So just how is our community connected to the village of Cotes de Fer?

In our "About Me" section, I made reference to the hurricane that struck Haiti on October 2, 1963, "Hurricane Flora", and the connection to a local block company. That company was Landis Block, of Souderton, and this is the story of how it all fits together.


In early October, 1963, Arlin Hunsberger, who lived part-time in Haiti, but was previously from this local area, was contacted by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), headquartered in Akron, Pennsylvania. He was asked to travel to Port au Prince and check on conditions in the wake of Hurricane Flora, and see if there was any way that Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) could offer some assistance to the victims.


Following is an excerpt of an email written by Hunsberger's wife, Naomi (nee Derstine), recounting that time.


"Arlin went to Port [au Prince] and contacted the US Military [who were] helping to work on hurricane problems. When he told them he had men who wanted to come to Haiti to help the hurricane victims, they told him they would help him to see what could be done. He flew with them in a US helicopter over the devasted area. They decided to help a village that was completely destroyed. The village was called Cotes de Fer.


MDS sent 15 men down and they took a ship to the village. They had supplies to build houses, cement, wood, food, cots, and blankets- all the things needed to build the village back to what it had been.



They knew they needed to make cement blocks to build the houses. Marvin Landis, from Landis Cement Block in Souderton, designed and built a hand- operated block machine. The men cleaned up the debris, put up tents and got to work. After they left, they left the two machines they had made there and people started to build machines just like Marvin had designed."



Marvin Landis, then plant manager at Landis Block, had designed and built a machine that formed 3 blocks at a time. This machine has been replicated by the Haitians and can still be seen in use all over the area to this day. Marvin was a member of Souderton Mennonite Church and upon his return from Haiti, was able to share his experiences with his friends there.


Forty-seven years later, a team of 27 people, most of whom attended the same church, were on a missions trip to Haiti, working with the Water for Life and Tree of Life ministries when, on January 12, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the island of Haiti. To be more specific, half of the group was in Cotes de Fer the morning of the quake, trying to drill a well near the elementary school. The drill hit sea water and it was determined that there was no clean water to be had, so the well was abandoned. A few hours later, that elementary school sat in ruins.


I recently had the opportunity to speak to Marvin Landis' grandson, Doug Landis, who is still carrying on the family tradition of working at Landis Block. He told me that although he was only six years old at the time of the hurricane, he was proud of his grandfather's involvement in rebuilding Cotes de Fer. He also said that over the years of knowing Jim Frankenfield, the leader of the service team that was in Haiti during this year's earthquake, he finds it ironic or "kind of weird" that Jim and the group would have been in the same village that his grandfather worked so hard to help, at the very time the village would need such help again.

So, here in 2010, once again, the village of Cotes de Fer is in need of being rebuilt. Just as before, people from this community are stepping forward to do what they can to help our "sister" village get back on its feet. Cotes de Fer may seem to be a world away, but through the years, our communities have become connected by heart.