Haiti Crisis Update: Lives Touched in the Midst of Suffering

By Laura Polynice

Haiti fades in and out of the US news, but the situation continues to be dire for the people of Haiti. 

While an interim government was instituted in May and 400 Kenyan officers have arrived in Haiti, there has been no improvement in the security situation. In many areas, the gang activity has gotten worse. Some communities are standing firm and defending their towns from the gangs’ attacks, while other areas have been overrun by the gangs and the population has been forced to flee. On October 3, a gang attack in the community of Pont-Sonde, 45 minutes from PLH’s campus, left 115 men, women, and children dead.

(Source: NPR - Oct 10, 2024)

The UN reports, “Gang violence and political instability have resulted in a record 702,973 people internally displaced (IDPs) [forced to flee their homes and unable to return], making Haiti the country with the largest number of displacements globally due to crime-related violence.” With a population of just 11.7 million, this is a significant percentage of the population.

(Source: UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) - Oct 3, 2024. For more information, data, and charts, check out the interactive report.) 

The gangs’ stronghold on the country continues to deepen the hunger crisis in Haiti. Nearly half of the population, 5.4 million people, are experiencing "crisis levels of hunger or worse."

(Source: Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) - Sept 20, 2024)

Children are also missing out on an education as schools are frequently forced to close. Nearly 900 schools remain permanently closed, affecting almost 200,000 children.
(Source: UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) - Oct 3, 2024)

While it is hard to see how things will improve and what we can do to help stop so much suffering, Project Living Hope remains firm in its mission of empowering Haitians to build a stronger Haiti. 

We have seen tremendous growth in the PLH athletics programs, virtual training workshops, and food relief efforts. Programs like these are key in keeping youth away from the influence of gangs and equipping individuals to build a better future for themselves and their family. Every person touched by these programs is a life changed and a positive step for Haiti.

Update: 2021 Haiti Earthquake and Tropical Storm Grace

Map Tracking Grace’s Path

Thank you for your prayers. While the south-western part of Haiti is still working on rescue and relief efforts from Saturday’s earthquake, tropical storm Grace approaches. The storm was expected to hit the northern coast; however, its path shifted south and it is now beginning to rain down on the southern coast and other parts of the country. Pray for shelter and protection for those displaced during this storm. Updates on the earthquake report 1,297 deaths and 5,700 injured. Please pray for the affected communities and families.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

While PLH is not near enough to the area to effectively assist in the rescue and relief efforts, there are many organizations that have been providing first response care and are organizing support for those injured and displaced, here are a few organizations that could use your financial support at this time: HERO Foundation, HaitiONE and Haitian Air Ambulance.

Thank you for your partnership and prayers. PLH will continue to provide you with updates as we can.

Construction Has Begun!

By Sara Dessieux

For the last nine months, the construction team in Oregon has been making plans, purchasing equipment and supplies, acquiring donations, recruiting volunteers, and packing containers.  Everyone new to Haiti was warned that things can move a lot slower in Haiti and numerous unexpected obstacles will present themselves. All those preparations culminated in a crew of six volunteers from Oregon arriving in Haiti on Monday, March 9 to begin work again on the Project Living Hope Land in Camp Marie.  Bob Thatcher, Dwight Hardin, Ron Randall, Tom Doran, Josh Smith, and Mike Younk were joined by dozens of Haitian men throughout their week of work.  

The team had two main goals: lay drainage pipe throughout the soccer fields to divert rain water and pour concrete foundations for the shop and garage.  We are thrilled to report that they were able to do both of those things. They also hoped to grade the soccer fields and get the backhoe we had purchased out of the container and put it to use, but those jobs will have to wait for another day.  It only seems appropriate. Around the world, plans are falling through. No cases of coronavirus are being reported in Haiti yet, but this country does have its own mountain of problems these days. 

Still the week was an exciting success!  The highlight of the week for me was seeing the shop floor being poured.  Picture six construction volunteers from Oregon, Guesly, several members of our Haiti staff, four Haitian guys we sent to a masonry course last year, a couple other hard working men from the community, and a crew of almost 30 guys from St. Marc that came to actually mix and pour the concrete (which included carrying and dumping in all the cement, sand, rocks and water)!  All the nonstop activity and brute strength required was incredible.  

As is the protocol here in Haiti, all 70+ of the workers were fed a hot lunch at the worksite.  Two of our employees, plus another we hire on a daily basis, began work in their makeshift kitchen around 7am having lunch ready around 12:30pm.  Every day, they made a huge pot of rice and beans and, in another pot, some variety of tasty cooked vegetables flavored with a little meat. They dished it all up into piles of styrofoam boxes.  That was followed up with cleaning the pots and then washing and prepping food for the next day. Later in the week one of the guys bought thirty metal bowls which is enough for normal work days so that we can cut back on the styrofoam.  

Two of the volunteers from Oregon stayed on in Haiti for a second week and will keep working through tomorrow before heading home on Saturday.  There is much left to be done on the PLH land but our crew here in Haiti will keep plugging away and warmly welcome our next team of volunteers whenever they are able to come.  The coronavirus has put the brakes on travel for now. But we are grateful that this past week was able to happen. We appreciate the sacrifice our visitors and their families made, and we feel so blessed with the team of Haitian people God has brought together for us.  

The weeks and months ahead are full of uncertainties for all of us and so we draw comfort from Bible passages like this:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13

Josh Smith sent daily reports to keep the construction team informed and entertained.  For those of you who enjoy knowing all the details, here is a summary of their days:

Pictured above: Bob, left. Mike, center. Josh, right.

Monday - The team walked the land with many members of the PLH staff.  We know just having them show up ready to get to work was so encouraging to our staff after our family’s 8-month absence and the Haiti-wide protests and lockdown.  The team went through the pipes and parts that had been delivered in Container #1 and then a carload of men went to nearby St Marc to retrieve tools from Container #2 that was still being held at customs.

Tuesday - A rented bulldozer that was supposed to be delivered Monday arrived at 2pm.  Everyone soon discovered it could only drive slowly so for the whole week dirt moving did not happen very fast.  Men went back to St. Marc on Tuesday to get forms and lots of other concrete supplies out of Container #2. Some of the pieces were very big and everything had to be carried over the backhoe which was still in the doorway of the container.  Lots of sweating happened. An expected excavator never arrived, but drainage pipe was laid out and joined into 80-foot sections. A crew began digging the shop foundation by hand.

Wednesday - The excavator arrived and shipping container #1, which was now empty, was lifted off the trailer chassis using the excavator, bulldozer and chains.  Yet again, men had to go into St. Marc to get more supplies. This time no box truck was available so everything was loaded into a dump truck. Most of the forms for the shop foundation were put in place, the excavator dug a trench between the two soccer fields, and gabions were placed where the pipe will drain. 

Josh wrote, “The heat was in full GO MODE today. The group drank tons of water. The Haitian people are very giving, loving and humble. Willing to jump into any situation, regardless of whether they know how to do the work or not.  I personally continue to learn from the culture, the pace of life, the impactful people. America has very little in common. Starting at breakfast...Americans may say, what’s up? Hello. Etc... But Haitian folks actually ask, How are you this morning? How did you sleep? Genuine questions, expressing care.”

Thursday - The team installed 300 feet of pipe and all went well until the excavator blew a hydraulic hose at 3pm.  The Haitian operator headed to Port-au-Prince to retrieve a new one. The forming was finished for the shop foundation and a portable cement mixer was delivered.  The rented roller showed up late Wednesday, but then the bulldozer and roller began working on rebuilding the slope around the soccer fields.  

Friday - The shop foundation was divided into three sections and two sections were poured today.  A crew of about 30 Haitian men came to pour the cement. Josh wrote, “Never have I thought in all my years of doing concrete could something be completed with that massive amount of labor. We poured approximately 30 cubic yards in the burning hot sun. Every one of us Americans, at times, had to take a break, feeling on the edge of heat stroke, but all persevered. Every bucket of sand, rock, cement, and water was packed with 5-gallon buckets. The two mixers used were those that would have been removed from a US rental fleet years ago, but they worked. Got it done. It was fun to teach and watch the Haitians continue to "catch on" to finishing techniques. Part of the joy of doing this trip has been teaching folks how to do something new. Something they may only do once in their life, but you can tell by facial expressions it’s impactful.” 

The excavator was fixed around noon and more trench was dug and more pipe was laid.  The team was able to leave the land early around 4:00 and went to the beach to swim.

Saturday - The remaining section of the shop foundation was poured while part of the crew finished setting up the forms for the garage.  Then three-fourths of that foundation was poured. The rest of the crew finished digging all the trenches for the pipe.  

Sunday - The team worked for several hours before attending church at 10:30. They finished up all the remaining pipework in the soccer fields and removed and cleaned the forms from the garage.  Four out of the six guys headed to Port-au-Prince to fly out in the morning.

+++ If you’re among the people who have read this far, you may be wondering about the current status on the containers.  Container #1 is sitting next to the shop pad ready to be moved into place to become part of the shop. Container #2 containing the backhoe is still in St. Marc being held by customs.  Container #3 was loaded with the two metal buildings yesterday in Oregon. A team of volunteers there worked for hours to maneuver everything into place. We hope to see it in Haiti sometime in April. 

THE VISION

Written by Guesly Dessieux, Founder and Executive Director

As we enter a new year, I believe that God has great plans for Project Living Hope, the people of Camp Marie, and the people of Haiti. A few years ago when I started talking about this idea, this big vision and dream of starting an organization that empowers people and creates disciples, I was sure my wife thought I was crazy. She knows I don’t do things small. For me, it’s always “go big or go home.” Sometimes, we can have such huge dreams that we are afraid to even talk about them, but this was something I wanted to share with others and act on, no matter how big the task seemed.

In Ephesians 3:20, Paul refers to God as, “Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”  Like anybody, I sometimes battle the fear that I am not capable of succeeding at this, but I always come back to believing that God can do something huge through us. Do you believe that? That God can do immeasurably more in you and through you than you could ever imagine? Is He just waiting for you to take the needed steps in obedience?

We believe that God wants to use Project Living Hope to reach more people for Christ. Our vision as an organization is to empower Haitians to build a stronger Haiti. We focus on purposefully training up strong, future disciples that will have a heart for Christ and that will train up more disciples. We want this movement to change Haiti. Right now, there are 11 million people that live in Haiti with less than 20% of the population being devoted Christians. As an organization, we want to be part of reaching both young and old for Christ. We focus primarily on reaching Haiti’s next generation for Christ through purposeful discipleship and we believe that God can do immeasurably more through them to change their families, their friends, their communities, and their country than they could ever imagine. We are not looking for a quick fix but are undertaking a process that takes time and requires investing in relationships.

THE KING CENTER

We are planning four weeks of construction this March to place drainage pipes, resurface the soccer fields for future turf placement, address erosion, and build a shop and garage. We have purchased three shipping containers to send equipment and materials to Haiti. The first two shipped out in late January and include the backhoe, miscellaneous tools, erosion control materials, HDPE pipe, tables and chairs for the English class, and balls and cleats for the soccer program. The third one will follow in February and include the building materials. We may face obstacles and setbacks but we move forward in faith knowing God can do immeasurably more than we can ever imagine.

FIRST TWO BUILDINGS

These first two buildings will allow us to start offering job skills programs as well as provide a shaded area for Bible training with the children and youth in our sports programs and for staff meetings and trainings. It will temporarily house English classes until we are able to build the education center.

• Is God asking you use your talents and skills to be part of His story in Haiti and go on a trip with us this year? For more information click here.

• Would you donate financially to the programs and building projects?  To give, click here.

We believe that God can do immeasurably more through each one of you than you could ever imagine. Thank you for your support and prayers!

HAITI CRISIS RELIEF EFFORT

Project Living Hope exists to empower Haitians to build a stronger Haiti and does this through athletics, job skill training, community development, and disaster preparedness. The political unrest over the last few months has led to a major humanitarian crisis where people are struggling to feed their families.  Food prices have increased a great deal and the value of the Haitian currency has dropped. People have been unable to work and students have been unable to go to school. As a result, we are not exaggerating when we say people are going whole days without eating.

Over the last few weeks, we have continued to have regular meetings with our staff and leaders in Camp Marie and they have assessed the needs within the community. Our Camp Marie Operational Manager, Benedic Maxime, met with the pastors of the nine churches in Camp Marie and he heard the same thing over and over. All are discouraged about the current state of Haiti as they say the political situation is leading to a severe food storage and inability for people to work. All expressed a strong desire for people to work and have a purpose. The majority of Haitain people have no control over the current political situation or the protests that have been shutting down the country since early September. 

As a response to this crisis, Project Living Hope has devised a multi-faceted relief strategy. Our mission is to empower, not to enable or create dependency. This is why we choose to offer short-term relief in times of crisis by empowering individuals and partnering with churches within the community. We have devised the following strategies. 

1. Emergency Food Relief: We will partner with the local churches of Camp Marie to help with emergency food assistance. The nine local churches will organize the purchasing and distributing of food to those who need it most. 

2. Planting for Tomorrow: We will invest in local farmers to help bolster the agricultural efforts within the community. This food crisis has the potential to increase over the coming months, so creating opportunities for the Haitian people to grow more will empower them to sustain themselves through this challenging time. 

3. Youth Programs: We will hire a few individuals who have participated in PLH’s English and athletics training programs to hold camps for the kids in the community. All schools are closed due to the country shutdown. These English, basketball, and soccer camps will offer kids a fun, positive activity to participate in. 

4. Employment: We will create as many short-term work opportunities as our land projects allow, hiring local people to cut brush, clear fence lines, and clear out drainage ditches. 

We would like to invite you to join us in providing short-term relief to the community of Camp Marie. Would you consider giving a financial gift to support these four efforts?

We will be running this campaign for the next ten days. Please consider sharing this need with your friends, family, and church, and keep an eye out for an update from us as we close out the campaign November 25th. 

Your gift makes an impact!

• $50 empowers a Camp Marie church to feed a family for a week.

• $100 plants a crop of beans.

• $250 sends kids to learn English, basketball or soccer.

• $600 employs a crew of locals to complete a land project.

Thank you for being a champion of Haiti and the community of Camp Marie and empowering locals to press on during this difficult time. Please continue to keep Haiti in your prayers.  

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40

Pray for Haiti

by Sara Dessieux

PLH Board Member and Founder

Life in Haiti often feels like one step forward followed by one step back.  Making progress in Haiti is so difficult.  But currently, we are seeing Haiti taking huge stumbles backwards with no steps forward.  Recurrent fuel shortages have turned into a fuel crisis that seems to be the new normal.  Constant political protests and roadblocks not only disrupt everyday life, but also turn into violent events in which vehicles and businesses are burned and lives are endangered.  Not only has the value of Haiti’s currency plummeted over the last year but prices for food and other necessities have dramatically increased.  Then things just snowball from there.  

Many kids have yet to start school this year.  People cannot find work.  Even people with money in the bank and family members overseas who can transfer money for them have limited access to cash.  Everyone struggles to find means of transportation.  People with cars and motorcycles stay for hours in line and often still aren’t able to buy fuel.  Fuel is sold out of barrels on the black market for as much as $10/gallon ‒ four times the standard price.  In a country where very little electricity comes through the power lines and people depend heavily on generators, everyone is left in the dark.  Hospitals have to shut their doors and the sick, injured and pregnant struggle even more than usual to find medical care.  And our dear little island nation seems bent on self-destructing.

We were supposed to be in Haiti right now.  Our family had plane tickets to fly down two weeks ago.  Yet here we are in Oregon, and nearly every day one of our kids asks us when we’re going to Haiti.  And we say, “Not yet.  There is still too much trouble going on in Haiti.”  We want our kids to keep loving Haiti and not be afraid of it, so we don’t go into much more detail than that.  Then we run into friends around town or at church and they too ask, “When are you going to Haiti?”  We give them a few more details but still the same answer, we don’t know. 

Guesly and I ache to be back in Haiti, as does my sister, Laura, who has been living down there for more than a year but who came to Oregon to speak for our fundraising event.  We long to see our friends and staff, launch another soccer season, work with our English students, and help Project Living Hope keep taking steps forward.  Yet our sadness about not getting to be down in Haiti is nothing compared to the sadness we feel when we think about all that is going on there.  

What is behind all of this?  Oh, how I wish I knew the full answer to this.  All we can do is make our own evaluations based on the information we have gathered through reading and talking with people.  When asked to explain any of Haiti’s problems to someone, I always start with, “It’s complicated.”  Every issue is so multi-faceted and has so much history behind it.  If I had to sum it up in one word, it would be “corruption.” There is a whole bunch of it and everyone knows it, but it’s still hard to know who the most and the least corrupt players are.  That’s the trouble with the current political situation.

A news article in the Miami Herald this weekend proclaimed, “Thousands Rally in Haiti Against President Moise.”  But I’d say, “Millions in Haiti Struggle to Go About Daily Life as a Small Percentage of People Call For the Elected President to Resign.”  Maybe the president is guilty of corruption, I don’t know, but some of the senators definitely are.  They have refused to sit down with the president and they are encouraging the lawless behavior of the protesters, most of whom are unemployed young men who are grasping for any form of control and power they can find, which in this case, is ruining others.

Photo source: Miami Herald

How is all of this impacting Project Living Hope?  Our community in Camp Marie has stayed peaceful, and our staff continues to frequent the PLH property and keeps us informed about all happenings. We planned to be well into the second season of the PLH youth soccer league by now, but since people can hardly get around, that has been postponed.  The new year of English classes was supposed to launch September 16, the same time this current round of trouble began. With the teachers and many students unable to get to class, we have had to postpone that as well. We will all be so happy when games and classes start up again!  We become more convinced all the time that Project Living Hope is on the right track.  

Young people need a purpose, they need community, they need moral standards, and they need Jesus.  They also need education and employment.  We know that empowering Christian Haitian leaders to effectively reach the young people and families around them is what we want to stay focused on.  Haiti is actually full of innovative, hardworking, and compassionate young people who want to see their country grow stronger.  We just want to help form more people like that to tip the scale away from this cycle of turmoil that Haiti has been stuck in.  

Eventually, somehow or another, Haiti will calm down again.  And then we will get back to work there.  Thank you for believing in the work of Project Living Hope and thank you for caring about Haiti. The Haitian people need you to remember them right now and they need you to pray for them.

PRAY WITH US

As you may know, Haiti has been facing weeks of political unrest, protests and a fuel crisis. Even now, the population struggles to find food and water, hospitals are unable to function, businesses are closing their doors, and students are unable to go to school. Tomorrow, Oct. 17th, churches throughout Haiti are uniting in prayer. Please join with us in praying for Haiti and its people. 

What to pray for:

• For peace

• For resolution to political conflicts

• That individuals can return to school and work

• For the organizations and individuals who are working hard to bring about sustainable change

• For Christ to be glorified

• For hope to continue to burn in the Haitian people

• For love and unity to be exemplified

Turmoil in Haiti - A Call to Pray

By: Guesly Dessieux
Executive Director and Founder 

My family and I were supposed to fly to Haiti on September 23, 2019 but our trip has been postponed due to the turmoil in Haiti. Over the last two weeks anti-government demonstrations demanding the resignation of the Haitian president have escalated. On Friday, protesters throughout the country burned tires, erected barricades, and set businesses on fire. This is the second time this year that fuel shortages have paralyzed the country forcing schools and businesses to close and hospitals to barely function. The humanitarian situation is dire and not having fuel leaves Haitian families without access to water, food, power, transportation, and more. In an article I read the interviewee best explained the protest this way, “My kids are hungry. I have no food. I have no job. We have to do something to get the government's attention.”

A few years ago I told a group of students I was taking to Haiti that it is paralyzing when you have nothing and everything is taken away from you. This has happened to the Haitian people over and over again.    

As an organization our mission statement is Empowering Haitians To Build a Stronger Haiti. We believe that if Haitians are empowered they can use their own God-given abilities to provide for their families and change their community. At Project Living Hope, we have hope for Haiti and its people.We have hope that Haiti can change and move forward.

Right now though Haiti is in a very dark place.  Lives are endangered and it’s hard to imagine a quick resolution.  So we need to pray. Please join us in praying for solutions and for peace in Haiti.

Empowering Visionary Thinking in the PLH Community

By Laura Nott

Empowering Haitians to build a stronger Haiti. This is the PLH motto. But this is not just a catchy phrase or an abstract idea. This is the metric by which PLH operates. This month, I was proud to see the leaders of PLH put this into practice yet again by including our Haitian leaders in their strategic planning process. 

PLH is currently in the process of developing a 3-year strategic plan. Guesly Dessieux (CEO) and Sarah Comstock (Board Chair) asked me, as the in-country worker, to arrange a meeting with three of our Haitian staff to complete the first stage of the strategic planning process.

On Aug 17, Thonny Fabien (Haiti Operations Manager), Benedic Maxime (Camp Marie Operations Manager), Gerald Grecilien (English Instructor), and myself joined together to discuss the desired state of PLH — where we want to see the organization in 3 years. As instructed, we asked ourselves, “What is a 10?” In other words, what would it look like if PLH was functioning in a way that warranted a score of 10 out of 10? We considered programs, administration, organizational culture, infrastructure, financial management, etc. 

Throughout the discussion, I continued to marvel at the passion, commitment, and pride of the three men that sat with me. They openly shared their ideas, dreams, and concerns. They listened and fed off each other and myself. They took their task seriously. Much of what they discussed was in regards to the culture of PLH: how we as an organization can blend Haitian culture and American standards and how we can perpetuate a Christ-like attitude within our own team as well as the larger community we are a part of. They discussed the end goals of spreading the gospel and empowering individuals to succeed. I appreciated how they didn’t only list the programs and facilities that they dreamed of having for the community but they also put thought into what a healthy organization looks like and what the true results of the work will be. 

As we reached the end of our 3-hour meeting, Benedic commented, “This is the longest I’ve ever spent speaking English.” I am so proud of this man and the leader and advocate he is for PLH and his community. As the operations manager for Camp Marie, he fields most of the questions and requests from the community, oversees projects and resolves issues, and PLH has high expectations on him, but he stands firm. None of us are perfect, but he is humble, level-headed, and rooted in Christ. 

In a few weeks, the stateside team will conduct their own strategic planning session asking themselves “What is a 10?” But the notes from the Haiti meeting will serve as a valued voice of the Haitian people. In the upcoming months, we plan to continue working through the next three steps of the process with the Haitian and stateside committees. 

This process has reiterated why it is that I believe in PLH and what they are doing. I am proud to work for an organization that values their staff and those they serve enough to give them a platform and truly hear what they have to say. And I am proud to work alongside American and Haitian employees that are passionate and comfortable enough to share their voice and work together to accomplish a shared goal. I am also humbled by the community of people in Oregon, Missouri, Kansas, and so many other places who support this work with their time, money, knowledge and passion. Together, we truly are empowering Haitians to build a stronger Haiti. 

PLH is strong. God has blessed this organization with experienced, humble leaders, with committed workers, and with passionate supporters. These three groups make up the PLH community. I consider myself blessed to be a part of it. I hope you do too.

2019 English Boot Camp

By Laura Nott

This summer, we held our second annual English boot camp, a free opportunity for adults of all levels to come learn conversational English, practice with old and new friends, and get a taste of the PLH English classes. Over 150 students attended during the two weeks including current students and newcomers. Each day, the students learned a new English song to help them remember the material we studied that day. The second to last day, we challenged them with "Green Grass Grows All Around". Do you remember that song? "There's a bird in the nest on the branch on the tree from the seed in the hole in the middle of the ground!" They did great! Gerald and I had so much fun with the students. We loved watching the true beginners begin to speak in English and the more advanced learners help those around them learn.

We dream of the day when PLH has our own education building with fully outfitted classrooms. For now, we are very grateful to local schools who offer use of their spaces and students who bring their portable speakers so we all can learn English songs together. Pictured: Designated DJ Jephte.

Learning English is always more fun with good friends! Pictured: Guy, Sob, Dieunelson, Jephte, Valdens, Mendy, and Bowens.

English is a valuable job skill in Hait for nearly every field of work: hospitality, education, business, medicine, administration, translation, non-profit work, etc. So many are eager to learn, and we are excited to be able to offer six classes this year. We closed out the boot camp by reading the story of the Tortoise and the Hare, a new story to all of them. They loved the steady little tortoise and the over-confident hare. We encouraged them that like the tortoise, they can reach their goal by staying focused and taking it one step at a time. If you visit PLH, be sure to stop by the English classes to encourage the students and make them practice what they know!