January 14, 2011
Before the earthquake and afterward, area volunteers serve friends in Haiti
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
Ask Gary Boice how working in Haiti has impacted him. “It’s not hard to see Christ in what we do,” he says without hesitation.
Boice has connections with the Cathedral parish in Louisville and with three Dubois County parishes involved in the Haiti Twinning Program.
People in Indiana and Kentucky may know him as a farmer, houseboat owner (with his wife Kathy) on Lake Patoka, and 30-year veteran of IBM (now retired). He now owns his own computer network company, and is happy to have someone else run it for him so he can make frequent trips to Haiti.
People in Haiti know him as the man who tries to visit four times a year, who works and sweats alongside of them to set up a water filtration plant or set up new electrical equipment.
“You get a lot of experience with water and electric on a farm, and on a houseboat,” he ex-plained.
Boice spends most of his time at Jeremie, an area on the long finger of land that points toward Jamaica. It was an area relatively unaffected by the earthquake a year ago, but it is now affected by cholera.
Boice was in Haiti in October and plans to return in two or three weeks, to Jeremie and also to Dupity. The parish in Dupity has been the focus of the twinning program at Holy Family Church in Jasper, with involvement too from St. Raphael Church in Dubois and St. Peter Celestine Church in Ce-lestine.
The parish in Dupity has a clinic and six nutrition sites, Boice said, that seem to be functioning quite well. But people who live some distance from the clinic are suffering from cholera, and many are dying trying to get there. The parish priest re-The water filtration system at Jeremie, and the electrical system at Dupity both need some work. The filtration system is a project of a team from Louisville; the work at Dupity is supported by the three parishes in Dubois County.
The challenge to provide clean, safe drinking water is immense. Water comes from mountain springs, but travels at times in contaminated pipelines to a reservoir that is polluted. Desperate, thirsty residents along the distribution system break into the city service pipes to get access to water, leading to waste and further contamination in the lines broken open.
When the filtration plant is functioning, it will provide good water for the school, and Boice hopes it will work well enough to allow school children to take water home, too. If there is more water available, a public tap will be set up, to provide water for a few pennies — enough to pay someone to operate the system.
A big challenge in all the work, water related or electrical, is that “you can’t buy stuff there.” A heavy electric inverter or anything else, “you have to bring that stuff with you.” That means possible airline hassles and potential customs delays and costs.
In early years — 2006 was Boice’s first trip to Haiti — “We went to observe what they were doing and how they were using the money and the other things we sent.”
In recent years, the Haiti volunteers have moved from be-ing observers to participants.
“We try to find out the problem. Then we raise funds.”
Then the volunteers go to work with the people who have become their friends.
“You can see that they appreciate what we are doing. They know that we really do care about them.”
Boice’s thoughts are echoed by Deacon Mike Seibert, who serves the three parishes in Dubois County. Mary Seibert has been involved in the Holy Family project since 1986. When she and Mike married, they moved to Newburgh and were involved with the twinning project of St. John the Baptist Church.
Now assigned to the Dubois County parishes, Deacon Seibert reflects on the impact of this international connection that has been made and nurtured.
The people in Haiti are “not only just people in need, but our Catholic brothers and sisters,” Deacon Seibert says. “We have a deeper connection with them. We celebrate Mass with them. Their culture is different, so much more alive, but the Mass is the Mass.”
Because of the many visits, area residents going there and Haitian visitors coming here, “we have made friends with people. It is personal to us when something bad happens there.”
Deacon Seibert recalls network news pictures of the soccer field that was turned into a tent city next to the Matthew 25 ministry in Haiti.
“We have been there. We know what they are going through. It is not just a news report. This is personal to us. We’ve been there.”
Every time he has asked the parishes to assist, people have responded. A recent example, last year, “in a phenomenal response,” they filled a 20-foot sea container with shoes and other items for the people of Dupity.
Ask Deacon Seibert to describe the impact on him and the people he serves. He may pause to reflect first, then to speak with the conviction of his faith.
“In order to put the Gospel into action, we have to be reaching out, not just looking at ourselves, or even at our parish. The Gospel insists that we reach out beyond ourselves.”