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. 

Women's Conference

Written by Laura Nott, Administrative Assistant

This past weekend, I and four of the wives of the PLH staff, accompanied by our trusty driver and security, journeyed to Port-au-Prince and participated in a two-day women’s conference. The weekend was full of so much joy and happiness and the building of friendships.

Originally scheduled for November 2019, the conference had to be postponed due to the unrest and protests that completely shutdown the country last fall. The country saw relative peace return in December, and the conference was rescheduled for February. But as it approached, tensions were rising in Port-au-Prince and Haiti as gang activity and kidnappings became more common in the news. The week leading up to the conference, I kept asking our staff if they were comfortable sending their wives to a conference in the city. They responded, “Of course. God is covering it.” The day before we were set to leave, we again had to assess the situation and decide if we could proceed. With the support of all the husbands, drivers and security, we decided to move forward. I felt a total sense of peace about the situation and that God had already prepared the way for us. That night, I came across a video posted by the organizer of the conference. Within the video, she said, “Don’t ask me if the conference is happening. It is happening, and God is protecting every car, motorcycle and foot that is bringing you here.” Like I said, I already felt at peace, but now I felt encouraged and empowered.

Our original seven ladies were now down to five as one sadly lost her mom the week before and Sara Dessieux, co-founder of PLH and my sister, had to postpone her trip to Haiti. The five of us remaining ladies proceeded as planned and had a wonderful two days together. I had prepared some icebreaker questions for the trip. With these, conversations flowed. I am happy my Creole continues to slowly improve and that they were patient with me. We began to learn a bit about each other and laugh with one another. We enjoyed a few hours of downtime at the guesthouse where we were staying before heading to the church for the first session.

That first session and those that followed were full of worship, testimonies, speakers, activities, gifts, and encouragement. As it was Valentine’s Day, the conference organizers wanted to do something to make each lady in attendance feel loved and special. They gave each woman a red rose and a lollipop. That first night, the speaker spoke on God’s love for us and His desire to heal our hurts. She played an audio recording of the Father’s Love Letter. I was unfamiliar with it, but it is a collection of scriptures arranged as God’s letter to us. Listening to the recording in Haitian Creole, I had a new understanding of God. I have long understood and appreciated how God knows all languages. Having lived in Korea and now here in Haiti, I have loved to hear people pray to their Father and worship Him in their own language. But I think this may have been the first time I had listened to a theatrical representation of God’s voice in a language other than English. It was a powerful thing. God is our father. He is a personal father to each person on this earth. He doesn’t and never will have a language barrier with His children. No matter who you are, God understands you and He will speak to you in your language because it is His language too.

Throughout the conference, it was apparent how much the organizers cared for the ladies attending and how they sought to empower each woman to live her best life. Saturday kicked off with a mini Zumba session encouraging exercise and good health. In the afternoon, they had medical professionals and mental health professionals available for those who had questions. 

I asked the ladies what they enjoyed most about the conference. They enjoyed the worship, which was top notch! They were encouraged by the testimonies we heard from a cancer survivor and a young lady who pulled herself away from a life of prostitution and found love and freedom in Christ. And they enjoyed the speakers. One speaker from South Korea shared the history of how Korea grew in just 50 short years from being a third-world country just like Haiti to what it is today. She spoke of the power of prayer and encouraged us to pray for Haiti with thanksgiving, repentance, unity, and fasting. Our ladies were shocked to see where Korea came from and were encouraged to have hope for their country and pray. They were also touched by the words of the director of the conference, Suzette Volcy, as she gave bits of encouragement and advice and showed her love and hope for all those there. They were excited to receive one last gift from the conference: a new Haitian Creole Bible! I was excited as well as this is my first Creole Bible.

I was happy to meet two Haitian ladies at the conference who work for Gift of Hope, one of the jewelry companies that PLH purchases from. They told me how much they love their job and how it helps them provide for their families and gives them opportunities they had never had before.

We also were impressed to see perhaps 15 female police officers in uniform in attendance. As a group, we thanked them for their service and the difficult, sacrificial work they do. It was awesome to see these ladies of the police force participating in the conference, worshiping and fellowshipping alongside us, and volunteering for the on-stage activities. One even shared how God had spoken to her that weekend and given her new life.

I feel so blessed to have been able to spend this time with our ladies. I enjoyed getting to know them on a personal level and creating memories that we can look back on together. I enjoyed hearing them speak about their husbands and their families and how much family means to them. One of them brought her 7-month-old son with her. He was the sweetest, most content, little sidekick the whole time.

When I saw the four husbands of the ladies who attended, each told me how much his wife loved the conference and the trip and expressed their thanks for this opportunity and time together. The ladies asked me if we can attend the conference every year. They are looking forward to next year and having more women join!

Sara and I are planning to organize a women’s Bible study for these ladies and others in the coming months. We look forward to growing these relationships and learning more about our Father together.

I want to thank all those who supported this special weekend! Thank you for making it possible for these women to have a break from the difficulties of life and to just spend time worshiping and fellowshipping with fellow daughters of Christ. We appreciate you being a part of it through your prayers and support!

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!

FIRST RELIEF VENTURE - WORKING AS A COMMUNITY

Athletics, job skills training, community development and disaster preparedness. These are the four areas of Project Living Hope’s work. This past fall, a disaster hit PLH's Haitian community for the first time since we began our work in Camp Marie. The political situation in the country created what Haitians refer to as “Peyi Lok” or “Locked Country.” During this time, individuals could not get to work, kids could not go to school, prices rose and resources became hard to find, much less buy. The time came for PLH to join with community leaders to devise a plan for relief. What followed was 6 weeks of collaboration and partnership between PLH leaders and Haitian staff, local leaders and pastors, and you, the PLH champions. Together, you raised over $17,000. Your generous giving financed the plans which were carried out through unified effort within the community of Camp Marie. We are proud of how our Haitian staff stepped up to manage this project and how the pastors, farmers and working individuals came together to accomplish something that benefited all. It is never our goal to bring attention to PLH and what we may accomplish. It is our goal to support and empower local leaders and the greater community to accomplish great things for their community. We appreciate all of you who stepped up to support and pray for this project. We appreciate the nine churches who carried out the purchase and distribution of food and facilitated the agreement with the farmers. We loved seeing God bring together the community of Camp Marie and the community of PLH champions to accomplish all of this.

ATHLETIC CAMPS FOR KIDS

Kids were happy to participate in six weeks of organized soccer and basketball training where they were able to play a game they love, practice new things, develop their skills, and learn from trained coaches. We hired three local soccer coaches and three young men who participated in our basketball coach training to organize these camps for the kids.

I want to say thank you Project Living Hope. Right now, I teach sports and Bible to children in my community. I work  very hard to change my community because sport has the power to change Haiti. I am a Life Coach. I work for God. May God continue to protect you and give you strength.

Coach Robenson Beauger

ENGLISH CAMP FOR KIDS

With school being canceled for several months, we saw a need to provide kids in the community with an opportunity to learn and participate in consistent activities. We hired three students from our English class to lead English kids camp for six weeks. Angelot, Rival, and Snyson did a great job providing the kids with a fun, positive learning environment. Together, the children learned about the alphabet, numbers, family, the calendar, and more.

All the kids in Camp Marie are very clever, even if they are also talkative. They are very funny.

Rival Asseil

EMPLOYMENT

Through this effort, 120 individuals from the community were able to earn a much needed day's wage by working on the PLH land. This pay helped them purchase food and other essentials for their families during this difficult time. Each work day, individuals came together in unity, worked hard to accomplish a task, and walked away with the means to provide for others and the knowledge that they had done honest work.

This is the first job I’ve had like this. They pay you well.  They give you food. It’s a good job.

Fritz Jean Louis

FOOD RELIEF

The nine churches of Camp Marie and 45 local farmers came together with PLH in a unified effort to help alleviate some of the food needs within the community. Your generous giving allowed for the churches to provide 1,100 families with food packages. The 45 farmers have planted beans, tomatoes, potatoes, okra, and other vegetables and will be giving 50% of the harvest back to the community through the oversight of the local churches.

We are happy for the great work you are doing in the community. We in the church are delighted to say thank you to everyone who is involved in this great project and for this beautiful help you gave us. We were very happy when we received this help, because the economic situation in the country is very difficult at this time. We did everything we needed to do, and each person was happy when they received the provisions. We ask that God bless you for the good work this project is doing in our area. 

Pastor Jean Ernest Gracia

DISCIPLESHIP

Discipleship is a key focus of Project Living Hope. We train, equip and empower our staff and coaches to grow in their faith so they can share their faith with the people we serve. We choose strong Christian leaders to serve in our ministry who are excited about their faith and want to use their gifts to bring others to Christ.

Crisis Relief Effort Update

We want to say a huge thank you to all those who gave and prayed for the recent crisis relief effort. Together, you raised over $17,000 to provide food relief through our church partners, jobs on the PLH property, seeds for farmers to plant in the community, and English and sport camps for kids. Through this project, we witnessed two communities, that of Camp Marie and that of the PLH supporters, come together to accomplish something that brought hope, encouragement, and opportunity to so many.

Here is a short message from PLH Camp Marie Operations Manager, Benedic Maxime.

Things have begun to calm down in Haiti. Most schools have reopened. People are able to return to work. Resources are being distributed once again. Though we do not know what the next month has in store for Haiti, we are thankful for the current relative peace and we rejoice for what God, through you, was able to give to Camp Marie these past couple months: jobs, food, hope, and a more united community. 

Here is a video showing twenty individuals that were hired for short-term work on the PLH land.

Here is a look at the kids’ English camp as they learn the ABC's.

Watch your mailbox for a full update with more photos and details!

THANK YOU! Crisis Relief Effort Update

We want to say a huge THANK YOU to all those who have given to the PLH Haiti crisis relief effort. We are so excited to announce that we reached our unpublished goal of $10,000! This money is directly impacting the community of Camp Marie in a variety of ways.

Emergency Food Relief:
Funds will be sent to the churches this week for the purchasing and distributing of food to families in need within the community.

Youth Programs:
Individuals from our English classes and soccer and basketball coaches clinics have been selected to run the youth programs which are beginning this week!

English Teachers from left to right: Angelot, Snyson, Rival

Employment:
The first team of locals completed the first work day on the PLH land! More teams will be hired for work days in the coming weeks.

Planting for Tomorrow:
Farmers and PLH leaders will meet to arrange the planting of fast turn around crops which will help to provide food to the community in the coming months.

Please continue to keep Haiti and these projects in your prayers over the coming weeks. We will be sending you another update in the coming weeks so you can see what is happening and how your gifts and prayers are impacting the community of Camp Marie.

It's not too late to join this campaign with your gift.

If you missed the initial email, click here to read the full story.

“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
 

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.