Remembering Leslie Harris

 

Remembering Leslie G. Harris

Hopie and her two bothers, Horland and Leon, the three children of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Harris faced their “Decembered Grief” for the first time in 2019. While others were celebrating, they experienced a deep sense of loss that threatened to overwhelm the joy they usually experience during the season celebrating God incarnate in Jesus Christ. The reason for this was the passing of their father in October of that year. Although he had lived for 87 years, Leslie Harris' death elicited abundant thankfulness but also enormous grief.

Three years after Pastor Harris’s death, it was fitting that Fritznel Octave dedicated his book, Haiti, Between Pestilence and Hope: The Progressive Ideals from the Revolution in 1804 Set the Pace (Columbus, OH: Gatekeeper Press, 2022) to one who was a courageous servant of God.

Octave wrote: "We pay tribute to the late Pastor Leslie G. Harris, a Jamaican born missionary, who dedicated more than 60 years of his life in the service of people in rural north-western Haiti, notably Môle Saint-Nicholas, Jean-Rebel, Bombardopolis, and Baie-de Henne. Many inhabitants of these regions will always remember Pastor Harris who died at Crève (Bomabardopolis), Haiti, on October 8, 2019. When he arrived in the area in the mid-1950s, he found a population almost totally neglected or ignored by the Haitian government. Through his Mission des Eglises Baptistes Independentes (MEBI), he became one of the most important change agents in socioeconomic development, healthcare and education to the population. A young missionary, Pastor Harris was introduced by American missionary and philanthropist Pastor Wallace Turnbull. Pastor Turnbull, for his part, had pioneered church planting, schools, community and social developments in Haiti for over 70 years.”

Born in Orange Hill, Brown’s Town, At Ann, Leslie Harris received his early spiritual nurture in the Brown's Town Baptist Church under the leadership of Rev John Bee. There, he committed his life to Christ. In his youth, he entertained the thought of becoming both a politician and a minister of religion. He began this pursuit by completing the three-year course of study at the Jamaica Bible College in Mandeville and the one-year training programme offered by the International Missionary Fellowship centre in Alexandria, St. Ann. One Sunday, after listening to a sermon preached at the Brown’s Town Baptist Church by Rev Arthur Groves Wood, who was on furlough from his service as a missionary to Haiti, Harris decided to devote himself to Christian mission in that country.

Arriving in Haiti at the age of twenty-two, he went to serve in the north western section of deep rural Haiti where poverty, Vodoo and witchcraft were strong features of the people’s way of life. Eventually, he married a Haitian, named Leo, the daughter of a witch doctor. Leo became his committed partner in the work of the Lord. 

Many are the stories Harris told of heart-rending experiences, life-threatening challenges and life-changing miracles especially during the early years of his ministry in Haiti. He left his country without sponsorship from any missionary society and he served sacrificially. He was grateful for the constant guidance and unfailing provision that God offers to those who commit to serving in God's mission. Together with Leo, he fulfilled his calling with faithfulness.

 When he died in 2019, Pastor Harris left a remarkable legacy of transformative Christian service and witness that is cherished and celebrated by those who know about his exploits in the following areas of ministry: church planting, establishing schools, building and managing an orphanage, setting up health clinics, training people in subsistence farming, rendering humanitarian aid, and sponsoring agricultural projects that transformed individuals and communities.

Though not well known or celebrated in the land of his birth, Leslie Harris distinguished himself as a Jamaica Baptist missioner to Haiti and his story needs to be told. Of course, the God who made, equipped and sustained him is fully aware of his stewardship. Those who learn about Leslie's work will benefit from reflecting on his example. 

In 2006, during one of his infrequent visits to Jamaica, my wife, Dulcie, interviewed her fellow Brown’s Townian. Harris had words of praise for Nurse Maizie Hall, also a Jamaican missionary to Haiti, born in Sturge Town, St Ann, and serving in Haiti in response to the call of God. She helped Leslie adjust to life in his new country. Leslie also expressed appreciation for the help and financial support he received from Christians in Cuba, Canada, USA and Jamaica. He praised God for the churches, high schools, orphanage, health centres that were introduced under his leadership and for the roads that were built in north-western Haiti and the training in agriculture and in the rearing of goats, cows and chickens that helped change the lives of the people of north western Haiti. 

Leslie promoted the digging of wells and the capping of springs to enable the people to benefit from stable water supply. From the church he started in Crève grew some fifty additional churches that developed under the leadership of Haitian pastors who came under Harris' influence. 

Harris fulfilled his dream of serving as a minister of religion and also a change agent who contributed significantly to community development. Let us celebrate his contribution.