Category: Haiti Life

Family Preservation, Daycares and the “New Normal”

At the Hands and Feet Project, we focus our efforts on protecting, caring, and serving the vulnerable in Haiti through four projects:

* Preserving Families
* Providing Families
* Experiencing Missions
* Restoring Survivors

You can visit the Hands and Feet Project website to learn more about each of these projects. You can also review the 2021 Impact Report for more impact stats from our different projects.

Preserving Families

The goal of our Preserving Families Project is to keep families together. Among the several projects within our Family Preservation Project is our Little Hands Daycare.  We have talked about this in the past and it is something we are excited about. In 2021 we supported 28 families, 28 children.  That is 28 families where moms, dads, and caregivers can go to work and know that their child is being well taken care of, learning, and having fun as well. It also means they can continue with their jobs and support their family.  Keep the family intact. There is no cost to the family for this service.

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Travel Ban Lifted…Returning to Haiti!

The travel ban has been lifted!
We’re Heading Back to Haiti!

As we’ve shared in recent posts, the Hands and Feet Project (HAFP) board of directors put a travel ban in place in December to be revisited in March. We’re excited to share that the board has met and they have lifted the travel ban.  Their additional requirement going forward is that we must acknowledge the risks associated with travel to Haiti and that there are limited services available within the country as well as to assist with travel out of the country. 

MFI DC3

We don’t see the risks of being in Jacmel as being much higher than they’ve been in recent years. We’ve recognized that this is likely the new normal for Haiti. That being said…we will continue to be prayerful, diligent in assessing the country, and discerning each time we come and go as well as while we are in country. HAFP is also doing the same. There are still ongoing issues with a lack of formal government, the gangs controlling many of the streets in and around the capital of Port au Prince, the inability or unwillingness of the police to control the streets, intermittent fuel shortages, widespread and ongoing power issues, and safety concerns traveling in and out of Port au Prince.

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Spring Update 2022

It’s a rare thing that we get to experience Spring! We’re still in Florida and the azaleas are already blooming and the trees are already producing leaves. We are awaiting the Hands and Feet Project leadership to determine our next steps regarding returning to Haiti.

Denise & Randy
Elephant Ear in Florida

In December, the HAFP board put a Haiti travel ban in place until mid-March when they would meet again to discuss the safety issues of missionaries being in Haiti.

We left Haiti at the end of October because of unrest, the publicized kidnapping of missionaries from the US and Canada, and talk of paying ransoms. Kidnappings have increased recently, and include people of all nationalities. In the recent case, the kidnapping of a large group of missionaries has drawn a great deal of attention and publicity to the issue.

We continue to work from Florida to help keep things moving forward in Haiti. We are happy to report that things are going well with the kids and staff on our campuses. God continues to bless the ministry with great staff that are doing a good job on the ground in Haiti.

Please pray for wisdom for us, our leadership team and the board of directors as we all navigate through this latest challenge.

November Haiti News Update

Haiti map

When we returned to the States at the end of October, we were hoping and praying that things in Haiti would settle back down so we can return by early December. What does “settle back down” mean? We are awaiting the safe release of 17 American and Canadian hostages that were abducted by a gang in the Port au Prince area in mid-October. Many other issues will be resolved when fuel is available on a regular basis. Gangs are currently controlling and limiting fuel distribution.

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September 2021 Update

We’re back in Haiti after our visit to the Rochester, New York area. It was great to see so many people at our Panera open house and to be able to meet with many others! The end of a furlough is often bittersweet. There are always people that we aren’t able to see. We would love to stay longer and visit with more people, but we also feel the need to get back to Haiti and continue our work firsthand. And we miss the kids and staff when we’re away!

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Rochester Visit – Summer 2021

August Activities

It’s been a busy month in Haiti! August brought us a great weekend of celebrating our village values of love, honesty, responsibility and obedience with all of our kids and staff. We taught about the importance of these values, awarded children and staff who exhibit these characteristics.

Jacmel Village Values Performance
Village Values Performance

We also celebrated with dances and singing performed by the kids. The weekend ended with a pizza party Saturday night and a church service on campus on Sunday morning. During this month we also had some fun outings for our kids, unpacked and distributed school supplies & shoes from amazing supporters of Hands and Feet Project (HAFP). We have seen great progress on campus maintenance and improvement projects, too.

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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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Spring 2021 McGarvey News Update

Welcoming Spring

snowdrops in the snow

Spring is a time for new life and new growth after surviving the winter season. Every year we see the pictures of snowdrops and crocuses poking through the snow on warm days. We had many of those flowers at our house in upstate New York and looked forward to seeing them mark the beginning of the Spring season every year. This Spring is a new season for us as well.

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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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