Live-video link unites Virginia churches with a Haiti school they support but haven’t visited in four years

[Episcopal News Service] COVID-pandemic restrictions that began in early 2020 and worsening political unrest and violence in Haiti have made it impossible for members of seven churches in the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Virginia to see the faces and hear the stories of the students and teachers of their partner school in Cerca-la-Source.

That changed at 9:15 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday morning, Sept. 15, when everyone was connected by Zoom.

St. Marc’s School and the connected St. Mark’s Church are in a rural community near the border with the Dominican Republic.

“Members of the 7:30 a.m. congregation waited, and they had some teachers and students there to thank us for what we’ve been able to do together in the past,” the Rev. Roger Bowen told Episcopal News Service. Bowen is one of the organizers Virginia Haiti Collaborative, which ties the U.S. and Haiti churches together. The starting time allowed some of the Virginia partner churches to stream the virtual gathering into their adult forums.

English and Creole interpreters were on the call, Bowen said, which made it easier for some of the school’s 300 students to tell Virginia Episcopalians what they liked best about school, and for teachers to describe their ongoing needs. They also received greetings and an update from the Rev. Schneyder Couloute, the school’s administrator and the church’s priest.

“Being able to see each other face to face was so powerful,” Bowen said.

In opening remarks at the start of the Zoom call, Bowen said the online visit was an opportunity for the U.S.-based Episcopal churches to be part of “a story about partnership and love” with their fellow Episcopalians in Haiti. “We learn from each other, rejoicing in the generosity of spirit and sheer love of the Lord seen in a diocese materially poor but spiritually rich.”

The needs that teachers described included providing more food for students and replacing hard benches with chairs. Couloute also talked about the need for additional funding for teachers. The Collaborative currently provides $4,000 a month for teacher salaries.

Bowen noted that the Diocese of Haiti – the largest diocese by membership in The Episcopal Church – has about 250 schools that are overseen by 50 clergy, including Couloute. “Founding and supporting schools is the heart of The Episcopal Church’s mission in Haiti,” he said.

Of those 250 schools, only about 100 of them have partners in the United States, Serena Beeks, coordinator of the Haiti Episcopal School Partnership, told ENS, and 60 of the 100 are Episcopal schools. The rest are individual congregations or groups of churches like those in Virginia.

The Virginia Haiti Collaborative started in 2009 after the Rev. Walin DeCamps, a Haitian priest serving several parishes and schools, preached at Trinity in Staunton, Virginia. His impassioned words inspired parishioners to help. Today, six other Virginia churches also are part of the Collaborative: Trinity, Arrington; Good Shepherd, Blue Grass; Grace, Lexington; Trinity, Lynchburg; Emmanuel, Staunton; and St. John’s, Waynesboro.

The Rev. David Copley, director of Global Partnerships and Mission Personnel for The Episcopal Church, applauded the online gathering. “Virtual visits are creative examples of how to connect and share your love without the need of large resources,” he told ENS by email, “and you care for the planet at the same time with a small carbon footprint.”

Bowen and others in Virginia have hoped that the arrival of Kenyan troops in recent months as part of a multinational security force mission would help calm the gang violence that plagues parts of Haiti and make travel possible in the future. On July 27, 2023, the U.S. State Department issued a “Do Not Travel” advisory for Haiti “due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and poor health care infrastructure.” So far, travel from the U.S. remains impossible.

Luckily, Bowen said the violence hasn’t reached Cerca-la-Source, so classes have been able to continue and people can attend worship services. But priests like Couloute haven’t been able to travel to Port-au-Prince, the capital city and seat of the diocese, for at least three years.

The Diocese of Haiti itself has experienced problems, including scandals that have involved some top diocesan officials and its 2018 bishop election that failed to receive churchwide approval. In July, General Convention took initial steps toward addressing the diocese’s leadership crisis by adopting Resolution D071, which calls for a study of “the leadership obstacles faced by the Diocese of Haiti” and for the development of a new canonical process that would allow churchwide leaders to assist Haiti and any other diocese that faces a similar crisis in the future.

When Bowen was asked how he would describe the Haitian people he has met since he first visited in 2009, he said, “As an Episcopalian and as a priest, I don’t think I’ve been as moved as I have been in my times worshiping with the Haitian people. The earnestness of their prayers, the prayers of the people, are all spoken at the same time while singing is going on. It’s almost an other-worldly experience.”

Copley noted that partnerships like that between the Virginia churches and the Haiti school can and should happen elsewhere.

“I am convinced that every church and diocese across The Episcopal Church has the ability to become actively involved in global mission, no matter their size,” he said.

— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.