Haiti Fund appoints Indiana couple to lead development project

New Bern, N.C. –The Haiti Fund, a Presbyterian group based in New Bern, N.C., has appointed Rick and Kathy Land to work in a development ministry sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti.

     The Lands will direct the Comprehensive Development Project (CODEP) in the mountainous region south of Léogâne. They succeed Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission workers Rodney and Sharyn Babe. The Babes will continue mission service at the Episcopal University of Haiti in Port au Prince, where they will teach agriculture and sustainable development.

     The Haiti Fund works closely with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti on development projects.  The Haiti Fund and the PC(USA) jointly announced the personnel moves on October 5.

     The Lands, from Pittsboro, Ind., near Indianapolis, were PC(USA) mission workers in Haiti from 1990 to 2000, serving in Christianville, not far from Léogâne. They worked with the Babes during their previous experience in Haiti.

     In their new assignment the Lands will work with local residents, primarily cash crop farms, to facilitate long-term education, health, and agricultural development programs.

     The Babes bring to their teaching duties 15 years of development work in Haiti. They recently spent several months in the United States engaged in postgraduate study at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro.