With the generous financial support of United Church people to the 2010 Haiti earthquake appeal, partners have been at work building schools in the country. And with schools, you build communities, Haitians often say.

Tragedy and trouble struck one day,

The earthquake wiped my whole village away.

As I stand amidst the dust and rubble

Want to keep plastic out of our landfills? Want to help people in need? Do I have a deal for you.

Well? When did you last hear about Haiti in the news? How many houses have been built? How many people are still camping out? How is food and medical help coming along?  Why do we need so many troops there? Aristide kept peace in the country with no army at all. Why is Canada there?

I greet you at Pentecost with words of blessing written by my friend Jim Ball:

I have a blog that so far deals mostly with lying and propaganda in our news media. I'm always looking for examples of how our news media act as pimps for governments or ownership or ideologies. Good example in today's Globe and Mail. Front page. May 14

It's a big picture of two girls in a classroom. They're lively and smiling at each other. Below, in big letters. it says Haitian children are finding safety and help in recovering from trauma in their schools.

This afternoon I arrived in Toronto following a five-day visit to our church partners in Haiti. What I witnessed there is beyond anything I could have imagined—unbelievable destruction and suffering on the one hand, and amazing hope and faith-filled action on the other.

This is the first of several reports we will make about our visit. (More in a moment about who travelled with me.) You can see my video message from Haiti on YouTube.

As announced last week, I leave for Haiti tomorrow, along with a few other United Church representatives.

I'm grateful for many notes of encouragement, some of which have made connections between the journey of the Haitian people and the resurrection story of Easter.

The people of Haiti are certainly engaged in "practising resurrection," as a Wendell Berry poem puts it, and it will be humbling, no doubt, to hear and see their stories of courage.