UPDATE…. Hatteras helping Haiti

Four Hatteras islanders arrived on Haiti last week to assess the needs after last month’s devastating earthquake of 17 church orphanages, overseen by a Haitian man, Mac-Onel Georges, whom members of The Church on Hatteras have worked with for several years.

The islanders are church members John Head, Bob McBride, Dwight Burrus, and Johnny Wallace.

“I’m sure that most of you, like I, have had your heartstrings tugged at what we’ve seen in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti,” John Head said in a message to islanders about the trip. “I am asking that you join with me in a local effort to help the people of Haiti.”

Head met Georges while on a 2005 trip to Sri Lanka to help with the relief efforts there.

Head says that Georges was traveling to the U.S. to raise money for the children in the non-denominational church orphanages that his family started in Petionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. They feed, clothe, and educate hundreds of children. 

In December, 2006, Bob McBride went to visit Georges and returned overwhelmed with the needs of these people and, especially, the children. 

“Mac-Onel’s hope,” Head says, “is that educating the children of Haiti will give them a vision for a better future for themselves and their country.   From Bob’s return until today, we have supported this ministry aiding the children of Haiti.”
 
The four men from The Church on Hatteras plan to assess the needs of these churches/orphanages that Mac-Onel oversees and bring back information to those interested in giving of their finances and time. It is their long-term goal to send a group to Haiti every month during the rebuilding efforts.
 
Head notes that, as with all of the church’s other efforts in Sri Lanka and in Pascagoula, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina, every penny donated will go directly to the needs of the people. All of the volunteers pay their own way or have separate events to raise funds for their travel expense.
 
If you want to contribute to this local fellowship’s efforts to help the people of Haiti, you can make a donation by mail to Haiti Account 700011628, The Church on Hatteras, PO Box 1175, Buxton, NC 27920. Or you can drop it off at any East Carolina Bank branch. All donations are tax deductible.

For more information, contact John Head at 252-216-7807.

 
REPORT FROM HAITI – FEB. 6, 2010

(This report comes to The Island Free Press from John Head.)
 
We arrived in Petionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, on Haiti around 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 4 and were greeted with great thanks. The people within the churches have great hope.
 
Today Pastor Mac-Onel took us to see some of the church schools here in Petionville and then to Port-au-Prince to an orphanage. This orphanage has swelled with children. It needs a new school building, but the children still have joy in their eyes and their smiles.
 
The destruction on the way and in Port-au Prince is truly unbelievable. The sights, sounds, and smells are at times overwhelming. Family members are still digging in the debris to find loved ones three weeks after the earthquake. Three, four, and five-story buildings lay flat on the ground. It is hard to comprehend how the Haitians will rebuild when almost every building still standing is cracked.
 
As we walked through the city and tried to absorb the destruction, we came across a young boy who looked to be working on some copper to sell. However when we spoke to him, we found that he had lost both his mother and father and was just beating the ground — to keep himself busy.

A photographer for a newspaper saw the traumatized boy and began taking photos. Afterwards we all talked, and he said he had not seen such trauma, even in Sri Lanka. We all were deeply moved.

Brother Mac will try to get the boy to one of the city orphanages.
 
The humanitarian need here is overwhelming.
 
Please, I beg you to not this day slip by without fervent prayer for the people and children of Haiti.
 

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