By Elliott Wright*
Jan. 25, 2010 | NEW YORK (UMNS)

The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries is awaiting word on the safety of scholarship students who were in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince when the earthquake struck Jan. 12.

As of Jan. 24, e-mail messages indicated that three of six students who receive scholarships from the mission agency were safe. One other student was out of the country when the quake hit.

Word was received on Jan. 21 from Jose-Asnia Deriveau and Jules Daniel Josee, according to Lisa Katzenstein, who heads the scholarship office at Global Ministries. A Jan. 24 e-mail from Jean Maxary Bourdeau said he had reached his parent's home in Jeremie. He reported his family members were uninjured.

"The fact that we have no news about the others raises fears, but we pray this does not mean they have been injured or worse," Katzenstein said.

Attempts have been made to reach the students by telephone and e-mail. Communications networks in Haiti were damaged by the earthquake.

"We are deeply concerned about the safety of our students in Port-au-Prince," said Bishop Joel Martinez, the board’s interim top executive. "We are continuing to seek information and will share what we learn with the church."

Deriveau, who is studying pediatrics at the Université Notre Dame d'Haiti, and Josee, a student of business administration at the Université Quisqueya in Port-au-Prince, reported extensive damage.

"All the structures are ravaged," Josee said. "No drinkable water, no university, a lot of dead and wounded people."

Deriveau wrote that she had left the university a bit early on Jan. 12 and was in a vehicle on the way home when houses began to crumble beside the road.

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"I had to stay in the street for two days, far from home and alone, Deriveau said. “The capital city is totally destroyed; government institutions, houses, academic institutions are all damaged. … It is really awful. Now I am home in the province."

Bourdeau, a medical student at Notre Dame, said that his house fell around him and his university was badly damaged. He lost several friends, including a small child whose body he helped to clear from the rubble.

The seven Global Ministries scholarship holders are recipients of International Leadership Development grants. The stipends are for multiple years of study in order to equip students for leadership roles in church and society. Six are studying medicine and Josee is studying business.

"We urge prayer for the students from whom we have not heard, and for all of the people of Haiti whose lives have been so transformed by the earthquake,” Martinez said.

*Wright is a writer and consultant to the Board of Global Ministries.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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Resources

Board of Global Ministries

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