| Mission leader urges nations to address vicious cycle of poverty in Haiti By Elliott WrightGeneral Board of Global Ministries  The top mission executive of The United Methodist Church has called upon the United States and other countries to address the poverty and other causes that keep Haiti in a vicious cycle of poverty.
The Rev. R. Randy Day, general secretary of the General Board of Global Ministries, criticized the slowness of the international community to intercede in armed conflict in the island nation during February. The clash resulted in the resignation and departure of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Feb. 28. Day described as morally abhorrent the policy of the United States in turning back Haitian refugees seeking safety in a time of war. He called upon United Methodists to join his agency in working with the people of Haiti in establishing a just and lasting peace. The General Board of Global Ministries and its related United Methodist Committee on Relief have numerous church development and humanitarian programs in Haiti. More than 700 United Methodists from the United States go to Haiti each year as parts of mission volunteer teams or as individual service volunteers. In the last three weeks, innocent children, youth, and adults have been killed and maimed and democracy (in Haiti) has been mortally wounded by the clash of government and anti-government forces, Day said. The tardy response of the United States and other countries has increased the hemorrhaging. On March 2, officials of Action by Churches Together, an ecumenical relief coalition, reported that Haiti was starting to settle down. It also said that the full extent of the humanitarian situation was not clear as a result of security factors. A peacekeeping force made up of American, French, and Canadian troops was expected in the near future. Day said that Haiti seems to be a nation disregarded by the United States and other nations. The mission leader sharply criticized a long-standing U.S. policy of refusing to admit Haitian refugees fleeing from warfare. The U.S. action, in effect, he said, returns to the battleground persons attempting to gain safety. I find this policy a violation of international understandings on the right of protective security; I find it morally abhorrent. Day protested the U.S.s Haitian refugee policy during the two Administrations preceding the current one in Washington. He said he would continue to criticize the policy as long as it exists. The United Methodist international mission agency works closely with the Methodist Church of Haiti in a wide range of educational, medical, nutritional, and church development programs. Many of the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission teams help to build churches and parsonages as well as schools and clinics. The School Hot Lunch Program, supported by the Advance for Christ and His Church, provides meals at 93 schools, mostly in rural areas. It reaches 16,877 youngsters. The program is so important to the health and nutrition of children that it is continued in the summer through Vacation Bible Schools. The hot lunch ministry needs some $480,000 per year but only $223,815 was raised in 2003, meaning that it must be cut back in the months ahead. Among the most generous supporters of the Hot Lunch Program is the Haiti Task Force of the Detroit and West Michigan Conferences. The Advance also provides support to several schools, medical clinics and sanitation efforts in Haiti. Doctors, dentists and nurses are among the United Methodist volunteers to go to Haiti on a regular basis to minister among the poor and in hard to reach highland areas. The Advance is a designated giving channel for mission personnel and projects. | 
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