South Elgin man can't wait to return to Haiti

Joel Hossli joined nine other members of his Elgin church on a mission trip in October to Haiti, where they helped work on a new multipurpose facility at a Christian academy.

Among the group's major accomplishments during their visit: Getting the plumbing system operational in the building.

When they tested to see if a toilet would flush and it did a 20-something local laborer employed to work on the project was seeing something for the first time in his life, Hossli said.

“It's small things like that that put the bigger picture into perspective,” Hossli said.

Members of the West Ridge Community Church on Route 20 at Nesler Road, have been going on trips to Haiti for six years, and they're about to start planning for their next one.

Hossli, 37, of South Elgin, decided to go on the trip after his wife Jana returned from Haiti with church members in 2009.

“She came back and said, ‘You need to go. It's seriously life-changing,' ” Hossli said.

That was even before the devastating earthquake in January 2010 that took an estimated 200,000 lives and left another 2 million people homeless. When the church group's flight landed in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, Hossli recalls a chaotic free-for-all, a collection of tent cities, and thousands still reeling from the destruction left by the quake.

“Imagine I-90 and Route 53 being completely dirt and having thousands of cars trying to pass through,” Hossli said. “There was zero control. What was already a poor country was devastated.”

Hossli and the West Ridge group visited an orphanage and children's hospital before taking a short flight to Port-de-Paix, located on the island-country's northern coast and home to Sonlight Ministries, which has a church and operates a preschool through 12th grade academy.

While the earthquake did not hit near Port-de-Paix, many refugees have gone there in the aftermath of the earthquake, Hossli sad.

The academy, established in 1989 by Roger and Norma Alexander, is the largest employer of native Haitians on the northern coast. Some of its graduates have stayed to teach at the school, Hossli said.

“It's amazing to see how they're trying to change that area a little bit at a time through education.” he said.

West Ridge members who were from Elgin, South Elgin and Gilberts were introduced to the mission trips at Sonlight by their former pastor, Scott Alexander, who is the son of the academy's founders. He now teaches at the school.

Hossli and the four other males on the trip helped work on Sonlight's two-story unfinished multipurpose facility, which has been under construction for eight years.

Workers have limited resources no cranes or normal construction tools and building materials arrive sporadically due to shipping delays. The mission relies on donations to fund the project, Hossli said.

Church leaders hope to have the steel facility complete by the end of 2011.

The five females on the mission trip spent time in classrooms tutoring students and helping teachers grade papers.

Hossli and his family sponsor two children at the school, for a $50 contribution per month. He got to meet them when he was there. The first- and second-grade students write back and forth with the Hosslis' twin boys, who are about the same age.

Members of West Ridge have hosted bake sales and golf outings to help pay for the trip, which can cost $13,000 for one mission group.

Hossli said he learned about himself during the trip, and there's no doubt he wants to go back.

“You don't realize how much impact it has until you come back,” Hossli said. “This is something everybody should do once in their lives.”