Ex-cop, after being shot in head, takes up missionary work in Haiti

It is not every day that one gets up, sells everything one possesses and decides to go and do missionary work. But Alrica Elizabeth Stewart is no everyday kind of a woman. In fact, having risen to the rank of Acting Assistant Superintendent of Police is enough proof that she is a one in a million kind of person.

What would induce someone to leave material possessions and become a soldier for Christ is a mind bogling phenomenon. It’s all well and good to shout praises to God, Allah, Rama or whoever one worships and then recede into the comfort of one’s earthly acquisitions; but when one can actually leave one’s home dispossessed and become a winner of souls in a far off destitute land, that’s another kettle of fish. “It is my desire to help save the lost, at any cost; to be on the mission field is a challenge that I embrace, knowing that it has nothing to do with me but everything to do with God,” were the words of this quiet, confident woman — and what better place to start missionary work but at our own backdoor, Haiti.

“Haiti I’m sorry
We misunderstood you
One day we’ll turn our heads
And look inside you
Haiti I’m sorry...Haiti I’m 
sorry
One day we’ll turn our heads
Restore your glory.”

The words of David Rudder’s song is like a mantra in Alrica’s heart, having just completed a ten-day mission in Haiti where she adopted a young boy, Winley Nelson, from the Port au Prince orphanage. “The visionary leader sees what others do not see” was the theme of that mission, spearheaded by Pastor Frank Samadi and his wife, who had met Alrica while she was on vacation in New York and asked her to be part of their team. The pressure cooker is bubbling with an ochro and rice cook-up, Alrica’s favourite dish, while she has items out on display for sale. Looking at her anthurium lilies and orchids, she remarked, “I love things that have life because I love life.”

All of the 52 years possessions, including her extensive collection of potted plants, even the immaculate home in which she lived for 18 years, must be left behind. Why?  Before an early retirement from the police service, Alrica was accidentally shot in the forehead during a training exercise. In an out of body experience she believed that the doctor who attended to her was an angel for when he asked her “Who protects you?” and she replied “Jesus” he pointed to her and said, “You had better serve him.” He said this after he found that there was no medical reason why she lived. For her, this was the turning point in her life, having served judiciously for 31 years in the police service, of which nine of them were spent in the narcotics unit. “My family thinks I’m crazy,” she said. Her one and only child, 27-year-old Daymian Stewart thought that perhaps his mother might one day be the first woman police commissioner. But this Tobago-born, fashionable woman could only say, “The things that I once thought were of significance were no longer important to me.”  Having contributed towards formulating a regional curriculum for training for drug squads, she was not unhappy in the police service, but unfulfilled.  “Now, I am happier and more at peace with myself.”

What would lead an annual model for Phase In fashions to become happily involved in church planting, feeding programmes, skills seminars, radio ministry, crusades and revivals is simply Alrica’s own prayer, “I am available dear Lord to be used by you. “Being a Christian doesn’t mean that one should be old and dowdy, was her view; “God uses you as you are.”
Hence, it is with no precise destination, but simply “Wherever you lead me Lord, there will I go,” that she is operating by. At the end of this month, she would be off to New Jersey, then to Greece and then back to Haiti, perhaps. “There is a depth of poverty in Haiti, I cannot explain,” she said quietly; and repeats, while nodding her head, “I cannot explain...if I could make a difference in one person’s life, that would be enough.” Alrica admires Senior Superintendent of Police, Kathleen Weekes for her resilience, tenacity and boldness. Kathleen is the only woman in the world who heads a drug squad and who encourages her staff in a holistic manner were Alrica’s views. She is also of the viewpoint that “There is need for a spiritual awakening in the police service” and where everything else was tried and failed, maybe it was time to try God. And when we, in Trinidad, think we are poor, like Alrica did, we should see Haiti and help Haiti.
In the words of David Rudder:
“When there is anguish in Port au 
Prince
It’s still Africa crying
We’re outing fires in far away
places
When our neighbours are just burn
ing
They say the middle passage is
gone
So how come overcrowded boats
still haunt our lives?
I refuse to believe that we good
people
Would forever turn our hearts
And our eyes...away.”