The Importance of Doing CCD in One Location for a Generation

     THE IMPORTANCE OF DOING CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN ONE LOCATION FOR A GENERATION

Recently some Mennonites talked to my wife about a failed project in Haiti.  They worked hard setting up the project, then turned it over to Haitians.  They failed to continue it.  The Mennonites essentially blamed the Haitians for not following through.

Jean Thomas, a Haitian, says that Haiti is the graveyard of many failed projects.  So the question is why do so many well-meaning projects fail?

An important clue can be found in Jean Thomas' book, At Home With The Poor, pages 7-8;  Jean is writing about his Haitian brother Paul.  Paul was the smartest one in the family, well-educated, and of course, he knew the language and culture.  Yet most of the many projects he started in Haiti did not endure.

Jean writes:

"Paul was implementing projects throughout Haiti. . . . Many years later, Paul admitted that for all of his work with so many projects, there is hardly any trace of them left to see, simply because he was able to give so little personal attention to each one.  In Fond-des-Blancs, however, a strong foundation was laid, and the projects are still underway.

"When you are submerged within a community [for a generation at one location], you live through the successes and failures of your work.  We have seen our share of both in Fond-des-Blancs.  Numerous times the people of Fond-des-Blancs thought we were going to leave because of some personal tragedy or project failure.  But we stayed, and that encouraged the people to persist through their own struggles as well as ours. . . . The results of our living out the principle of relocation in Haiti speak for themselves. . . . out work is making a real and lasting difference simply because we became a part of the community in which we minister."

A simple but profoundly important truth.  Incarnation/relocation in a community for a long period is a non-negotiable principle, even for indigenous leaders, doubly so for outsiders.  At Home with the Poor is such an important book that it could be the 29th chapter of Acts.