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Eds: UPDATES with expression of joy for students, plans to
offer assistance.
By Linda Bloom*
Updated 4:00 P.M. EST Feb. 8, 2010 | NEW YORK (UMNS)
Earthquake survivors in Haiti seek comfort in the Bible and worship.
A
UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.
The students are safe.
For nearly a month after the Haiti earthquake, the scholarship
office at the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries tried to
contact the six university students it supports there, while church
officials offered prayers and expressed concern for their safety.
Now, all six students are reported to be safe. Four former
scholarship students, who have since graduated, also survived the
earthquake. Another former student was thought to have been in the
United States at the time.
“The joy is that they are alive,” said the Rev. Chris Heckert, a
board spokesperson. “They’ve all reported in one by one, both
former and current scholars.”
As of Feb. 4, five students had e-mailed the scholarship office
themselves and the message about a sixth came from family connections.
But the messages also indicated that -- like many other Haitians
whose homes were damaged or unsafe -- most of the students and their
families were living on the streets.
While the disrupted school year remains an issue, Heckert said the
agency is aware that many of the students have immediate needs, such as
access to housing, shelter, food and water.
Staff members with the Board of Global Ministries and United
Methodist Committee on Relief are considering both short-term and
long-term plans to assist the students. “We are looking for ways to
enable people to continue with their program of study,” he added.
Jose-Asnia Deriveau, left, and Jules Daniel Josee. UMNS photo courtesy
of GBGM.
Marie-Antoine Amos, a medical student at Université Quisqueya, is
one of the students without shelter. She said that she suffered a leg
injury and that her mother was struck by a vehicle.
Louis Mercier-Lamusique, who studies medicine at Université Lumiere,
was not in his classroom when the Jan. 12 earthquake occurred and
escaped injury. He also reported that he and his family were living in
the street.
The scholarship office at Global Ministries also had received word
from the family of Fabiola Chikel, a current student of pediatrics, and
had heard earlier from Jose-Asnia Deriveau, Jules Daniel Josee and Jean
Maxary Bourdeau.
Deriveau is studying pediatrics at the Université Notre Dame d'Haiti,
and Josee is a student of business administration at the Université
Quisqueya in Port-au-Prince.
Bourdeau, a medical student at the University of Notre Dame of
Haiti, reported that his house fell around him, adding that his
university was badly damaged. He lost several friends, including his
girlfriend, whose body he helped to clear from the rubble.
The scholarship holders are recipients of International Leadership
Development grants from the Board of Global Ministries. These stipends
are for multiple years of graduate study in order to equip students for
leadership roles in church and society.
In total, directors of the mission agency approved $1,348,000 in
various scholarships for the 2009-2010 academic year.
Jennifer Severe, a former Global Ministries scholar, wrote that the
situation in Haiti now is much worse than what is shown on television.
She said that she had lost her strength to cry, "but I have not lost
the strength to pray."
*Bloom is a UMNS writer based in New York. Additional information
came from a story written by Elliott Wright for the Board of Global
Ministries.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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