• By Kathy Gilbert, United Methodist News Services •
The Rev. Gordon Schleicher, a member of University United Methodist Church in East Lansing, returned from Haiti with 91 pictures of grief drawn by children who witnessed death and dismemberment of family and friends during the 2010 earthquake.
Schleicher, a retired UMC pastor and a trained grief counselor, went to the earthquake-damaged country earlier this year to encourage the youngest witnesses to the country’s devastation to express their feelings so they could start to heal from the trauma.
“From my experience as a grief counselor children all over need to be able to share their experience and be reassured that they didn't cause the event nor did God will for their loved ones to die,” he said. “They need to know it is OK to express their feelings and that there are people who will listen and care for them.”
The Methodist Church of Haiti asked Schleicher to provide bereavement training to Haitian teachers and in February, he visited four schools in villages near Les Cayes on Haiti’s southern coast.
Most of the people in Les Cayes are without homes, he said.
Schleicher and Ellen Coulter — a member of Owosso FUMC who is a retired nurse who has worked in the mental health community with children — taught art therapy to Haitian teachers.
“My Haiti contact arranged for 86 teachers from four rural schools to take part. I met with the whole group on Friday and with an interpreter explained grief and the resulting emotional and physical reactions to death,” Schleicher said.
The teachers then asked the students to draw a picture of their experience on Jan. 12, 2010, the day of the earthquake that was responsible for more than 300,000 deaths.
The teachers worked one-on-one with students and as the students drew, the teachers wrote down their stories.
One child drew a picture of a man with one arm and one leg.
“My cousin lost his arm and leg during the quake. He is the best cousin I’ve ever had,” the child said. “I am so sad.”
Another child drew a person with no arms and said, “The house collapsed on my cousin. He lost both his arms and died shortly afterward. I am very sad and was depressed for weeks afterward.”
Schleicher said many of the children still have nightmares and are fearful of every storm.
“My brother and I were at home when the earthquake struck on Jan. 12, 2010. I escaped but the house fell on my brother and he died,” said a young student.
One child drew a picture of a family lying on the floor of their house. “My mother died in our collapsed home during the earthquake,” she said.
Giving the children a chance to tell their stories is significant, Schleicher said.
Many of the teachers have only a two-year high school education and they teach by rote; students don’t ask questions but repeat back what their teachers say.
“The training encouraged children to speak one-on-one with a caring teacher and in return have a teacher listen and offer a caring presence,” Schleicher said.
Schleicher first visited Haiti 10 years ago as part of a Volunteer in Mission team that built a village church in the hills outside Jeremie. He has been to Haiti twice since the earthquake.
He served local churches in the Detroit Annual (regional) Conference for 23 years and has been serving as a chaplain/bereavement counselor for McLaren Hospice, Davison, Mich., for the past four years.
He serves as the mission and outreach person for his church and will teach the Haiti study at the West Michigan Conference School of Christian Mission later this year.
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