Interview with Keith Stiles about the tragedy in Haiti

Special interview with Keith Stiles about the tragedy in Haiti

In a special email interview with Christian Telegraph Keith Stiles, deployment manager of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team told of his own experience in Haiti. Keith landed in Haiti less than 24 hours after the earthquake, and he was there for about a week. Billy Graham Rapid Response Team continues to have chaplains on the ground in Haiti and plans to increase their rotations of chaplains into the country as the infrastructure there stabilizes. Below is full text of the interview:

What was the first thing that impressed you most when you arrived to Haiti? Was it difficult to adjust?

When we arrived less than 24 hours after the earthquake, we saw bodies laying in the streets and thousands upon thousands of people walking and standing in the streets, parking lots and parks. Although I was a foreigner, I didn’t feel the least bit threatened by the crowds. I saw desperation and a need that people had for direction and help, but there was always displayed a respectfulness and they were just looking for guidance and hope. I didn’t see any anger or violence. The Haitians live in poverty and despair, and that’s their version of normal. When this tragedy hit, their resiliency – which they’ve acquired over years of hardship – seemed to take over and they are not defeated by this. They know that someway somehow they’re going to make it through this struggle.

What did you think about? What was your first thought?

My first thought was, “How was this ever going to be fixed?” Miles of destruction, tons of concrete… There were hundreds of thousands of people roaming the streets displaced, not having a home or knowing where to go for help. I couldn’t grasp how this could ever be healed or fixed, let alone brought to where it was the day before the earthquake.

As we made our way to the hospital through the city of Port-au-Prince, there was block after block of destruction; buildings that were crumbled. The people who picked us up were telling us that this pile of rubble was a six-story apartment building, and that pile of rubble was the Haiti Administration building, where every piece of official paper in Haiti is processed. We saw the UN compound, which was destroyed by the earthquake. The presidential palace, luxury hotels, all of these huge structures had fallen in on themselves, and there was no search and rescue mission. It’s something that is hard to explain in America - that you would have a tragedy, and yet have no official aid response because those people were also victims of the earthquake.

Interview with Keith Stiles about the tragedy in Haiti

How do people react to the help they receive? Are they opened to the Gospel?

I think so many of the people are accustomed to not getting any attention and to not receiving any help, that just the smallest gesture is met with gratefulness. Spending time listening to their story, sharing with them the love and hope of Jesus Christ, giving them a tarp so they can find four sticks and have shelter… they are so appreciative.

I’m reminded of one family that was so thankful because the chaplains managed to acquire a board and straps that they were able to use to carry their deceased 11-year-old’s body back home from the hospital. In our mind it’s hard to be grateful for something as simple as that, but they were.

In my experience, people were very interested in talking about Jesus. They were very much interested in His love and His compassion.

Do people blame God for this tragedy or turn to Him and His help?

I saw not anger, but disappointment, in tragedy. I never was faced with someone who was shouting, “I’m so angry at God! How can I pray?” There were questions about, “Why has this happened to us?” but I never witnessed anger or shouting at God. They’re still very respectful and they wanted answers, but underneath all of that there’s a profound love for the Lord there.

Interview with Keith Stiles about the tragedy in Haiti

What helps relief workers to stay calm and help people in the atmosphere of tragedy and despair?

We were very careful to start every day with Bible reading and prayer. We took breaks in the middle of the day to refresh ourselves physically, as well as emotionally and spiritually. And then we would meet in the evening and share the stories of the day and the things we experienced, including some of the horrific situations that we observed. We made sure we talked about that in detail at night. The more you talk about it the more the burden is lifted from you.

How can other Christians help? What are the most desperate needs of those who suffered from the tragedy?

What comes to mind immediately is prayer. Pray for the situation in Haiti, for the Haitian people, and for the relief workers. The relief organizations that are trying to help Haiti could use financial support as well, of course.

One big problem I saw was that there is a tremendous amount of help being offered, but the funnel is so small and the infrastructure is so fragile that it’s going to take a long time for the relief to reach the people. Food, water and fuel are all in very short supply. The infrastructure has been broken. They’re beginning from the ground and trying to build an infrastructure for all the relief organizations there, and they’re trying to meet the basic needs of well over half-a-million people. How do you get the water to them? How do you get food to them? How do you meet their sanitary needs? That’s something that doesn’t happen in a day, a week, or even a month.

Interview with Keith Stiles about the tragedy in Haiti

You might have heard that in his 700 Club program Mr. Pat Robertson suggested that the earthquake in Haiti was a consequence of a pact, which Haitian leaders may have made with Satan 200 years ago. Do you think it could be true? What do local Christians and churches do to help?

I don’t get into what Pat Robertson said, but I can tell you what I saw from one key ministry on the ground. We are working with Baptist Haiti Mission, which is a 100-bed hospital and a large church compound – including a school – just outside of Port-au-Prince. They had 350 patients in that 100-bed hospital, and there was no more floor space because there were people lying everywhere. Their one doctor was working tirelessly when I arrived. After a couple days, Samaritan’s Purse was able to bring in six more doctors, and 24 hours after that they were up to 20 doctors. They’ve been going non-stop, meeting the needs of the most critically injured.

The family that runs Baptist Haiti Mission is doing whatever it can to help. The music teacher has been serving as an emergency room nurse since the earthquake. The pastor of education has become a logistical officer. The man in charge of maintenance is now running transportation for Samaritan’s Purse. The pastor’s wife had the responsibility of removing bodies from the morgue to make room for new bodies, so Rapid Response Team chaplains assisted her in the solemn role of burying unidentified victims. These are just good Christians trying to do whatever they can to help those who needed it most.

Baptist Haiti Mission is associated with 350 churches and it hadn’t been able to go through its rolls to see how many pastors are still alive and how many churches are still standing, because they’ve been enveloped by the pain, suffering, injuries and death in their own area. A huge hospital in Port-au-Prince collapsed, so Baptist Haiti Mission is taking in people form the entire region.

Has your personal experience in dealing with the aftermath of the quake made you to revaluate your own life? What would say to other people who have never experienced anything like this?

It helps me to refocus my life from an eternal perspective and to put much less emphasis on things of this world.

Our translator, a young man named Johnny, helped us as we had to tell parents that their 18-year-old son would die. The dad had just walked 10 miles to get medicine for his son because they didn’t have that type of medicine at the hospital, and by the time he got back his son had gone into a coma. The medicine he had walked so far to buy – and which cost him 60 Haitian dollars, which is approximately one month’s pay – was useless. By the time he got back, his son was staring blankly at the ceiling, and he wouldn’t live through the night.

What we found out from the parents was that their son was a Sunday school teacher, who knew Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Johnny helped us as we discussed that it’s up to the Lord when the young man would go to Heaven, but one thing we know for sure is that he is going to Heaven. In the scope of eternity it will just be a moment before we are all back together again.

Johnny did a beautiful job talking to the parents, and praying for them. Following that, we asked him, “How did you learn to pray so beautifully?” He responded that he loves Jesus so much that it just comes naturally. Here’s a young man who was dropped off at the compound as a young child. He has no memory of his parents. In terms of earthly wealth he has nothing. He simply believes that the Lord is going to take care of him. His faith is amazing.

We asked him if we could pray for him, knowing that he lost friends in the earthquake and was dealing with a lot of death and injuries to people who were close to him. He told us, “I’m overwhelmed that you would pray for me. Please pray that I would be faithful to God every day of my life here on earth.” Johnny leads a life of poverty and is surrounded by pain, misery and death, yet his heart’s desire is to be faithful to God every day he is on earth.

A statement like that stays with you a lifetime and it helps you to reassess where you are with your life in the Lord and how much you trust in Him. It was an overwhelming moment; the moment I’ll remember in Haiti, and the reason I want to go back. Very rarely do you have a moment like that in the course of normal life as we know it.

Interview with Keith Stiles about the tragedy in Haiti

What is the atmosphere in the city of Port-au-Prince? Do people have any hope for the brighter future?

In Port-au-Prince, things aren’t as bad today as they were yesterday, and tomorrow will be better than today. The struggle won’t be over this week or next week or next month, but it will continue to get better each and every day. The people of Haiti have a resilience forged through a lifetime of hardships, and I have no doubt that with each passing day they will continue to move forward.

Have you heard of any testimonies or miracles during the tragedy or afterwards? Has anyone of the local people shared their own story with you? If yes, could you, please, share?

Here are a couple of the stories that we’ve received from the first days following the earthquake:

** Recently, one of the RRT chaplains approached Louimane, age 59 and her 22-year-old daughter, Rose, at Louimane's hospital bed. The lower portion of Louimane's left leg was broken from debris falling on her during the earthquake, and she now has a cast with large pins sticking out of her leg. To make matters worse, her home was destroyed. When the chaplain asked if either had ever invited Jesus Christ into their heart to be their Lord and Savior, Rose responded, "No, but I've been waiting for this, and I want to!” With no hesitation, her mother also said that she never had invited Christ into her heart, and that she too was ready! The two women listened to the pamphlet “Steps to Peace with God” and both easily prayed to receive Christ! After a few more words of encouragement and promises from God's Word, the chaplain presented each of them with a Bible in Creole for them to keep. Within a half hour of the chaplain’s visit, Louimane was discharged from the hospital in order to make room for incoming patients. As like many others in Haiti, having no home to return to, Layman and Rose began looking for a place to sleep outside. They left the hospital, however, knowing they have a heavenly home, and with joyful hearts full of thankfulness for Christ's presence in their lives!

** Vanessa, age 21, has been in the Baptist Mission hospital for 8 days since the earthquake destroyed her home. She has severe skin wounds from the cement walls crashing down on top of her. Since then, her wounds have festered and blistered and she is in a lot of pain. Her heart is also hurting because while she was pulled out of the rubble, her 11-month-old baby was killed as well as her aunt and her eight-year-old brother. A BGEA RRT chaplain has visited with Vanessa at her bedside to pray for her a couple of times. Vanessa was in so much pain on the first visit that the chaplain's prayer was only that God would relieve her pain. Vanessa was a little better a few days later, and she greeted the chaplain with a gentle smile. Vanessa had been praying a lot, but she had not yet prayed to receive Christ. Through a translator's voice, the chaplain read the pamphlet 'Steps to Peace with God', and Vanessa prayed to invite Jesus into her heart! Despite the pain, Vanessa looked at the chaplain with a peaceful face and said, "Merci" ("thank you" in Creole). The Chaplain will be stopping to see Vanessa again as the BGEA Chaplains make their rounds through the hospital.

** The hospital at the Baptist Haiti Mission has been the major area of ministry for the RRT chaplains since they arrived last Wed. There they met Watson, who is a 21-year-old patient. He has been laying on a mat on the concrete floor of the hospital for five days now. Watson told one of the chaplains how he had just arrived at his parents' door when the earthquake occurred. He said that he was knocked onto the ground and the front wall of the home crashed down onto him. He was pretty scraped up, and his right leg was broken. He is now on the list of 60+ operations scheduled for this week alone, to be performed by missionary doctors flown in by Samaritan's Purse. Although Watson knows quite a bit of Scripture, he had not prayed to invite Christ into his heart. He listened intently as the chaplain, through a Haitian interpreter, read ”Steps to Peace with God,” and Watson prayed to invite Jesus to be his Lord and Savior! The chaplains have seen and prayed with Watson quite a few times since then, and each time he becomes more dear to them. Yesterday Watson wanted to know what country they came from, and he said that he would like to someday visit them there! He also told them that he is in a lot of pain, but with a big smile he praised God for the gift of hope he has been given through Christ! In his own broken English, Watson said "Glory to God!" The chaplains look forward to hearing soon of Watson's operation and to seeing him get up off his mat on the floor. (Note: Since this was written, Watson underwent successful surgery and is now back home. He is in regular communication with the chaplains, and even wants to come to the US to visit them some day.)

Note: We would like to express our gratitude to Erik Ogren from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for helping to organize this interview.

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TAGS: Haiti Haiti earthquake Keith Stiles email interview Billy Graham Rapid Response Team Pat Robertson Baptist Haiti Mission Samaritan’s Purse

[02/05/2010]

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