Alumna's service assignment coincides with Hurricane relief efforts

On Friday, August 18, Alexis Kreiner ’16 arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti to begin a yearlong assignment with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).

The plan was for her to work as a teacher's assistant at TIMKATEC School for restavek children (children who are being used as domestic help) as a teacher’s assistant, and also use her communication skills for both the school and MCC’s work in preventing and responding to gender-based violence. 

Those communication skills have been utilized immediately by MCC, as the organization quickly begins relief efforts: last Thursday, Hurricane Irma slammed into the Caribbean. Despite the fact that Haiti missed the worst of the winds, there has been significant damage due to heavy rains and flash flooding. This resulted in houses being destroyed and damaged, crops being washed away and significantly increased risk for waterborne diseases across much of north and central Haiti. Heavy rainfall has led to agricultural losses in the Central Plateau and flash flooding in parts of the Artibonite, which will increase the current cholera epidemic in the area.

The Communication Arts graduate was asked to join an assessment team to survey the damages. Here is a blog post authored by Kreiner that MCC published yesterday: http://www.haitimcc.org/blog/2017/9/8/3ik3yjjzpev8ij6urg64oikrg98es4-p5b5j

Follow Kreiner's personal blog at: www.barelybraveblog.wordpress.com

Kreiner most recently worked in communications at Rahab Ministries in Akron.