A letter from Mark Hare in Haiti
May 3, 2011
Hey Friends,
Mark, Jenny and Keila with all of the Hare side of the family.
Spring is such an incredible time here in the United States. This is the first time in many years that I’ve had a chance to experience the full development of a southeast Ohio spring. The cherry trees along the Hocking River in the city of Athens have been in full bloom for a couple of weeks now. Daffodils and tulips and grape hyacinths are tumultuous throughout the village of Amesville, where my parents live, about 20 miles east of Athens. In the bottom, by Amesville’s Federal Creek, spring peepers join together every evening in a joyous chorus announcing the return of warm weather. All around us the hills are gaining color, turning from winter browns and gray to reds and white and different shades of green. Jenny and I watch them faithfully from my parents’ kitchen table. We love how each tree species puts out its leaves in its own time, at its own pace. It makes me think of an artist, dabbing her brush each morning with a bit of green and lightly touching here and there along the landscape, each day adding a slightly different hue to her box of paints.
It is a blessing to be in the States for some months, taking a break from the many blows that buffeted the people of Haiti, and us, in 2010. These include the earthquake in January 2010 that killed over 200,000 people, wounded over 300,000, left over a million homeless. At least 800,000 fled the urban areas, heading into the countryside. We received several thousands of those refugees in the Central Plateau, where Jenny and Keila and I have been living and working. With financial assistance from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and other international partners, MPP (the Farmer’s Movement of Papaye) was able to provide direct food assistance to hundreds of families receiving refugees in the Central Plateau. MPP is the organization with which I have been serving as a Presbyterian mission co-worker for almost seven years now and where Jenny has served as a medical technologist since the spring of 2008. MPP and their partners also received funds to help purchase local crop seeds, which they distributed to farmers to assure adequate supplies for planting when the rains came in April and May one year ago. Together with good weather this past year, that effort resulted in abundant crops of corn and beans throughout the Central Plateau and other key areas of Haiti.
Rural Haitians waiting to vote November 28. Despite widespread opposition of the current government, "official" election results heavily favored government party candidates.
Unfortunately, Haiti did not suffer from just the earthquake last year. A cholera epidemic started at the end of October. It has now affected over 250,000 people, killing at least 4,500. In early November Hurricane Thomas caused extensive damage in the area around the Haitian city of Jeremie on the tip of the southwestern peninsula. Tomas also caused heavy flooding in the area between Petit Gôave and Port-au-Prince, where there were still more than a million victims of the earthquake without adequate housing. At the end of November there were national elections for presidential and parliamentary candidates. Rife with fraud, election results were heavily protested. Although many in civil society called for the elections to be annulled, the results were only slightly modified. In the end, the political party currently in power lost the presidency, but it will maintain control of the parliament.
Faced with each of these tragedies, the Haitians find ways to cope as best they can with the resources at hand, then move forward.
It is hard to be away from friends and the community in Haiti that have supported us so much, but having a little distance from the problems is also a good thing and we are trying to use our time in the States well. Jenny and Keila and I had the opportunity to spend February and part of March on ECHO’s campus in North Fort Myers, Florida, serving as missionaries-in-residence. ECHO (Educational Concerns For Hunger Organization) has been a valuable source for ideas and information through the years in my work with resource-limited farmers in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and now Haiti.
Our time in the States has also been for sharing with congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) stories of the work God has been doing through MPP. We have been able to visit churches in Florida, Virginia and Ohio, and I will be visiting New Jersey for several days next week. The last half of May, Jenny, Keila and I will all be in Michigan, where we will also visit one of Jenny’s brothers. It has been encouraging to meet so many people of good will, many of whom have their own stories to share about experiences in Haiti and other areas of mission.
During this time in the States, Jenny, Keila and I have also been blessed by time spent with my immediate family and friends. Since the end of March we’ve been living with my parents in Amesville. In March, all five siblings and our families joined together to celebrate the baptism of my niece, Gabriel, in Cleveland. All 25 of us were together again on Easter Sunday in Amesville. Much less fulfilling but nevertheless important, Jenny and I have been working through the process of getting a green card for Jenny. Your prayers for that particular challenge would be especially appreciated. Finally, Jenny, Keila and I have also been taking advantage of health care services available, most of which are not readily available in Haiti. In particular, we are going through preparations for the birth of our second daughter in July. Just in case you thought our lives were getting a little too predictable.
So here we are, in the midst of the greenery of spring, blessed by our church, our family and our friends, finding enough distance to begin to deal with the sadness of 2010, looking to new joys now in 2011. We live, I’ve heard said, in an Easter time, a time of ever challenged, but ever renewing hope, a time of resurrection. May you find blessings in that promise. And please know that we are deeply grateful for your presence in our lives.
Mark
The 2011 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 294
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