relief on a fair trade coffee growing tour. This week I visited the community again, this time with the St. Paul’s Mission Team.

There have been many changes to this rural coffee growing community. When I stayed with them five years ago there was no indoor plumbing whatsoever. There were latrines and bucket showers. Now, all the homes that hosted members of our team had a working toilet and some had a shower. A new pavilion had been built as a gathering place for when groups like ours come to visit. Many of these improvements had been the result of a partnership with Lutheran World Relief.

To my knowledge there is not a single Lutheran in the cooperative at La Reyna. There are two churches associated with the community, one Catholic and one Evangelical. Yet, when you mention the word “Luterana” (that’s “Lutheran” in Spanish) everyone knows what you mean. Luterana is how they refer to Lutheran World Relief, one of the international outreach organizations supported by Lutherans in the United States.

To this community “Luterana” means toilets (indoor ones) and better wet mills for coffee that reduce pollution from the “honey water” that released during the process. “Luterana” means funds to build a community gathering place and a new shrine to the community’s patron saint after the old shrine was knocked down by a tree. “Luterana” means training in English and tourism for their young people and funds to help build homes in the cooperative. “Luterana” in the cooperative doesn’t necessarily mean a group of people who gather by themselves on a Sunday morning in a church, it means a group of people who stand ready and willing to support when the community identifies a need.

This isn’t a bad definition of “Luterana”. In fact, it is a definition of our faith community that I wish more people had. For those who are interested, you can learn more about what Lutheran World Relief is doing not only in Nicaragua, but also around the world at www.lwr.org

Some Updates

Just over two weeks after the earthquake in Haiti and our relief efforts  are in full swing.

This morning I was pleased to receive word that LWR’s second shipment of material aid will soon be on its way to Haiti. In partnership with International Relief and Development, we are sending 11,550 quilts and 1,675 health kits. These will be distributed in Leogane, a town southwest of Port-au-Prince that was badly damaged by the earthquake. Our first shipment—containing 1,500 layettes and 650 health kits—arrived safely earlier this week and is being distributed in the Port-au-Prince area.

We’ve received a great response to our call for more health kits and quilts. Our headquarters staff has spoken to many people wanting to know how to start a ministry and how to get things to us fast. All I can say is…thank you and keep it up! We still need very much need your help to meet the needs in Haiti and around the world. 

We also ask you to continue to keep Haiti in your thoughts and prayers. The media attention is quickly turning elsewhere, but LWR is not. We are planning a long-term response aimed at building better lives for people in Haiti. I cannot stress this enough—we cannot do this work without your support.

I invite you to take a moment to visit our “Prayers for Haiti”  page. There you can share a prayer for the people of Haiti or simply read the prayers of others.

Thank you for all that you are doing to support this life-saving relief effort.

Critical Issues in Haiti

More from Rev. Matthew Harrison

It's Tuesday afternoon, the 26th of January and I'm somewhere over the Caribbean en route to Miami. I'm tired. I'm filled with anxiousness as we move toward the next phase of disaster relief for Haiti. The assessment team was present with the Haitian Lutherans. The team listened. The team saw what needed to be seen. Those of us who remained working in Jimani at the hospital have a very clear understanding of the medical issues which will be faced as we move to establish a temporary hospital in Jacmel, which is the heart of the Lutheran areas in Haiti, and the heart of an area underserved.

Working with the Dominican World Mission team, we have a boat contracted to bring tents specifically requested by the partner church, including larger tents for a hospital, examination rooms, etc. A second Medical Mercy Team will hit the ground in Jacmel on Sunday. They will immediately begin treating wounds related to trauma, especially orthopedic issues. We know from our medical teams, and from the consultation provided by Jimani MMT member, Dr. William Maloney (from whose report I am borrowing liberally), that there is a four to six week period to properly treat broken bones, reset poorly treated breaks and treat infections and infected amputations in order to avoid longer term complications.

Childhood mortality from infectious disease will be on the increase do to the weakened state of many children who were already in a situation of compromised health before the quake. This will require an immediate vaccination effort. A mortality rate of as much as 30% can result in such situations. There is an immediate need for vitamin supplementation for at- risk children. Cholera, measles and meningitis outbreaks are likely and will need to be treated immediately. Acute malnutrition is likely for many, particularly due to the rapid increase in the number of orphans, loss of income, families, etc. LCMS World Relief will assist the local church in establishing food distribution in cooperation and coordination with the local church, and in proximity to the clinic(s). By the way, from all indications there is an abundance of available food in the Dominican, and every dollar saved on shipping costs buys another dollar of rice or beans while contributing to the local economies of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. And at the suggestion of President Kessa, and with the help of Ted Krey, we have secured a boat for regular food shipment from Santiago to Jacmel.

Over the period of 2-6 months there will be an overwhelming need for physical therapy, pastoral care and counseling, prosthetics, rehab, etc. The high number of amputations will require an aggressive prosthetics program. Traveling to developing countries (and this especially true of Haiti) one notices many individuals who have been handicapped by injury or birth defect, who live life begging and in squalor having little or usually no access to prosthetics and other treatment we take for granted in the U.S. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder counseling and training will be broadly needed, particularly for Haitian Lutheran clergy, health workers, aid workers and others.

Vocational assistance and housing will be long-term issues. It remains to be seen whether and what housing solutions come to the fore. There will no doubt be a large hodgepodge of housing solutions, most driven by the ingenuity and need of locals, but likely with relatively few dwellings being built with materials and methods meant to withstand future quakes. I well recall tent cities in many areas affected by the great Asian Tsunami, lasted for years. Micro-loan programs have been operated by LWR, LCMS World Relief and many partners for decades, and will be especially necessary in this situation. We must make every effort to train, serve and encourage talented and eager Haitians (of which, there is no shortage). They themselves are now, and will be the key force behind this effort at recovery. And these very talented individuals will arise from unlikely and very surprising places. It is they who hold the key to the future recovery and long-term improvement in their own country. LWR health kits and quilts, and later, school kits, will be vital treasures for months and months to come.

I noticed something while studying Jesus' actions to assist those in need. When the text uses the great word for "compassion" (splachnizesthai) of Jesus, his concern for the needy never stops at mere empathy. Jesus always acts. He never fails to act. So shall American Lutherans. Help us come alongside our old and soon to be new Haitian friends. Thrivent is offering matching dollars for gifts to LCMS World Relief, and to LWR. The Lutheran Foundation in St. Louis is now matching gifts to LCMS World Relief up to a total of $750,000!

Pastor Matthew Harrison
Executive Director, LCMS World Relief and Human Care
Board Member, LWR

Let us Pray

Along with your gifts and requests to help the people of Haiti, many of you have sent along beautiful prayers. I’m pleased to announce that LWR has created a forum for you and others to share your prayers for the people of Haiti.

Take a moment to post a prayer if you feel so moved or read the prayers that others have posted.

I cannot say this enough (so I will say it again)—thank you, thank you, thank you for your overwhelming support, generosity and compassion in the face of this devastating disaster.

Leave it to the New Yorker

In an earlier post I described briefly the chaos that ensued on I believe, the 23rd of January at the hospital compound in Jimani, when a significant tremor struck the area. 1500 patients and family members, doctors, nurses, children, locals, expatriates all ran for their lives and out of the buildings. One poor man jumped from the second story of the large orphanage turned to hospital. His leg had been amputated, but now his pelvis was fractured.

Rev. Ted Krey, who had been ministering to these people one by one for days (along with his incredibly capable team), said, "Just walk among the people and calm them." We went about praying, sitting, talking, singing, reassuring ­ being present. After about 20 minutes a man stood up and began to lead the people in Creole hymns. The African style singing was a stark faith-filled contrast and antidote to the terror, weeping and fright now ebbing. Another fifteen minute or so later, a man stood from the second floor balcony with a bullhorn. He began shouting, telling the people to have courage, it is the end of the world. While I'd be hard pressed to reject the content of his eschatology ("When all these things begin to take place, look up for your redemption draweth nigh."), his preaching did anything but calm the crowd. And calm was what was needed as all the patients now needed to be re-triaged, having pulled loose bandages, I.V.s, damaged treated wounds, etc., scrambling out of the building.

Pastor Ted immediately suggested we begin handing out the meals to calm the crowd. It worked. One of the first one to whom I offered the Styrofoam container was an older Haitian man, stout with a majestic countenance. He sat next to his relatives more seriously hurt than himself, head in hand, weeping. As I extended the tray to him, he shook his head, "no." The crowd was completely calm again when a man (whether the same as the earlier one I do not know) climbed on top of a trailer, bullhorn in hand and began to try to stir up the crowd again. Neither do I know if he was intent on the same eschatological rant. In any case, the wheel-chaired Haitian immediately shouted to the young stirrer in Creole. Not knowing a lick of Creole, I'll offer a conjectured translation: "Sit down and shut up you fool! These people don't need this now!" His deep authoritative voice immediately accomplished its goal.

After all the meals had gone out, and the truck had run to get more, I sat on the sand in front of his wheel chair. I apologized, speaking only the few words of Spanish and French I know (If only I'd paid more attention to my French speaking Grandmother when she was alive), telling him I could not converse in those languages (much less Creole). He responded in crystal clear English. "No problem, we can speak in English." My eyes opened wide and a smile marked my face.

"Where did you learn such good English?"

"I live in New York, I was just down here vacationing, visiting my relatives."

"Some vacation," I responded! We had a nice chat about life, about God, about family. He hoped he and his injured wife (I believe) would leave for home (Long Island) the next day.

Even in the chaos of international disaster, it takes a New Yorker to get the job done. "Now shut up and sit down!"

The larger point is that the Haitians themselves and their Dominican neighbors will be the most significant leaders in responding to this disaster. And any long term and lasting improvement of lives which happen from the capacity built by accompanying, by coming along side the thousands upon thousands of still healthy, bright, effective Haitians who know their culture, and will be the key to a better future.

That's what LWR is about.

Pastor Matthew Harrison
Executive Director, LCMS World Relief and Human Care Board Member, LWR

Thank You

More from the Rev. Matthew Harrison in the Dominican Republic

Monday, January 25 -- The team of LCMS docs just debriefed, packed themselves into two vans here in Jimani, Dominican Republic, and headed off on the six hour trip to the capital and back home. What an amazing group!

Not a half hour ago, we were all together on the back porch of the large home, which has been the erstwhile dorm for medical teams. The stories of who was with us, how they were assembled within hours, and then put on the ground is amazing. The docs and nurses where high-level professionals, university instructors, emergency room doctors, and nurses--experts in numerous disciplines. As we talked, they were thankful, traumatized, joyous, exhausted, and emotional. They expressed profound struggle in dealing with the carnage they had just walked into; and yet at the same time, profound faith in Jesus.

As the first tremor struck last night, and as the LCMS missionaries delivered trucks full of meals, I was asked to guard the load until the word was given to disperse the precious cargo. I leaned against the tailgate, and a tall, mustached gentleman with an easy southern accent struck up a conversation. He was in his scrubs watching the chaos of 1500 Haitians who not ten minutes earlier had scrambled for their lives out of the orphanage converted to a hospital.

"Where ya from?" I asked.

"Georgia."

"Who ya with," I continued.

"I'm with a group called the LCMS. I never even knew they existed, had no idea what they did, but a friend of mine called and asked me to go. I've never been so impressed with a group of people in my life."

"That's great to hear," I said. "I'm with the LCMS too."

One of the seasoned emergency room docs struggled to get hold of what she'd just seen. She wept as she recounted the story of stepping off the bus late at night this past Tuesday and jumping into the operating room. Her first patient was a young woman who lay bleeding to death on the floor. The team worked and tried everything, but life was quickly ebbing. The woman had lost her entire family. "What should I say to her?" the doc asked others in the room? "Tell her it's o.k. . . . to go be with her family." She did so.
"Pastor, I don¹t know how to cope with this," she told me. I helped her begin to process the matter in the context of the cross of Jesus. "Pastor, I¹m going back home now. The people I work with will not understand this. Patients where I work complain about everything. I just treated a woman who had her arm guillotined with nothing but Tylenol as pain reliever, and she was smiling at me, thanking me. I couldn't believe it. These people have lost everything, and they are so thankful."

As I was writing this, a doctor just appeared behind the building where I am sitting, moaning in anguish and pain about what he'd just experienced. One of our pastors was with him. He's just come from Port au Prince, is exhausted, overwhelmed, hasn't slept in days. The volume of trauma is infinite. He feels great need to return.

In the midst of all this, the Haitians have shown amazing faith, regularly singing hymns to Jesus as they huddle with their lone surviving child or a new friend on the ground or in the next bed over.

O blessed Jesus, have mercy upon your people. Cause this affliction to cease. Comfort the dying, the sick, and the traumatized. Uphold the faith, hearts, and hands of all those many who are were unharmed but now are assisting the needy, and also those who have come as angels of mercy. Amen.

No mind can comprehend this. "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" (Rom. 11:33).

We can only face tomorrow with the knowledge that the outpouring of love and blessing in the wake of this disaster is and will be one of the most phenomenal acts of mercy in our time together on this earth.

Pastor Matthew Harrison
Executive Director, LCMS World Relief and Human Care
Board Member, LWR