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COMMUNITY Helpingj Local church group 1 spends emotional Iweek at countryý Mission of Hope By Christina Commisso CANADIAN CHAMPION STAFF origon a construc- tion site in the devas- tated Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Mark Strickland found it hard to hold back tears. "There would be a lot of Haitian workers, and a lot of cbildren. Kids who are obvious- ly bungry, some kids with no clothing on, night beside wbere you're wielding a pick- axe," tbe Miltonian described. Tboughts of bis ownM young son popped into bis mind. "One littie boy did- n't want to get out of my armns. He was three, the samne age as my son. It was bard to hold back tears. r'd neyer want to leave my son roaming around a construction area." Strickland = tbe youffi pastor witb Milton Bible Cburcb - wasI one of 18 cburcb members wboa recently spent a week in Haiti on a mission trip.t Witb more tban 1,200 pounds oft donated clotbes, sports equipment and medical supplies in tow, tbe REBUILDING: Above, Members of Milton Bible Church help build a new hospital. Top le1 Youth Pastor Mark Strickland holds a young Haitian boy. Bottom Ieft, the church group takes a break from its mission work. \4iltonians spent tbe last week of Miatcb at Haiti's Mission of Hope. Their accommodations were far rom wbat tbeyre accustomed to - itwo storey concrete dorm ,quipped witb mosquito nets over hie beds and rats scunrying around hie floors. Tbe electricity at tbe mission vould switcb off from 6 s.m. to 6 p.m. to conserve energy, making the use foreign aid to mnvest for the long living quartera extremely bot during term, flot just for tbe inmediate the day. terni." However, Strickland said the Tbe Milton Bible Cburcb teamn accommodations were far nicer than belped with the building of 500 per- the tent cities wbere an estimated marient homes and a new bospital, 50,000 Haitians currendy cail bome. wbile also working witb the cbil- "Tberels an issue witb people dren lin Mission of Hopes scbool continuing to byve in tenta because and orpbanage. it's free. lis bard to say, but it seema Tbe team raised $30,000 for the to me tbere basnt been mucb trip, $10,000 of wbich was donsted progress other than the initial clean to the mission. Churcb members up," said Strickland. "The real hope and several local businesses funded lies in tbeir educationai and agricul- the trip. tural skills to learis bow to feed Mission of Hope runs a scbool themselves or figuning out bow to tht educates 3 000 van-n H-aiti,,ns a medical clinic tbat sees about 27,000 people a year and a food batik that distributes food to 1.5 million local residents. Strickland said tbe impact tbey made on Haiti was minimal coin- Miltonians. "Tbere was a transformation in our lives. Tbe people on our team are now life-long supporters of Haiti and we want to be able to one day Chgo in Comiss can be go isin backss down." reached at ccoinmisso@miltoncanadi-