And then there was a wedding….

A couple plans for what seems like forever for their “big day.” In a country that isn’t considered “third world”, you can pretty much count on your wedding happening on the day you plan it and things going fairly smooth and as it was planned.

Wedding setup at Hotel Cyvadier Plage

This past week you may have heard that the country of Haiti again, was on a lock down. Road blocks and protesting because of so many things that the people in Haiti are just plain tired of. You can read more about it in our last blog. While the city we live in was pretty much stopped, there was a couple who had planned their wedding for this past Saturday. Waiting for this day, to become one. I am sure that the whole week was spent just not knowing if the wedding would happen the way they planned it, let alone at all.

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Fuel Shortages in Haiti

We are so thankful that God continues to lead us and provide for us, for the children we help care for, and for Hands and Feet Project, even when the times are tough! Here’s an update on what’s going on across the country of Haiti as many people here struggle to survive. We continue to share the message of hope in Christ to the kids in our care, our staff, our church and those we encounter in the community. Thank you all for your prayers.

Have You Ever Experienced A Fuel Shortage?

Most of us have either experienced a fuel shortage or have seen vehicles lined up at gas stations for fuel in the midst of a fuel shortage. What sort of impact has a fuel shortage had on you? Has it impacted your driving habits so you don’t go out as often? Have you used the smaller car that’s more fuel efficient rather than the truck or SUV? Have you ever been concerned about a fuel shortage affecting the electricity at your home or work?

Fuel shortages happen frequently in Haiti. The challenge here in Haiti is that the country basically runs on 3 types of fuel: diesel, gasoline and propane. The vast majority of city power is provided via diesel generators. A lack of fuel over a long period of time in Haiti can virtually shut the country down, from communications to businesses and transportation. Reserves are very low, even for the places that plan ahead and ration fuel usage!

Gas line in Jacmel that blocked traffic recently
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Haiti Events & Activities – Summer 2022

Summer Overview

It has been another busy summer for all of us at Hands and Feet Project! Here are some of the summer events and activities we’ve been working on. We have hired new Haitian staff, welcomed another missionary to our Jacmel team, celebrated two high school graduations, held many computer classes, made progress towards opening and reopening 4 daycares, and reorganized some things on our Jacmel campus. Looking ahead, we have Vacation Bible School (VBS) in Jacmel this week, VBS in Grand Goave next week, and our Village Values weekend celebration is coming up quickly as well. We’ve been back to Florida for a brief stay, and are now back in Haiti for the rest of the summer.

Flying back to Haiti

Our trip to Florida began with both of us getting sick for most of a week. We must have caught some sort of stomach bug just before or during our trip to the States. It made our brief visit to Florida seem even shorter. On top of our full work load of managing daycare activities, overseeing finances, maintaining computer systems, and helping out in many other areas, we both had new staff in Haiti start working while we were in Florida. We spent a lot of time on video calls and chats to keep the training moving forward! On top of that, Denise also lead sessions of the women’s Bible study at our church in Florida.

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Extending Our Stay in Haiti

We returned to Haiti last month. It feels good to be back! We’ve enjoyed seeing the kids and staff again. It’s always exciting to hear about what everyone has been doing while we were away. We’ve seen some of our friends from the states and look forward to catching up with others soon. We’re extending our stay in Haiti by a couple of weeks to help with a few unexpected things that came up.

MFI DC-3 aircraft
MFI DC-3

We flew to Haiti on a DC-3 cargo plane from Ft. Pierce, Florida all the way to Jacmel, with several stops along the way. This was our first time flying into Haiti with MFI (Missionary Flights International). It was a good experience, and we plan to continue using their services.

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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.

McGarvey News Update

On January 16th, the organization we work with, Hands and Feet Project, posted this on Facebook (no Facebook account is needed to open the link):

Please pray for Hands & Feet Project’s missionary staff. Like many missionaries in Haiti, they have experienced interruptions to their ministry and mission over the past several months. Our missionaries are temporarily stateside, away from their home, separated from their community and pausing the life that God has called them to step into. Please pray for each missionary called to Haiti to persevere through setback after setback and challenge after challenge.

HAFP Missionaries:
Rachel, Michelle, Randy & Denise

We could not have asked for a better statement at this time. We are away from our home. We are away from our community. We are away from our friends we have made, the children at Hands and Feet Project, our staff there, our church we have grown to love and many other parts of our home and community in Haiti. We are expected to work as much as we can with those that are in Haiti while we are away from home. This can prove to be difficult. The uncertainty of the internet, power, etc., makes it hard to communicate. Perseverance is a great word for this time we are in. It honestly feels like we have had more setbacks and challenges in our ministry there this last year than ever before. But we also see successes through these trials.

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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.

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Merry Christmas from the McGarveys!

Haiti Metal Art Christmas Tree

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.

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