Grady Enlow

To say Grady loves to be active seems to be an understatement.  He is the Associate Director for FSU’s UBA program, takes doctoral classes, is a member of Community Theatre, a Sunday school teacher, an active family man, and enjoys running to name just a few of his activities.  In spite of his hectic lifestyle when his church announced a mission trip to Haiti, it didn’t take much time for Grady and his wife to decide they were going. 

Obtaining leave from their jobs, Grady and his wife June Dollar (she is the Production Coordinator for the FSU Opera) joined a team of 13 others with the goal of assisting, in whatever way they could, the local people of Haiti after the catastrophicmagnitude 7.0 Mearthquake  that occurred on, January 12, 2010. 

Arriving in Port Au Prince on a hot, muggy July day, they rode in a dilapidated 30 year old school bus for what seemed like an eternity along a cliff with no guard rail to the Joy House where they would sleep in dorm style housing for the next week.  As far as the eye could see there were tent cities where the locals were living.  The devastation was obvious and shocking.  There was a complete loss of fresh water.  Each week day a water truck would drive through the neighborhoods and fill empty 5 gallon buckets.  There was no water truck on the weekends.

The challenge to the team was simple.  They were to work with the local people and build as many temporary shelters as possible as well as clear mountains of debris from home sites.  The conditions were grueling with the daily temperatures soaring near 100 degrees, swarms of mosquitoes, and a carefully rationed water supply.  Grady found the local people to be unbelievably joyful and grateful to be alive.  Working in 3 teams the church missionaries, along with the remaining community members, used sledge hammers and wheel barrels to slowly remove the rubble.  By the end of the week they were able to construct 25 temporary shelters and cleared 2 sites where homes had collapsed.

Now safely back in his job at FSU, Grady reflects on what a difficult and rewarding time it was.  The work was physically challenging and the conditions primitive; but providing shelter for those who had lost everything was a truly gratifying opportunity.  It was an experience he and his wife will never forget.