The "Haiti Problem" by Phyllis Sheehan and Jimmy Dunn with Roger O'Daniel This is a story about ministry to an Island nation stricken with a history of exploitation from without and from within that nation. The nation is entrapped with severe weather, a history of corrupt leadership, unchecked criminal violence, desperation, illiteracy, and a culture that keeps the nation's people locked into an ongoing cycle of poverty. The nation is geographically located on a major geologic fault where two tectonic plates meet and collide. This nation has one of the poorest economies in the world. 65 percent of the 8 million population cannot read or write1. One-room slum schools teach survival basics and little else. Girls are the objects of terrible discrimination and abuse. Young children wear no clothes. Outside financial aid and symptomatic solutions will not help this country to arise from its miserable state. The long term solution to the "Haiti problem" must come from the Haitians themselves. They will need outside help to heal their national state, but they must first have the conditions in place to make this process possible. They have come a long way, but the prerequisites are not yet fulfilled. The story begins with Brother DePaul who founded the Mission of Mercy in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He now is in very poor physical health and lives in a nursing home. But he is known internationally for his works of mercy, especially for Bangladesh and Haiti. Phyllis and Donald Sheehan began their support of Brother DePaul's missionary work in the early 1980s. In 1984, they visited Haiti to see what could be done for a slum ministry Brother DePaul started in Citi Solid (pronounced "city solae"). This was and is the worst and most violent slum in Haiti (and probably the worst slum within the Western Hemisphere). It was part of the sprawling metropolis of Port-au-Prince, the nation's Capitol city. Phyllis and Donald financed the construction of ten schools in Citi Solid. Most of them are still standing because Phyllis and Donald insisted that the school buildings withstand hurricane force and hired German contractors to build them. Six months later, Donald died. Mission of Mercy named the first school "Don's School " in Donald's honor. However, Phyllis pressed on in spite of her personal loss. The violence was so severe in Citi Solid that they refocused their ministry West to Leogane. A Catholic religious community of Haitian Sisters (Companions of Jesus) own property there. It included a cooperative farm, a convent, and a one-room school. Phyllis fundraised and financed a wall topped with barbed wire around the property to protect it and its occupants from intruders. Phyllis fundraised and financed construction of a new school on the other end of the property for $150,000 using the same specifications and German contractors. They dedicated it in 1998. Unlike the slum schools, it has 8 classrooms. They teach grades 1 through 6 there. Phyllis wants to expand the school to also teach Grades 7 through 9. Other buildings each house the dining room, toilet facilities, the kitchen, and an electric generator. This is typical Haitian rural architectural style. Each building has a single purpose. The sisters teach the students in both schools. Phyllis and friends covered the maintenance costs of the entire complex. The scope of the ministry was too much for Phyllis to manage, even with help. Reverend Ken Pierre, the Pastor of Church of the Annunciation and Annunciation Catholic School, committed the parish to "adopt" the school as a Parish-sponsored "sister school." He asked her to address the congregation. Phyllis wanted to name the school "Annunciation." The President of Annunciation Catholic School, Mary Ann Pearson, told Phyllis "Go for it!" 50 to 60 percent of the money came from parish donations. The rest came from Phyllis fundraising and her late husband's business associates. In 2006, Don Lamb, an attorney, donated his services to establish a non-profit corporation named "Mission Haiti, Inc." Jimmy Dunn, Annunciation Catholic Church's youth minister, is President of Mission Haiti, Inc. He and other volunteers visit the complex in mid-March bearing money, books, toys, and other school materials on them and in their luggage. Mission Haiti even has its own web site, http://www.missionhaitiinc.org. Anyone from anywhere who cares to do so can support this ministry regardless of religious belief (or non-belief) and all are welcome to do so. When the earthquake hit Haiti, the children were already out of school and back home. The Haitian sisters lost two of their own in the quake. We do not know about the fate of the students and their families. The building walls have repairable cracks, but are still standing and safe for use. The property fence needs major work. They always need rice and beans, school supplies, generator fuel, personal hygiene products, medical supplies and other basic necessities. That requires money they do not have. People respond to social justice in different ways. Some turn the other way and deny its existence. Others see it but turn away saying, "It is not my problem." Others see it but turn away saying, "Why isn't our Government doing something about this?" Others see it but turn away saying, "There is nothing I can do. I have problems of my own to solve." A precious few see it, recruit others of like mind to help, and just do what needs to be done. They do not seek recognition or publicity. Instead, they just press on with persistence, determination, and (most important) genuine care-giving love. Mother Theresa was a fragile, tiny woman, who thought she could make a difference. She accomplished much beyond her wildest dreams. Other people are like that. There is a little bit of Mother Theresa in all of us. We just have to let it out. 1 75 to 80 percent of Haiti's people live on less than $2.00 per day. The poorest half of the country survives on 44 cents per day. The wealthiest 20 percent of the population consume 68 percent of the country's income. Half of the population has no access to safe drinking water. Life expectancy at birth is 49 to 51 years. 23 percent of the children suffer from malnutrition. 13 percent suffer from acute malnutrition. An estimated half-million children have no access to primary education. Half of Haiti's 45,000 teachers have a ninth-grade education level. Before the earthquake, only 10 percent of the population had electricity, often for just part of the day. Only 20 percent of the households in Port-au-Prince had piped water. Only 20 percent of the Capitol's residents had telephones. The countryside had a lot less. |
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