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A UMNS Feature
By Kathy Gilbert*
3:00 P.M. EST June 13, 2011
Teachers in rural Les Cayes, Haiti, work one-on-one with students
helping them deal with their emotions about the 2010 earthquake. The
Rev. Gordon Schleicher, a retired United Methodist pastor and grief
counselor, trained the teachers to help the children using art therapy.
Web-only photos courtesy of the Rev. Gordon Schleicher.
The Rev. Gordon Schleicher came back from Haiti with 91 pictures of
grief drawn by children who witnessed death and dismemberment of family
and friends during the 2010 earthquake.
Schleicher, a retired United Methodist pastor and a trained grief
counselor, went to the earthquake-damaged country earlier this year
with a purpose. He wanted to encourage the youngest witnesses to the
country’s devastation to express their feelings so they could start to
heal from the trauma.
“From my experience as a grief counselor, children all over need to
be able to share their experience and be reassured that they didn't
cause the event nor did God will for their loved ones to die,” he said.
They need to know it is OK to express their feelings and that there
are people who will listen and care for them, he added.
The Methodist Church of Haiti
understands that need and asked Schleicher to provide bereavement
training to Haitian teachers. During 10 days early in February, he
visited four schools in villages near Les Cayes on Haiti’s southern
coast.
Most of the people in Les Cayes are without homes, he said. More
than 300,000 people in Haiti died – half of them children – and scores
of people were severely injured. Many of the children have seen death
and dismemberment first-hand.
Schleicher and Ellen Coulter, a retired nurse who has worked in the
mental health community with children, taught art therapy to Haitian
teachers.
“My Haiti contact arranged for 86 teachers from four rural schools
to take part. I met with the whole group on Friday and with an
interpreter explained grief and the resulting emotional and physical
reactions to death,” he said.
After learning the technique, the teachers went to their classrooms
and returned with students. The teachers asked the students to draw a
picture of their experience on Jan. 12, 2010, the day the quake
occurred.
The teachers worked one-on-one with students and as the students drew, the teachers wrote down their stories.
One child drew a picture of a man with one arm and one leg. “My
cousin lost his arm and leg during the quake. He is the best cousin
I’ve ever had. I am so sad,” the child said.
A child’s grief over the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake is expressed in a drawing.
Another child drew a person with no arms and said, “The house
collapsed on my cousin. He lost both his arms and died shortly
afterward. I am very sad and was depressed for weeks afterward.”
Schleicher said many of the children still have nightmares and are fearful of every storm.
Their grief comes through in their drawings and stories.
“My brother and I were at home when the earthquake struck on Jan.
12, 2010. I escaped but the house fell on my brother and he died,” said
a young student.
One child drew a picture of a family lying on the floor of their
house. “My mother died in our collapsed home during the earthquake,”
she said.
‘Expressing one’s grief is critical’
Giving the children a chance to tell their stories is significant,
Schleicher said. Many of the teachers have only a two-year high school
education and they teach by rote – students don’t ask questions but
repeat back what their teachers say.
“The training encouraged children to speak one-on-one with a caring
teacher and in return have a teacher listen and offer a caring
presence,” Schleicher said.
Eighty-six teachers from four rural schools gather for lessons in bereavement training.
Schleicher first visited Haiti 10 years ago as part of a Volunteer
in Mission team that built a village church in the hills outside
Jeremie. He has been to Haiti twice since the earthquake.
The Rev. Virginia Bell, a United Methodist pastor and missionary,
asked him to come to Les Cayes. She and her husband spend two
three-month periods there each year hosting mission volunteers and
other work teams, he explained.
Schleicher, a member of University United Methodist in East Lansing,
Mich., and Coulter, a member of Owosso (Mich.) First United Methodist
Church, paid most of their expenses. Their churches contributed about
one-third of the $4,200 trip.
Schleicher, a retired ordained pastor who served local churches in
the Detroit Annual (regional) Conference for 23 years, has been serving
as a chaplain/bereavement counselor for McLaren Hospice, Davison,
Mich., for the past four years.
He serves as the mission and outreach person for his church and will
teach the Haiti study at the West Michigan Conference School of
Christian Mission later this year.
He knows the importance of listening.
Haitian children have little opportunity to express themselves, he
said. “Expressing one’s grief is critical in the healing process.”
*Gilbert is a multimedia reporter for the young adult content team at United Methodist Communications, Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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