Camping for Christ

Our first work assignment since arriving in Michigan has been a pleasant one. We were scheduled to serve as the week's preachers and bible study leaders at the Christian Reformed Conference Grounds in Grand Haven, MI. Honestly, the assignment was a little intimidating. We were made aware that many of the campers at the Conference Grounds had been treated to some of the best Christian speakers that West Michigan has to offer. For our week at the Conference Grounds, we chose to speak on a topic that we considered very timely and important for the local church: "How Your Church Can Do Good to Those Outside Her Doors." Community outreach is increasingly seen as necessary for local churches that want to remain relevant to their communities and compellingly preach the message of grace to a hurting world. Despite our anxieties, the campers received our bible studies and sermons well. There was a surprising amount of interest in Haiti too. Our accommodations were opulent: we had a new three bedroom "cottage" (read: "chalet") with all the amenities. Our kids got to go to the Lake Michigan beach every day and even participated in a children's program (see picture above). Although we spent the previous week of vacation preparing our presentation and stayed up late into the night practicing and adjusting our material, it was a wonderful week. While at the Conference Grounds, we had a final opportunity to say goodbye to Ad and Coby de Blaeij, our former colleagues in Haiti who spend their summers camping there. If you are looking for a vacation that is great for the kids and will even give them a chance to learn about God, you should take a look at the Christian Reformed Conference Grounds!

Accomodating Adjustment

People often ask us what it is like to be a cross-cultural missionary. It is many things. But above all, it is about adjusting to constant change. There is the change of leaving one's normal surroundings, friends and family, and moving to a new culture with new friends and customs. Then there is the constant change of demands on the field: one day a sermon must be written, the next day a car repaired, and on the following day a malfunctioning computer must be mended. In countries where many goods and services are unavailable or prohibitively expensive, missionaries must learn to do everything. Many people don't realize it but one of the most disconcerting changes happens when missionaries leave their host cultures and return to their country of origin. In two or three years a lot of changes occur. We will never forget a flight to Grand Rapids a few years ago when we noticed everyone in the airplane was glued to small rectangular devices, poking and prodding them with their fingers. It was only a few months ago that Blackberries arrived in Haiti--we are still waiting for touchscreen smart phones to become popular! One of the greatest changes is borne by children--they are dragged from their homes, friends and schools, put into new homes, forced to make new friends and to get accustomed to new schools. Please pray for our school-aged children, Hannah, Isaiah, and Vivian, as they spend six months in a new school (see picture of Hannah, Isaiah, and Vivian in front of their new school, Grand Rapids Christian Elementary) before returning to Haiti in the middle of a semester.

A Thorny Issue

Perhaps the most difficult challenge Haiti has faced since the January 12, 2010 earthquake is what to do with the hundreds of thousands of people living in tents and makeshift shelters on public and private property. We were reminded of this issue as we camped last week among double-axle trailers with pop-outs and air conditioning at a local campground. The problem is complex. While many among the approximate 300,000 people camping on the streets of Haiti today actually lost their homes in the earthquake, many more have chosen to live as displaced persons or squat on private property to obtain certain advantages. It is recognized that the more aid given in a particular camp, the more people will set up shelters to take advantage of the aid being distributed. The international relief community also puts a great amount of pressure on the government of Haiti to avoid forced evictions in camps as this is considered an affront to the rights of refugees. Nevertheless, many private land owners have evicted squatters by force. Others have resorted to payouts to squatters to remove their shelters, including mayors trying to clean up public parks and plazas. The discussion about what to do with displaced persons is not academic for us as the cul-de-sac outside our office in Port-au-Prince is actually a displaced person camp (see the picture above taken a week after the earthquake). Because the camp is on public property, there is no way to make sure that the spots vacated by displaced persons are not reinhabited by someone else. In recent months, inhabitants of our camp have become confrontational, often demanding aid and sometimes defacing and damaging cars and other property in the area to register their dissatisfaction. As a team, we are doing some research into how we can encourage displaced persons to leave the camp in front of our office. Please pray that God will provide wisdom as we try to help the residents of our cul-de-sac without creating more dependence and problems.