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Dee Yoder
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Haiti Mission Trip
When William Keim’s friend,
Leonard Dolce, called to ask
if he would be willing to
come with him to Haiti, Wil-
liam agreed. Leonard had
been working with a man in
Haiti who had a desire to
help the Haitians. Over the
years, this man had built a
center for children who were
HIV positive to have safe
medical care. There were
roofs that needed built on
two churches (one church
structure took 30 years to
finish!) and a school. The
group that finally went to
help totaled 9 men and 2
women. With donations,
they had materials to build
with and were set to go. The
group spent 8 days in Haiti.
According to William, it was
a trip he will never forget.
Rudy Yoder and Levi Shetler
were among those who went
along. The first night, their
plane landed in Port au
Prince, a city teeming with 3-
4 million people! “There
were people everywhere”, he
said. The group made their
way to an area away from the
city and began their work.
William admits he struggled
with some of the we-don’t-
want-to-change attitudes he
encountered, and felt this
verse in Philippians 4:4
helped him overcome his
feelings:
Rejoice in the Lord,
always: and again, I say Rejoice.
One thing he noticed was
the enthusiastic worship at
the church service they at-
tended on Sunday morning.
“There were tears in my eyes
during worship.” Haiti was
definitely a culture shock:
with people bathing in
creeks, using the bathroom
where they could, and doing
laundry in water they used
for other things, too. He said
he “shut my eyes” and ate
whatever was put in front of
him. “Our main meal was
rice!” They drank only bot-
tled water for fear of con-
tracting diseases from the
contaminated water. They
managed to build three roofs
in the short time they were
there. And one day, they
even got to take a much
needed break at a clean
beach. Haiti has a population
where 80% of the people
have AIDS. Though the
group was happy to help,
they were very glad to be
back in the U.S. again, too!