By GREG JORDAN
BLUEWELL — More than a week after a major earthquake devastated the impoverished nation of Haiti, aid and personnel from across the world are arriving to tackle the huge relief effort. People from the Virginias are joining this rush to help.
Stephanie Phillips, a former resident of Bluefield and husband Jonathan Phillips, both now of Blacksburg, Va., plan to leave for Haiti on Jan. 30 as part of a mission from Voice of Praise Worship Center in Bluewell to offer a medical outreach, water filtration and food to the earthquake’s survivors.
“We’re leaders in an organization called Spirit-Lead Expeditions, and we have connections with People to People, which is the humanitarian organization of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church,” Stephanie Phillips said. “They have missions set up in Haiti already and a mission compound that’s holding 35 displaced families right now, and we’ll be working with the pastors and missionaries that are already there.”
Jonathan Phillips has something in common with every Haitian citizen: he was born in that country in 1986.
“My parents became bored with the Peace Corps and decided to become missionaries,” he recalled. “They wanted something a little more in depth. We lived there for approximately five years. I recently got back from Haiti in October.”
Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, so it was facing serious challenges long before the earthquake struck.
“Unfortunately, it has no middle class, the government is incredibly corrupt, and according to some of the Haitians in the street, the UN is rather indiscriminate, firing into crowds with AK-47s,” he said. “We could see the bullet holes in the city slums where they have just fired point blank into the masses.”
Everyday living conditions are terrible.
“Imagine the poorest, dirtiest, filthiest slum you can possibly imagine. There are cardboard shanties, and they are grouped around a water source or a market. I’m told that after the earthquake, the city was pretty much rubble. In the poorer areas, concrete is poured without reinforcements. People who can afford to built a house put up 10 foot walls with razor wire and glass on top. It’s just a typical part of life for them.”
However, the Haitians are quite different from their environment, Jonathan Phillips said.
“The people are a different story altogether. A friendlier, more genuine people you would be hard pressed to find,” he said. “They happily share anything they have with you if you have a need of it.”
“Even their last pan of rice,” Stephanie added.
“One church actually killed one of their last chickens and brought it out. We had Creole chicken on Styrofoam plates with fried plantains. They shared whatever they had,” Jonathan recalled from an earlier visit.
Once in Haiti, the mission plans to share resources and skills once its members manage to reach the compound. The island nation’s airport is “very tiny and outdated,” Jonathan said. The two runways — one for takeoffs and one for landings — are cracked and dangerously close to each other.
“They make you pretty nervous,” he said, remembering previous landings there.
And once the missionaries get on the ground, they must cope with narrow streets filled with rubble. When the earthquake hit, the closely spaced buildings collapsed right into the streets where even on good days, the biggest vehicle has the right of way, Jonathan said. All of these obstacles must be overcome to aid three million people.
Between 150 to 200 people are waiting in the mission’s compound. A veteran missionary doctor, trauma nurses and a pediatric nurse will help them, plus a water filtration team will help purify the compound’s well. The filters they will use can process a million of gallons of water before they go bad, Stephanie said.
While meeting these physical needs, the mission hopes to meet emotional and spiritual needs, too.
“I really think we just want to spread the love of Jesus, and give them some hope that they are not a forgotten people,” Stephanie said. “They are loved, and we will meet some practical needs for them and encourage them.”
The Phillips will be joining other local people working with other agencies to provide disaster relief. One person, Ashley Musick, 26, of Bluefield will fly to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic as part of a mission response coordinated by Georgia-based Adventures in Missions (AIM). She and five other missionaries plan to use ground transport to reach Haiti, where they will distribute relief supplies including water, flood and blankets.
“The vision is that we will go as a first response team representing AIM, providing immediate relief to the people suffering in Haiti, and gathering basic info on contacts and travel that we will share with future AIM teams,” Musick said.
Donations can be made to AIM’s Haiti Relief Fund by visiting http://adventures.org/haiti.
Donations to the Voice of Praise Worship Center can be sent to Route 5, Box 688, Bluefield, WV 24701. The web address, www.vopwc.org has a link with more information.
