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Church aids Haitian school in Leogone named after fallen soldiers

Wednesday, January 17, 2007 at 12:30 am

Somewhere in the ground near the Savannah Visitors Center lie the 227-year-old remains of Haitian soldiers.

They were hastily buried in mass graves - alongside hundreds of Americans and French who died in the Revolutionary War battle known as the Siege of Savannah.

Continental forces warred from Sept. 16 to Oct. 18, 1779, but failed to dislodge Savannah from British occupation. The Siege is believed by many historians to be the second bloodiest battle in the Revolutionary War.

To the Rev. William Roen, there's something especially noble about the sacrifice of the Haitians.

"They perished anonymously in a strange land for a cause they probably did not fully comprehend - although they knew what freedom was, not having it themselves," the pastor said in a sermon to his congregation at the Lutheran Church of the Ascension in 2005.

"Their sacrifice was real; their memory should not be neglected. So we are building them a memorial."

Through a nonprofit organization lead by Roen, members of his Wright Square church have established a school named in honor of those unsung heroes.

Named the Heroes of Savannah Christian School, the facility serves about 80 children living around the rural Haitian village of Leogone.

It is the second school launched in Haiti by the nondenominational charity International Village of Hope. The agency provides funding and support to Heroes of Savannah and a Christian school in Marechal that serves more than 200 children. Both schools provide education, some medical care and one or two meals a day.

International Village of Hope was founded by the late Lutheran missionary Carol Herget who spent more than 50 years in Jamaica and Haiti working with poor children.

Today, Roen serves as the organization's chief executive officer.

He has led more than 100 people on missionary trips to Haiti.

In March, Roen will lead 12 members of Ascension church to Leogone to build playground equipment and work with the children. It will be the third mission trip he has lead from Savannah since becoming the church's pastor in 2003.

The group is seeking donations to help the children receive food, educational tools and other basic necessities.

"It seemed to me there was sort of an unpaid debt," Roen said of the school named after the Haitians who died during the Siege of Savannah.

"When we started this second school, we decided to name it in memory of them."