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Fall is Here, But Schools Have Not Started in Haiti??

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.

2021 Review and Looking Ahead to 2022

Happy New Year! While 2021 was a hard year for many of us, we want to pause and look at the positive work that Hands and Feet Project (HAFP) is doing in Haiti. Then we want to look ahead to our plans for 2022.

2021 Year in Review

Throughout 2021, Hands and Feet Project has continued to provide families and to preserve families for children in Haiti. New families are being supported to enable children to stay with them, children have been reunified with family, more children have a safe place to stay in our daycares while their mom & dad work, and new children have been brought into HAFP to provide loving families. There are even more requests for assistance from families in our community as the challenges of finding work and food continue. We are thankful that HAFP continues to have the ability to meet the needs of so many.

Merry Christmas from the McGarveys!

Merry Christmas! This has been quite an eventful year, and it’s hard to believe the end of 2021 is finally in sight. We are thankful for the time we had in Haiti this year but are disappointed that conditions in Haiti have continued to deteriorate. Unexpectedly, we are in Florida for this holiday season because of the challenges that Haiti continues to face.

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.

Spring 2021 McGarvey News Update

Welcoming Spring

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.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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?

Summer in the States

This has been a year of the unexpected for many of us. We never expected to be spending the summer in the states and working remotely to keep things moving forward in Jacmel. We have so much to do as we constantly plan and implement next steps to equip and prepare the kids on our campus for next steps in life. As you can imagine, this is a constant process of evaluating the past and making adjustments for the future. We’re thankful for video meeting capabilities and other forms of technology to keep us connected and moving forward!

Some days we spend 6-7 hours in Zoom meetings!

Haiti is still dealing with the Covid-19 virus and continues to restrict travel into, out from and within the country. There are some flights scheduled most weeks to allow people to leave Haiti, and after several months with a travel ban into Haiti, there’s talk about opening the airport again. The requirements for those traveling into the country are not clear yet, but we’ll be watching for opportunities to return.

May Reflections

Haiti and Holidays!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of our caregivers!

Can you believe May is nearly over? Memorial Day is now behind us in America and the unofficial summer season has arrived after a long, cold winter and spring in many places. Florida was not one of those cold places, and, of course, neither was Haiti! In the last month, Haiti has also celebrated Labor / Agriculture Day on May 1, Flag Day on May 18, and Mother’s Day on May 31. It’s been a busy month! We’ve celebrated each Haitian holiday from afar as we’ve been in Florida for several months and are now in upstate New York (the Rochester / Finger Lakes region, not the New York City area!)

Haiti Happenings Update

So what have we been up to this month? We’ve been working like crazy to care for our kids during this coronavirus lockdown while looking ahead to next steps as our kids learn and grow. Our days are often filled with Zoom video calls, and WhatsApp calls and chats – the tools we use to communicate with our Haitian and American coworkers. We’re so thankful for the dedication of our essential staff in Haiti and for all the work they’re doing to keep the campus running smoothly and keeping food and supplies for the kids coming in. We have many changes that we’re working on, and of course it’s a bit more difficult to manage change remotely, but we’re moving forward with everyone’s help. We’re moving kids as they hit the maximum age for our campuses, we’re making campus safety improvements, overseeing repair and maintenance projects, and preparing for more of our kids to head out into the community and beyond.

Haiti, Health and Wellness

Jacmel Campus and Haiti News

Hello everyone! We hope and pray that each and every one of you and your families are safe, healthy, and able to find all the essentials during this lockdown period. We also pray that you have a wonderful Easter weekend as we reflect on the death and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement as we continue to lead our staff in Haiti from afar. So far, Haiti only has 30 reported cases of Coronavirus Covid-19. Only a few cases have been reported in the Jacmel area so far.

Coronavirus COVID-19 Hits Haiti

What impact do you expect Coronavirus COVID-19 to have on your life? It’s hard to answer that question, isn’t it? Many people have already been affected, but we don’t know how much more impact it will have. We’ve seen some countries are reporting having the spread of the virus under control and the number of new cases is decreasing. Other countries are just dealing with the initial onslaught and still have increasing numbers. We’ve also heard that the virus is changing as it migrates from country to country, so that increases the uncertainty even more.

Category: Support

Fall is Here, But Schools Have Not Started in Haiti??

It’s still summertime in Haiti…sort of

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