Lansing United Methodist Church

"The Haiti Connection" is the byline for the articles on Haiti that appear in the LUMC newsletter, The Sunbeam. This name has been in use, with this logo, for many years, and for a long time it signified the connection between the Lansing Church and mission work at La Providence School, initially in Deschapelles.  Since that initial connection with Haiti, the school has moved to Verrettes and LUMC's involvement has grown to include sponsoring another school and an agricultural program at Banique. Other Methodist churches and Baptist churches in the upstate New York area are also very involved in the Haiti Connection and our mission work in that country.

The Agricultural Program at Banique
The Haiti Committee of the Lansing United Methodist Church is overseeing an agriculture project in Banique, a small village in Haiti.

The project has two purposes.  The first is to address the desperate need for reforestation after the hurricanes that ravaged Haiti in September 2008.  The island’s naked hillsides and landscapes allowed mud to fill the streets and wash away many homes.  Our second purpose is to make agriculture a part of the curriculum in the Haitian primary schools.  There is a whole generation of Haitians that have never seen their landscape covered with trees, and they do not understand the concept of using trees and vegetation to prevent erosion.  As a result, last year we initiated and funded a pilot agriculture project, with hopes that it will be successful and incorporated in other schools and communities around Haiti.

In our first year, a tree nursery was built on school grounds and 20,000 tree seeds were planted in tree plastic bags.  This was all done by a Haitian agronomist, his helper, and students at the school.  The seeds were planted in March, and when a team checked on the progress in July, the trees were close to a foot tall.  The trees were then distributed to anyone in the village who had attended a class on how to plant and care for tree seedlings.  The lines were long, and 8,000 trees were handed out.  The remaining trees were planted on a nearby naked hillside that was located near many of the vegetable gardens.  Erosion from this hill has washed away many of these gardens and left the village hungry.

In September, when the trees were all planted and were growing by leaps and bounds, the agronomist put together some lesson plans and taught agriculture one day a week in primary school.  We were able to sit in one of his classes and found the students engaged and the lessons informative.

Because we feel that our first year was so successful, we have decided to continue this program for another year.  The ag project will need continued financial support, and so we appreciate any contributions, large or small.  The Haiti Committee anticipates great progress in this relatively new direction and effort.

We’re convinced that the best way to help the Haitians is to educate and inspire them with the know-how to help themselves!

If you would like to contribute to this worthy mission, donations to the project can be made by sending a check made out to Lansing United Methodist Church - Haiti to the church at the address below:

The Haiti Committee at LUMC meets monthly. The members are from Lansing and some of the other churches, and more are always welcome. The committee governs the work done at La Providence and Banique, and receives reports about Mitspa, another small school in Verrettes sponsored by other churches in our area. News of the various schools and work is shared with all congregations, giving everyone a broader view.