My Trip To Haiti

By Bob Bodenhamer, D. Min.
December 10-15, 2003

Our First Introduction to Haiti

With great eagerness and excitement, Larry Autry and I left Charlotte Douglas International Airport December 10, 2003 to visit Pastor Actionnel Fleurisma of OFCB Ministries in Bayonnais Haiti. Our church has supported Actionnel, his church and school since 1996.  Finally, I was getting to go and actually experience the ministry there.

Chaos describes my first introduction to Haiti. Upon arrival at Port-au-Prince, my travel companion Larry Autry and I spent one hour going through immigration and customs. From there we went to baggage pickup where we spent another hour.  In all my years of traveling, never have I ever experienced anything remotely resembling picking up baggage at Port-au-Prince Air Port. It was an absolute mob.

Baggage carts were three deep. There was pushing and shoving. Some folks were very nice helping others pick up their baggage and passing it on to them. Others were very rude pushing their carts into people and pressing hard. Perspiration poured off my face due to the heat and humidity in such a crowded room. Was I ever glad to get out of that airport?  And so began my first introduction to Haiti.

We traveled out of Port-au-Prince on Highway 1. Soon it turned from pavement to gravel with very deep ruts in places. I then realized how terribly the government had neglected the infrastructure of the city.  It soon became apparent that this was true for the entire country. In traveling from Port-au-Prince to Gonaives, most of the time we rode on very roughly graveled Highway 1. There was very little pavement. And when we traveled on pavement, Actionnel had to drive cautiously dodging the horrific potholes. His truck has some mighty strong tires to withstand such a beating.  It was “shake rattle and roll” most of the way.

During our journey to Gonaives we were stopped twice by police officers.  I took a Pictures of the police. The police were quite angry. They certainly do not want their Pictures taken by an American.  I deleted it. They checked my camera to make certain and handed my camera back to me. What a relief. I thought they would confiscate my camera.

During the trip from Port-au-Prince to Gonaives, I saw hundreds of beautiful people. I saw beautiful farm land with rice patties stretching for miles. I saw people cultivating peanuts.  At one time Haiti exported food; today they import much of their food. One of the saddest sights I saw was the mountains stripped of all forestation. Mile after mile one observes this sight. During the 70’s and 80’s desperate people stripped the mountains of all trees. They took the wood and made charcoal from it. Selling the charcoal for fuel provided income for the family. Now the mountains have no trees.  One only needs to go to Haiti for a quick lesson in what happens when one doesn’t respect the environment.  Many problems have resulted from stripping the mountains of all forestation.  Again, we see what happens when the government fails to serve the long term welfare of the people.

Protesting President Aristide

Upon arrive at Actionnel’s home in Gonaives; we learned that an 18 year old former student at OFCB Ministries named Daniel was killed in Gonaives. He was coming from college and he saw President Aristede’s policemen. The police frightened him and he ran. One of the policemen shot him in the back and killed him.  What a tragic lost. He was one of Haiti’s most promising young people. Actionnel tells me that his parents were among the poorest of the poor. They worked very hard to help send him to school. His mother washed clothes for other people to make sure he could get an education.  Now, for no reason, he is dead.

Haiti can ill afford the loss of such promising young people. On our way out of Bayonnais on our way back home, we passed the home of Daniel. People were gathering for his funeral.  Pastor Fleurisma had visited the prior day to offer comfort to the family.  Pastor Fleurisma has experienced a great deal of anguish over this tragic death. He didn’t sleep our first evening in Bayonnais having learned of Daniel’s death as soon as we arrived.  Being a minister of many years, I know that there is little that one can say during such times.  How can one explain such a tragedy?

In Gonaives, we drove over the remains of two road blocks of burning tires where the protestors had built barricades to keep the police away.  Several people have been killed by Aristide’s police in Gonaives as well as in Port-au-Prince and other parts of the country. I learned that Americans are guarding Aristide. If true, no doubt they are paid mercenaries. He doesn’t trust the Haitians as so many oppose his governance. Protestors are wrapping themselves in the American flag hoping that the US will intervene. Where is America?  Why can’t America assist a country that is only 700 miles from Miami?

Actionnel kept his ears tuned to the radio for news about the large demonstrations in Port-au-Prince as well as throughout Haiti.  Once we arrived in Bayonnais, everyone there who had a radio was tuned to it. They were hungry for news.  Students, general populations, teachers, college professors and business people were protesting in the streets of every city. There is widespread opposition to Aristide’s government.  I sensed that the vast majority of the population would be delighted to see Aristide leave the country. Thousands risk their lives daily in openly opposing him.

As we left Gonaives for Bayonnais where the church and school are, we received a 17 mile lesson in the administration of Aristide.  The road from Gonaives to Bayonnais was not a road; it wasn’t even a logging trail for logging trails are better that that road. I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina. Indeed the road our family’s house was on was gravel. As a child I was very used to traveling on gravel roads. But none of them could remotely compare to that 17 miles.  I have never been on a public road that even compared to the roughness of that road.

The road has no drainage and is itself drainage for the surrounding mountains. With every rain, the road worsens.  One day soon it will become impassable except for the most rugged of vehicles.

In addition to the road, we forded a rather large and swift river. During the rainy season it becomes impassable.  One of the leaders in the church owns a Moped. He gets water in the crankcase through exhaust pipe when crossing the river. I suggested that he cuts the engine off and push it across the river as the water will quickly ruin his engine.

One child’s father was washed away and killed trying to ford the river. Engineers Without Borders in Colorado are hoping to build a bridge across the river. We sure hope and pray so. It will be a major task and quite expensive. They were planning a trip to Bayonnais this January 2004 but due to the political turmoil, they have postponed their trip.

Riding in Actionnel’s truck on that road was more like riding a theme park ride designed to shake one up. Needless to say, that was an experience. I inquired some time back of Actionnel about the government assisting them in Bayonnais. Actionnel said that the government didn’t even know they existed and never had – this was true even before Aristide.

The people Pastor Actionnel serves in Bayonnais are surely a “forgotten people.”  Actionnel began his ministry there in 1993.  He and several friends came back home to serve his people. He started the school there with a little over 100 students. This year they have almost 1100 students.  What a need he and his leaders are meeting. It is most definitely quite profound. With assistance from churches in the US, they just completed a large new church building. It is 90 feet long and 43 feet wide. It is the largest building in the entire area. The new church occupies land purchased from a man who had a witch doctor’s office on the property.  What a contrast and an improvement for land use.

One of the most distressing experiences for me was seeing a young girl carried off on a moped after she fell and broke her arm. Was she carried to a physician?  No, she was carried to a local person who assists the local population with medical needs. This person re-set the young girls arm. This was done with no anesthesia. The girl was sent home with no anesthesia and spent the night in torturous pain. 

There are no public utilities in the area. There is very little fuel. What they have is reserved for cooking. No one has hot water.  A great personal joy for me was seeing the 41000 watt generator running and providing power. Our church, Christ Fellowship Community Church, and my home church in Boone, NC, Rutherwood Baptist Church, purchased and shipped the generator to them this year (2003).

The large generator is used in the morning and in the late afternoon until 9 PM when it is cut off. The cost of diesel fuel is prohibitively expensive. It cost the school $100.00 per week to run the generator. It is a real blessing to see adults now coming to school and studying with lights. It is a real blessing to see people sitting around exterior lighting studying. Engineers Without Borders hopes to install solar panels to provide some of the electrical needs of the compound. The generator will be used to supply the remaining power needs.  It will be really expensive to do this – $8,000 to 19,000 plus some shipping to get the cost per year down a lot lower than on diesel alone. However, one can hope and pray believing it will happen.  Two years ago the generator was a dream. Today, it is a reality.

The guest house is the only structure that has commodes. Indeed, I understand that the two commodes in the guest house are the only such facilities in the entire area. We ran out of toilet paper so I asked Actionnel where I could get some. He sent someone to take the Moped and drive the 17 miles into town to purchase some. I inquired, “Aren’t there toilet paper in the outside toilets that the children use?”  He responded, “We can’t afford toilet paper for nearly 1100 children. That would ruin us. They use the paper from the cement bags.” They saved the cement bags from the building construction to use as toilet bags.  It reminded me of my childhood in the mountains of North Carolina. In our outside toilet, we used the Sears catalogue as toilet paper. I must admit, I prefer the paper from the Sears catalogue rather than paper from cement bags. Ouch!

I received a good education while at the school. I thought the children would enjoy a movie so I brought my laptop computer and my LCD projector. I took Finding Nemo and The Lion King in DVD format with me. The adults had difficulty separating fact from fiction. They didn’t understand cartoon characters for they had never seen cartoons before. One asked when Finding Nemo came on the sheet we used as a screen, “Is that a fish?  Is it in water?”  He had a confused look on his face. It wasn’t long until everyone caught on to the movies and greatly enjoyed them.

I asked pastor Actionnel what he would like to say to the people of the United States. He replied, “Haiti is in the backyard of the US. We are sinking deeper and deeper into difficulty for everyone.  There are shootings, killing and hunger. We still have hope that things will get better and better. Our school is about men, women, boys and girls with good faith and meaning. We hope to develop good Christian adults to help our country and to make a difference. We are like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. We are in the flames – we feel the fire but we are not burning up.”

If one wishes to see a miracle, go to Bayonnais and see the miracle of the school and church which is a direct result of Actionnel’s vision and work. He has a dynamic team supporting the work. My brother once asked me, “Bob, why do you think I support the work of Actionnel?”  I said, “I am not sure.” He replied, “Actionnel has taught me that one man can make a difference.”

I met many wonderful people. One could not ask for a better reception and treatment than what we received from the people of OFCB Ministries.  What a contrast from the treatment we received from some of the people in Port-au-Prince.