In 2010 the country of Haiti experienced one of the worst natural disasters of our time—a 7.0 magnitude earthquake resulting in 222,000 casualties and $7.8 billion in damage.
On the anniversary of the earthquake, Missions Door missionary Francklin Alexis reflects on the disaster, progress and hope that’s ahead.
Five Years After the Storm
As it was with my own childhood in Haiti, I knew my students were growing up without parents but not without struggles. January 12 was just another day to save my students from life’s cruelties. Little did I know how cruel life would become.
The students were taking a test when the floor began to shake violently. Books crashed to the ground and screams filled the building.
I ran out into the hallway to discover that, miraculously, the staircase to the ground floor was still intact.
We ran for our lives. Moments after my last student fled the building, it collapsed into a mountain of concrete.
The students asked, “Why are we still alive?” All logic said we should have been killed. “But God is good and has saved us,” I told them.
As evening cast shadows on the heaps of smoke and rubble that were once Petit-Goâve, 30 of those survivors accepted Christ.
The destroyed city surrounding us reflected our initial relief work—dark and daunting. We spent day and night rescuing Haitians from collapsed buildings and nursing them back to health.
During this time, every dollar that came from Missions Door went directly to medical care, food, water, shelter and serving those we love.
Teams from Missions Door were the hands that helped to restore the community, rebuild schools and homes, deploy mobile medical clinics and open a hospital—our way of connecting the people of Haiti with critical resources.
Today there is life and light. There is promise and progress. But there is still so much to do.
It has been nearly five years since the earthquake shook Haiti. I have the same vision for Petit-Goâve as I did before January 12—to create a community and a refuge and a home for the hurting. The work is not over, but I still believe in Haiti finding hope.
—Pastor Francklin Alexis, Missions Door Missionary in Haiti
Our commitment in 2010 to serve Haiti is not over as we rebuild the Ministry Center in Petit-Goâve, provide education for children, sponsor pastors and more. And through the generosity of donors like you, we can continue to connect donors and missionaries with opportunities in Haiti and around the world.
