Author: Randy

Haiti Update – Summer 2021 Events and Activities

Life in Haiti

Jovenel Moïse, the president of Haiti
Jovenel Moïse, the president of Haiti

Our hearts are broken for Haiti. July has been a tough month with the assassination of the president and the subsequent challenges with the investigation and apprehension of people involved. Changes were in the process of being made, but not finalized, regarding leadership and succession of power. A new leadership team is being formed to help the country move forward and solve the issues of violence that hold many of the Haitian people hostage and make life more difficult. Hands and Feet Project sent out this message about the situation in Haiti recently. If you’d like to receive HAFP messages, you can sign up for their newsletters here. Please join us in praying for peace throughout the country, and a smooth, peaceful transition in leadership. This country needs strong, Godly people in leadership that care about the wellbeing of the Haitian people.

Haiti Flag

We’re thankful that life in Jacmel continues to be calm and peaceful. Our local grocery store has been able to get supplies from Port au Prince on a fairly regular basis despite persistent problems with gangs, armed robbery, roadblocks, kidnappings, carjacking, and protests for various reasons. The local markets have been open for our kids and staff to purchase food and supplies. Schools have been open so that final exams from last school year and placement tests for the upcoming school year can be taken. It’s not long before school starts again in the fall!

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Haiti Life – Summer 2021

It’s been a few weeks since we posted anything here. We’ve posted and shared a few things on our Facebook page, but an update here is overdue. Here’s what we’ve been up to since our last post:

  • Returned to Haiti
  • Unpacked some amazing care packages
  • Moved off campus
  • Settling into new job roles
  • New staff started
  • Summer interns arrived
  • Leadership team visited
  • Trip to Grand Goave
  • Network equipment repairs & updates
  • Repaired computer lab…again
  • Appreciation event for daycare staff
  • New daycare staff interviews
  • Appreciation event for other Jacmel staff
  • Appreciation event for Grand Goave staff
  • Schools ended for most of our kids
  • Summer activities / celebrations
  • Soccer games & tournaments
  • Student rewards planning
  • Graduation ceremony?
  • Vacation Bible School planning
  • Village Values preparations
  • Hurricane / Tropical Storm Elsa prep

Back to Haiti

It happens every year at this time: the school year ends, we roll into summer activities and event planning, and the time just flies by as we endure some very long, busy, but fun days. This year is no exception!

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Life in Haiti Update

Hardship often prepares an ordinary person for an extraordinary destiny. -C.S. Lewis

The challenges of a pandemic and politics continue to be a burden on Haiti. They also impact the ministries and other organizations that work there. The instability continues to affect the tourism industry and short term mission trips in a big way, resulting in countless jobs lost and a significant reduction in income for many people and businesses. Here’s a recent newsletter from Hands and Feet Project that provides an overview of the current issues and the impact on each area of our Circle of Care. This covers a lot of key areas of our work and how we’re accommodating the challenging times.

If you aren’t already a subscriber to the Hands and Feet Project newsletter but would like to sign up, you can do that here. They share details and information about the programs and kids that affect all of our campuses and offer a wider perspective than our work that focuses primarily on caring for kids in Jacmel.

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January Update and Florida Furlough

We’re in the States for a few weeks and have some downtime to share what we’ve been up to recently. We wrote last month about Christmas and the fun we had with kids assembling solar cars and running them through some obstacle courses.

Most of January involved working on finances, budgeting, payroll updates, work contracts, food distribution, expanding the daycare, and some special events with kids. It was a lot to squeeze into a month!

Daycare for Family Preservation & Job Creation

Our daycare was opened about two years ago. Our main mission for the daycare is to create a safe place for infants and children to learn and be loved. In our vision it states, “we want to create a safe space for the infants and children that are vulnerable in our community.” If a mom and/or dad do not have a safe place to put their child while they go to work, the parent cannot work. In some cases they may even take the child to work with them. This creates a financial burden which sometimes leads to a difficult decision of what is best for that child, another family, an orphanage, etc. Our goal is to keep that family together by providing free child care while they work. We have hired Haitian teachers to care for the kids (job creation), as well as a cook for the kid’s meals while they are with us. They are dropped off in the morning and most stay with us until late afternoon.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Give thanks with a grateful heart

Here we are at Thanksgiving 2020. What a year it’s been for all of us! Covid, travel restrictions, mask requirements, business closings, jobs lost, and election challenges in the United States. Haiti has dealt with huge exchange rate fluctuations followed by substantial price swings for goods and services. Thankfully Covid hasn’t been as big of a factor here in the Caribbean countries. There are many days we’re thankful that we’re in Haiti!

what are you thankful for this year?

In a year of challenges, can you still identify positive things that God has provided for you? A good friend? Extra time with family? Time to clean the house? Extra time to devote to Bible reading and devotions?

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Caribbean Chronicles – Fall 2020 Edition

Fall Update

Randy & Denise anniversary getaway in Haiti
Randy & Denise celebrating their anniversary at their favorite restaurant in Jacmel

September 1st seems like it was so long ago. That’s when we returned to Haiti. It seems like every time we write an update we’re saying the same thing, but it’s so true. The time just flies by as we continue to work towards keeping things running smoothly, but also implementing changes to further improve how we care for the kids. Here’s a not-so-quick overview to get an idea of what activities we and our team have been up to since early September:

Visitors and Team Activities

Serious after-dinner discussion about solar power and batteries
Serious after-dinner discussion about solar power and batteries
  • Coworkers and supporters from the States visited and helped move some programs and projects forward
  • Our team visited, inventoried and evaluated each of our 11 residential houses on our campus and have been working on updates based on those findings
  • Some members of our board of directors visited and completed some projects and implemented some upgrades that were a huge help – we now have 2 more working washers, a basketball net up again, improved network and Wi-Fi, better office computers, another solar light and a working lawnmower!
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It’s a Beautiful Day in Haiti!

Taking Kids to School

It’s a beautiful day in Haiti today! Here are a few short video clips from our drive to school. The 2019-2020 school year is wrapping up and some schools are doing final exams. The new school year starts in the next month or so, depending on the school! Most schools will only have 2 weeks off before the next school year starts!

The potholes are getting bad again, as you can see in the first video. Other sections just got patched and are still holding up okay. We hope you enjoy the videos.

Modified Open House in Rochester

We are excited to share that we’re heading back to Haiti at the end of the month! In order to see as many people as possible before we leave, we’re having a modified open house for those in the Rochester, New York area. On Friday, August 21, we will be at Panera Bread in Penfield from noon to 3 and 5 to 7:30. We are asking people to reserve a time slot, if possible, so we don’t have a large group there at one time. You can reply to this message, reply to the open house event on Facebook, text us, email us, send a web site comment, send a carrier pigeon, or just come visit us when you have the time available.

Returning to Haiti

Shadows at Sampson State Park in New York
Feeling tall at Sampson State Park

Regarding our return to Haiti, the borders to Haiti opened last month, and we found some affordable flights from Rochester. The number of airlines and flights to Haiti have been reduced, so the trip to Haiti now requires an overnight layover, but we worked it out so we are meeting up with other people along the way and fly in together.

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Video Interviews

Hands and Feet Project logo

For those of you who follow Hands and Feet Project on Facebook, you may have seen video interviews with some of our coworkers over the last several weeks. This week, it’s our turn! You can watch our interview below, or you can watch it on Facebook even if you don’t have a Facebook account. (The video below may not work on all devices.)

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Working Remotely and School Plans

We Just Passed the 3 Year Mark!

our flight to Haiti in 2017
2017 Flight to Haiti

It’s August 2020, and do you know what that means? We recently celebrated our 3rd anniversary of moving to Haiti! We moved to Haiti on June 20, 2017. Can you believe we’re almost 2 months into our 4th year already? Wow, it’s amazing to think about how much we’ve learned and grown over these last 3 years! If you think back over the last 3 years of your life, it’s likely you’ve seen some big changes as well. We’re excited about how far we’ve come, and we’re looking forward to making further progress in caring for our Haitian kids and preparing them for the future. Here’s an update on what’s been going on in Haiti as we continue to work remotely and make plans for school.

Coronavirus News

Haiti has been on a downward slope of Coronavirus cases and deaths for several many weeks now, and the government has loosened some restrictions. The airport is open for people to fly into the country. Flights are coming down in price as we make tentative plans for our return. Quarantine and Covid-19 test requirements are still unclear for those traveling into the country, but we’re watching, listening and planning for when we can head back into Haiti. We continue to move forward with updated programs and planning for our kids in Haiti.

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