Hand in Hand Global Mission Support Blog Digest

The Rev. Paula M. Stecker works with the Lutheran World Federation Haiti office in communications and ecumenical relationships. To support Paula, or another of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

New members of the royal priesthood.

Often as we walk between the main street, Delmas, and our little side street, we pass by a small soccer match in the middle of the street behind the bakery. These soccer matches are played with a sadly, half-inflated  ball striped with dirty tape. My first impulse was to replace it, but that would probably ruin the sport. You don’t want long kicks when the field is only 4 yards wide and 20 yards long. And if the ball looked too new or too valuable would it remain available to this scraggly crowd? The goalie box is marked by two broken halves of a cement block. There are spectators, of course, who cheer and coach as though we were at a grand stadium. And everybody rushes into the “stands” when a car or truck presumes to clear the field.

The imagination is a great gift. God allows us to see things beyond our present reality — to dream of things yet unseen. We can even practice the moves that we would make should that greater reality come to pass. Like little boys passing a weather beaten soccer ball on a dusty street, we sing our songs of praise and lift your prayers of adoration from our dusty, weather beaten, half-inflated lives, proudly wearing the colors of Christ, which are not yet fully visible to the spectators.

The Bible teaches that “Faith is hope in things unseen.” Like a tiny baby, wrapped in rags and laid in a bed of straw, before whom kings bowed and laid precious gifts and over whom multitudes of angels sang their heavenly choruses. Their hope was in the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One of God who would be a Savior. And it was visible only by faith. Christmas demands our imagination.

Today we baptized five young saints, marked  them with the cross of Christ and welcomed them into the royal priesthood. Afterwards there were some goodies and simple gifts and it was glorious.

The Stecker family, having been blessed to celebrate Christmas together, hope that you will have a blessed and holy imagination into the New Year!

Paula and Carl, Chantal and Valerie Stecker

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The Rev. Paula M. Stecker works with the Lutheran World Federation Haiti office in communications and ecumenical relationships. To support Paula, or another of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

The Haitian Pine Forest was once so thick you could not see the sun.

I just returned from what is left of the Pine Forest, a few hours west of Port au Prince high in the Haitian mountains, at 6230 ft. It is still beautiful, but much thinner. Residents easily remember when if they stood in the forest, the trees were so thick that you could not see the sun. Today, that is not a problem. The forest has shrunk from 32.000 hectares to 9,000 hectares.

There is a whole sector of development and humanitarian aid that is called disaster risk reduction, which works with communities to be prepared for disasters that are likely and to mitigate the risks they would bring by altering the state of the environment. For example, in Haiti, that has meant planting trees, protecting remaining cloud forests and assisting those in the mountains (two-thirds of the nation) to terrace fields and build drywalls to conserve the soil. Even offering alternative livelihoods is a great means to protect the environment by discouraging people from cutting down slow-growing native trees to make charcoal or planks. Avocado trees and coffee trees can be planted to help hold the soil and to offer other revenue sources.

Unfortunately, the politics and economics surrounding these lands get complicated and often the environment gets the short end of the stick.

Not long ago, I read in a local newspaper that the North (U.S. Canada, Europe, China, Japan…) have finally figured out that it is worth paying the poor nations, in which these cloud forests are found, to rebuild healthy forest cover to reduce the ecological damage of the North’s destruction of the ozone by their industrial pollution. That’s probably not enough in itself. There are still companies from the North exploiting woods and metals in this tropical zone, ripping open the land where there had been rich ancient forests. But it helps us see that the cloud forest is not just Haiti’s problem, it is the world’s problem. What are we going to do about it?

Peace,
Paula Stecker

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The Rev. Paula M. Stecker works with the Lutheran World Federation Haiti office in communications and ecumenical relationships. To support  Paula, or another of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

Pastor Paula M. Stecker

The last leg of a recent journey back to Port au Prince from Miami was on a 737 jet. As we sat in the waiting lounge, my Haitian friend looked around and said, “I think I may be the only Haitian on this flight.” Wow! We verified that there were only about three Haitians on a flight so full they paid people to stay behind. Who was going to Haiti? It was many groups who were going to give a helping hand. It is summer and America is going to save Haiti.

Here’s the rub: While Haitians are very appreciative of the help they have received from so many, they would also like to do more of the reconstruction themselves. The Haitian carpenters, painters, welders, farmers, teachers, doctors and nurses would like to work for a fair wage and be able to pay for their food, their rent and the school fees for their kids.

Haitians are not looking for charity alone. Charity has kept many Haitians alive through the worst of the aftermath of January 2010, but it is not sustainable. Charity doesn’t demand the changes that would permit them to raise up a new Haiti. They are asking for a break from the international community in order to fund new industries. They would like to see high schools and colleges in the cities outside of Port au Prince as a sign of the beginning of decentralization of power and privilege.

The Lutheran World Federation has done a great job this past year and a half of supporting a wide variety of activities where Haitians are rebuilding Haiti.

But how do we approach this bigger problem? It will take more than charity. How do we hold the world accountable for the promises made in March 2010 to help Haiti move to a new place?

Some of you have been to Haiti. You have heard and seen the issues firsthand. All of you have a voice, both as church and as citizens. Our voices can bear witness before governments and institutions like the United Nations, and we don’t even need to get on a plane to do it. We can pray for a more just nation, a more equitable economy, where life is more than the sum of disasters survived. If all our voices were at the Lord’s disposal for such a time as this, the result could be even more dramatic than the earthquake.  What do you say?

Peace,
Pastor Paula M. Stecker
cpstecker@comcast.net

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The Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla, executive director for ELCA Global Mission, e-mailed this announcement to Lutheran Center colleagues on September 20, 2010.–Sue

On August 22-26, 2010, I had the opportunity to visit Haiti to express the solidarity of our church to the Eglise Lutherienne D’ Haiti (ELH), review the plans for relief and rehabilitation work post the earthquake through the ELH and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), and to meet with the LWF Haiti office and other members of the ACT Alliance engaged in reconstruction work. Eight month after the earthquake the situation in Haiti continues to be critical. The enormity of the task ahead is overwhelming.

 One of the challenges we face in the Lutheran Communion is the vacancy for the Field Representative position in the LWF World Service Program in Haiti. This position is responsible for the on-going work of the Haiti programs and our response to the disaster of January 12, 2010. Filling that position is critical for the continuation of our work in Haiti and for the effective coordination of the relief and rehabilitation work of our communion.

 After listening to the concerns presented by representatives of local NGOs, political leaders, and church officials, it became apparent that the person to fill this position should have not only skills and competencies in development work, knowledge of the Haitian society and fluency in the language, but be a trusted person who could bring together different sectors of the Haitian civil society, political leadership, and the faith community to work in a coordinated manner in the reconstruction of Haiti. For that reason, the ELCA has decided to second Mr. Louis Dorvilier to the LWF to serve as Field Representative for a period of three years. During this time Mr. Dorvilier will continue under the employ of Global Mission and will have responsibility for some GM related activities/initiatives in Haiti.

 Mr. Dorvilier will commence his new responsibilities in Haiti on October 11, 2010.  His last day at the GM-Chicago office was September 15.  We thank Louis for his work among us as Director for GM’s International Development and Disaster Response Program. We pray God’s blessing upon Louis as he undertakes these new responsibilities.

 Effective immediately Ms. Lita B. Johnson is assuming new responsibilities as Director for International Development and Disaster Response. Lita has been serving as Associate Executive Director with responsibilities in the management of Global programs. Prior to her coming to Global Mission, she directed the World Hunger appeal and served as Assistant to the Presiding Bishop.

Pax,
The Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla
Executive Director, ELCA Global Mission

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