Westminster Mission Fellow in Haiti
Diane Morris
daybreak. Kristin’s family lives in Milton, Georgia, north of Atlanta and she and her dog, Hazel, “jump” at the chance to get going. Pete and family lived in Windsor, England, and my granddaughter, Caroline, insisted I walk her to school in the Windsor Castle when we visited. I would get lost on my way back each day. They now live in Brussels, Belgium, and I look forward to future walks there. Jeff and family lived in Vancouver, Washington, and now live in Simpsonville, South Carolina, not far from Clemson University where Jeff went to college and played baseball. During those years, we travelled around for many of his games and I walked on the many beautiful college campuses throughout the country. Karen’s family lives in Upper St. Clair and we are so lucky to be able to hike the trails at Boyce Mayview Park and Gilfillan Park. I enjoy walking at the Upper St. Clair High School track. If the weather is bad, I walk inside at our beautiful Community & Recreation Center. Walking with friends is always special. I’ve enjoyed my walks with Willie and Lily in Hawaii, Bob and Bebe in Kiawah, and John and Verneta in the Bahamas, plus our annual weekends away at Seven Springs. And for 30 years, I have especially enjoyed walking with my friends at the high school track: Donna, Ralph, and Tom, and for so many years while Bob climbed the stairs. For 27 years I walked in rain, snow, heat, and cold. But now, I check the outside conditions, and if they are not good I head to the C&RC. I firmly believe that my walks over the years have kept me strong and active. If I continue to walk for 30 more I’ll be 99, and that’s not a bad goal in life to have! n Diane Morris serves on the Parks and Recreation Board for the Township of Upper St. Clair and lifeguards at the C&RC.
Having traveled to some of the rougher parts of the world, including Kenya, Ecuador, Swaziland, and a semester abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, Ray Van Cleve went to Haiti in January with no specific expectations. He had seen abject poverty previously and figured the poverty in Haiti would be similar to that which he saw in Africa and South America. Fortunately, Ray was wrong, and was so moved at the La Croix New Testament Mission in Haiti and the people there, that he promised Pastor Vaugelas Pierre, the head of the mission, that he would find a way to come back. He met with Jim Gilchrist, senior pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church, and together with Pastor Pierre they helped Ray keep his promise. On the morning of September 25, Ray arrived in Port Au Prince, Haiti, and began a nine-month project helping the La Croix New Testament Mission build a technical school. Ray returned on the condition that he would be serving the mission in Haiti, performing a service they really needed. For some time, Pastor Pierre had wanted to establish a technical school that could train plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and other tradesmen. Not being an expert on the trades, but having quite a bit of experience managing projects, Ray was believed to be the perfect person to push this project through to completion. Westminster has a long history of supporting Pastor Pierre’s work in Haiti; in adFor the past 16 years, Ray Van Cleve has dition to establishing the technical school, Ray attended Westminster Presbyterian Church. hopes he can build on that relationship. He is a 2007 graduate of Upper St. Clair Pastor Pierre started in La Croix with just High School. a Bible and a vision. The first school he built was a preschool, and he continued to expand his mission to meet the needs of the community. Today, he has multiple schools that serve 3500 children from preschool to high school, as well as a grain refinery, a housing project, multiple clinics, and a Sunday church service. Pierre has a very good measure on the needs of the surrounding community and feels that a technical school would be an asset to the community. One of the major issues Haiti faces is failing infrastructure. In rural areas like La Croix there is very little potable drinking water, forcing many people to drink from unclean streams and rivers. Many buildings and houses are falling apart without any durable repairs able to be made. Many of these issues persist because there are few with T h e m i s s i o n f e l l o w p ro j e c t a t adequate training who can fix these problems. Westminster Presbyterian Church has three purposes: (1) to provide valuable Another issue, given the hard economic times personnel support, for up to one year, in the country, is that some of the high school to one of Westminster’s mission partner graduates struggle to find consistent employ- agencies in the U.S. or abroad; (2) to ment. This new school will help to address enable one Westminster member per year both needs. The graduates will have enough to explore mission service as a possible work to give them viable employment, and the vocation; and (3) to encourage other work they do will improve the living standards Westminster members to become involved in mission service as a result of the misin the community. Ray hopes he can return home in June 2013 sion fellow’s experience and testimony. Ray Van Cleve is the first Westminster having completed the school, but also hopes mission fellow. that this trip can strengthen the relationship between the La Croix Mission and Westminster. Resources: Not everyone can go to Haiti, but with the La Croix Haiti New Testament Mission: strong ties between Westminster and the La www.lacroixhaitimission.org Croix mission, this school will hopefully give Westminster Presbyterian Church: those in the community an opportunity to get www.westminster-church.org involved with the mission work by sponsoring Ray Van Cleve’s Travel Blog: rayvc.tumblr.com students and supporting the school financially. n Winter 2012
UPPER ST. CLAIR TODAY
23