‘We were spared to help,’ Haiti volunteers believe
Haitian children eat a meal distributed by Bolivian United Nations
peacekeepers.
UN Photo/Marco Dormino.
A UMNS Report
By Barbara Dunlap-Berg
UPDATED 5:45 PM EST | Jan. 19, 2010
They arrived in Haiti the day before the massive earthquake that
rocked the nation Jan. 11, and only got back home to Indianapolis six
days later.
But Kay and Gary Walla, mission volunteers from St. Luke’s United
Methodist Church, are ready to go back to Haiti when the rebuilding
starts.
“We are raising funds for immediate medicine and food needs, and
gathering building supplies for a future trip,” Kay said. “We are
looking for medical personnel who are going there now and willing to
transport what we’re collecting.
“The Haitians are a hardy people. They can sleep on the ground, but
without food and medicine, they’re going to die.”
The Wallas went on their first mission trip to Haiti in 1999 and
“fell in love with the place,” Kay said. Since then, they have traveled
there once or twice a year, mostly working on construction projects.
‘The wall came crashing down’
Arriving in Haiti Jan. 11, their team of nine was ready for a typical
mission experience, painting classrooms and installing electrical
lights in a school and orphanage in Fondwa.
“We stayed in the guesthouse, a half mile from the school of about
450 kids and the orphanage of 50 kids,” Kay recalled. On Monday evening
and Tuesday morning, they visited the orphanage and the school.
“It was the longest night of the world. But
the heavens were filled with beautiful stars, and our faith gave us
strength that we were not alone.”
After lunch, the volunteers sanded the rooms they intended to paint
the next day. “We walked back to the guesthouse about 4 p.m.”
Suddenly, Kay recalled, “a tremendous sound like a jet hitting our
roof occurred. The building swayed and tilted, light appeared through
gaping cracks, and the inside wall came crashing down into our room.”
They moved as far from the building as possible and reassembled with
their teammates, who reported the orphanage withstood the shock and the
children were OK physically.
“It could have been much worse,” Kay said. “Had we been at the school
when it hit, all of us, with 450 children, would be gone. Had it
occurred while we were at dinner at 6, all the sisters and the team
would have been buried in the dining room in the bottom level of the
guesthouse.”
The team began rationing remaining snacks. They got clean water from
the orphanage. “As the dew fell and the temperature dropped, we got
colder,” she said. “It was the longest night of the world. But the
heavens were filled with beautiful stars, and our faith gave us strength
that we were not alone.”
Their next concern was letting their families know they had escaped
injury. “We were totally isolated from the world. Cell towers were down,
we had no radio contact and the roads were blocked.
“We had devotions before settling down for another cold night on the
mountain,” Kay remembered. “As we sang ‘Amazing Grace,’ we heard the
Haitians echoing in Creole. The stars were brilliant again and no rain,
thank God.”
The long road home
“We could see no way anyone was coming for us. But a blessing came
down the mountain on a motorbike, a Haitian Academy doctor.
“After tears and hugs all around,” she said, “he went to the injured
in our community, setting a leg and an arm with sticks, cleaning wounds.
He took our families’ numbers and vowed to return to his clinic to use
the landline to reach someone for us. He did just that, reaching our
daughter, Carla, who in turn passed the good news along that we were
OK.”
Early the next morning, they hiked a mile up the mountain and rented
motorbikes to get to the nearest town.
“We went to the village of Leogane, which we learned was 90 percent
destroyed.” Their contact in Leogane drove them to the U.S. Embassy in
Port-au-Prince Saturday morning.
“We looked like the refugees we were. Not in a bed since Monday and
lacking toiletries, we simply said, ‘Thank God, we are alive and here
and there is hope we can get out.’
“The airport was an exciting drama: huge planes arriving with pallets
of food and supplies, search-and-rescue people coming in, and small
planes evacuating injured.”
The Wallas arrived in Indianapolis Sunday afternoon.
“We ache for all Haitians,” Kay said. “They are a warm and friendly
people whose compassion accommodated us.”
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What are the needs now? “Prayer is number one,” she replied. “Next is
money for medicine, food and shelter. Down the road, we will need
volunteers to help rebuild schools, clinics and orphanages.
“We believe we have been spared to help.”
*Dunlap-Berg is internal content editor for United Methodist
Communications, Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: David Briggs, Nashville, Tenn., (615)
742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Video
Gary
and Kay Walla describe their ordeal in Haiti via Skype
Downloadable
video resources from UMNS and UMTV
slideshow
Photos from team in Haiti
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Resources
Earthquake in Haiti: The Church Responds
God, Why? Small Group Study
St. Luke's United
Methodist Church
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