We Are Property Owners

By Guesly Dessieux

In the last four months, I have travelled to Haiti three times.  Even for me, that’s a lot of trips in a short amount of a time.  Each of those trips was necessary, productive and exciting.  During the first trip, we viewed several pieces of property, decided on one to purchase for Project Living Hope, and acquired all the pieces of Haitian identification to purchase land.  On the second trip, Jerry King and and I went to oversee the surveying of the property and determine the actual boundaries of what we wanted to purchase.  Then during my third trip in December, my cousin Pierre Jr. and I signed papers to buy the property.

We go into all of our trips with many hopes of what we will be able to accomplish but thanks to our experience in that country, we know actually getting things done can be complicated and a lot more time-consuming than even we expect.  Yet during these three trips, we were actually amazed by all that we were able to accomplish.  We believe God is really behind what we are doing and He hears our prayers for direction and help.

Pierre flew in on Wednesday and I joined him on Thursday.  On Friday we went to the notary’s offices in St. Marc.  We were joined there by 22 out of the 24 owners of the property.  That’s right, 24 people shared claim to that piece of land.  For that reason, the signing process took several hours as each person proved their identification and land ownership and each item had to be recorded by hand.  The people in the room were excited both to be closing the deal and to see that this project they had heard about was actually moving forward.  Through the whole process, Pierre and I stood in awe at the way God was opening doors for PLH.

Later that day I spent a couple hours meeting the manager of a nearby hotel that my wife, Sara, and Sarah Comstock, vice president of PLH, had connected with a couple months before.  We discussed how we could create a partnership between PLH and his struggling hotel.  We are both excited at the prospects.  

Saturday I headed back to Oregon feeling like much had been accomplished and God had truly paved the way.  I fly back to Haiti again in January and this time I will be joined by my wife and kids and seven other team members preparing for a week of soccer training and English teaching.  Please pray for God’s continued guidance.

A Big Change of Plans

By Sara Dessieux

A couple months ago we learned that our plans of establishing Project Living Hope in Fonds Parisien, Haiti had completely disintegrated.  I personally had been building relationships with people in that community for sixteen years.  Part of my heart has long resided in Haiti, especially in that specific part of the country.  To say I was devastated would be an understatement.  

Ever since then I have been grieving that loss and I’ve been scared.  All our plans for Project Living Hope were suddenly up in the air and we didn’t know where they would land.  We still had faithful donors, passionate partners and upcoming events, but now what were we even doing in Haiti?  Trip plans I had been making also fell through.  When would I ever make it back to Haiti?  What would I even do there if I was to go now that I had to abandon all my former connections?  How long would it be before we could take our kids back now that we had nowhere familiar to stay?  I didn’t know and that was hard.  

We often have people asking us when we’re going back to Haiti next and how our project is going, and over and over we had to tell them our sad news.  They knew we were crushed and so they said they would pray.  We all prayed.  And we waited.  Guesly, never slow to take action kept pressing forward with the project and began to get excited all over again about the prospects.  I, on the other hand, still felt unsure and sad.  Then two weeks ago at my daughter’s soccer practice it dawned on me that an opportunity to go to Haiti was right in front of me and I should take it.  I jumped on it and we booked a ticket for me to fly to Haiti in six days.  I would be accompanying Sarah Comstock as she sought out a new partner organization for the medical team she leads with Corban University.  Even though some very unfortunate events led to my needing to go, I instantly knew that God was orchestrating all of this.  

While in Haiti, Sarah and I got to visit the land Project Living Hope is purchasing and we were escorted by the family members who are selling it to us.  I have been quite a few places in Haiti but I was totally in awe as we made our way across banana fields, huge trees scattered throughout.  I stopped to take a picture of a huge avocado tree next to a huge mango tree and spotted a bird I have never seen before. In the areas of Haiti I lived, there really aren’t any birds.  But after spotting that one, I realized I could hear birds all around us and in that moment I had a sense that God is truly in all of this.  And I was grateful.  

Under the shade of a tree, we talked more about the project with the people who are selling us the land.  They say the people in the area are thirsty for this project.  I am excited for them and what the future may hold for them.  And I am grateful we are getting to play a part in God’s story in that region. 

A New Home for the King Center

Camp Marie, Haiti

By Jerry King

On September 27th, Guesly and I left for Haiti for with these major objectives:

1. Assess the suitability of a different property in Haiti for the King Center and Project Living Hope activities in Haiti.
2. Assess the needs of the community where the property is located.
3. Meet with local officials and the community and determine the community openness to the project and their willingness to be involved.
4. Start the purchase process for the land.
5. Perform an initial boundary survey of the land and mark the boarders.
6. Bring back aerial and ground imagery of the property and surrounding area.
7. Meet with people in Haiti that can help with and be a part of Project Living Hope in Haiti.

---

BACKGROUND

Original Land
The land that we had previously identified in Fonds Parisien for the King Center was occupied by multiple farmers and we were unable to come to a solution for the acquisition of the property that was fair and equitable to all involved. After trying to resolve this for a couple of years, we realized that God may be leading us elsewhere. 

The Search for New Land
The new location for the King Center needed to be in a rural area near a major highway, easily accessible, and centrally located for the bulk of Haiti yet within easy access of Port-au-Prince and other urban areas of Haiti. It needed to be out of a flood zone, away from the coast while being large enough and flat enough for the King Center and associated structures. On a previous trip, Guesly looked at several potential properties and the one that rose to the top was near Camp Marie. 

The Land at Camp Marie
Camp Marie is a small town located on Route Nationale #1 which is a well-maintained highway and the major route between Port-au-Prince and Cap Haitien. It goes through Saint-Marc and Gonaives, both large cities. It is 48 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince, six miles southwest of Saint-Marc and about five miles behind large hills from the ocean.

---

THE TRIP

Day 1
Upon arrival, we traveled from Port-au-Prince to Camp Marie and met with the current land owners. They took us to visit the property. We traveled on a twisting, narrow, rutted road past a church, homes, children playing in yards and goats tied along the road grazing. What struck me was that there are large trees in Haiti! The area around Camp Marie is lush with large trees, banana and plantain fields, and hedgerows along the paths. There is a lot of agriculture with a rudimentary network of irrigation ditches in the area; there is some of the best soil that I have seen in Haiti.  We traveled down this road for half a mile and then continued on foot for another half mile to the property. (They took us the long way this time.)  The property is only about 900 yards northwest of the center of Camp Marie.

As we made it to the southeast corner of the property I was struck by how lush the property was with plantain and palm trees, corn, okra and peppers growing between the trees. We attracted the attention of the surrounding farmers and soon we had quite a group accompanying us on our exploration of the property.

The property is cradled in low lying area with hills protecting it on three sides. It is relatively flat and there aren’t any streams nearby to cause flooding concerns. The land seemed to be quite acceptable for Project Living Hope’s use.

By this time it was threating rain and getting dark, time to go to our room and get ready for tomorrow.

---

Day 2
Today we went into Saint-Marc to meet with the people involved with the selling and buying land.  Saint-Marc is a vibrant bustling city that is cleaner than Port-au-Prince. Our meetings were informative and fruitful. We met up with the surveyors and traveled back to the property to mark the boundary with signs and survey tape.

As usual in Haiti, there were lots of people helping.

We marked each corner with sticks, marking tape and accurate GPS coordinates.

We chopped through the foliage with machetes in the lower part of the property like in an old jungle movie and climbed up the hills to the west marking the property boundary.

Our objective was to mark out 22 acres.

Despite the surveyors' careful measurements and diligent calculations, subsequent GPS mapping showed that we ended up with 33 acres. We indicated that the hillside would not be useful to us and the following day they resurveyed the western boundary to give us 22 acres.

---

Day 3
We started day three by meeting with a local soccer coach and team and visiting the community soccer pitch, one of the nicest that I have seen in Haiti.

Everyone gets in the action...including the local livestock!

Of course, there are consequences of having livestock on the Futbol pitch.

After this we went to the property to take aerial images of the property and surrounding area with a small drone. 

The property is just as amazing from above.

Here is an arial view of the land and boundary lines.

We took hundreds of drone images and many movies.This helped us get an idea of the land and the surrounding hills.

After the drone batteries were depleted, we headed to the main part of town and met with the community magistrate Marie Lourdes and a couple of the local council members. 

We explained what Project Living Hope was and how we hoped to partner with the community. They asked many thoughtful and hard questions and in the end, they are excited about working with us.

We next had a community meeting where anyone could come and find out about Project Living Hope, the King Center and how we want work with the community.  We had a great turnout with lots of interest, probing questions and even animated discussions. In the end, there is overwhelming support for this project from the community. So much so that they are willing to build a road for us all of the way to the property by the end of December!

---

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

The next step is for Guesly and his cousin (and PLH board member) Pierre to finalize the purchase of the property. Then we will need to send a team to do a topographical survey of the property and accurately and permanently mark the corners and boundary. We will continue developing our presence in the community and establish a permanent presence in Haiti. We are assessing our needs for a wall or fence around the property. We are also assessing the needs of the community for a vocational training center. There is lots to do and everyone’s support is vital. Thank you.

This is a great location for the King Center and for Project Living Hope to plant in Haiti. For me, the trip helped bolster my enthusiasm and excitement for the project and as usual the most important part of the trip was in the relationships that we made along the way. I’d like to thank Betty Descieux, board member Pierre Jr. Descieux's wife who grew up in the area near Camp Marie. Her knowledge of the region and tenacity helped us achieve so much. Also Thonny Fabien for working with us and making sure everyone is on the same page and for his unwavering support of PLHope. Herold Simeon for driving us, getting us where we needed to go and keeping us safe, and to many others whose names I cannot remember or pronounce.

I truly believe that God has led us to this new place and I’m excited to move forward with this community,  these great people and this wonderful location.