Help us with a matching grant for Haitian healthcare

A matching grant is challenging YOU to Support Rural Healthcare in Haiti ! 

 On January 24 and 31 the St. Paul's Outreach Committee will be asking you to support a fundraising campaign to bolster up the rural healthcare efforts of local Haitian organizations well known to parishioner and physician Bart Smoot. 

For every dollar you give,  it will be matched by a dollar, up to $500 by St. Paul’s Outreach Team. Your dollars will go a long way to providing essential and critical health care to those in need, particularly blood pressure screenings and medication to treat high blood pressure.

 INFO: Bart Smoot, cbsmoot1@gmail.com.

St Paul’s Torbeck Hypertension Clinic

Our patients expectantly waiting to be seen at the 

Torbeck clinic on Saturday 1/31/2015

St Paul’s Cathedral has a special relationship with one Haitian Episcopal Church: St. Paul’s in Torbeck Haiti.

 In 2007 Drs. Molly Kelly, Bart Smoot and Martin Kabongo along with Carolyn Lief and Sue Kelly did a field trip to Torbeck to help establish protocols for a nurse-run hypertension clinic at the parish there. Hypertension is a big problem for Haitians as they age, and we felt this was one problem that we could help with by establishing a basic treatment protocol that Haitian nurses could follow.

 We have had some modest degree of success with this, and in fact have been treating between 50 and 100 people for this disease at the parish. The Cathedral has been the principle supporter for this endeavor – donating many thousands of dollars for medications and salaries for the staff there – which include two nurses and a support person who staff the clinic on a weekly basis. We use in-country resources to maintain a consistent drug formulary for our patients.

This man came in recently with a 

blood pressure of 220/110.  

After being prescribed medications his 

blood pressure on 1/31/15 was 140/80!

The good news is that through the generous donations of many benefactors at St Paul’s, we have been able to keep this clinic going for 7 years now. The bad news is that we are now out of money. It takes about $2500/year in medications to provide blood pressure medications to about 50 people. That works out to $50/person/year, which is a fraction of what it costs here in the US. Please help us keep this clinic going. Make a gift to St Paul’s Cathedral. Place ‘Haiti – hypertension clinic’ on the memo line.

 Thanks!

Bart Smoot

Dr. Kabongo (and me in background) with the 

Haitian nurses who now run the clinic

Haiti update

There are 3 "R's" of disaster, according to Robert Radke, President of Episcopal Relief & Development, speaking to the disaster of the earthquake in Haiti:

First is the "Rescue" phase - usually the first week or so following a disaster.

Second is the Relief" phase, where the focus is on creating temporary safe and sanitary conditions. This is where we are now, and usually lasts a few months.

Third is the "Recovery" phase which will last for years.

Episcopal Relief & Development expects to be there for the long haul supporting Haiti's important and vibrant ministries. The Diocese of Haiti is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the USA, part of Province II. The challenge of the "Recover" phase is that the disaster has been forgotten, the cameras have moved on, but the chonic needs of the people remain.

Please continue to pray for the people and the Diocese of Haiti, their Bishop (Jean Zache Duracin) and clergy. Especially remember to donate to the continuing relief work of ERD at www.er-d.org. Updates about Haiti can be found here .

On behalf of Episcopal Relief & Development - Thank you!

Carolyn Lief, Diocesan ERD Coordinator

Haiti updates: flooding now

Bart Smoot brings this to our attention: now there are floods in Haiti:

Flooding triggered by heavy rain killed at least 11 people in Les Cayes, Haiti's third most populous city and an area unscathed by the devastating January 12 earthquake that flattened much of the country's capital.

Three were killed in Torbeck, which is the region Bart serves.

Updates on the situation in Haiti from Episcopal Relief and Development: current update and overview. Also, click here for photos.

And not forgetting the suffering in Chile: ER-D updates here, where ER-D is also reaching out.

Keep the people of Haiti and Chile in your prayers. Their need will continue beyond the "news cycle".

Shaken to the Bone, Called to Respond

[The Episcopal News Service] The world has been turned upside down, as the bones of the earth have shifted underneath Haiti. We are reminded of life's fragility and unpredictability as we watch the news reports and see the devastation of human lives.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere; 80 percent of her people live on less than $2 a day. Even before this earthquake, she struggled to provide for her poor.

Since its founding in 1804 as the first African-led nation in the Western Hemisphere, and the first resulting from the rebellion of former slaves, Haiti has experienced disaster after disaster, both natural and political. Until now, hurricanes have been the most frequent riders of the apocalyptic horse.

The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti is among the largest in our church. Before this disaster, the diocese counted between 100,000 and 120,000 members in 169 congregations served by just 37 clergy. The diocese has been a major force for human well-being in all senses – spiritual, emotional, intellectual, cultural and physical.

Resourceful and spirit-filled Haitian Episcopalians served more than 80,000 children in 254 diocesan educational institutions, from preschool to college. The diocese sponsored Haiti's only philharmonic orchestra and its only schools for disabled children and nursing. The Hôpital de Sainte Croix provided community health services for the Leogane region. Two vocational training institutes supplied Haiti with auto mechanics, computer technicians and business managers. Development programs helped rural communities toward food security by raising rabbits and sharing plows.

This earthquake flattened the cathedral and its surrounding buildings, including schools and a convent; it destroyed the bishop's home and the diocesan offices. One of the diocese's institutions of higher education is gone. We don't know the condition of other institutions. Several churches were destroyed.

The work of rebuilding lives, diocesan institutions and the fabric of the nation will take years. The Episcopal Church – all of it – will be vital in that effort.

Likewise, the Diocese of Liberia, once a part of our church and now a member of the Anglican Province of West Africa, grew to serve God's people in a nation founded by freed slaves. The country is recovering from years of civil war. Everywhere there is evidence of violence – burned-out automobiles and trucks, decaying buildings, impassable streets and roads, limited and intermittent electricity and a lack of basic services. Despite those realities, the Liberian people are filled with hope. They are rebuilding their homes, their lives and their nation with creativity and will.

The Episcopal Church in Liberia has a long and honored place in the life of the nation. Since 1889, Cuttington University has trained many of the nation's leaders. Diocesan schools provided much of the best elementary and secondary education available. The sad reality is that most diocesan institutions were damaged or destroyed in the unrest, and many still are trying to rebuild.

In the immediate aftermath of the Haiti disaster, cash donations are the most effective and essential way to help. Episcopal Relief & Development is working with its partners there, especially a network of community-development agents it has trained over the last few years. Together they will connect need with resources.

Rebuilding the diocese must be directed by its people. Only the bishop and leaders there can tell us where and what aid is most needed. The people of Louisiana and Mississippi know what this is like, and those who have partnered with them know the blessing of being vulnerable enough to listen to and take direction from those who are suffering.

As time goes on, the world will forget the extent of this devastation. Our task will be to listen, remember and respond.

Indeed, we have seen that the world's attention, once riveted by Liberia's violent unrest, has turned away. Yet, the church there desperately needs partners in its rebuilding work. Dollars are needed, but that need is secondary. There is enormous hunger for, and pride in seeking, self-sufficiency. Liberian Episcopalians need trainers of teachers. They need hospital administrators and medical personnel. They need missionaries who are willing to train Liberians to train others. The Episcopal Church has the human resources they need.

In our urge to be compassionate in the aftermath of such disasters, I pray that we discover that we are so interconnected that we no longer can simply talk about the poor of Haiti and Liberia. I pray that we will tell the story of all the suffering in our midst, about the poor and bereaved members of the entire human family. Truly, when disaster strikes one of the least of these, it strikes all of us.

Together we can bring a measure of healing to Haiti and Liberia. May the result be much closer to the dream we share for the reign of God.

- Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori

Letter from Haiti

Bart Smoot passes along this letter and adds, I see good future potential for mission trips that involve rebuilding.

Dear Sisters and brothers in Christ,
Please let me take some time to give you some update of the situation of Haiti and your beloved partners in the Episcopal church of Haiti. God has saved the lives of the bishop, the 32 active priests, 9 retired priests, the 6 deacons, the 17 seminarians, 3 nuns and the 4 missionaries and their families. All private houses have been damaged to some degree, but all churches, schools, rectories clinics, and hospitals from Croix des Bouquets to Miragoane are not permitted to be used. In Port au Prince and Leogane, all structures of the Episcopal Church have been completely destroyed. We cannot evaluate how many parishioners and staff members we lost. In the south, BTI is ok but the Saint Sauveur rectory is not safe to sleep in. The seminarians went back to their home town; one of them is a physician, and he has stayed at college St Pierre in Port au Prince to give first aid to the people. The Episcopal church of Haiti has set up more than 7 centers to support victims, mostly in the worst hit areas where the bishop is based with whatever supplies they have been able to receive.

On behalf of bishop Duracin the partnership program and the people of Haiti, I would like to begin to thank you for your continuing prayer and assistance, especially ERD and our brothers and sisters of the Dominican Republic who share our same island home. We appreciated very strongly the sacrifices of Canon Bill Squire , Dr. McNelly and other team members who flew across the DR border to visit us. Your notes and emails of sympathy are very important to us. Please continue to send your notes of encouragement.

The Episcopal Relief and Development ( ERD) is doing a very remarkable work to support Haiti during the dilemma, both with emergency support and beginning to plan to be part of the rebuilding of the Episcopal church in Haiti. You can see that Rev. Lauren and Dianne are encouraging you to share information about your work in Haiti. It is very important to cooperate in that survey, because while Port au Prince and Leogane areas are more directly affected by the damage, many victims are returning to their home towns to breath a little bit, find food to eat and a safe place to sleep. However, the movement of people from Port au Prince to the countryside is overwhelming our ability to provide for them, and no relief agencies are yet providing supplies to the countryside.

ERD is working together with the bishop and a Haitian emergency commission of 15 people where The Canon Oge Beauvoir is the coordinator. Please continue to support ERD with your emergency support. Do not forget your partners in Haiti. You can still send money to your partners by check via lynx and your wire via Citibank. For two days all of the banks have been open in other towns in Haiti, and today they opened in Port au Prince. Remember when you send support to your partners; please copy me and also the diocesan accountant Mr Frantz Antilus in order to facilitate the process. You already know what to do when you want to send your emergency to ERD who are helping us a lot now.

School will not open in the West department , but schools and universities will open soon in the other 9 departments and will welcome children and students from other departments.

Thank you for your attention to my note, do not hesitate to ask questions: Ask for the state of your projects. Ask for your beloved friends if they are safe or hurt.

I continue to serve as the partnership coordinator and the DJ'O(Diocesan Jubile officer) and Rev. Frantz COLE serves as the development officer for the Episcopal diocese of Haiti. The Rev. Roger Bowen is still cooperating with me for the National Association Episcopal School. And Rev. Lauren Stanley who assists in the Partnership and Development program will coordinate with ERD in USA.

Thanks you all, may God continue to bless you.


The Rev. Kesner Ajax
Executive Director, Bishop Tharp Institute (BTI)

See here for worthy charities for your support.

Here's a video showing the frightening destruction of the Cathedral.

Helping Haiti

We have several updates for you. First, The Wall Street Journal has a video showing the efforts of the Episcopal Bishop and his priests in running a refugee camp.

The Episopcal Cafe also points us at an article in the Wall Street Journal about religious groups' contributions.

The Episcopal Cafe also has additional updated information on Haiti. First, the President of ER-D comments on the 3-Rs of disaster response: Rescue, Relief and Recovery. Second, facts about Haiti and the Episcopal Diocese there in the aftermath of the quake, which provides a good overview of who is where and what was damaged or lost.

The gang at Friends of Jake recommends some charities to help out:

"These programs are on the ground already. All of these are highly rated with low overhead, putting nearly all their donations directly into their services.

Shelterbox is a cool organization that puts tents and equipment into the field after disasters. The contents of each box can shelter a large family, with tents, tools, and utensils, blankets can be used as tarps or water catching devices.... Click the picture for a closer view of the box and its contents.

International Relief Teams. This small organization fields volunteer medical teams; their first team of ER professionals is already on the ground. (SPC note: This is a San Diego operation.)

Episcopal Relief and Development. Since Haiti is the largest Episcopal Diocese there is significant presence and partnership on the ground. This is going to be essential not just now but for the longer term recovery when everyone's attention turns elsewhere

If you want to go with the bigger organizations, the Red Cross, and Doctors without Borders, are good choices. Watch out for "new" charities which are often scams."

If you have further updates, including specific information on people or places, or other suggested charities, please add comments to this post.

Where is God in the Haitian Earthquake?

Fr. Frank Logue, Vicar of King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland, Georgia, shares this video reflection in response to the question "Where is God in the earthquake?"

Jerusalem the Golden, and the Sisters in Haiti

What has our beloved hymn “Jerusalem the Golden”, #624, got to do with the earthquake in Haiti? The words were translated from a 12th century text by Bernard of Cluny by an invalid Church of England priest, John Mason Neale, in the mid 1800s whose other passion was caring for the poor elderly and children. To help him, he founded a religious order for women in 1855 known as the Sisters of St. Margaret.

Since 1927 the Episcopal Sisters of St. Margaret have had a convent and ministry in Haiti. They are best known for their work at the school in Port-au-Prince they founded and another they began for handicapped children. In the 1970s they started the only Haitian youth symphony orchestra which was later brought to the famous Tanglewood summer music camp through friends at the Boston Symphony and funds the sisters raised. Their Order came to the United States from England in 1873 to run Children’s Hospital, Boston less than twenty years after it was founded. The mother house of the order is in Boston and if any remember the classic children’s book, “Make Way for Ducklings,” the nuns in the story and illustrations are our Sisters of St. Margaret.

Sadly, today, the convent of St. Margaret in Haiti is destroyed as are the schools for the handicapped and other students. The Sisters were found safe as refugees with hundreds of others in the football field of St. Pierre College. Danger is nothing new to these nuns. I remember other Sisters telling us stories of dodging bullets during revolutions in previous decades since the convent and schools are near the Presidential Palace in Port-au-Prince. Sister Marjorie Raphael said once, “We would have to crawl beneath the windows to avoid the gunfire.” These are brave and courageous women who have a long term commitment of faithful service to the needs of the children and elderly of our church in Haiti.

There is now an urgent appeal for funds for their work to continue. You can contribute via their website. They also recommend donations to Episcopal Relief and Development or Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

I’ve known about the work of the Sisters of St. Margaret for many years. As a life professed monk for fifty years I’ve come to know many members of our religious Orders. From 1982 until 1988 I was President of the Conference of Anglican Religious Orders in the Americas. Canon Barnabas Hunt and I always attended the annual meetings and other gatherings of the conference. The late Sister Ann Marie, SSM was Secretary of the Conference during one of my terms and we worked closely together on a number of projects. I’ve known Marjorie Raphael since the 70s. I gave the Sisters of St. Margaret their long retreat in 1988 at their place in Duxbury, Mass. There may be many communities, but really only one religious life in the Episcopal Church. We are an extended family.

Rev. Andrew Rank is a Canon of the Cathedral

Pictures from the website showing the convent before the earthquake, and Sr. Marie Margaret, Sr. Marjorie Raphael and Sr. Kethia.

Presiding Bishop video on Haiti crisis

Episcopal Relief and Development is already on the ground in Haiti. Donate to their efforts at http://www.er-d.org/ .

More info on church eforts from from Episcopal LIfe Online.

The Episcopal Cafe asks, where is God in the Earthquake?

Lauren Stanley, Episcopal Missionary to Haiti, was in the US at the time of the earthquake. Her blog, Go Into the World, is an excellent source of information.

More news from Haiti, and what you can do

Bart Smoot forwards this from Maison de Naissance

Dear Friends:

We continue to hear devastating news from Haiti. You have reached out to us by sharing your concern, asking how to help, and seeking updates on MN and our cherished family and friends. Thank you for keeping MN and Haiti in the forefront of your thoughts. Please share this message with others who want to help during this unparalleled tragedy.

Our Haiti staff report that our facility, staff, and those we serve are still safe. However, they are bracing for the awesome challenges that lie ahead.

We need your financial support to maintain our daily operations. Medications, fuel, supplies and food - already difficult to obtain in Haiti - are becoming scarce. Prices for these essentials will skyrocket in the coming days, and they will become increasingly difficult to obtain. We must attempt to stay stocked and prepared, so we may continue to care for the mothers and babies who need our programs and services. Contributions to MN may be made on our web site at www.maisondenaissance.org or mailed to our office (Maison de Naissance Foundation | 6247 Brookside Blvd, Suite 224 | Kansas City | MO | 64113).

There is also a significant need for financial support of emergency relief efforts in Haiti: food, water, shelter and medical services provided by trained volunteers and professionals. We suggest supporting organizations that are on the ground and poised to assist with these immediate relief efforts in and around Port au Prince:

American Red Cross: www.redcross.org
TheGlobalOrphanProject(PoweredbyC3): www.theglobalorphanproject.org
Episcopal Relief and Development: www.er-d.org
Partners in Health: www.pih.org

In response to your requests for updates, we offer the following blog site:haitiearth.blogspot.com. We ask everyone to use the 'comment' feature to post their updates, questions, thoughts, and concerns. Maintaining this dialogue in a centralized location will allow easy and efficient access to multiple sources and ease e-mailbox congestion. MN will continue to add meaningful posts as we have more concrete updates to share.

Haiti needs you. MN needs you. There are countless ways to help, and we thank you for considering the options we have shared above. Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and contributions, and for sharing this message. Let us be guided by Haiti's motto: L'union fait la force - unity is strength.
Staying Strong,
Your Friends at Maison de Naissance

A prayer for Haiti

Dear Friends,

I share with you the sense of loss and sadness at the devastation in Haiti. As the pictures and stories from that region continue to come in, the need for all people of faith to come together to offer aid, assistance, and prayers becomes increasingly clear. Many of us in the St. Paul's community feel a particularly personal connection to the people of Haiti though our missionary work led by Dr. Bart Smoot.

Sunday, January 13 at 5pm, there will be a special Evensong with Bishop Mathes preaching, dedicated to all those affected by the earthquake in Haiti and how we can respond. Our local representatives from Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) will be on hand.

You can support Haiti financially through our partnership with ERD. There is no organization in Haiti better situated than ERD to provide direct aid on the ground. (Simply write "Haiti Response" in the memo line of your check, or go to the ERD website here for more information and to send your support online).

Finally, it is important to remember that even in the midst of devastation, God is very much present. Please join me in prayer for those affected by the Earthquake in Haiti...

God of the present moment,
God who in Jesus stills the storm
and soothes the frantic heart;
bring hope and courage to all those affected by the earthquake in Haiti
as they wait in uncertainty.
Bring hope that you will make them the equal
of whatever lies ahead.
Bring them courage to endure what cannot be avoided,
for your will is health and wholeness;
you are God and we need you,
and thank-you for your enduring faithfulness.


God's peace,

(The Very Reverend) Scott E. Richardson, Dean

The Episcopal Church in Haiti, Our Largest Diocese

With between 100,000-150,000 baptized members and 168 congregations, The Episcopal Church in Haiti is the larger than any in North America (and part of the reason why ERD is so well positioned to head up relief efforts).

Read more about The Episcopal Church of Haiti here and here. View a video message from the Presiding Bishop and President of Episcopal Relief & Development.

Here is an update from the Sisters of St. Margaret (thanks to Canon Rank)

January 13, 2010
My Sisters and Brothers:

Following yesterday’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, I want to share with you what we know of the situation, particularly as people connected to our diocesan community are affected.

Early reports indicate terrible damage, with Holy Trinity Cathedral in Port au Prince and Bishop Jean Zache Duracin’s home there destroyed. The convent of the Sisters of St. Margaret also is gone. We do know that Bishop Duracin and his wife are safe, and the Sisters of St. Margaret here in Boston have heard through a reliable secondhand source that their three sisters, Sister Marie Margaret, Sister Marjorie Raphael and Sister Marie Therese, are alive. We have an unconfirmed report that Jude Harmon, a postulant from our diocese who is serving in-country as a Young Adult Service Corps volunteer, is OK; we are waiting for verification from the Episcopal Church’s mission personnel office.

We also are in the process of contacting parishes in our diocese with known mission relationships in Haiti to extend our concern and gather more information.

The best help we can give right now is to direct our donations to either the Sisters of St. Margaret here in Boston or through Episcopal Relief and Development. Their Web sites and address information appear at the end of this message.

Please know how much our prayers are needed. An unfathomable catastrophe like this in a place that has already known so much hardship really does have us questioning God at the deepest levels of our faith. Yet we must know that God is more present to suffering than any of us could ever possibly be, and that as we are willing to take on the suffering of others, whether through our prayer, our donations or our service, we join God in God’s compassionate presence.

FOR MORE INFO: The Society of St. Margaret, 17 Highland Park Street, Boston, MA 02119. For updates and more information about the sisters’ work in Haiti, go to http://www.ssmbos.com/ and click on the “Haiti” page link.

Episcopal Relief and Development: Donate online at http://www.er-d.org/ or call 800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Donations can be mailed to Episcopal Relief and Development, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058. (Please put “Haiti Fund” in the memo line of all checks.) Also, Episcopal Relief and Development is producing a bulletin insert that will be available online.

A Time to Pay Forward

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As night falls upon Port au Prince on the second night of suffering, we continue to pray for those most affected. Across the nation and around the world, caring people are moving to help in a host of different ways.

The people of the Diocese of San Diego remember well the gifts that we received after the 2007 Wildfires. It is now time for us to pay forward that gift. I would encourage you to pray and give. You can make a gift to Episcopal Relief and Development to support recovery in Haiti by going to this site: Episcopal Relief & Development - Home

Many of you have contacted our office today asking about Suzi Holding’s daughter, Mallory. We have not yet heard from Mallory or received any news. Your prayers are cherished at this moment.

Finally, our Cathedral will be holding an Evensong with special prayers for the people of Haiti on Sunday, January 17th at 5 p.m.

Faithfully,
The Rt. Rev. James R. Mathes
Bishop of San Diego