From Their Hands To Your Tree

Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue: December 2023

For the second year, beginning on December 2, and until month’s end, the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation will sell a variety of Haitian metal art Christmas ornaments from a booth in Jones Hall. The sale of the $15 ornaments will contribute to the church’s Haiti Outreach Committee’s support of the Transfiguration school in Tierra Muscady, Haiti.

The selection of the ornaments as a fundraiser was inspired by Jane Chalker, who for 16 years had been successfully selling Haitian metal arts at the Saturday’s farmers market in Highlands.

It’s an arresting tale – the result of a 20 yearlong saga that represents both the desire of the church and its congregants to improve the lives of the desperately poor of Haiti and the resourcefulness and artistry of its native countrymen.

In the winter of 2002 Chalker was among a group of congregants of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation who boarded a plane bound for Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation. Their goal: to bring the benefits of modern medical care, and to teach English at an Episcopal compound that included a church, school, and hospital in the village of Cange. Then as now, there were no shortage of challenges in reaching and working in this rural community.

Situated many hours’ drive from the nearest town, on a rocky and frequently flooded dirt road, the residents there (like most of the country) are hostage to living conditions in which food, water, sanitation, healthcare, and most infrastructure is absent.

On a second trip in October of that year, they visited and subsequently adopted the Church of the Transfiguration school in the nearby village of Tierra Muscady. The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, through their Haiti Outreach Committee has been providing support, paying teacher’s salaries, and subsidizing meals, ever since.

They discovered that along with other area volunteers they could make a big difference in a place where people have so little – Clemson students working on the water systems devised a way to provide chlorinated water, some English is now spoken in the schools and the road to Cange has been paved.

The ornaments are just some of the products crafted from oil drums that are transformed into sculptures by Haitian artisans. Designs, inspired by nature, religion and daily life are then transferred onto steel and individually cut.

Kelly Tandy, Chairman of the Incarnation Haiti Committee, explained, “We had been selling the ornaments after church, but we wanted to open sales to the community. We are hoping this year to be able to send $2000 to the school.”