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  • Highlights of the Past Year
    2011 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
    • BROTHERLY LOVE IN ACTION IN HAITI

      On January 12, 2010, a powerful earthquake devastated Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding areas. Hundreds of thousands were killed, and many more were displaced. Several thousand of Jehovah’s Witnesses lost their homes, and 154 lost their lives. Many others were seriously injured or had narrow escapes.

      Acloque was at home when the quake struck. Walls buckled, and blocks tumbled like dominoes, pinning him between the floor and the collapsed ceiling. He was not seriously hurt, though, and began feeling around in the darkness with his hands. “I felt the side of a water bucket,” Acloque recalls. “It would not budge, but I could dip my fingers into the water and bring a few drops of water to my lips. I also found a loose stone to tap with, hopefully to draw attention to my plight.” He began praying for help and kept tapping with the stone and waiting.

      “I had no watch and no idea what time it was,” says Acloque. “At first, I wept and begged Jehovah to rescue me. But as time passed, my prayers changed. ‘I know you will resurrect me,’ I prayed. ‘But I’m a young man! If I don’t die, I can go on serving you.’”

      Gradually, Acloque felt his life ebbing away, and eventually he lost the strength even to tap with the stone. Then he passed out.

      When Acloque regained consciousness, Witness rescuers were trying to break through to him. “Suddenly the concrete fell away by my leg,” he relates. “I realized that the next blow would strike my knee, so I reached through the opening in the dark and grabbed the rescuer’s arm.” Soon Acloque was free. He had been under the rubble for four days.

      PROMPT RELIEF EFFORTS

      Within 24 hours of the quake, the first Witness doctor arrived from the Dominican Republic branch. He was followed by a steady stream of Witness medical and relief personnel, along with donated materials. A field hospital was quickly set up on the branch property, where more than 1,000 Witnesses and non-Witnesses received treatment.

      Among the patients were two young women, both of whom had lost their right arm. “Like all the other single patients who lost limbs,” recalls Mylène, a volunteer at the branch, “they worried that they would never be able to marry or have a family.” Mylène therefore contacted a sister she knew in France who as a child had lost an arm in a car accident and asked her to encourage the two women. The sister in France e-mailed photos of herself with her husband and two beautiful children. Seeing them brought much comfort to the two young patients, who are now adapting well to their new circumstances.

      Besides food, clothing, and medicines, survivors urgently needed housing. Witness volunteers from Haiti and abroad designed and built more than 1,700 temporary dwellings to provide shelter from the rain and a measure of security for Witness families whose homes had been destroyed. By June the relief teams had begun erecting temporary Kingdom Halls, and in July authorities issued the first building permits for permanent Kingdom Halls to be constructed.

      PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, AND SPIRITUAL HEALING

      In March a Witness doctor who specializes in treating post-traumatic stress disorder met with the elders of the 115 congregations affected by the quake. The doctor provided the elders with practical suggestions on giving spiritual support to the emotionally traumatized members of their congregations. Thereafter, the doctor met individually with more than 100 brothers and sisters who needed specialized treatment.

      Shortly after the quake, David Splane of the Governing Body traveled to Haiti to provide comfort and encouragement. Brother Splane, who speaks French, addressed the brothers at a circuit assembly and met with the Bethel family, missionaries, and circuit overseers. All deeply appreciated his loving concern and the tender care of the Governing Body.

      Despite what appeared to be insurmountable obstacles, the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in Haitian Creole was completed, printed, and shipped to the branch. The new Bibles arrived just hours before they were to be released at the district convention in July. Throughout the fast-moving events of 2010, from the initial relief efforts until now, everyone involved has seen and felt Jehovah’s constant guidance and support in ways great and small. Over and over, needed supplies, transportation, and personnel all came together at just the right time and in ways that were too perfect to have been merely coincidental. In the words of one longtime missionary, “You had to be here to appreciate how clearly Jehovah’s hand was in evidence.”

  • Highlights of the Past Year
    2011 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
    • [Picture on page 33]

      Witness medical personnel arrived soon after the quake

      [Picture on page 33]

      Witness volunteers from Haiti and abroad designed and built more than 1,700 temporary dwellings

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