September 12, 2006

Dear friends and family,

At the family camp—you can't see the faces, but everyone was smiling

The hot summer seems to have passed. We are seeing some leaves beginning to change color and the mornings in the woods are nippy for short sleeves. Today, almost every channel of American television is broadcasting programs on 9/11. We add our personal memory of that day. Haejung’s return flight to Chicago from Korea was redirected to Minneapolis and Simon’s cardio vascular bypass surgery was rescheduled due to all elective surgeries in Louisville hospitals being put on hold in anticipation of the care needed for New York victims. We have recovered and Simon is healthier than before, but the world is still hurting from the experience and the hatred continues. The wisdom and love of God and the obedient servants as humble peace-makers are what we need today more than political speeches and sensational television programs. Lord have mercy upon us.

During the last month, Simon made a short return visit to the Holy Cross Hospital in Leogane, Haiti, with the team from PC(USA) who are deeply committed to ministries in Haiti. Simon’s specific responsibility was to objectively examine the difficulties the hospital is having and make some recommendations. In one sense Simon had the most clearly defined task of the contingent, but speaking the truth in love is always difficult. Especially in this case, the messages were directed not only to the management of the hospital but also to the faithful supporters of the hospital.

Simon found two major problems with the hospital, which are very similar to the problems affecting many mission hospitals. The hospital was originally started as a small clinic to provide basic care to the people of Leogane, a city two hours away from Port au Price. Over the years many supporters from the United States helped the hospital deliver “more and better” care to the people by providing more sophisticated care. This development meant more complex equipment, specialist clinics, and even an air-conditioned guesthouse to support many visiting teams from the United States. For the local management each of these additions meant more funds coming in and the institution growing in structure and manpower. It is not surprising that the original vision of providing compassionate quality care became secondary to the excitement of new and more. In addition to losing “founding spirit,” the management capacity fell far short of the sophistication needed to handle the diverse programs.

U.S. based supporters were sincere and approached their work carefully. They examined whether the people of Leogane would benefit from adding the service to the existing ones. In all cases they were satisfied that their ministry is for the people. Many went further to ensure that their financial support was properly used for the intended purposes, competently carried out and accounted for. Many programs exercised operational and personnel control and agreed to provide salary and program cost support not burdening the hospital. The programs mushroomed, in part due to the close proximity of Haiti to United States, allowing for frequent visits. These programs contributed significantly to the serious difficulties the hospital is having. How can adding good programs lead to a bad situation?

When a program was added, the management and administrative responsibilities also increased. Unfortunately, these well-intentioned programs taxed the administrative and operational capacities of the hospital. Each program’s unique purpose and desires of the supporters made these additions more like grafts rather than building on the common foundation. It reached a point where most of the senior staff members were compensated at least partly by the outside programs. The hospital added new wings without fortifying the foundation. Unfortunately, the problems and their side effects did not surface until the situation became dire. Imagine a church where all the pastoral and administrative staff members have divided loyalty between the church and the outside sources helping pay for their program costs and salaries. What would happen to the core mission of the church? Would the sessions be able to govern effectively?

My recommendation was to put all the “non-essential” services on hold and reconfigure the hospital facilities and personnel, for the basic mission of primary care to the poor. All the “nice to have” programs should operate independently or become tenant in the hospital paying for the services provided. Is this doable? We have hope. We have to have hope for the hospital and the people in order to stay the difficult course of rebirth. We have hope for the hospital, not because we can see exactly how the revival will happen, but because we trust that God will provide necessary care for the people. We believe the obedient Haitians and American helpers will put aside their narrow interests in specific projects and will come together to serve the people. With hope, humility and compassion we will assist Haitian leaders in this difficult task. Christ have mercy upon us.

During the Labor Day weekend both of us went to Colorado to be with the friends from Central Presbyterian Church in Denver, where we are still members. We met at the Highlands Presbyterian Camp and Retreat Center in the Rocky Mountains, sharing our stories, catching up on times and meeting new friends. We have visited many congregations and shared our mission stories, but the sharing had to always fit into the very Presbyterian time limits. This was the first opportunity in nine years to share without looking at the clock all the time. Since many campers did not know us when we were at Central, we went back in time and talked about our first assignment in Congo. It was a time to experience God’s faithfulness and the unfathomable compassion. We were truly blessed to spend the weekend among loving friends in God’s nature.

A friend whose entire family has been praying for us for many years shared a story you might find amusing. Noah and Matthew were only four and six years old when they started to pray for us with their parents. They prayed daily for the “Parks in Africa” for three years. When we came back from Congo in 2001, we had a dinner with their parents, Jack and Audrey. When Jack told them their parents will be gone for the evening to be with the Parks, they looked puzzled. Finally it dawned on them and they moaned, “Oh, Parks are people! We thought we were praying for the parks in Africa, the animals and all.” We appreciate all prayers.

We will continue to make interpretation visits until Simon leaves on visits to Korea and Pakistan on October 9. We look forward to seeing John and Kevin again when we make a visit to New York later this month.

Haejung and Simon

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, 261