Marcdaline Abelard was in her home in the mountains above Leogane on Saturday, June 3, when her husband Claudy left to go search for the family goat. Rain was pouring and the wind had picked up.
While she waited, she tried to calm her baby who is only a few months old. Her 2-year-old and 4-year-old were frightened by the weather.
The heavy rains caused flash flooding that ripped through the mountain village.
Claudy never returned.
Tuesday is World Water Day and Living Waters for the World (LWW) is celebrating the call of Matthew 25, the gift of pure water and the gift of water partners.
Even as she’s been working stateside during the pandemic, mission co-corker Cindy Corell continues to walk alongside her Haitian partners. As a recent “Between Two Pulpits” broadcast made clear, Corell’s heart is very much in Haiti, especially following the kidnapping of 12 adults and five children connected with a U.S. missionary organization.
To end systemic poverty, we first must understand its root causes by asking good questions. In Latin America and the Caribbean, two good questions to ask are, “How is the land used?” and “How are the people who live on that land treated?”
Next month, Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Dandridge, Tennessee, will celebrate its 236th year in ministry. While that’s a history to be proud of — Hopewell is one of the oldest churches in the Volunteer State — the church’s pastor, the Rev. Brad Napier, told Between Two Pulpits hosts Bryce Wiebe and Lauren Rogers on Monday that the congregation of 88 members also takes pride in its consistent history of giving, especially through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Special Offerings and even during the long pandemic, when the church actually saw increased giving and membership growth.
In 2013, mission co-workers Cindy Corell and Mark Hare were working with Viljean Louis, coordinator of the Peasant Movement of Bayonnais in Haiti. More than 100 people in the mountain community arrived to receive training for starting yard gardens. They were to learn the skills and then share them with neighbors.
As George Floyd’s murder ignited a movement against systemic racism in the U.S., the death of a young woman has become a rallying cry for justice in Haiti.
