Prayers and Support for Haiti
Michael Kowalczyk
As I'm sure many of you have heard, the tiny country Haiti, just 600
miles off the coast of Miami, was hit by a severe earthquake, leveling
many buildings and neighborhoods in and around the capital city of
Port au Prince.
There is a saying that all people on earth are seperated by only 6
acquaintances, yet so often tragedies of this sort happening seem
faraway and unreal.
However, exactly one year ago today, I was blessed to have visited the
beautiful country of Haiti on a cultural exchange trip with the campus
ministry of my church, Saint Thomas Aquinas. The total of the people
I met, and memories I have of the country are too numerous to list
here, but a few especially poignant ones I feel I should share here.
The country has lost its capitol building, the Presidential Palace.
Just a year ago, I actually visited the grounds of the palace, and now
it lays in ruins, with many of its employees sadly taken with it.
Closer personally, the house my church stayed at, the Norwich Mission
House, operated by one of Catholic Dioceses in Connecticut collapsed
as well, and the staff, including two from Connecticut, as well as
locals employed there, are stranded, though brief contact was made
before their cellphones failed.
I'm also waiting hopefully to hear from some of the college students
we met, though landlines and cellphones are down, so presumably the
internet is a well. College is a rare privilege in Haiti, and the
students we met were sponsored by donors in the United States, and all
of them were at the top of their classes and committed to putting
their education into careers to better their country. Two we got to
know especially well, Yvens and Yoldy, went hiking with us and taught
us the local "Kompa" dance!
Lastly, I can't talk about Haiti without mentioning the children. We
visited numerous orphanages and hospitals, including one for children
with AIDS. Yet, their capacity for joy always overwhelmed me - Nearly
everywhere we went, I was tackled by a pile of kids! I still a have a
picture of some of kids as the background of phone to remind me of
them.
"Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven" Mathew 18:4
The news coverage can be cold and impersonal, so I simply ask you all
to remember the Haitians as real people, as real neighbors, not
faraway strangers, and to keep them in your thoughts and prayers as
they rebuild and heal from this great injury. Thank-you.
Your President,
Mike Kowalczyk
In Christ's Love