Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Church member and father of five, Dademis Pierre Genois, poses with his children Mandy, Dorothy, Beverly, Coraly and Glory at the Petion-Ville Ward grounds after church services in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Posted on 02/04/2010 12:39:54 PM PST by TheDon
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
When Deseret News photographer Jeff Allred and I learned our assignment to cover post-earthquake relief efforts in Haiti would keep us there over a Sunday, we talked with anticipation of attending meetings with one of the local Latter-day Saint wards.
We projected how our coverage might convey the imagery and messages at a meetinghouse providing both temporal and spiritual sanctuary to affected Haitians.
The trouble was, we were so involved in humanitarian efforts that Sabbath day — delivering drastically needed food, water and blankets from the Church's relief supplies to Port-au-Prince's Haitian Community Hospital — that we arrived at the Petion-Ville Ward meetinghouse just as members filed out of the second-story chapel following the day's final sacrament meeting.
Jeff and I lamented missing a chance to chronicle what we expected to be touching worship services.
But looking back on our eight days in Haiti — shadowing a Church-sponsored team of volunteer LDS doctors and nurses providing first-response medical care to ailing Haitians — we spent considerable time in meetinghouses and observing members and leaders.
We saw The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its people in action in Haiti — just not in sacrament meeting, as we had hoped.
While at the meetinghouse that Sunday, I was impressed at how many on the grounds remained in their Sunday attire well into evening — many sporting clean, crisp dresses, skirts, blouses, dress shirts, ties and slacks. I watched families quietly interact together on blankets; I saw scriptures and lesson manuals close at hand.
Inside, I asked Severe Maloi, bishop of the Freres Ward, about his members. Tearfully, he accounted for his 101-member ward — two dead, two at hospitals with life-threatening injures and four more with serious injuries. He didn't dare begin to count the missing, adding that other Port-au-Prince wards suffered similar tolls.
"But you read the Book of Mormon" he said, "you see that there have been a lot of people who have suffered much worse than this."
Other mental snapshots and sound bites that linger long after our return:
Arriving at Port-au-Prince meetinghouses — Centrale, Petion-Ville, Croix des Missions and others — and passing through the gated entrances always caused a momentary pause. At each location stood a steadfast Church building, surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of homeless Haitians in tents, under tarps or atop blankets, covering nearly every square foot of the grounds and practically all of the paved parking lot, driveway and sports court.
Despite the meetinghouse masses, a prevailing spirit of patience and cooperation seemed evident as I observed during morning, afternoon and evening hours. I practically laughed when U.S. Army 82nd Airborne soldiers arrived at the Petion-Ville meetinghouse gates in a pair of armored, gun-mounted Humvees and a sergeant asked if the Army might assist in quelling any potential violence or disturbance.
I watched the same 82nd Airborne soldiers back a supply truck into meetinghouse's driveway and then stand impressed as Haitian men quickly and orderly lined up to pass boxes of food and supplies into the meetinghouse.
I remember watching priesthood leaders walking among the homeless on the meetinghouse grounds, comforting while inquiring of needs. I'll never forget listening to the hymns and prayers lead by bullhorn in the dark of night.
I saw Elder Francisco J. Vinas, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy and president of the Caribbean Area, speak with obvious emotion as he recounted the devastation he witnessed while spending the better part of two days and nights meeting with Haitian priesthood leaders and members. He also spoke with equal conviction in expressing admiration of and confidence in the local leaders in helping meet temporal and spiritual needs.
I watched meetinghouse classrooms and cultural halls become makeshift clinics and a clerk's office host a portable water-filtration system. I saw the few members needing to access the building for whatever reasons treat it with respect and reverence. I watched conscientious, cheerful bishops monitoring access, mopping floors and lovingly care for meetinghouses used well beyond a normal role.
I admired the members — particularly the young adults and returned missionaries — who stepped up to assist at the clinics, serving as translators, helping with the flow of patients and filling out paperwork.
I witnessed priesthood and welfare committees meet nightly to review efforts, discuss needs and chart the next day's plans. I saw Church and Area welfare specialists participate in supportive roles in those meetings, providing perspective and insight but never taking over.
Not only were member and nonmember alike treated at the meetinghouse clinics, but Church members realized the challenge from the volunteer doctors and nurses to scour the neighborhoods to see if others needed attention. The members went and found more who needed critical medical treatment.
I cried seeing the severity of injury and infection as well as when visiting with individuals and learning they had family members either killed in the quake or still missing. I cried more when I heard of one member's ultimate sacrifice, preserving the life of her young child by using her own body as a shield against falling debris during the quake.
Yes, we missed attending Sunday Church meetings. But we didn't miss witnessing true religion in action.
e-mail: taylor@desnews.com
This has been posted to the Religion Forum
Children stand on the grounds at the Petion-Ville Ward after church in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
"Yes, we missed attending Sunday Church meetings. But we didn't miss witnessing true religion in action."
Thank you
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