March of the Exiles

Yesterday morning the second exiled Haitian president in three months returned to Port-au-Prince. This time it was the twice-exiled Jean Bertrand Aristide who returned in a charted jet from South Africa. Like Jean Claude Duvalier, an ex-president who returned in January, Aristide was driven out of Haiti by a popular insurrection. Also like Duvalier, Aristide is accused of embezzlement of state funds and political violence against opponents. Love him or hate him, it is recognized that Aristide is the most divisive modern political figures in Haiti in recent memory. Both of his presidential terms ended prematurely with his forced flight from Haiti. The question that everyone is asking is, "Why now?" The international community made a concerted effort to keep Aristide out of the country until after Sunday's presidential election. However, the host government of South Africa decided it could not hinder Aristide's return. After debarking from the plane, Aristide delivered a speech in at least five languages which decried the exclusion of his political party from the election by the current President Preval's electoral committee. He ended by claiming to bring love and hope for the Haitian people. We will see.

Cay Jacmel Church: The Last One!

One of the projects that we have been occupied with since the earthquake of January 12, 2010 is repairing damaged and destroyed churches. The final church that we have plans to repair is the Cay Jacmel church. The Cay Jacmel church is located only a stone's throw from the beach, ten miles east of Jacmel (on the southern coast of Haiti). During the quake, the front and back of the church collapsed and side walls began slumping outward. When we shared this problem with SON-BEAM International, a West Michigan charity, it immediately decided to fund the reconstruction of the church. The plans are to completely demolish the existing structure and build a new 30' x 50' building. The congregation, led by Pastor Andrenord, who lives only a few feet from the building, has been meeting in this unstable facility since the earthquake. In addition, many homes in the Cay Jacmel area were destroyed in the quake as well because the building techniques used were particularly susceptible to quake damage. Such homes were built on a wood frame supported by walls in-filled with rocks and mortar. After the quake, only the wood frames of these houses remained standing. For this reason, the Christian Reformed Church of Haiti has received a grant from CRWRC International Disaster Relief to help Cay Jacmel residents with home repairs. In a recent United Nations report, it was noted that of all the areas damaged by the earthquake, the Cay Jacmel area has seen the least reconstruction activity. With God's grace, we are hoping to change that. Please pray that we can overcome planning and logistic hurdles along with the impending rains which will begin in late April or early May.

March 2 Update

Dear Friends and Family:

Greetings from Haiti! We have received many encouraging notes from you after Zach’s unexpected trip to Michigan for surgery on a painful abdominal hernia in February. On Sunday, February 28th, Zach was able to return home to Sharon and the kids in Haiti. While Zach has some restrictions on his activity for the next week or so, he is glad to be home and is trying not to “overdo” work and activities.

Please join us in giving thanks for:
1. God’s protection of Sharon and our kids while Zach was gone. Sharon even managed to attend a week of trauma awareness training during that time.
2. Zach’s continued recovery. Though he is still having some pain, Zach was able to teach a session on healthy church development the day after he returned to Haiti.
3. Progress in developing relief and pastoral care programs for earthquake survivors with our partner organizations.
4. Success in hosting many visiting teams during the month of February.

Please join us in praying for:
1. Wisdom for hiring new colleagues: CRWRC will be hiring a new Country Coordinator to manage programming in Haiti and also a new Constituency Bridger to help with visiting teams and individuals.
2. A week of training that the Christian Reformed Church of Haiti will be holding for pastors and other church leaders.
3. Continued legal problems with the Haitian government as aid organizations and missions fall under severe scrutiny in the post-earthquake context.
4. Healing for Zach. Pray specifically that this surgery would resolve his abdominal pain.

Thanks for your prayers and support,

Zachary, Sharon, Hannah, Isaiah, Vivian and Esther Segaar-King
Missionaries to Haiti
Christian Reformed World Missions

Segaar-King Family Update

Despite challenges in the last few months, we give thanks for God’s faithfulness. Early in December, Haiti’s streets erupted in protests against fraudulent election results which required the cancellation of nearly all airline flights for a week. Only three days after the resumption of flights, Sharon’s parents arrived in Haiti. We enjoyed five days at a beach resort in the Dominican Republic with Sharon’s parents. Zach spent this time seeing doctors and running medical tests to diagnose the abdominal pain he had been experiencing for some time. In January we hosted a team from First CRC of Fremont. At the beginning of February, the Haitian government defused the electoral crisis by announcing revised results and setting March 20 for a presidential run-off election. On February 13, Zach traveled to Michigan for treatment as his abdominal pain was increasing. Upon arrival, Zach’s doctors determined that the source of his pain was an abdominal hernia that was obstructing his intestinal tract. Surgery was quickly performed and, after a two weeks of absence, Zach was able to return to Haiti. Meanwhile, Sharon managed work and children by herself. Our children are doing well and have enjoyed considerable vacation time due to school closures from election unrest. Please continue to pray for stability in Haiti, a return to good health, and patience to deal with the ups and downs. For more information, please see