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Amid loss, help from neighbors
By Celeste Kennel-Shank Mennonite Weekly ReviewEven as they mourn losses, Haitian Anabaptists and service workers in the country are aiding their neighbors.
In spite of the destruction, Haitians are beginning to rebuild their lives. — Photo by Ben Depp /MCC
Among the estimated 200,000 dead are an unknown number of Haitian Mennonites and a Canadian Mennonite Brethren nurse on a medical mission trip.
Among the 1.5 million displaced from their homes are Anabaptist pastors, mission partners and service workers.
Pastor Ducois Forestal of Unity Pentecostal Church of God in Miami, a Haitian congregation in Southeast Conference of Mennonite Church USA, said many members of his church have family members and friends who have died or are missing.
“Right now we can’t get very good contact in Haiti from Miami,” Forestal said.
Forestal and other members have been gathering to pray with people who are grieving. They are also wiring money directly to people in Haiti.
“This country has been suffering for a long time,” he said.
Unity Pentecostal supports an Anabaptist church and school in Fond-de-Blancs in southwest Haiti. One of the members of the church is still missing, and two died. The losses are similar in other Anabaptist congregations from whom Forestal has heard.
Mennonite Central Committee is communicating well with Haitian pastors in Miami, and met with them, he said. Forestal is praying for aid in reconstruction, he said.
“We really need prayer to help people to be faithful and to be comforted, to get hope,” he said. “Pray for us so that God can open the way.”
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