Ohioan back on mission in Haiti

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

An Ohio man whose video camera caught the Haitian earthquake’s first damaging jolts at an orphanage is making his first return mission to the island nation.

Rick Hursh of suburban Cincinnati was recording his son Matt playing with children at the HOPE Center near Port-au-Prince during a church mission trip when the Jan. 12 earthquake hit.

Hursh’s video, replayed by media outlets around the world, showed floors starting to shake and debris falling from the ceiling.

All 20 Haitian girls at the orphanage, the staff and missionaries, escaped without serious injury. The center was heavily damaged in the quake.

On Saturday, Hursh, 47, and nine other area residents left for Haiti where they’ll help to construct a new orphanage at the center, which is administered by the Muncie, Ind.-based Christian Service International-CSI Ministries.

“We are not going to let an earthquake get in the way of our mission,” Hursh said in an interview Friday.

Hursh and six fellow teammates from the United Methodist Church were in Haiti during the earthquake. This is Hursh’s fourth year as part of a CSI-associated team.

“I know it will be a little emotional at first, but I think we will soon get back to the swing of things,” Hursh said. “We’ve always fought against barriers in Haiti, and the earthquake is just another barrier.”

Mission team leader Barb Sailer said they had no qualms about returning.

A couple of people have struggled with some events they witnessed, “but nobody is afraid to go back,” said Sailer, 68, of Mason.

The team returns home in about a week.