Good morning, UMVIM friends.
We have received emails and calls from several teams regarding the latest US State Department travel advisory for Haiti published last week. The Haiti Response Plan staff is carefully monitoring the situation relative to our UMVIM teams. Greg Forrester, Northeast Jurisdiction UMVIM Coordinator (who was in Haiti for the two weeks around the anniversary of the earthquake), notes that Haiti has been in turmoil since he began serving in 1995. As with any area of the world, including the US, we cannot guarantee the safety of our teams but we will always keep their safety in the forefront of our planning. We advise that if teams are not comfortable going to serve in Haiti at this time, then they should not.
The attached document summarizes the emergency contingency plans that are (and have been) in place to do whatever we can to ensure the safety of teams. We are sending it to you today to share with your team members and their families and churches. While we cannot predict the future, we certainly will postpone teams if security issues become apparent. In the meantime, if team members have reservations about coming under these circumstances, they should consider staying home and rescheduling their mission experience to another time when there is less possibility for turmoil.
I urge you to go to the web site http://www.umvimhaiti.org/ and read the wonderful pastoral reflection by Tom Vencuss, written and posted today, where he celebrates the return of our full team schedule.
Susan Meister
US-based Calendaring Coordinator
haitivolunteers@yahoo.com
Find us on the web at http://www.umvimhaiti.org/
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