Volunteers Serve to Learn in Haiti
Larry Luth (center) and volunteers from Immanuel CRC in Caledon, Ontario join Haitians in work.
Missionaries in Haiti are hosting an unprecedented number of volunteer teams in 2015.
By the end of March, eight teams will have traveled to the Caribbean nation and witnessed how God is at work there. One more team will arrive in June.
“Serving and visiting has helped volunteers gain some understanding of Haiti and some of the complexities that make it what it is,” said Larry Luth, a Christian Reformed World Missions missionary.
Representing CRWM and World Renew, many of the teams are helping construct a ministry center. This work serves as a natural way for volunteers to get to know some of the local people as they work alongside one another.
“We truly are building a sense of community with our coworkers,” a team from Woodland Christian High School (Breslau, Ontario) wrote on their blog.
Along with the hands-on aspects of the service trip, the teams are also learning about child slavery, the 2010 earthquake, and how the missions agencies of the Christian Reformed Church are working together within that context.
One of the most important topics for Haitians right now is the Haitian election process. Haiti has not had elections since 2011. Now the country’s president is ruling by decree, resulting in political protests from opposition parties.
“Despite Haiti’s troubled political situation,” said Zach Segaar-King, CRWM’s country leader in Haiti, “visitors this winter can see that family, church, and political life are all moving forward.”
Missionaries enjoy hearing the perspectives of the volunteers.
“After living in Haiti for more than two years now, I find great interest in seeing and hearing the reactions of first-time visitors,” Larry Luth wrote on his blog. “It is great to experience Haiti through their eyes.”
CRWM Missionaries John and Carol Vanderstoep also expressed gratitude when a team from their sending church, Maranatha CRC, came to serve in Haiti.
“Though our years together as pastor and congregation are over, our affection for and support of one another continues,” they wrote.
Thanks to these Teams Serving in Haiti in 2015:
- Rochester CRC
- Maranatha CRC (Cambridge, ON)
- Goshen/Sussex CRC (combined team)
- Woodland Christian High School (Breslau, ON)
- Global Girls for God
- Strathroy East CRC
- Cascade Fellowship CRC
- Immanuel CRC (Caledon, Ontario)
