BY FABIANA OTERO
Three members from St. Michael Lutheran Church in Wellington went on a mission trip to Haiti in May aimed at bringing school supplies to a schoolhouse in the suburbs of Port-au-Prince.
Youth Director Tim Warner, Director of Ministries Ryan Arnold and volunteer Steve Rizzo were in Haiti from Sunday, May 4 through Saturday, May 10. They teamed up with three others from Advent Lutheran Church in Boca Raton.
Because Haiti lacks proper municipal services and native industry, the price of goods such as needed school supplies is highly inflated. Though the amount of supplies they could take with them on the plane was limited, each person managed to bring about 75 pounds of school supplies.
Upon arrival, Rizzo, Warner and Arnold ventured to a compound funded mostly by Florida churches, which runs the school, orphanage, Hope House missionary and the Village of Hope.
The Village of Hope, run by a missionary family from Buffalo, N.Y., is part of the Lazarus Project, bringing faith, education and health to local children. It has a year-round function that is constantly opening its arms to missionary teams.
The three men provided five days of Bible school to students in first through fifth grade. The students engaged in arts, crafts and games, and showed the visitors their love for balloons and Oreo cookies.
Apart from their time in the schoolhouse, the men were also well-hosted by the missionary family at Hope House in Croix-des-Bouquets. “They helped keep us focused but relaxed, and shared meals, nightly devotions and fellowship each evening,” Warner said.
While they toured Haiti, the team saw many downtrodden areas. Haiti is still recovering from a long history of unrest, punctuated by hurricanes, earthquakes and cholera outbreaks. Though most of the tent cities that sprung up after Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake have been cleaned out in Port-au-Prince, many dilapidated concrete buildings still show signs of the tragedy’s aftermath.
One of the more somber experiences the group had was visiting mass graves from the 2010 earthquake. A once deep ravine is now the final resting place for some 50,000 victims. A sea of marked and unmarked crosses scatter the landscape.
The men were provided guides/translators for their stay, one of whom was a former Riviera Beach resident, who mentioned that Haiti’s government has improved markedly in recent years. There are also notable investments in solar power in the main cities.
While visiting a local supermarket, located near the American embassy and United Nations mission, Rizzo stumbled upon the reality of inflated goods: a single quart of Mott’s apple juice cost $16. In the United States, that same bottle of juice would cost just a fraction.
The trip also served a social function, as the visiting missionaries made connections with other mission groups in the compound. St. Michael hopes to send another mission to the Lazarus Project next year and become even more involved in its services.
St. Michael Lutheran Church is located at 1925 Birkdale Drive. For info., call (561) 793-4999 or visit www.stmichaelelc.com.
ABOVE: Ryan Arnold, Steve Rizzo and Tim Warner in front of a Village of Hope mural.
