SHARON Mission to Haiti leaves impression on local official

Those on the trip said they were moved by the spirit and love of the Haitians.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- Overwhelming poverty, armed police officers in the shops and violence in the streets are images of Haiti that Robin Novak carried home after spending a week in the island nation.
But something else, she said, impressed her more: the indomitable spirit and love of the Haitian people and the work being done by Akron evangelist Judy Carter.
Novak, chief clerk for Sharon, was one of four area women who joined Carter to take physical amenities, medical help and spiritual support to the church and school that Carter has built in Leo-Gane through her ministry, The Voice of Faith Outreach.
The ministry also helps support an orphanage in Leo-Gane.
"It was something I always wanted to do at least once in my life," said Novak, who has known Carter for years, having attended some of her tent meetings in the West Middlesex area while still in high school.
Became an evangelist: Carter, a social worker, quit to become an evangelist in 1967. She traveled around the country with a gospel tent for 12 years before locating her ministry in Akron.
Her evangelism took her to Russia, Jamaica and St. Croix before she felt God leading her to Haiti. She made her first trip there in 1973 and has been back more than 30 times.
She asked Novak numerous times to go, and this year, Novak arranged the time.
The group took its own food and water and flew into Port-au-Prince before boarding four-wheel-drive vehicles for the 27-mile trip over dirt roads to the small town of Leo-Gane on the edge of the jungle.
"It was truly a lifetime experience and adventure," Novak said.
Others' reactions: Others on the trip were also affected.
"It has affected my life. I'll never be the same," said Marka Peeples of Warren, an ordained elder at Greater Progressive Church of God In Christ and an evangelist.
Peeples said she couldn't sleep for two days after coming back and has vowed to support the Haitian ministry.
"There's no way to see that and come back and feel the same," she said. "I'm definitely planning on going again."
"I prayed about it, and I just felt I wanted to go down and show God's love to people," said Darlene Yeager of Howland Township, secretary/treasurer and praise and worship leader at Jesus Is the Way Ministries in Liberty.
The Rev. Barbara Dobranchin, her church pastor, was the fifth member of the Haitian team.
"It was wonderful," the Rev. Mrs. Dobranchin said. "Our hearts were really touched by the people."
She has agreed to have her church take over funding support for a Leo-Gane orphanage that was about to close.
"We're going to do what we can there," she vowed, noting she has arranged contacts for a return trip.
"We want to build another church there," Mrs. Dobranchin said, adding she is also thinking about starting a school and building low-cost houses there.
"I can't wait to go back," Yeager said. "These people made an impact on us. We just connected with them, even despite the turmoil."
Violence broke out: The turmoil was a flare-up of hostilities between supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and opposition leaders while Carter's team was there. Eight people were wounded in shootings, and a child was killed by a piece of concrete thrown through a car window.
There were times when the team couldn't leave its hotel because of violence, Novak said, adding that in trips to a pharmacy and other shops they always encountered heavily armed police officers in the streets and in stores.
Yet the Haitians braved the turmoil to visit the team at its hotel each morning for Bible study, she said.
"I would go back again, definitely," Novak said, noting she assisted Carter in distributing Bibles, food and clothing and visiting churches.
"You really can't appreciate her work until you are there and you see it," Novak said.
Providing support: About 200 Haitians attend the church Carter built in Haiti, and her ministry provides support for 40 people a month.
Carter's ministry also supports children in Chernobyl and helps the homeless in the Akron area.
Most American entrepreneurs have left Haiti, leaving the country of 8 million people divided between the rich and the extremely poor. There is no middle class, she said.
She plans to continue her ministry there "until the Lord takes me home."
"This is what God laid on my heart. You have to have faith and persevere," she said.
Contributions to her interdenominational ministry may be made through The Voice of Faith Outreach, 933 Burbank Ave., Akron, Ohio 44305.