Haitians desperate for rice after storms kill at least 150, destroy crops

Florida Baptists told 'thank you for not forgetting about us'

Sep 4, 2008
LAUREN URTEL
Florida Baptist Convention

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Children eat fruit that had fallen to the ground after winds whipped up by tropical storm winds in Petit-Goave, Haiti. Florida Baptists, who have a partnership with Haitian Baptists church, led a food distribution effort that afternoon in the community where hundreds of animals have died and crops have been swept away by the storms. Photo by Craig Culbreth/Florida Baptist Convention

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (FBC) -Mudslides, washed-out roads and massive flooding hampered Florida Baptists’ efforts to feed the hungry in Haiti where three tropical storms in as many weeks have killed at least 150 persons and destroyed crops and livelihoods.

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In Leogane, Haiti, waters continue to rise as a result of the saturated ground after tropical storms, which at times increased to hurricane force Fay, Gustav and Hanna, dumped rain on their already saturated nation. Photo by Craig Culbreth/Florida Baptist Convention

The impoverished nation that shares an island with the Dominican Republic is reeling from the massive rainfall produced by Tropical Storms Fay, Gustav and Hanna, which brought additional rains to the already waterlogged country early Wed., Sept. 3.

The killer storms left 15,000 animals dead and decimated nearly 25,000 gardens, a source of food and income for many in the Western hemisphere’s poorest country.

With no relief in sight, the hungry Haitians appear to again be in the aim of another storm as Hurricane Ike is targeting the struggling Caribbean nation.

Supporting a decade-long partnership, Florida Baptist Convention staff arrived in Port-Au-Prince Mon., Sept, 1 to oversee the distribution of rice through Haitian churches. The state convention underwrites the salaries of a national ministry director and six regional directors of missions in Haiti, who supervised the delivery of food to the pastors.

Craig Culbreth, director of the partnership missions department of the Florida Baptist Conventon, supervises the loading up rice to be distributed in Myragone, Haiti, after Tropical Storm Fay devastated the region. Rain continued to dump water onto the nation where crops were wiped away after Hurricane Gustav drove by late last week. Photo by Craig Culbreth/Florida Baptist Convention

“It was wonderful to see the eyes of the Haitians as we handed out the rice to feed their families,” said Craig Culbreth, director of the Convention’s Partnership Missions Department, who is was on the ground in Haiti.

Rick Lawrence, director of the church planting deparment for the Florida Baptist Convention (left), walks with a group of directors of missions, pastors and deacons in Haiti, to survey damaged homes and churches which were destroyed by the recent tropical storms and hurricanes. Photo by Craig Culbreth/Florida Baptist Convention

“We were told, ‘thanks for not forgetting about us,’” Culbreth said.

Florida Baptists distributed the food through local churches. Each family is given enough rice for four people for three days. The first feeding, which provided nourishment to 2,800 families, or 11,200 people, at a cost of $12,000, was completed Wed., Sept. 3.

Culbreth told of the difficulties they encountered while traveling outside Port Au Prince to other villages across the nation.

“We faced a mud slide in one place and a river or lake that flooded out the road in another as we sought to do food distributions in three locations,” Culbreth said. “We were able to do the final one in Port au Prince as the road conditions blocked us being involved with the first two.”

While the group “never got past the mudslide, we sent a pastor in a boat to do the second distribution in the southern part of Haiti where the road was flooded,” he added.

Culbreth expects the mudslide to be cleared within the week for the relief can reach the southern city of Jacmil. He expressed concerns abut the city of Gonaives, where 110,000 people live, where floodwaters were said to be 12 feet high.

A second feeding is expected to be finished Mon., Sept. 8.

At a market in Petit-Goave, Haiti, Sept. 1, resident were trying to sell what little they had left of their gardens before more rain dumped by Tropical Storms Gustav and Ike wiped away their remaining plants mid-week. By the time personnel from the Florida Baptist Convention left Sept. 4, they were reporting the nation was surviving on little else but rice. Photo by Craig Culbreth/Florida Baptist Convention

“A second feeding is vital,” said Cecil Seagle, director of the Florida Baptist Convention’s Missions Division. “We may have to do more after the next two storms clear, but at this point we can do no less.”

The heavy rains and strong winds also were responsible for the destruction of 34 churches and the homes of 27 pastors. Another 64 churches and 23 homes received damage in the storms.

In many places in Haiti, roads washed out quickly and vehicles became trapped. Florida Baptist Convention workers had to find alternative ways to distribute rice, hiring boats to take food to some places inaccessible by vehicles. Photo by Craig Culbreth/Florida Baptist Convention

Seagle reported that an additional $12,000 has been sent to provide construction assistance to affected churches and pastors and to aid in the second food distribution.

“The money will provide funding for food and meager assistance for our pastors and directors of missions who have no place to live or are in desperate need of tin for repairs,” said Seagle.

Culbreth was accompanied on the trip by Rick Lawrence, director of the Convention’s Church Planting Department, and Colman Pratt, pastor of Union Park First Baptist Church in Orlando.

The pair was “a great encouragement to the pastors we have met,” said Culbreth. “They have prayed with them and told them ‘Do not give up. The storm was big but God is bigger.’”

Financial contributions for disaster relief efforts may be sent to the Florida Baptist Convention, Business Services, P.O. Box 5579, Jacksonville, FL 32247. Checks should be made payable to the Florida Baptist Convention. Please designate on your check which relief effort you are donating to.

To make a credit card donation using Visa, MasterCard or Discover, please call 800-226-8584, ext. 3049. When calling, be ready to provide the following information: gift amount; credit card number; expiration date; first and last name as it appears on the card; billing address including city, state and zip code; E-mail and phone number.

“This was a chance to show the love of Jesus,” said Culbreth. “A special thanks to all those Florida Baptists who gave the funding to make this possible. Let me say ‘thank you’ for the people you will never meet but were blessed by your gifts.”

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