It’s still summertime in Haiti…sort of
We had a great time of fun activities, events and entertainment for all of our kids in Haiti over the summer! On top of regular activities and events with the kids, we also had a week-long Vacation Bible School with huge help from our older kids. The program for this year was “Christmas in August”, and the children got to experience the love, joy, and peace of opening the Bible and learning more about Jesus and why He came. The VBS program included lesson time, skits, creative crafts, snacks, and games.
We had plans for our annual Village Values weekend celebration, but that was canceled due to protests that prevented a team from the US from coming in, and also prevented safe transportation in and around Jacmel and Grand Goave.
Schools in the USA have all started a month or more ago. The school year was supposed to start in Haiti on September 5th, but the government pushed back the official start of school until early October due to protests regarding ongoing fuel shortages, insecurity, massive inflation and government inaction. Now the gangs have said that they won’t allow school to start until Prime Minister Ariel Henry steps down. We heard similar demands about the former president stepping down that were never met, and protests eventually let up. We hope and pray that those funding protestors run out of money soon so things can stabilize for the people of Haiti. There are still many issues surrounding the control of the country that still need to be resolved.
Challenges in Haiti
The challenges of Haiti life continue to compound for the people. The cost of basic goods has increased substantially. Some reports indicate that inflation recently hit 30%! The lack of availability of many items, especially food and fuel, is driving up costs. The country has faced a fuel shortage for over 2 months. While there is plenty of fuel in the port, the gangs in Port au Prince are preventing it’s distribution. The continuing erosion of conditions in Haiti don’t make the news very often, but this article contains excerpts from a speech from the former American Ambassador to Port au Prince that have resonated with many people as a wake up call for those who are listening.
Despite the continuing issues in Haiti, by the grace of God we’ve been able to continue providing for the children in our care. We’re so thankful that God continues to provide and we pray in faith that this will continue.
Where are we now?
Because of increasing challenges in Haiti, Denise and Randy came back to the States a bit sooner than expected, and we’re currently in Florida. The last 2 weeks of our stay in Haiti, many of our staff could not come to work due to protests and road blocks. There was also a further reduction in the availability of fuel and food for our campus. For safety reasons along with the desire for us not to consume resources needed to care for the children on our campus, we headed back to the States in early September. This was amazing timing because our return coincided with Denise’s mom having some health issues and needing some extra care. God’s timing is perfect!
We’ve shared a variety of pictures of roadblocks around Jacmel, and they are no joke. Cars and trucks cannot get through the roadblocks when they are set up. The protestors decide whether people can drive motorcycles around them, or whether people can walk around them. Access to our campus continues to be very limited since we left due to manned roadlocks 5-6 days a week.
Denise and Randy continue to work on opening daycares, overseeing and training our Haitian staff, organizing finances, troubleshooting technical issues, and more. We are very thankful we recently switched to QuickBooks online so we can keep moving forward and work together when communications are down in Haiti.
Next Steps
We’re scheduled to return to Haiti in late December. We will continue to monitor the situation there and assess whether we can be more effective working from the States or continuing with our scheduled trip. In the short term, we are heading to Arizona to see our kids and some friends, and then heading to Rochester, New York to see more family and friends, and to visit with as many of our faithful supporters as possible. We’re then driving my parents back to Florida with us. Please pray for safe travels and great visits! And also please continue to keep Haiti in your prayers. Please pray for:
* the safety and wellbeing of our kids, staff and friends in Haiti
* the safe distribution of food, fuel and supplies
* a return to rule of law across the country
* schools to be allowed to start soon
* opportunities to return to Haiti to work on computer and networking systems
* whatever else God puts on your heart!
Save the Date!
We will be in Rochester towards the 3rd week of October and are tentatively planning a Panera Bread open house in Penfield on Friday, October 21. We would love to see as many of you as possible. If that doesn’t fit your schedule, please send us a note to let us know other times you’re available that week.
Be a Know-It-All
Do you want more information about our work in Haiti? Be sure to sign up for the Hands and Feet Project (HAFP) email updates if you haven’t done that already. You can follow the blog posts on the HAFP web site. If you’re on Facebook, you can also follow the HAFP page to get updates there. Even if you don’t have a Facebook account, you can still open the HAFP Facebook. page. Just follow the link and create a bookmark! These Hands and Feet Project resources share daily updates about changes to our programs, activities with the kids, and news about Jacmel and Haiti.