By Mary Frances Schjonberg January 15, 2010 ( Vol. 79, No. 1 , Jan-Feb 2010 )

[Episcopal News Service] January 24, 2010—The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti is caring for close to 23,000 Haitians in at least 21 encampments around the earthquake-devastated country.

This news came in a Jan. 23 letter from Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin to Episcopal Relief & Development president Robert Radtke. In his letter, Duracin said the diocese and ERD are working "hand-in-hand," telling Radtke he has "complete confidence in you and your agency."

"Please tell our partners, the people of the Episcopal Church, the people of the United States and indeed the people of the world that we in Haiti are immensely grateful for their prayers, their support and their generosity," Duracin wrote. "This is a desperate time in Haiti; we have lost so much. But we still have the most important asset, the people of God, and we are working continuously to take care of them."

The Haitian diocese suffered greatly with the quake. A number of the diocese's 254 schools, ranging from preschools to a university and a seminary, were destroyed or heavily damaged, including the Holy Trinity complex of primary, music and trade schools adjacent to the demolished diocesan Cathédrale Sainte Trinité (Holy Trinity Cathedral) in Port-au-Prince.

A portion of the St. Vincent School for Handicapped Children, also in the Haitian capital, collapsed, killing between six and 10 students and staff. Many of the students are living at the camp while arrangements are being made for them to be housed elsewhere.

More than 100 of the diocese's churches have been damaged or destroyed, Duracin has said.

As many as 3,000 quake survivors, including many members of the diocese, have congregated on a rocky field next to College Ste. Pierre, a diocesan secondary school that the quake destroyed. Duracin, who was left homeless by the quake, has led the effort to organize and maintain the camp, where conditions are described as grim.

Two ERD officials – Katie Mears and Kirsten Muth – have been in Port-au-Prince to assist the diocese. They have been operating out of the Dominican Republic and also are assisting the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic's efforts to aid its neighbors to the west.

The agency's efforts include coordinating shipments of medical supplies and food to affected rural Haitian communities and parishes, organizing air drops to isolated rural areas and the provision of satellite phones and solar power chargers. The latter will enable coordination of efforts between dioceses and increase the organization's ability to communicate with Duracin and his colleagues as they serve thousands of survivors both in Port-au-Prince and in other areas served by the Episcopal Church of Haiti.

The agency said Jan. 21 that its work also is helping to establish a response mechanism that can continue to operate efficiently as the recovery process gets underway in the coming weeks and months.

In his letter to Radtke, Duracin said members of the diocese "have a vision and a plan for this relief and recovery effort."

"We know the situation on the ground, we are directing emergency relief to those who need it most, and we already are making plans and moving forward to help our people," he said, adding that he was aware that many people in the wider Episcopal Church want to come to Haiti immediately to offer their help.

"Please tell them that unless they are certified professionals in relief and recovery, they must wait," he asked. "We will need them in the months and years to come, but at this point, it is too dangerous and too much of a burden for our people to have mission teams here."

Duracin also said he has appointed the Rev. Lauren Stanley, one of the Episcopal Church's four missionaries assigned to Haiti, to work on his behalf with ERD. He asked the diocese's many partners in the Episcopal Church to communicate with her to facilitate contact with the diocese.

Stanley was home in Virginia when the magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck on Jan. 12. Another Episcopal Church missionary, the Rev. Canon Oge Beauvoir, the dean of the diocese's seminary, is still in Haiti and is working with Duracin. Mallory Holding, 23, and Jude Harmon, 28, two Young Adult Service Corps missionaries, left the country the weekend after the quake.

"The world's response to this tragedy is overwhelming, the U.S. response is overwhelming, and our partners' response is overwhelming," Stanley told ENS on Jan. 24 via e-mail. "Our priests and lay leaders know of the deep concern and incredible efforts that are being made on our behalf, and they are telling their people. Bishop Duracin's leadership is incredible … ERD's response, which was swift and direct and incredible, is what is holding everyone together. The Haitian people know they have not been forgotten, and they know they will be helped."

In his letter, Duracin also said he had asked the diocese's partners in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to work directly with ERD.

According to a posting on the Presbyterian Church's Haiti Mission Network Web site, the Episcopal Church's Hôpital Sainte Croix in Léogâne has been a major focus of the Presbyterian Church's work in Haiti for a decade.

Hunter Farrell, director of world mission for the Presbyterian Church, said Jan. 24 that the church had given $200,000 to the hospital and the diocese's nursing school. The grant will to help pay for electrical power and distribution needs, water and sanitation facilities, fuel for generators and vehicles, and salaries for local staff to clean up the hospital, Farrell said.

The quake and one of its major aftershocks damaged the nursing school's buildings, but it began operating as a makeshift hospital within a half hour after the quake, which destroyed 80-90 percent of the buildings in the main part of Léogâne, the school's foundation said on its Web site.

Nursing school dean Hilda Alcindor reported that she, the nursing students and the incoming medical personnel have treated at least 5,000 people since the quake. A tent city has sprung up in the open fields around the school. The school's foundation also reported that the nursing students have set up 10 first-aid stations around Léogâne.

To donate to Episcopal Relief & Development visit http://www.er-d.org; call 800/334-7626 ext.5129; or mail a gift to Episcopal Relief & Development, P.O. Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058. Please write "Haiti fund" in the memo of all checks.

The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is ENS national correspondent and editor of Episcopal News Monthly.