Fall 2022 Update

As you know Haiti has been in a great turmoil for the last couple of years. Gangs rule the city of Port au Prince and are trying to move into all sections of the city. They have displaced families and kidnapped professors, teachers, religious. People on the streets have been killed. Police officers have lost their lives trying to defend their country. I heard that a couple of our families have lost the shelter they live in and are now living in a church basement. It has been a dangerous and tumultuous time for our sisters and students.

My question is: What causes people to be like that? The answers are clear to me but not in my realm of thinking. Greed, Power and most importantly the lack of a loving God in their lives. Our students and sisters surrender to the Lord each day and pray for peace. In 2022 human beings should not have to live in such poverty and danger anywhere. Recently, I was reminded that God does not respond on my timeline. He has is own and I must wait for things to change. This is difficult for me. I am an American and want it hot, fresh, and now! Only God is in charge! I must wait for His time and continue to pray for the safety and security of our students and sisters. Only God is in charge!

We ask for your continued prayers for Haiti, our sisters and the students we assist. We pray every day for their safety and a return to a peaceful lifestyle. It will come, but not in my time, in God’s!

People in Haiti do not have running water and are unable to buy clean water. Sometimes it is contaminated and can make them sick. The gangs block the roads so truckers can’t enter the city. This affects all transit for water, food and necessities that people need.

Haiti has been on Lock-down for the last 3 weeks. Grocery stores, banks and businesses have not been open for consumers to buy. We are fortunate to be connected to the sisters and some families in PAP (Port au Prince) to be able to help them. We alone cannot feed all the poor in Haiti. We trust God to help us decide the ones He chooses us to assist. There are thousands in need of common necessities.

The government has announced that schools can open in October. It has not happened. Sr. Cadet told me that one of our schools has opened in the south. She says the bank is now open 3 days a week so she can get tuition for the schools and students that we transferred. She must make numerous trips because the bank cannot accommodate multiple amounts of tuition at one time. I worry for her safety, but she assures me God is with her and she is not alone.

The gangs center in Croix de Bouquet (CDB) and were close to our school and the orphanage. Prayer is the only way to protect them. God is in charge!

In other news, Haitian Outreach was awarded the Lynch Foundation Grant specifically to install solar panels on the Bureau LeClerc and secure the convent area from solar panel thieves! This will enable us to have constant electricity when we visit and always have internet access to reach the sisters and YeYe (Our staff person) as needed. We are grateful and very appreciative to the members of the Lynch Foundation.

Our staff members in Haiti: Magdala and Katiana will begin the “Days for Girls” https://www.daysforgirls.org/ program as soon as school settles in for the session. The 100 reusable clothe menstrual kits are on the way! We look forward to working with Sr. Irma at Lalue school (Lalue is an all-girls school) and our staff instructing the girls about hygiene and menstrual health. This program will help students, teachers and many young women in this first pilot school.

Haitian Outreach shipped 72 bins the last week of August. Our shipper, Francoeur comes and picks them up. Transports the bins to Boston shipyard where they are loaded into containers and shipped to Haiti. It takes approximately 2 weeks for them to arrive in port. They should be there and on hold until Customs opens again to move goods through. Please ask that our 300 backpacks and goods for all 10 schools and the orphanage arrive very soon at our Bureau Leclerc. God is in charge!

Bless you all for your support of what we do to help those less fortunate than us. We try to make their lives a little better by giving them a little hope for a better future.

Watch for our newsletter in December.

– Pauline Aliskevicz, director of Haitian Outreach