"I think they inspired us anew, too.

Friday, April 14, 2000

"I think they inspired us anew, too."

Pat Toschak, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Austin, said that about the Haitians she and her traveling partners met on their mission trip in March.

"There is a very, very strong faith and hope there," Toschak said. "That’s what helps them, on a day-to-day basis, deal with the harsh realities of their lives."

Toschak led a group made of members of her church, First United Methodist, and her husband’s church, Fellowship United Methodist, on a mission trip to help build a school in an area called Tomas. This is an hour’s drive away from the capital of Port-au-Prince.

For most of the Austinites, this was their first trip there. For Toschak, it was the third, and she could recognize some changes for the better in the economy and the lifestyles of the people, but she said the country still is desperately poor and dirty. Church-affiliated schools still are virtually the only avenues for education, and doing the work on a school – building a roof for three new classrooms and building desks for students to sit at – inspired at least one of the teachers along on the trip to sponsor a child’s education.

"Children would come from the neighborhood and hang around us while we worked, and test their English, and try to teach us Creole," Toschak said, recalling that at lunch, some of the volunteers would share their sandwiches with these children, who might only get one meal a day. "They’re so very bright."

The school at which they were working served about 200 students every day. Most of the students didn’t get a lunch, either, except for one day a week when a hot meal of beans and rice would be brought in.

Toschak said some of the folks who went on the trip already are planning to return and do more work in Haiti. Others have expressed an interest in Uganda.

"This is a congregation which takes very seriously its vision to reach out in God’s love to all people," she said with a smile. "We don’t limit ourselves."

Toschak explained that Volunteers in Mission is one of the fastest growing programs in the United Methodist Church. The church as a whole has been emphasizing the need to serve in communities as well as worldwide strongly for the past 15 years.

"We’re volunteers in mission when we serve and cook at the local Salvation Army – anything where we’re extending ourselves beyond our four walls and helping others," she said.