Days 201 – 203 (05/18 – 20)

Friday – I got up early (no thanks to a non-functioning alarm clock); grabbed a quick breakfast and got on the shuttle bus with about 65 delegates that were staying at the hotel. We were transported to the campus of St. Lukes UMC in Orlando – about 20 minutes away. I’m not sure what qualifications are required to be classified as a mega-church, but from a physical stand point, I think St. Lukes would certainly qualify. What a beautiful facility. The campus must be on at least 10 acres and includes a gorgeous sanctuary, an administrative building, at least 20 classrooms, numerous meeting rooms and gathering places, a large auditorium, huge kitchen, dining room, full size gymnasium and on and on. I was very impressed. I can’t imagine what our Haitian brothers (and 1 sister – Pastor Maude) were thinking.

The Haiti Mission Partners Conference was designed to bring together as many participants in  their ongoing vision and learn how we could more effectively work together. Melissa Crutchfield, UMCOR’s Assistant General Secretary for International Disaster Response, was the Facilitator for the Conference and after having all of the participating groups introduce themselves, introduced Rev. Gesner Paul, EMH President, who gave the opening address. In his address he outlined the EMH’s vision for the next 5 years.  Presentations were then made on the five main areas of focus: Education, Health, Shelter and Reconstruction (presented and chaired by Tom and me), Advocacy and Christian Education & Evangelism. After lunch we broke into break-out groups in these 5 areas. We had 18 participants in our Shelter & Reconstruction group and were able to answer questions about our program’s progress to date; give our vision of possible future projects; and hear and discuss suggestions from various members of the group. After a Haitian dinner prepared by Haitian members of the St. Lukes congregation, a representative from each of the break-out groups gave a synopsis of the group’s meeting - all in all, a very informative and productive process. We all arrived back at the hotel around 9:00 PM, a little worn, but still engaged in small discussions.

Saturday – Today was spent mostly in plenary sessions. 1) Partnership, Capacity Strengthening, Sharing Best Practices. 2) Communication and Coordination. 3) Funding: Source & Channeling of Financial Resources. 4) Summary, Next Steps, Action Items and Wrap-up. We ended our formal sessions about 5:00 PM and everyone was on their own for the evening. Una Jones, the Volunteers in Mission Coordinator for GBGM and in essence “our boss”, wanted to meet with “her team”, so we had a dinner meeting at the hotel. Una, Jim Gulley, Tom and Wendy Vencuss, Susan Meister and I spent the evening talking about the future of the Haiti Response Plan – what it should look like if it is going to continue beyond it’s scheduled end date of October 2013 – a long and hopefully fruitful discussion.

From UMCOR on Haiti website - http://www.umcor.org/UMCOR/Resources/News-Stories/2012/May/Working-Together-for-Haiti-s-Future  (highlight and control click)

Sunday – All of the “Haitian Delegation” took a shuttle bus back to St Lukes to attend the 9:00 AM service and then left directly for the airport. Our flight to Miami was delayed for about a half an hour because 2 passengers didn’t show up for the flight and their bags had to be removed. The 35 minute flight proceeded without incident. We had a 3 hour layover in Miami before our Port au Prince connection and it was the first time I had an opportunity to wander around the Miami terminal. I usually have very close connections and have to rush to the next gate. The Miami terminal complex is more of a shopping mall then an air terminal and not a bad place to lay-over - lots of good food choices and lots of places to window shop. Our PAP flight was on time and although pretty bumpy because of weather got us back to Haiti at our scheduled 4:30 PM arrival time. After going through Immigration and Customs, we were met by Jackson, our one-armed porter who escorted us out to “Maxo” who was waiting with a van to take us back to the Guest House. It’s funny how coming back to Haiti is beginning to feel almost as much like coming home as returning to Sacramento does.