27086: Wharram (news) Sheridan trio travel to Haiti to help the needy (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Tuesday, January 03, 2006
The Daily News
Serving Greenville, Belding and Montcalm County, Michigan since 1854.

Sheridan trio travel to Haiti to help the needy

Hannah Fales, left, Lyle Fales, center, and Hannah?s father, Jerry Snyder,
right, returned from a missionary trip to Haiti in November. In the rear is
Lyle and Hannah?s adopted daughter, Phebe. - Daily News/Joe Veselenak
By Lynne Welder - Daily News correspondent

Beside a rugged mountain trail, a Haitian mother holds her hungry baby out
to a passing truck, pleading for the white missionaries inside to take him,
to give him a better chance at survival. The trail leads to a remote village
eight miles up the mountain from the city of Petit Grave, population 50,000.
This mother?s plight is not unusual in Haiti, the poorest country in the
Western Hemisphere, where 85 percent of the babies die before they are 2.

SHERIDAN ? Christmas lights shine and there is a warm fire in the fireplace
at Lyle and Hannah Fales? pleasant home just east of Sheridan.

The Fales and Hannah?s father, Jerry Snyder of Sheridan, recall with passion
the day referred to above, and many others like it, during their most recent
trip to Haiti, to help missionaries Terry and Connie Anderson.

Looking over a map of Haiti, they tell about their eight-day journey in
November working with Word for the World Baptist Ministries. Snyder is a
full-time missionary with the organization, which is based in Rossville, Ga.

Jeff Vandenberg of Fenwick, Julie VanDusen of Fife Lake, Marc Walker of
Cedar Springs and Craig Whitney of the Sheridan area went with them.
VanDusen is still there and plans to stay another six months.

Lyle Fales, Snyder?s son-in-law, works as a counselor at the Carson City
Correctional Facility. Hannah just left her job at the prison to stay at
home with their children, daughter Phebe and son Abner.

This was Hannah?s eighth trip to Haiti. The first was with her father back
in 1992. In 1994, she adopted the couple?s Haitian daughter, Phebe, now 12.

Dangerous country

Snyder and his wife, Susan, have adopted four Haitian sons into their family
and have helped with at least 20 other adoptions.

When recent headlines like the one last month, ?Michigan Missionary Shot,?
shout about the dangers of life in Haiti, why would missionaries continue
risking their lives in such a chaotic place, where the rule of law is only a
wish? (See accompanying story about an area man?s abduction.)

Just being white can be dangerous in Haiti. In fact, on a recent trip Snyder
was riding in a taxicab with a Haitian child he was bringing back to the
United States when the cab was shot at. They escaped injury on that
occasion.

As safe as Miami

The three say their love for the Haitian people keeps calling them back.

For Snyder, it all began when he was a pastor in Wisconsin. Snyder accepted
an invitation from a missionary from Haiti to visit the country. He now has
worked with Word for the World for 12 years, traveling to Haiti to preach,
build churches and care for the abandoned and orphaned children staying in
the missionaries? home.

When here at home, he coordinates work teams that often spend weeks at a
time working with the missionaries to improve the lives of Haitians.

?I believe the Lord has called us to do this,? Snyder said. ?We feel just as
safe as we would be in Miami. Besides, when you get Haitian sand in your
shoes you always want to go back.?

However, Hannah said it wouldn?t be true to say she?s never afraid. Each
time the three prepare to leave Haiti, she has a moment of fear that they
may not be able to get out safely.

She said when they finally reach Miami, that ?welcome home? from customs
officials sounds good.

?Being in Haiti makes me appreciate the rule of law that we take for granted
in the United States,? Hannah said.

Malnutrition, disease

Along with increased violence and crime since the ouster of former president
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the common people suffer from poverty and economic
instability.

Furthermore, as Lyle said, ?If malnutrition doesn?t get them, disease will.?

?I think about how much these people have to suffer just to make it through
the day,? Hannah said. ?They carry their produce eight miles down the
mountain to sell in the city and then walk the eight miles home again. Often
a new mother will leave a week-old child alone all day after nursing early
in the morning. Then she feeds the baby late at night when she returns.

?Older children and mothers may walk a mile or more to a pond or pump to get
water,? she explained.

Furthermore, although 80 percent of the Haitian people are Roman Catholic,
nearly half the population practices voodoo. The Fales and Snyder have seen
firsthand the fear and death caused by voodoo spells and rituals. Vulnerable
babies and children often pay the price of these practices with their lives.

Brush with death

During this trip, some people brought a 15-day old baby girl named Marcha to
the Andersons? home.

She was almost entirely yellow with jaundice. The doctors and hospital had
told the people to go home, that the baby soon would be dead.

The missionaries were their last resort.

After seeing her serious condition, Hannah recalled, they decided to take
the baby down the mountain to Petit Grave. However, a heavy rain the night
before had made the mountain trail impassable. So they paid some Haitians to
clear the road, which took a few hours.

Finally they were able to begin the trip, but halfway down the mountain
Marcha died.

They brought her back and prepared her for burial. Just a few people came to
the funeral. The Andersons were now afraid that they would be killed because
the baby had died.

But just the opposite happened. Word spread of their efforts to save the
child. People began coming to the Andersons? home with small gifts of
appreciation. Moreover, two separate groups from up the mountain have since
come to them asking them to build a church in their village.

These may be the next projects when work teams return to Haiti, probably in
February or March.

?Haiti needs a good leader?

Will conditions ever improve in Haiti?

The Andersons and another missionary family Snyder has worked with over the
years, Fred and Joyce Wall who reside permanently in Haiti, were asked that
question recently. They answered that each year they can?t see how things
can get any worse, and yet they do.

But there is always hope.

?Haiti needs a good leader,? Hannah said. ?Maybe it will be one of the
children that we have helped in Haiti or have adopted to the United States
who will one day return to help their country.

?The people are beautiful,? she said. ?They are not lazy. They want to work
but there is no work. They are a needy people and we love them.?

Correspondent Lynne Welder is a Sidney-area resident.





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