Lake Highlands resident Susan Brooks wasn’t terribly interested in 1976 when her father, Dr. Otto Willbanks, put together a team from Highland Park United Methodist Church for a medical missionary trip to Haiti. She was a schoolgirl. She wished him luck and went on with her own activities.
The work was tough – Haiti is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere – but the labors were rewarding and the people were grateful. Soon it was clear what was needed most: an eye clinic.
Lila Kaesler, church secretary, was on that very first trip along with Dr. Kenneth Dickson, one of the pastors. After a couple of years, Dr. Kenneth Foree, then Chief of Ophthalmology at Baylor, joined the team. Before long, an eye clinic was built in Petit Goave, and Lila and Kenneth Foree were married. They’re now longtime residents of Lake Highlands (and veterans of almost 40 trips to Haiti).
Their work proceeded with great results but without much fanfare until 2010. That’s the year a 7.0 earthquake wracked the island. The roof of the clinic collapsed on top of the team injuring several volunteers and killing Jean Arnwine.
The task of rebuilding the clinic seemed insurmountable. As the church looked for a team to spearhead the project, the daughters of Otto Willbanks – Susan and her sister, Caroline Hazlett – were the logical choices.
Susan admits she was hesitant.
“My sister and I were approached to chair the Haiti committee primarily because our dad had been involved, and so we had a sentimental attachment to the project. But we knew it would be a big job and not really one we’d sought out. We would be overseeing construction, something neither of us were familiar with, and in a country we knew little about. Fortunately we were able to rely on Martti Benson, an architect and member of our committee, to lead us through the construction issues. My sister, Caroline, is so incredibly capable at whatever lands on her plate that she gets things done that I couldn’t have even imagined.”
Susan says she learned to see her father’s vision and sacrifice in a new light.
“When my dad began the project, I was a teenager and much more concerned about Saturday night than anything else. I had no clue about the time and money he invested, the incredible need in Haiti, or how dangerous it was (since Haiti was quite politically unstable).”
“I always knew he was generous, but I did not really understand how deep that went. I knew he frequently treated people who could not pay for his services. But seeing the results of the mission in Haiti and knowing how much of himself he put into gave me a new understanding of what it means to have a servant’s heart. It’s pretty overwhelming to step off the plane in Haiti and see how desperate it is, and not feel like it’s just more than you can take in. It really made me realize what kind of determination and vision he had to have to even get started. I have a new admiration for the work he did, and hope that we can honor his memory through this mission.”
Susan says she also learned a few lessons from the people she met in Haiti.
“They aren’t too different from us,” stressed Susan. “Even confronted with unbelievable obstacles – poverty, lack of clean water, pollution, corruption (you could go on and on) – what they really want is to care for their families and be happy. What’s humbling is to realize they do that without most of the things we consider to be necessities.”
You can learn more about the project from the church’s video here.
