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Springboro grad part of effort  to help earthquake-ravaged Haiti

Contributed photo Springboro 2009 graduate Kelsey Skaggs with one of the orphans in Gressier, Haiti.

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10:53 AM Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Fallon, 9, lost all of her family in the Haitian earthquake. For several weeks afterward, she lived in a graveyard tomb to feel secure. She is just one of the many children supported by the Haitian Mission Par La Foi, an orphanage in Gressier. Kelsey Skaggs, a 2009 Springboro graduate, met the girl on her recent mission trip to the earthquake-torn country from June 25 to July 11.

Many relief efforts have poured into Port-au-Prince since the earthquake on Jan. 12. Six months later, more than 1.5 million people are forced to live in makeshift camps, many of them orphans. Gressier is just one of many smaller towns that is in desperate need of assistance. It lies 30 miles west of the Haitian capital.

Co-leaders on the trip were Kyle Bateman, a 2008 Miami University graduate, and Oxford resident Andrew Lynn. Skaggs met them through The Oaks Community Church in Middletown. Bateman and Lynn had gone to Haiti at the end of January. On a bus trip back to Santa Da Mingo, they met Marlene Berthelot, co-founder of Mission Par La Foi. They learned that the orphanage had been completely destroyed in the quake, killing a 7-year-old boy.

Others in the group included Miami University students Daniel Lukac and Krista Mollette, and Stephanie Amrhein of Brookville, Ind. While there, they partnered with a group from Hope Worldwide, led by Katty Velez of New Jersey.

“Our days were spent having daily devotions with the kids, and starting classes at 9 a.m. for a couple of hours,” said Skaggs, who raised money for her trip with donations from members of Springboro Baptist Church.

“We spent the rest of the day serving meals, cleaning, and distributing food, clothing and medical supplies.”

Skaggs had to sleep on rocks the first couple of nights and was severely bitten by fire ants. In addition, she contracted both head lice and an eye infection from two of the children. She had to wait two days for transportation to a clinic.

“In Haiti, they don’t have nearby access to soap and water or medicines. One day, we had soap and water and a new set of clothes for the children, and had doctors come and give them a checkup,” said Skaggs.

There were about 25 orphans, ages 2 to 15. They are staying in a one-room home until the orphanage is rebuilt. Other adults slept in tents nearby. Skaggs said their mission group also helped as many as 70 kids from the town of Gressier.

By pooling their leftover donations at the end of their stay, the group was able to buy a U-Haul truck for the orphanage.

“We felt this trip was necessary because so many organizations are trying to partner with the Haitian government,” said Bateman. “At this point, the only way Haiti is going to be sufficiently restored and become a stable country is if it is built from the bottom up by smaller relief groups.”

Contact this columnist at (937) 748-3487 or PamDillon@woh.rr.com.

HEREABOUTS pamela dillon

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