In an effort to help children in Port au Prince, Haiti, reach their full potential, the Oral Roberts University’s College of Education and the Anna Vaughn College of Nursing are planning a joint missions trip from March 19-24 to the island nation.
“We are going there to help the children. First, we have to assess what they need, create development plans and then teach the caregivers how to help these children,” says Debi Lammert, an ORU nursing faculty member. “Lots of the children are traumatized from the earthquake, not being cared for and not having parents.”
Teaming up with Fishers of Men Ministries International, ORU nursing and education majors will gain firsthand experience volunteering at the orphanage run by the ministry. Lammert and Jean Mosely, an ORU education faculty member, are joining the students this spring.
“The students will have the opportunity to train the staff and give them strategies and skills to help the children with developmental skills,” says Kim Boyd, dean of ORU’s College of Education. “To go on this multi-disciplined missions trip is what Chancellor Oral Roberts envisioned. The students will have to take their skills and put them into practice with a disposition of service.”
The students will be ministering to about 140 children who are in need of assessment and medical care to help them grow and thrive. Lammert says the team will screen the children for intellectual and social development delays who have trouble with learning and have emotional difficulties.
“It’s what the heart of ORU is all about,” Boyd explains. “This gives the students the realization of their calling while at the same time it helps them develop their skills.”
