Haiti Update

Dear faithful partners and benefactors,

We have been neglectful in updating about the everyday events that are affecting the lives of people living in Haiti, so this post is a little longer.

In the rural area that The Haiti Project works, life is going on pretty much the same, except they have even less to eat and have been driven deeper into poverty… and they are the fortunate ones. In some of the cities, gangs are still terrorizing, robbing, kidnapping and killing without fear of reprisal. Yesterday a missionary who has refused to leave the area, had his truck stolen after his driver was hit over the head with a gun. Today he reported that his was not the only truck stolen in his area yesterday. One other was stolen outright, and another when a man was shot and killed when he resisted his attackers. This is the area where we have always purchased the beautiful tin art that we sell when we visit many of your churches.

Gangs control the key roads in and out of Port au Prince. They often station themselves around the airport and attack and kidnap international travelers entering the country. These victims are usually Haitian nationals that the gangs have researched and they know those they target to have the assets to meet their ransom demands.

We have some American friends that have traveled in and out of the country on rare occasions with well-planned travel arraignments. They often fly out of the airport on a small plane to outlying cities to avoid the gangs.

The violent and disruptive daily protests have been relegated to weekends so that schools can reopen. Our schools are now completely open, teachers are being paid and the children are eating lunch.

Along with the primary schools that the Haiti Project is supporting, we have six exceptional young adults we support to further their education. We have two students in secondary school, two entering into nursing school and two who are in trade school. A part of their qualifying for their scholarships is to write a short essay on “What problems do I want to solve and how will my education prepare me for that?”

In coming posts, we will be sharing their stories and their essays. We are very excited to see the hope reflected in their lives. You will be too.

The Fr Jim Bretl Agriculture Center had to delay our vanilla training workshops because Alex, our Haitian vanilla agronomist was not able to travel to the center safely. But, we texted with him and he now feels that the route he needs to travel will be safe, and we are scheduled to resume training later this month. During these troubled times, Sami, a Maryknoll Lay Missioner who lives in Gros Morn, has been standing in for us by visiting the center almost weekly and reporting back on current events. God bless her.

We have not returned to Haiti since the country entered into this time of chaos. While the chaos has been a key reason to prevent us from traveling, Denise also had a reoccurrence of lung cancer last November and she had surgery on the 17^th of December. This surgery was successful, it was a very small stage one, non-small cell cancer. Biopsies showed that it was isolated and that she is cancer free at this time, however, because it is the second occurrence in 14 months, she has begun chemotherapy. She began the 31^st of January and is scheduled to have three more treatments, finishing up in late April.

The annual shipping container has been delayed this year because of the violence in the country. Domond, the Parish Twinning’s Haitian director, is monitoring events. We are hoping that the Haitian government will come up with a solution to combat this terrible situation. The shipping date will also be after Denise finishes with her treatments so that we will be free to coordinate it.

On a positive note, this past week, Fr Dachemy our parish priest in Haiti sent us this heartwarming thank you to share with all of our partners and benefactors.

With heartfelt thankfulness and blessings, Bob and Denise

Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Gros Morne, Haiti

Dear Partners and Benefactors of the Haiti Project,

I tip my hat to you very low so that I can greet each of you in the name of Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the world who holds us together via the Holy Spirit. My name is Fr. Dachemy Destine. I am the pastor of the new parish of Gros Morne, a new faith community which is dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Bob & Denise Snyder & I collaborate to accompany the people of God in the parish center & in the parish chapels of St Therese, St Andre in Gasin, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boukan Richard, & the four parish schools. We are happy to work together as a team to help people carry their suffering in prayer. We help the whole community in various domains, such as education, environmental protection, reforestation, & health.

It is thanks to the support of each member of the Haiti Project that we are able to do all of these good works. It is for this reason that at the start of this new year 2020 I take the occasion to write this little letter in the name of the whole community. We thank each of you for your prayers, your love, & your generosity that you show toward us in this new parish, & especially for what you helped us accomplish in 2019.

We take advantage of this beautiful occasion to also thank you very much for the economic support that you put together to help this new parish pay the professors & help the school children eat a hot meal 4 days per week. For this school year, we have already served more than 11,400 hot meals with your generosity. This gesture & sacrifice that you choose to make in order to help us shows us very clearly how much you care about us, so much so that you are looking to help us improve our difficult living situation in Gros Morne, St Terez, Gasen, Boukan Richard, & Fon Ibo. All of the parents, students & professors join their voices together with mine, Fr. Dachemy Destine, as pastor of the parish to thank each of you via this little letter in the name of Jesus, the Son of God, our Brother.

We will never stop praying for each of you, especially in this new year, so that God will continue to bless your families, your activities, & for Him to give you good health  so that you can serve him even more in helping those who are in greater need, like the people of our community. God will reciprocate what you give.

Everyone, together with myself as pastor of the parish, comes together to tell each of you thank you very much from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you for everything that you represent for us, & all of the good that you do via the missionaries Bob & Denise in this difficult mission field.

After more than 2 years since the founding of this new parish, it does not yet have a structure in which to function. So, while we are thanking each of you for what you have done already for the parish, we are also asking you to continue to think of the parish, because the cost of living is high & there are many needs in the parish.

We count on your prayers, your good works, & your generosity. When you give to those who are less fortunate, you do not lose anything – you gain more than you give. For our part, we continue to pray for each of you, that God may bless you & your families in all that you do. We love you, & we hope that one day you will visit us in the parish, because we have a proverb which says ¨hearing & seeing are two different things.¨

One more time, in the name of all of the faithful of the Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe, together with the schools, I wish each of you happy new year 2020.

For the new parish & the schools,

Pere Dachemy Destine, pastor