Tim DeTellis

In our lives, when a tragedy hits, how do we respond? Do we give up? Hide? Maybe ask God to set us free from the agony?

Galatians 2:20 reads, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in my body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” We must walk by faith, even when the road is broken beneath our feet. How do we continue against defeat?

Under my feet the earth began to crack open when the earthquake hit. I felt an uncertainty like never before. What was happening? What’s next? Literally, the world around me was upside down. I heard screams, people yelling, and then word of an imminent threat of a tsunami. Being right along the ocean, we had to evacuate to higher ground. Would there be defeat? Is there hope?

Personally, the first night was eerie. With only minutes between them, tremors would rock the ground and evoke a deeper sense of shock. The fear of the unknown can destroy any hope. Lives were lost, yet I was still breathing. I was sleeping outside, but I know that I have a home waiting for me back in the states. Thousands here had no home to go back to. The total devastation was still unknown. The shock of Haiti’s poverty was overwhelming the day before the earthquake. Now this devastation–added to the poverty–brought a feeling of hopelessness.

The day after the earthquake, I saw God at work like never before. I know He had been working within the hearts of the Haitians, but this tragedy brought a new awakening to His omniscience. When you wake up each day asking what am I going to do–you see what your strength can produce. But, when you ask God to show you what He is doing, an entire new picture is displayed. I began asking God to work through me; the difference is profound. Is it God or is it man? When we are crucified with Christ, our lives become a vessel for God to work through us. Oh God, please use me!

Team members who were in Haiti when the earthquake occurred were serving the next day with a greater passion–delivering food to villagers, working in the warehouse, and salvaging supplies from the medical clinic which was destroyed. Even though many did not rest the night before, their hearts were strong in the wake of devastation.
Tragedy was not slowing down the people of God.

Miracles were taking place. My brother George said, “It was God’s hand of protection! No one died on any of the New Missions properties in Haiti.” Looking through human eyes, thousands of children have been entrusted to New Missions. Yes, we lost some; each and every one is precious. In the larger perspective, thousands of lives were spared that day.

Two nights after the earthquake there were four cell phones on the table–none having a signal. All of a sudden my cell phone rang! It was a divine telephone call at the right time. A team of private Special Ops were coordinating an evacuation plan for the visitors at the mission. The next morning, again we had no cell phone coverage, and all of a sudden my cell phone rang again. It was the U.S. Army telling me that helicopters were on their way. I can honestly tell you that my faith increased immensely!

Since the earthquake, more than ever, I do not want to live apart from God’s strength. His will and His power is what make all of the difference. John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”

Two days after the earthquake, I was walking through a hut looking at some of the damage in the village next to our mission campus in Bordmer. What surprised me was what I saw when I came across two boys playing. They were laughing! Joy was in their lives. I asked them, “Do you go to the New Missions’ school?” They both said yes–which did my heart good knowing the love of Jesus was sufficient for all of their needs.

We are called to serve. “For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) Our calling is to share the Good News of Jesus with others and to serve in love. The world has seen the suffering of Haiti like never before. This means it’s time for us, as Christians, to serve like never before. When we step forward with a heart of service, hope is delivered and defeat has no home.

Vesta Jean at New Missions campus the day of the earthquake, January 12, 2010. Vesta is one of our Christian women who has cooked daily meals for our schools children for many years. Photo by Dale Stroud, in Haiti with me when the earthquake happened.

How do you save lives? You reach the sick before it is too late. In essence, you bring a cure. That is what Haiti is crying for: a cure.

Right now, people from Port-au-Prince are being re-located across the countryside due to the greater collapse of infrastructure in Haiti’s capital city. A temporary solution is moving people out to a somewhere that is not their home. Now they must start over. The little they had before, is now nothing. Sad. What is a better cure? Have more established areas across Haiti as points of entry vs just Port-au-Prince. In essence, Haiti needs regions of established ports of commerece.

Here are three ideas:
1. Add two more international airports, one in the North at Cap-Haitian and one in the South at Ti Goave.
2. Add several municiple airports for travel around the country like to destinations: Jacmel, Jeremie, and La Gonave.
3. Bring a mobility system that Haitians can afford: railroad. A rail system will provide the transportation of resources and supplies all across Haiti efficently. For the purpose of moving people, it delivers reliability and affordability.

What cure will change Haiti? I hope these three ideas will foster discussion on delivering a cure for building a new Haiti. What cure do you think will help?

The relief efforts during the first week after the worst earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years has proven a daunting task. The widespread need for food and water seems endless. Why? Because those needs were there before the earthquake arrived. Yes, there are urgent medical needs and victims of the earthquake are in crisis. Yet, for 90% of Haiti, they were hungry the day before.

When I listen to news reporters talk about people coming up to them asking for food and how the relief is not reaching the people fast enough, it makes me angry. Why? For decades my family have screamed as loud as we could “Help Haiti!” and thankfully, many heard. Thankfully, for the 9,000 children of New Missions from the Leogane Plane that have safe drinking water because of wells, food and medical care, plus education. Yet, that is not the case for millions more. That is why the needs seem endless; they are.

How can we change Haiti in the next 12 months. The task seems overwhelming. I agree the heaviness of the burden is impossible to fathom. Many nights, I am unable to sleep because of the debth of need in Haiti. The major load of need could be made lighter if these three priorities were addressed in Haiti, immiedately, now!

1. A free port.
This idea is not my original thought. It comes from my brother George and the concept is brilliant. All ports to Haiti should allow free import of any goods or supplies without tax. Haiti would receive and endless out pouring of resources to build a new Haiti. Follow my brother at www.georgedetellis.com. The fact is, all Haitian families overseas, mission organizations, businesses, and investors would have an open door to infuse Haiti with resources.

2. Drill wells
Along the Leogane Plane, we saw a miracle of change when UNICEF partnered with New Missions and began drilling wells after we drilled a well in the village of Neply and at Bordmer where both wells were artesian. A geological discovery was made that there was an acquifor at 185 ft below the surface. Wells were drilled all around the surrouding villages. When I was in Haiti the week of the earthquake, I left our Amber-Pere church and as we were driving away, we passed a well, drilled by UNICEF in partnership with New Missions and I thanked God because that means disese in that area would be cut by 50% just because of clean drinking water. Haiti needs wells. There are not enough relief workers to pass out bottles of water to 9 million people in Haiti. Maybe for one day, but not for life. A well saves lives and provides safe drinking water ongoing.

3. Population Control
This is a very difficult subject. This is why I am publishing this on my personal blog. First, allow me to say that I do not believe in abortion as an option. Second, all me to state the fact that the average woman in Haiti has six children. Thirdly, let me confirm that of those six children, they could be from three different men. That is a hard reality, but this is real in Haiti and is not making the news. For the record, when I was in Haiti this past week I spoke with a women who had 10 children from four different men. The men in Haiti need surgeries and so do the women to prevent additional childbirth. It comes to a point of management and dignity. Also, as true family units develop through marriage and faithfulness, then a modest family of several children makes sense. However, when you live in poverty and cannot afford to care for five children, why have more? The reason is because the woman is hoping the next man will stay and help support the family. I don’t blame her in the dyer need she lives. However, we cannot ignore the root cause for a country that has doubled in population in 20 years. Did you know educating a female in a third-world is proven to motivate her to wait and have children until marriage? Just a thought in reference to this blog series part 1 on helping bring change to Haiti.

Personally, I believe we need to be problem solvers if we want to make the world a better place. Haiti has many problems. Above, I listed a few. Only three, actually. What problems do you see Haiti has and what solution do you propose?

I was there the day before, the day of, and the day after the Haiti earthquake. What actually shocks me more is that I was in Haiti 27 years prior, at the same spot where I experienced the earthquake. So what has changed in 27 years? What will change Haiti after the earthquake?

The crisis is in front of us. Searching for the missing, caring for the injured, and rebuiling the destroyed are top priorities. These needs are urgent. The world is at Haiti’s front door responding to the earthquake crisis.

After the relief is given and the earthquake victims are cared for, then what? Prior to the earthquake, Haiti was the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. It still is and the infrastructure is weaker. Yet, something changed on Tuesday, January 12th. Haiti captured the hearts of people. What is Haiti asking for? What will change Haiti?

Haiti needs a long-term plan that makes a difference. Two million plus children in Haiti do not attend school. Over the past 27 years, I have seen lives changed in Haiti because of an education received from New Missions. I have witnessed graduates that are now school teachers, engineers, attorneys, pastors, nurses, mechanics, carpenters, and other fine professions that help change Haiti.

If the world cares about Haiti, then help build a new Haiti, starting with education. This is a 20-year plan. The pay-off for education takes a generation.

My special added item to the call for education in Haiti is to teach English. The English language is a gateway to the world. Not that I agree with Haitians fleeing Haiti for other nations after they are educated, since what Haiti needs is greater brain capital. The English language bridges communication gaps in business and enterprise. English also opens the tourism door.

What ideas do you have to build a new Haiti? Tomorrow I will share what Haiti will need in the next 12 months.