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November 24, 2008

International ecumenical delegation to visit Haiti

by Juan Michel
WCC News and Information

GENEVA — An international ecumenical delegation of church representatives will pay a solidarity visit to churches, ecumenical organizations and civil society movements in Haiti from Nov. 24-28. The team will visit the capital Port-au-Prince and areas affected by recent hurricanes.

Organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the visit is hosted by the Protestant Federation of Haiti in collaboration with ecumenical and church agencies based in the country.

The visit aims to express solidarity with the Haitian people and listen to the churches in the country. Through visits to local Christian communities, civil society organizations, humanitarian agencies and political representatives, the international ecumenical representatives will learn about their concerns and hopes.

Even for Haiti, a country that has known few good years in its convulsed history, 2008 could fairly be called an “annus horribilis.” Facing endemic corruption and ranking as one of the most violent countries in the world, Haiti has seen further deterioration in its political stability after rapidly increasing food prices caused a popular revolt last April.

Then hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and most recently Ike, brought about serious flooding in many areas, leaving as many as one million Haitian homeless, more than 500 dead and further weakening the country's agricultural capacity.

The ecumenical team will gather first-hand experience through field visits to hurricane-affected areas and by meeting representatives from organizations which are grappling with violence and conflict in the country. It will also learn about initiatives dealing with violence against the most vulnerable Haitians, street children and women.

Members of the ecumenical delegation are Geneviève Jacques, former WCC program director and former general secretary of CIMADE in  France; Els Hortensius, a program officer in the Department of Democratization and Peace Building of ICCO in The Netherlands; Marie Claude Julsaint, executive secretary for Latin American and the Caribbean of the World YWCA, Haiti/Switzerland; Elsy Wakil, Middle East regional secretary of the World Student Christian Federation, Lebanon; Michael Burke, executive minister of Ministry and Employment Policies and Services for the United Church of Canada; and Manuel Quintero, director of Frontier Internship in Mission, Cuba.

The international ecumenical solidarity visit to Haiti is part of the WCC Living Letters project. Several Living Letters visits are taking place each year until 2010 as part of WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence. The decade culminates in an International Ecumenical Peace Convocation to be held in Jamaica in 2011.