Missionary Jim Boynton, a Jesuit Brother from St. Ignace, stands in the middle of a crowd of Haitian children at a tent camp in the capital of Port au Prince. Mr. Boynton has recently been working as a member of an eight-man emergency response operation comprised of health care professionals, ex- Marines, and soldiers who provided medical assistance for people following the January 12 earthquake. When Jesuit Brother Jim Boynton, a native of St. Ignace, arrived in Haiti last November on a mission trip for Jesuit Refugee Services, he never fathomed one of the most devastating earthquakes in the history of mankind would strike the country two months later, or that he would be part of one of the first American response teams to arrive in the capital, Port au Prince.

But that's precisely what happened while Mr. Boynton, a former teacher for the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy, was stationed at the Jesuit Novitiate in Tabarre, a suburb outside of the capital.

Missionary Jim Boynton (right) with Kenneth Merten, the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti and a graduate of Walsh Jesuit High School. They met while serving in Haiti and discussed the rebuilding of schools in Port au Prince. “When the earthquake hit, we felt it,” he said. “All of the pots and pans on our stove fell off.”

Because of poor communication in the region, Br. Boynton called his parents in St. Ignace, Ollie and Patty Boynton, who informed him about details of the quake they learned from television reports. Shortly thereafter, he received an e-mail from a Jesuit friend who was organizing an emergency relief operation called “Team Rubicon,” and looking for a contact in Haiti.

Eager to help, Mr. Boynton joined the eight-man team of ex- Marines, soldiers, and medical experts in the Dominican Republic, and the group soon set up a makeshift camp with the Jesuits stationed in Port au Prince.

“We were really the first American responders,” said Mr. Boynton of the team, which arrived in the capital five days after the quake. “We would go out in trucks to the neighborhoods and set up camps.”

Team Rubicon was constantly on the move during the next several weeks following the January 12 quake, offering aid to those who required medical attention the most.

“Most of the hospitals were full, not to mention crushed, so they would discharge amputees who would have medical fixtures with double-headed nails coming out of their legs,” he said.

The team also helped dispose of dead bodies, which were strewn over the city's streets. Wearing medical gowns and rubber gloves with Vicks VapoRub under their noses to block the stench, the team used an old truck to pick up bodies in the street.

Br. Boynton said it was a surreal experience. At one point he asked himself, “How did I, Jim Boynton from St. Ignace, end up here doing this?”

Now that Team Rubicon has left the country, Br. Boynton's focus has shifted from medical to educational. Working with a school system called “Foi et Joie,” which means faith and joy, he is setting up a network of refugee schools in Port au Prince's largest displaced area, with the goal of educating approximately 7,000 students. The earthquake has impacted roughly half of the schools in the capital, according to Br. Boynton.

“Education is very poor here to begin with,” he said. “Some of the schools look like dungeons.”

Along with Haiti's department of education, Br. Boynton is collaborating with a team of engineers from the University of Detroit, the Dominican Republic, and Spain.

“My immediate hands-on work in the last couple of weeks has been organizing the structure of the physical schools in Port au Prince,” he said. “Right now we're trying to do a sweep of the schools to see how they've been affected.”

Next, Mr. Boynton, who has lived under a tent since the earthquake, will serve as the principal at a school in the east side of the country. He continues to appreciate the support he's had from St. Ignace.

“The messages of support and prayers I've gotten from all over, but more importantly from St. Ignace, has just been incredible,” he said. “I've never needed support like I've needed it now, and I've gotten it.”

St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church in St. Ignace is collecting donations and school supplies (crayons, paper, erasers) for Mr. Boynton's efforts in Haiti. Donations may be dropped off at the church's vestibule anytime.