Evergreen Association Mission Trip to Haiti
We are going to Haiti to be part of American Baptist Mission work at Cap Haitien, Haiti! Two groups are actually planning to go -- one departing from Seattle, and the other departing from San Francisco. estimates are that we may have upwards to 30 people from the region going down to help Nzunga Mabudiga and his wife Kihomi minister to the poorest country in our hemisphere.
Kihomi and Nzunga serve as a vital link between International Ministries and the Haitian Baptist Convention. Nzunga teaches theology at the Christian University of Northern Haiti, trains assistant professors in teaching and writing books, administers a scholarship program, and visits and preaches in churches. He also administers the "Kids for Kids" goat project that provides needed school and personal supplies for children and university students.
Kihomi works with families in the areas of counseling, family planning, and women's health issues. She also coordinates and advises the women's association of the Haitian Baptist Convention, representing women of all the Baptist denominations of Haiti at international conferences.
We have a need for participants with a large variety of helping skills (1 Corinthians 12:4-26 describes this well!). If we are able to enlist enough people with construction skills, we will be working on a new school for the mission. If not, we will still be needing to do various kinds of repair work for them. With the cholera outbreak after the earthquake, as well as with the needs of the eye clinic in Cap Haitien, we can certainly use people with medical or nurses training. We are hoping to bring some new computers down to the mission and people with skills at using and/or teaching computer use would certainly be of help. But also, there is a lot of work, especially for women, just being part of the ministry of encouragement that Kihomi does with the women of Haiti. Nzunga wrote in response to one of our questions, "You will have opportunity to connect with women's work. Kihomi will take you places you don't want to go!" Okay...now that I read that, I'm not sure it is an encouragement. Oh well...the point is that we will all be needed!
We are doing fund-raisers to help cover the expenses of this trip. At the Community Church of Issaquah, we will be doing a Dinner/Talent show on Saturday, September 24th, from 4-7 pm. Cost will be $10 for individuals, or $25 per family. Money raised will be used to offset these expenses:
Travel cost of participants: Participants will of course contribute to their own travel, but sharing in the cost of travel will be our way of partnering with them.
Right now Pastor Keith Madsen, Cathy Madsen and Mary Cline (Linda
Eastlick's sister) are all considering going.
Cost of laptop computers for the mission: We are hoping to buy a number of these to take and leave at the mission, so they can use them at their
schools and with their medical work.
Materials for construction and repair: These will be purchased in Haiti for work at the mission.
Cost for participants will be:
Travel to Port-au-Prince from Seattle: $1184Travel from Port-au-Prince to Cap Haitien (est): $ 200Room and board at the mission ($50 a day): $ 400 TOTAL: $1784 (does not include
visa and shots)
BE IN PRAYER FOR THIS MISSION ADVENTURE!
One ministry of our ABC work in Haiti is the "Kids for Kids" Project, which provides goats to Haitien children for economic development.
"We always appreci-ate the visits...Once you are in our place, we don't feel lonely and left alone on the island of Haiti."
-Nzunga Mabudiga
Children in Haiti with training manuals for preventing cholera.
