Fr. Keith Talbert joining three church mission team to work in Haiti

By the Diocese of Alabama Staff

Fr. Keith Talbert will join an 11-member mission team from two Episcopal Churches in Alabama and one in Tennessee. The team is scheduled to depart for Haiti July 11 to help build a clinic for the care of critically malnourished children. The churches are St. Mary’s on-the-Highlands in Birmingham, St. Paul’s in Foley, and St. Paul’s in Murfreesboro, TN.

The new facility will serve as permanent home to Lespwa Timoun (Hope for the Children), a nutrition clinic operated by Carmel Valdema, a Haitian public health nurse, and wife of Episcopal Priest the Rev. Fritz Valdema.

One in twelve children born in Haiti today will not live to celebrate their fifth birthday according to recent World Health Organization statistics, and malnutrition is a significant factor in the mortality rate. Lespwa Timoun provides nutritionally enhanced meals, vitamins, and immunizations and health monitoring for children, and nutrition education for parents. Approximately 1000 children are served in the nutrition program a year, and the average cost per year to serve a child is $120.

Since the earthquake Lespwa Timoun is also serving as a medical clinic treating an average of 60 patients a day. It presently operates out of temporary leased facilities in Croix des Bouquets. The new facility will house a medical and dental staff, an inpatiant facility for the most criticlly ill children, a pharmacy, and an agricultural project. The Diocese of Alabama supports the work of the clinic through its companion relationship with the Diocese of Haiti and the Valdemas.

During their trip the three-church mission team will spend a week working to prepare a community garden and orchard at the three-acre site. Team members are: Sara Black, Charlie Miller, Jack Miller, Monica Sargent, and mission coordinator Mary Balfour Van Zandt from St. Mary’s on-the-Highlands; the Rev. Keith Talbort, rector of St. Paul’s in Foley; and the Rev. Polk Van Zandt, rector, and Hillary Stallings, Kathleen Jaco, Ron Meisser, and Ted Cassidy, parishioners of St. Paul’s in Murfreesboro.

Last year, St. Mary’s on-the-Highlands provided funds and sent a team to help lay the foundation for the clinic main building. This year the church provided funds to buy and install a security gate for the compound and to complete the second phase of the clinic building.

“Our brothers and sisters in Christ in Haiti are special people,” said Mary Balfour “They have a deep love for our Lord even though they are faced with great hardship. The people of Haiti have faith and want to learn and help each other.”

Recalling Jesus words in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Whatever you do for these, the least of your bretheren, you do for me…” Mary Balfour said, “We can be a part of this, a part of doing for others, helping others as we are called to do.”