Mission of Love:From Oasis of Hope in California to Place of Hope in Haiti
On January 29, a private plane took off from Orange County Airport, just a few miles from Oasis of Hope California and the Center for New Medicine, bound for a mercy mission to Haiti.
At the controls was the owner of the plane, Patrick McCall, husband of Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy, founder and medical director of Center for New Medicine, and physician and board member of Oasis of Hope California. With him were three of their children: Brooke, 21-years-old; Grant, 15; and Beth, also 15.
Patrick, a family practice attorney in Orange County, has a commercial pilot’s license, and is the proud owner of a Pilatus turboprop. Not just a "hobbyist’s" plane, the Pilatus seats 10 and is often used for commercial passenger and cargo transportation.
Photo: Aid workers in Les Cayes, Haiti, unloading food and supplies off Patrick McCall’s plane.
"I belong to the Pilatus Owners Pilots Association (POPA)," explained Patrick, "and I had been receiving a few emails from POPA every day, begging for help, because the Pilatus is the perfect aircraft to bring relief supplies to outlying areas of Haiti where larger aircraft can’t land."
Getting relief to the areas away from Port au Prince, the capital, was crucial. Hundreds of thousands of people had fled the city, only 15 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter. Jeremie, a town of 30,000 on the other side of the island, had an influx of 15,000 refugees. Smaller towns were also overwhelmed. To get supplies to them, planes sometimes had to land on closed-off roads, and sometimes just in cleared fields.
The overall effort to get private pilots to fly their planes to bring relief to Haiti was organized by the organization Corporate Aircraft Responding to Emergencies (CARE), in conjunction with the nonprofit Christian organization, G.O. Ministries (Great Opportunities in Global Outreach).
Photo: Standing in front of the Pilatus P12 are, from left, Patrick McCall; Ken George, G.O. Ministries coordinator; Beth McCall; pilot and friend Peter Capdeville; friend and mechanic Eric Laybourne; Brooke McCall; Grant Connealy.
Patrick and his kids flew first to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, a seven-hour flight, to get instructions, and then to Santiago, in the Dominican Republic, to pick up supplies. Then it was on to Haiti.
"I had a big learning curve; I didn’t know what to expect," Patrick admitted. "When we first landed in Haiti, there were armed United Nations peacekeepers all over the place. It felt pretty ominous, being in a foreign country with things going bad."
Patrick’s first assignment was to take medical supplies to a town called Les Cayes. "There was no Les Cayes airfield contained in my plane’s GPS system," he remembered with a chuckle. "To get there I had to use a printed out map from MapQuest provided by my daughter Brooke!"
During the flight, Brooke asked her father if they could bring supplies to a special place: it turned out that while she was in high school she had helped sponsor an orphanage in Haiti, called "Pwoje Espwa."
Purely coincidentally, it turned out that this orphanage was only 15 miles from Les Cayes, which was Patrick’s main staging area. They were met there by a representative, and Patrick felt comfortable enough to drop his kids off to visit a neighboring orphanage, called Place of Hope while he made more relief runs.
Photo: Beth and Grant with orphans at Place of Hope.
However, the "ominous" feeling that Patrick had at the airport was not imaginary. There was increasing fear among the local people about the lack of supplies. It was evident that much of the food being delivered was not reaching the intended refugees. After he dropped off food from one flight, Patrick learned that 20 gunman had tried to commandeer the truck full of food he had just delivered. The UN peacekeepers had to fire warning shots in the air to drive them off. "That was my load," Patrick said.
And that wasn’t the end of it. "I did my last flight Sunday, the 31st," related Patrick. "I was carrying 150 20-pound sacks of food called ‘family packs,’ because they could feed a family for three or four days. Two guys from the orphanage unloaded them, but started saying that they were scared, that there was rioting beginning right outside of the airport fence. They ended up giving away the packs in order to not be assaulted." Nevertheless, the orphanage had already received much needed supplies, and hopefully the packs went to local people in need.
In spite of occasional "turbulence" on the ground, this private relief program has been a life-saving success. Said Ken George, the coordinator for G.O. Ministries. "We’re taking it [food and medicine] to the people who distribute the food… I saw people lined up in a food line, receiving sacks of food that we’d delivered that morning. We’re staving off starvation and death."
The Place of Hope talked of the McCall’s efforts on the website, saying, "We were delighted to have Brooke & Beth McCall and Grant Connealy, all from Orange County, CA visit the orphanage. We owe a huge debt of thanks to Patrick McCall for his incredible efforts to deliver food and medical supplies to the people of Les Cayes and the orphans."
"I think this was a wonderful thing which my family could be a part of," said Brooke. "There is no greater joy in life than knowing that you have changed a person’s life. In the future, we hope to continue to provide aid to Place of Hope orphanage and its children."
(For information about the orphanages, see below.)
Of course, although Patrick contributed all the considerable costs of the flight himself, he didn’t undertake this mission for thanks, or any reward. Still, the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Photo: Patrick McCall flying with Chuck Yeager, a week after the Haiti mission
For one thing, his plane was one filmed by the New York Times, for a video news story they ran on the effort. And then, the week after he got back, Patrick had the great pleasure of being able to give a lift in his plane to a very special passenger: American legend Chuck Yeager — war hero and retired Brigadier General, and the man who broke the sound barrier. That’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience for any pilot. Or should we say, another once-in-a-lifetime experience for Patrick McCall, who loves to fly, and appreciates being able to use his passion to help just one special person, or thousands.
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Pwoje Espwa is part of the efforts of FreetheKids.org. Their website states that they are providing shelter and care for over 600 children, and education for 1,700, preparing and serving 3,500 meals daily. For information on Pwoje Espa orphanage, go to http://pwojeespwa.blogspot.com and http://www.freethekids.org
The Place of Hope takes care of 80 orphans. It costs about $7,500 a month for basic operating expenses. Of that amount $945 goes to pay staff salaries, and $5,650 goes to food and supplies. They are also trying to raise $70,000 to improve and expand the orphanage. For information go to http://www.rennwish.org click on "Current Efforts" on the left and then under that, "Pastor Andre’s Orphanage."