Two Years After Quake, There is Providence in Haiti

BY MICHAEL J. METTS

A child plays on a destroyed building in Port au Prince. Photo by Jason Archer.

Thursday, Jan. 12, marked the two-year anniversary of the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti. Many Haitians spent the day in fasting and prayer, remembering loved ones who died in the disaster.

“The people of Haiti are still mourning. It is still fresh in their minds,” said Jean Marc Zamor, a Haitian church leader who worked heavily in the recovery process. “It’s going to take some time before we have a feeling of normalcy in this country, but I do feel like we’re moving in the right direction.”

The people of Haiti are grateful for the support they have received. “In these two years, there have been a lot of things accomplished,” Zamor said. “We thank God and we thank the international community, which has stepped up and helped.”

However, the quake struck a country that was already facing hardship on many fronts.

“Even before the earthquake, Haiti was really struggling,” Zamor said. “The earthquake only made things worse.”

A girl walks through a tent city in Port au Prince. Photo by Jason Archer.

“When you drive down the street, you still see massive tent cities,” said Linda Adams, director of International Child Care Ministries (ICCM), citing recent estimates that between 500,000 and 900,000 people are still living in tents. Adams visited Haiti 17 days after the disaster and has since returned four times.

In spite of all this, the Haitian people have many reasons to be hopeful about the future of Haiti.

“I don’t see any of the lostness I saw in that first year,” said Bishop David Roller, who visited Haiti Jan. 13-15. “People are living with purpose.”

“We need people to keep believing in Haiti,” Zamor said, “keep believing in the potential of this nation.”

Haiti Providence University: A Beacon of Hope

However, for Zamor, today marks another reason to believe in a bright future for Haiti. The new Haiti Providence University begins classes today, offering degrees in education, business, nursing and theology to its first class of between 50 and 60 students.

Jean Marc Zamor stands in front of the sign for Haiti Providence University. Photo by Jason Archer.

Zamor, who holds two master’s degrees and is pursuing his doctorate, serves as rector of the Christian university, and he is one of its founders.

“When we started, we didn’t have much money,” Zamor said. “We started by faith, and we asked the Lord to bless this project, so we never stopped building.”

Every time the project was low on funds, a new donor would come in and meet the need, allowing the construction to continue throughout the past year. “It has been one miracle after another,” Zamor said.

Students will be living on campus, which will allow learning to go beyond the classroom. “We will be able to live with them, like Jesus did with the disciples,” Zamor said.

Plans for Long-Term Impact

Not all UPROH (Université Providence d’Haïti) students are Christians, but all of them understand the Christian vision and mission of UPROH.

Workers erect the first building at Haiti Providence University. Photo by Linda Adams.

“It’s the university’s purpose to be a light for Christ,” said Zamor, who described how 90 percent of Haiti’s population would claim to be Christian, while only a small portion of that number is actually engaged in the Christian faith.

“We want to train leaders for this nation,” Zamor said, “people who will step up and be leaders in the business community and the education community.”

Zamor has high hopes for his students to serve their communities, and for UPROH to be an organization that has a significant effect on Haiti.

“We have to train our students to be servant leaders,” Zamor said. “If we can do that, we will be salt and light to this nation and not only to this nation, but to the nations of the world.”

Today, UPROH has one multipurpose building and four areas of study. In the coming years, Zamor hopes to greatly expand the campus, open new areas of study, become more involved in research and greatly grow the student body.

“The thing that impresses me is that they really do intend to build character in Haitians which will build a new Haiti,” said Roller. “I think they can do it; I’m a believer.”

Jean Marc Zamor talks about the vision for Haiti Providence University:

A Fitting Partnership with ICCM

Members of the Board of Haiti Providence University, seen during a recent meeting at the campus. Photo courtesy of Linda Adams.

Adams is proud to announce a partnership between ICCM and UPROH, which will allow selected students from ICCM schools to pursue a college degree in education while receiving a scholarship.

As a part of the scholarship, students must agree to teach at an ICCM school in Haiti for four years following graduation from UPROH.

“I’m excited about it,” Adams said. “Hopefully, during those four years, they will own the vision of improving the quality of education in those schools, and they’ll become some of the top teachers who will then help others.”

The Global Free Methodist Family Responds

As Haiti looks forward, Free Methodists in Haiti are very grateful for the support of Free Methodists in Canada, the United States and other conferences around the world who gave financially to the recovery work in Haiti.

“We would get contributions from children in places like Cambodia, and they wanted to help out in Haiti because they’d heard about it,” Adams said. “The sense of being connected with the global church was really powerful.”

A VISA team works on rebuilding a church in Haiti during a recent trip.

More than 600 Free Methodist volunteers from the United States and Canada traveled to Haiti in the two years since the earthquake to assist with relief efforts. While the majority have been construction teams rebuilding schools and churches, there have also been teams providing medical, educational, technological and well-drilling assistance.

The construction teams were instructed to bring funds not just for building materials, but also to hire Haitian workers to assist in rebuilding Free Methodist churches and schools. On most teams, the majority of the workforce was Haitian.

“It has been a source of employment and education,” Adams said.

“In terms of the physical rebuilding, it has been an excellent report in two years time,” said Roller, who reported that all but four of the damaged FM churches in Haiti have now been rebuilt.

A Country Moving Forward

“One of the amazing things is that even in these two years, the Haitian church moved ahead in its progression to become a provisional general conference,” said Roller.

During the last two years, the church in Haiti became a provisional general conference, elected its first bishop and began meeting as five separate annual conferences. In November, Bishop Clovis Momplaisir attended all five new annual conferences.

“In the middle of the disaster, they decided not only to hold their ground, but to move ahead,” said Roller.

A few weeks after the earthquake in 2010, church leaders in Haiti met to decide whether to continue their plans for growth as a conference. After a decision was made to move forward, the church in Haiti become a provisional general conference and elected Bishop Momplaisir in March 2011.

“I just congratulate the church in Haiti on not only doing cleanup and repair, but in the middle of the mess, making these very significant steps toward autonomy,” said Roller.

Bishop David Roller reports from Haiti in March 2011:

Resources

Give to the work in Haiti.

To fully sponsor a university student will require $3,600 a year — that’s tuition, room and board ($3,500) and $100 for administrative costs. If that’s more than you can afford, you can give to the Emerging Leaders Fund directly. To invest in the Emerging Leaders Endowment Fund, please contact Tim Burkhart at the Free Methodist Foundation.

Watch two PBS videos about the recovery effort in Haiti. Both videos feature FM missionary Rick Ireland

Read more about Haiti’s transition to a provisional general conference and the election of Bishop Clovis Momplaisir.

Watch a video about the recovery effort in Hait from Free Methodist World Missions.

The official website of Haiti Providence University.

An article about Jean Marc Zamor and Haiti Providence University, published by Regent University, where Zamor is a doctoral student and alumnus.