So Much Gratitude, and the Journey Continues
Cindy Corell
Since January 2013, it has been my great honor to serve as a mission co-worker in Presbyterian World Mission. I journeyed from “are you kidding me?” to “my goodness, it’s over.”
I’m not talking about time spent in my beloved Haiti. I’m talking about a great change. On March 24, World Mission concluded in connection with a decision made by the Interim Unified Agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). In its place will be a new imagining of the way Presbyterians do mission in the world.
I am writing to express my great thanks to you for all the ways you have supported my sending into the world to serve God’s children. It has been my greatest joy to connect you with the people of Haiti. As you know, I left Haiti in September 2019 because of great instability, was able to return in early March 2020, then was evacuated again as the pandemic took hold.
I have continued to serve the people of Haiti through FONDAMA, our Joining Hands network there. In July 2024, I was deployed to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, continuing to accompany Haiti partners remotely.
And through these years, I’ve met with so many of you. You have hosted me in your homes, prayed for me in your churches and fellowship halls. You have loved the people of Haiti and let me know that.
I am so grateful to you all.
As World Mission concludes, I was honored to be invited into the new imagining of global missions. I have accepted the call to serve here in the United States as a global ecumenical liaison, partnering with mid-councils, diaspora communities, and global partners.
This is a time of great change, both with sorrow and great excitement.
When I arrived in Haiti to live and serve, the conditions were relatively calm. It was three years after the catastrophic 2010 earthquake that destroyed huge portions of the capital city of Port-au-Prince, Leogane and many other communities. When I arrived in the late spring of 2013, I planned to travel to the southern mountains with the Celestin family to begin learning Creole and Haitian culture.
I learned so much more. My first month with the Celestin family set the tone for my years in Haiti. Papa Luc is a farmer and carpenter. He and his children demonstrated how to love our neighbors, live simply and enjoy every day.
When I began working with FONDAMA, I traveled to every corner of Haiti visiting rural communities, hearing stories of challenge and triumph and understanding the enormous way Haiti changed world history.
The first Free Black Republic came into being on Jan. 1, 1804, after those who were enslaved by the French rose against their captors and won their own freedom. The descendants of those heroes continue to demonstrate such resistance even as violent gangs expand their territory across Port-au-Prince.
Fabienne Jean, coordinator of FONDAMA, and the network’s other leaders have shown me the beauty of local organizations. Caring for the people in their regions, individual farmer groups lead schools, mitigate erosion, build roads, and share resources with those in the community.
Like the Celestin family, they love their neighbor.
I lived in three neighborhoods over my time in Port-au-Prince. My “family” grew to include neighbors and a guardian who provided security.
They too taught me to love our neighbors.
At one of the houses, two huge mango trees in the yard provided barrels of the sweet fruit. One afternoon, our guardian Garry let me know that a neighbor was at the gate asking if she could have some mangos.
“What do you think?” I asked Garry.
“Well, we can’t eat them all,” he replied.
When I went outside, Garry had filled half-a-dozen sacks with mangos and was delivering to all the neighbors.
The violence we see in Port-au-Prince began in earnest in 2018. One afternoon over lunch, Garry said grace. He asked God to bless us all, the workers in the city, the police officers in the streets, the food sellers in the streets. “And also, God,” he prayed. “Bless the bandits.” “Because, well, you know, God.”
As I leave the official work of World Mission and delve into the adventure and journey of Global Ecumenical Partnerships, I carry so many lessons from Haiti. I might be leaving the work, but I will never let the people of Haiti leave me.
Because of your generous and faithful support, both financial and prayerful, I have been able to live into God’s call to serve in the world. There are not enough words to thank you.
In Christ’s love,
Cindy