Friday, February 19, 2010

One Appointment I Won't Forget in Port au Prince


When I arrived on Friday morning in Port au Prince, I had this plan in mind of how things might unfold for the day. I'd heard that we would host a feeding center at the Mission Discovery office in PaP, have an appointment with a former Haitian Presidential candidate, and search for bunk bed materials for a team to build beds for teams of doctors and relief workers coming soon with Mission Discovery. It all happened, but not the way I thought.
When I arrived Dr. Chereleus Exante, my Haitian friend from the Bahamas and overseer of the 45 member New Haitian Mission Baptist Association met me at the airport and we put our bags away. We had a meeting scheduled downtown with Pastor Jeune Chavannes, who in 2006 ran for president of Haiti, came in 4th and continues to be a leader in his country. I had seen Chavannes on the 700 Club in an interview last week. He mentioned having a medical clinic and I wanted tosee if a groupof doctors joining me in March and April could assist him.

Exante is very soft spoken, "Let's go downtown to meet Pastor Chavannes," and then mentioned that many of the stores were closed today because it was a weekend of prayer for
the nation and that Chavannes was one of the coordinators. What I didn't know is that your meeting would be on the platform in front ofmillion, really 1 million people worshiping, praying, an listening to encouraging speakers, like Chavannes. We parked as close as we could then started moving through the crowd. It was packed, no chairs, no isles, we just created our own path to the platform, passed CNN's Sanjay Gupta-said "Hi", then came
to a dead stop. We just could not get through the crowd because they were so tightly packed! Then Exante started dancing...like really dancing and walking toward the platform and a small conga line formed behind him and people let the "dancers" me, Exante, Franklin and our lawyer Betor right on through and many
followed us!

We were listening to President Rene Garcia Preval speak as we move closer to the platform. He began by saying, "I come to you today not as your President, but as your Christian brother." The crowd was elated. It was the first time that Preval had spoken to the nation in this way since the quake, and they need to hear him. He was encouraging.

When we reached the base of the platform Exante called Chavannes on his cell phone and before you know it we were on the stage. I have never seen a million people standing, but it was amazing. Chavannes handed Exante the microphone to address the nation. "I want you to raise your hands, he said, "and turn toward the Presidential Palace." The Palace was visible from the event and had been destroyed in the quake. "Now we will ask God to restore our nation, our people, our government," and led a powerful prayer that friends told him made CNN that night.

Then Exante asked me to come to the front of the stage to have my meeting with Chavannes. What a great humble man Pastor Chavannes is. We introduced ourselves and I thanked him for his time and his plans that led to this event. He agreed that a group of doctors
and nurses would be a welcomed relief for his Haitian doctors doing mobil clinics around town.

So when my medical team arrives, they will never know the adventurous appointment that led to them serving.

That week by the end of our time we had fed over 1000 people and met with right at 200 pastors. We asked each to write down his needs and losses. It was some list and for many, I'm sure, that brought tears as they expressed in writing what was lost on January 12, 2010.

I'm so proud of our staff in Haiti. Though our work has been on the northern coast, unaffected by the quake, we are now being asked to serve the needy in Port au Prince. And we will. Many of you sent money with me and we distributed those dollars. We want to begin planning to use our donated dollars for those things that sustain life for individuals and families and lead to an
income. So many businesses were destroyed, there are now so many unemployed. Even business professions in Haiti are living in tents, under tarps and makeshift homes because their homes and businesses were destroyed.

Pray for Evan, who lives behind our office in a tent with his nephew. His brother and sister n law, the boy's mom and dad were killed in the earthquake and Evan has no job, and hope was fading when I arrive for my second visit. Pray for Pastor Exante as he figures a way to meet needs in his church association with little resources.

God bless you and thanks for praying for my friends.

Maury

1 comment:

Richard said...

Maury,
What a touching and moving experience that must have been. I could feel the power. I would love to help in any way I can. Please let me know what I can do. We will be praying for you and all your efforts!