Tag: Hands and Feet Project

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Hello everyone! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all! Here’s a year-end update about how things are going in Haiti and how we’re able to help keep programs moving forward.

Haiti Status

We’re really thankful that things are opening back up in Haiti. It started with restoring power on our campus. We had a system malfunction in September that disabled our power system, and it took a long time before the repair guy was able to come from Port au Prince to assess the damage and begin repairs. Then internet was recently restored and we can finally have our Haitian team working in the spreadsheets, documents and communication tools we all use every day. One of our big challenges while systems were down was getting financial information. We had to use photos and text messages to get vital information while power and internet were out. We’re so thankful we can move forward and try to catch up before the year-end finance reports are due! I have taken on a much bigger role in finances while I also train our new Haitian bookkeeper and bring him up to speed.

Continue reading “Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!”

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.

Continue reading “Fall is Here, But Schools Have Not Started in Haiti??”

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.

Continue reading “Extending Our Stay in Haiti”

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.

Continue reading “Travel Ban Lifted…Returning to Haiti!”

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.

Continue reading “McGarvey News Update”

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.

Continue reading “2021 Review and Looking Ahead to 2022”

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.

Continue reading “Spring 2021 McGarvey News Update”

Wrapping Up 2020 & Jumping Into 2021

Happy New Year! We’re thankful that 2020 is finally over, but there’s still a lot of work to do in 2021. Are you ready?

Thinking ahead about the new year before us, some of our Hands and Feet Project team have chosen words to describe their intentions for 2021. What word would you choose for 2021? Here’s the post from the Hands and Feet Project Facebook page that you should be able to see even if you don’t have a Facebook account.

Continue reading “Wrapping Up 2020 & Jumping Into 2021”

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.

Continue reading “Modified Open House in Rochester”