Faces
Need huge, but Lutheran finds hope in Haiti W
hen Jillian Rockey Forbes was 17, she asked how to help her new home congrega- tion. She had no idea that her simple question would lead her all the way to Haiti and to a ministry that earned her a Jefferson Award for Public Service. A member of St. Peter Lutheran, Mechanicsburg, Pa., Forbes learned that the congregation had years ear- lier started a relationship with Insti- tution Univers, a school in the Oua- naminthe community of Haiti that no one had visited in several years. “I don’t know how I convinced my parents at 17 to let me go,” said Forbes, who eight years ago took her first of nine trips so far to Haiti, accompanied by Carol Forbes, who eventually became her mother-in-
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Jillian Rockey Forbes (center in blue shirt) leads a tour to Haiti, where participants learn firsthand about the country and its people.
law. “It captured my heart right away. My initial thought was that I wanted to move there. Then I realized that the school needs money and support, and Americans have money and lots of love to give.” Unsure what to do next, she was guided by Charlie Roberts, director of youth and family ministries for the Lower Susquehanna Synod. “Without Charlie encouraging me, none of this would have happened,” Forbes said. “He said, ‘This is something God put into your hands.’ My congregation has been great too. This all began because one of our members stumbled onto this school.”
So Forbes began organizing trips to Haiti and speaking about the needs of its citizens, spreading the message that lasting change in Haiti must come from within that country. “I want people to know that there is hope in Haiti, and that many people in Haiti want change and are ready to take part in that change,” she said. “All they need are cheerleaders to say, ‘You can do this.’ ” Forbes began a website, Hope in Haiti (
www.hopeinhaiti.us), which pro- vides information about the service learning trips. Since Hope in Haiti is not an official nonprofit, it partners with the Coalition of Children in Need Asso- ciation (
www.haiticocina.org), which helps financially support the school and a nearby medical clinic.
Forbes works as a waitress while attending Harrisburg Area Community
College. She hopes her degree in social sciences will lead to either a teach- ing position or to a full-time job planning service learning trips for college students.
Until then, Forbes is continuing her volunteer ministry, leading groups of
all ages to Haiti to learn firsthand about the country and its people. “I hope I can help more people to have a broader view of the world,” she said. “There is a level of poverty that exists in Haiti that we can’t even imagine. But it is not a hopeless situation, and I want people to know that.”
Jeff Favre Favre is a contributing editor of The Lutheran.
September 2012 43
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