Young adults make a difference in Haiti during mission trips

Members of a young adult mission team from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis traveled to Haiti on May 10-17, 2010, with Father Rick Nagel. Posing for a photo in front of images of St. Theodora Guérin and St. George in Bassin-Bleu, Haiti, last spring are, front row, from left, seminarian Tyler Tenbarge, Father Nagel, Father Jean Gregory Jeudy from Haiti, Matt Johnson, Anne Marie Brummer, Missy Brassie, seminarian Tony Hollowell, Erica Heinekamp and Scott Goley, and back row, from left, Scott Lutgring, Steve Rogers, Father Rodolphe Balthazar from Haiti, Michael Conner, Michael Gramke, Robert Barnell and Joe Pederson. (Submitted photo)

(Editor’s note: “Stewards Abroad” is an occasional series that reports on the efforts of Catholics from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis throughout the world.)

By Mary Ann Wyand

Why help the people of Haiti?

God’s call to help the poor, to be of Christian service to others in need, motivates many Catholics to visit developing countries on mission trips.

There are numerous important reasons to experience cultural immersion in an impoverished country where people struggle to survive each day.

Thirteen young adults who visited two villages in Haiti during a May 10-17, 2010, mission trip with Father Rick Nagel said they wanted to share their faith, hope and love with the Haitian people.

They also wanted to experience daily life in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and make new friends there—friends they will remember for the rest of their lives.

“Most simply,” they explained during a May 27, 2010, presentation at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis, “we went to develop our hearts for Haiti.”

It’s not easy to participate in mission trips to countries where the food, water and lack of sanitation can cause health problems.

And yet, the young adults agreed, their week in Haiti was an incredible, life-changing mission experience.

Seminarian Tyler Tenbarge is a third-year student at Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis and a member of SS. Peter and Paul Parish in Haubstadt, Ind., in the Evansville Diocese.

The group’s mission experiences in Haiti “really strengthened and deepened my prayer life,” Tenbarge said. “Even though I wanted to play with the kids and explore the villages, I wanted to take time to stop and pray, too.

“Jesus is present in the Eucharist in every tabernacle in the world, and we had the chance to pray at every parish,” he said. “I would sit and pray more deeply than I had ever prayed before for the poor because you could really see the face of Christ in everyone you met there. Just knowing that, and knowing how much they are suffering, makes you really want to pray for them outside of giving them food or helping them [construct] a building. It has made me really stop and think about Christ’s presence in others.”

Father Nagel has become close friends with two Haitian priests, Father Rodolphe Balthazar and Father Jean Gregory Jeudy, who minister in Mole, Bassin-Bleu and Bombard.

“One of my favorite moments in Haiti happened a year ago,” he said. “I have the good fortune of sponsoring a seminarian there. … We were having dinner and some people came to the door.

“Father Rodolphe said, ‘These people are the parents of the young man, Wilson, who you sponsor for the seminary,’ ” Father Nagel recalled. “There was a language barrier so we hugged each other. They asked Father Rodolphe to thank me and tell me that, ‘If it weren’t for you, our son will never be a priest.’

“It was so moving,” Father Nagel said. “I can only imagine how Father Wilson one day will change so many lives. … His parents had walked eight hours that day to come and thank me then they turned around and walked home for eight hours in the dark. I love the people of Haiti. They are my brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Marian University junior Loralee Sweet of Cicero, Ind., is majoring in nursing and pursuing a minor in global studies with a Lugar Fellow scholarship. She also serves as the president of the Global Studies Student Club.

Sweet participated in a spring break mission trip to Haiti in March 2010 with two teachers and 12 other students from Marian’s School of Nursing.

“Before the earthquake happened, we were planning the trip,” she explained. “The needs were great before the earthquake. We were there less than two months after [the disaster]. We set up clinics in Fond Parisien, which is about an hour east of Port-au-Prince. It was slightly affected [by the earthquake].

“There was some damage, but not nearly as extensive as it was closer to Port-au-Prince and in some of the areas we were driving through,” Sweet said. “We also set up clinics in other areas that had some damage [to buildings], but [not] … in areas that were devastated by the earthquake.”

The nine-day mission trip was “probably the best learning experience of my life in many ways, both as a nursing student and as a Christian,” she said. “I learned a lot about medicines and what can actually be done with the short time you have there. I learned how to instruct people, how to teach them the necessity of taking medicine, and how to give injections.”

Sweet also taught Bible lessons as well as health care and hygiene classes.

“I learned a lot about the people,” she recalled. “The little kids would color pictures and give them to me as presents. I wanted them to keep their pictures, but they would give them back to me. They would try to help each other and were really close-knit.”

Before enrolling at Marian University, Sweet said, she realized that “my heart has been in nursing for a long time, and it’s been in mission work for a while as well.”

She believes that God calls people to special ministries, and “in some ways, I almost feel like God made me do this. I feel that I was created to help others around the world.

“It was a great opportunity to go to Haiti with wonderful people,” Sweet said, “and to learn in a safe environment for my first time going overseas and working in a mission. It was the best experience I could have asked for. I was inspired to be a nurse and find the difference that I can make in the world. My passion is to help others.”

Barbara Blackford, an assistant professor at Marian’s School of Nursing, helped lead the last two student mission trips to Haiti.

“I think for every student that goes there, every faculty member, their lives are transformed by that experience personally and spiritually,” Blackford said. “They come away a changed person. … We would see approximately 200 patients a day in the clinics. … Even though the students were exhausted from working so hard, you could see the joy radiate from their faces.” †

(Related story: Catholic Relief Services administrator outlines emergency assistance for Haitians)