On January 31, ten missionaries from the Central Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho and the East Side Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho were arrested at the Haitian-Dominican Republic border for attempting to smuggle 33 Haitian children out of the country. Both churches are members of the Southern Baptist Convention, which runs relief programs worldwide and is America's largest Protestant denomination.
The spokeswoman for the missionaries said they were "just trying to do the right thing."
Some do say their actions can be understood in light of Haiti's tragic situation. Even before the earthquake, roughly 15 percent of the children were orphaned or abandoned, many living in institutions or on the streets. It was a country whose poverty would shock most Americans. The earthquake, which some call the most cataclysmic event in generations made an already wretched situation worse. More Haitians than ever live in squalor and more children than ever are orphaned or homeless. It's hard to imagine how a child could grow up in bleaker circumstances, with a bleaker future.
It takes considerable tact and sensitivity to negotiate the racial, linguistic, religious, and cultural divide that exists between foreign missionaries and Haitians. The Idaho missionaries failed.
Sadly, this incident casts a cloud over other Christian missionaries in Haiti. There are many Christian groups there with long track records of working cohesively with the Haitian people. Let's take a brief look at five of them.
Haitian Christian Outreach
Haitian Christian Outreach (HCO), of Mahomet, Illinois, has uplifted the spiritual lives of Haitians since 1989. Its first and foremost task has been to build a number of Emmanuel Churches. But it has also prioritized health care, establishing roving medical clinics that scour the country to provide free medical and dental care for Haitians who cannot afford to see a doctor or a dentist. It also runs fixed medical and dental clinics.
The Children's Ministry of HCO partners with Haitian Christians to spread the Gospel. HCO partners with the staff of Emmanuel Christian School to provide quality K-9 education, biblical training, and physical nourishment. The Haitian Christian Outreach Children's Fund provides food, education, uniforms, and health care to more than 1,200 students in three schools.
HCO has been in the forefront of efforts to help the Haitian people recover from the mammoth earthquake of January 12. It has responded to the fear people have of sleeping inside buildings -- because of the continuing aftershocks -- by providing tarp, tents, and mosquito nets to make sleeping outside agreeable.
It has provided food to more than 500 families, distributed potable water, and brought in sea containers and prepackaged meals.
Northwest Haiti Christian Mission
Northwest Haiti Christian Mission (NWHCM), from Versailles, Kentucky, has served the Haitian people for 30 years. It focuses its efforts in northwest Haiti where poverty is at its worst in the poverty-stricken nation. NWHCM's record of service to northwest Haitians is long. It has worked with indigenous Haitian Christian churches to lift people out of spiritual, physical, and social poverty.
NWHCM benefits thousands of people "regardless of age, gender, religion" through various programs: primary schools, feeding projects, orphanages, medical clinics, church planting, a Bible College, and agricultural development. It is the largest employer in northwest Haiti and among the biggest ministries in the country.
In the early days after the earthquake it provided roving medical aid. It has since gone on to work with the government of Saint Louis du Nord to provide food, physical therapy and rehabilitation, and orthopedic surgery, including hand surgery for the many in need.
Haitian Christian Mission
Haitian Christian Mission (HCM), of Indianapolis, Indiana, has served in Haiti for 34 years. It exists "to save souls for the Kingdom of Christ." Its educational, medical care, and nutrition centers advance its mission and give children a future.
HCM has established schools to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, and basic French. Its objective is to build a school to go with every one of its churches.
Haiti is a medically-deprived nation, having only one doctor for every 4.000 people. Endeavoring to turn the tide, HCM recently began collaborating with Project Haiti Heart to establish an OB-GYN next to its two hospitals in Fonds Parisiens, giving 80,000 people access to quality health care.
HCM nutrition centers serve roughly 7,480 meals to children every day, focusing on those who suffer from second and third degree malnutrition.
HCM also has a sponsorship program, wherein persons and groups in the United States donate $30 a month to provide food and education to the neediest Haitian children.
The ministry brought in a volunteer medical team after the earthquake. The team and the staff at Fonds Parisiens hospitals have treated hundreds of victims -- people with broken arms and legs, back and head injuries...
Missions of Love
Missions of Love (MOL), based in Hartford, Kentucky, began as a medical mission nearly 30 years ago in Jolivert. Innovation has been one of its features. One example is its Mamba blend (made of powdered milk, sugar, oil, and vitamins mixed with peanut butter). Mamba treats moderately and severely malnourished children between the ages of one and five.
Through the years MOL has taken on many other programs, some in partnership with other organizations. The Adult Literacy program helps adult Haitians learn to read and write. The Ear and Eye Clinic offers low cost or free eye exams and eye wear to Haiti's poor. The clinic also diagnoses and treats ear disease.
MOL works with the nonprofit Feed My Starving Children to provide food for needy children and nourishment for their souls. And it works with an Ohio family to provide medical supplies including dressings, syringes, rubber gloves, and surgical instruments to clinics and hospitals.
MOL outreach clinics enable children in remote villages and mountainous areas to get medical treatment...children who would otherwise go without the critical service.
The organization's Planting New Churches program feeds nutritious meals daily to children. Its Safe Drinking Water program reduces typhoid, dysentery, and parasitism.
MOL's Micro Finance program helps women in Haiti pay off loans and expands their businesses.
The Tents-4-Haiti program has been especially useful after the earthquake. It's made it possible for a population that is without housing or is reluctant to sleep with a roof over its head (because of the continuing threat of aftershocks) to sleep comfortably outside. MOL has provided other earthquake aid including medical teams, food, and water purification.
Haiti Christian Mission
Haiti Christian Mission, from Waco, Kentucky, provides discipleship training and enhances economic and educational opportunities for the community of Galette and surrounding areas.
The mission started in 1983 to support Ed & Pam Hardy from Irvine, Kentucky who worked 2 years helping with building church and other buildings for the Christianville Mission in Haiti. In 1984 they began to support Choubert Remy in securing an education and returning to Haiti in Christian service. HCM missionaries provide meals, clothes, dental, and medical care.
The Russell Christian School has been HCM's main contribution to Haitian society. Choubert and his wife Bernadette established the school in 1995. In that time it has grown from 30 K-6 students to 250. These students would go without education were it not for this school. They learn basic reading, writing, arithmetic, and science, in addition to learning Christian principles and the Gospel.
HCM has played an important role in disaster relief since the earthquake, providing food, water, and medical supplies to Galette and surrounding communities.
These five Christian Missions have served in Haiti for decades. They are staffed by mostly native Haitians and the Americans that are in service have taken the time and attention to learn the culture and ethnic nuances of the people. These missions do not deserve to be lumped with the Idaho missionaries. These missions deserve your prayers and support so they can continue the good work they perform.
Jeffrey J. Rodman is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) and a Certified Grants Specialist (CGS). He is an experienced grantwriter, fundraiser, nonprofit executive, and public speaker who operates Here-4-You Consulting and Grant Writing providing consultation for grant writing and funding development to Christian ministries and Churches worldwide.
Jeffrey has supervised a team of writers, researchers, editors, and administrative staff in providing consultation for grant proposal writing, nonprofit development, and fundraising in almost every state and a dozen foreign countries and has worked on proposals to Federal, State, and Local government as well as to Foundations, Civic groups, and many others.
Jeffrey received his BS and his M.Ed. from George Mason University. He has written 100's proposals, secured millions of dollars in funding, and maintains a funding rate of nearly 80%. He has successfully managed over 25 different grants as a grant administrator and has also served as a grant reviewer on a state, federal, and local level as well as on foundation review panels. Jeffrey is an experienced speaker and is a Certified National Trainer for programs in Ohio, Indiana, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
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