On  August 14, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti’s southern peninsula, releasing almost twice as much energy as the 7.0 magnitude quake in 2010.

The quake struck 78 miles west of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and affected two cities, Les Cayes and Jeremie, resulting in major devastation with people caught under rubble and collapsed buildings.  Phone lines were down near the epicenter of the quake. It took some time for the news to emerge from those cities. The only road linking Port-au-Prince to the affected area is dangerous and at times impassable due to gang violence, so the transport of relief aid is slow and laborsome.

This same region was battered by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, which killed nearly 900 people and reportedly destroyed 90% of some areas, including the main road connecting the peninsula to the capital. The region was still recovering from that disaster when the quake happened.  It also coincided with immense national political turmoil following the July 7 assassination of its leader, President Jovenel Moïse.

Haiti remains one of the poorest in the world, with 60% of the population earning less than $2.00 a day.   A power vacuum, severe poverty and rampant gang violence has left the country ill-prepared to handle a disaster of this scale.

UNICEF’s August 29 publication reported the following statistics:  As of Saturday, 21 August the country counted 2,207 deaths and 12,268 wounded. Approximately 52,953 houses were completely destroyed and 77,006 severely damaged, while 650,000 people are in need of humanitarian assistance, including 260,000 children. Severe damage to infrastructures such as hospitals, schools, water systems and roads have left basic social services in a dire situation. Tropical storm Grace reached the country on Monday, 16 August, triggering mudslides, hampering relief efforts and weakening the already fragile telecommunication system.

Disaster Relief Provided by BCDC in Partnership with CINHP
by Sharon Cushing

Those who survived the August 14^th earthquake and subsequent Tropical Storm are still in grave danger. The earthquake demolished buildings, killing thousands. Landslides buried homes, businesses, farms, gardens, and livestock. Water is in short supply as many cisterns were destroyed by the earthquake and natural water sources have been contaminated. Roads and bridges were damaged or destroyed, making it difficult for aid to reach the affected towns.
Many are homeless or injured and hunger is rampant in the hardest-hit areas. Gangs continue impeding delivery of humanitarian assistance – attacking convoys and stealing food and supplies. In a place where food insecurity was already a problem this has made the predicament increasingly dire.
Homeless women and children are especially vulnerable to hunger, violence, and exploitation. COVID-19-related health risks present additional insecurity. Hospitals are overcrowded and the staff overwhelmed. Some areas are remote and nearly unreachable.

Though our CINHP school is not in the affected area (located in the village of Lesnipasse, 10 km southeast of Port-au-Prince), we received a great outpouring of concern from our donors who wanted to help.  To date, $10,000 has been donated through our ministry  and sent to our partners at Beraca Community Development Corporation (www.bcdc.org) whose people tirelessly work on the ground in the disaster area.  This is a great testament to the goodness of God through his people. 

Thankfully, our partners at BCDC  have offices near the hardest-hit areas: Port Salut (Les Cayes) and Jeremie. This gives them proximity to those most affected by these twin catastrophes. Beraca’s network of 1700 churches in that region are being used as distribution hubs to expedite assistance to the victims in the ravaged areas and facilitate the ongoing rescue and relief efforts. They administer emergency first aid and supply families with safe drinking water, food, hygiene kits, medicine, tents, blankets, and clothing, which relieves immediate needs. Our donated funds to the Disaster Relief are going to supporting their efforts.
Following Phase 1—Rescue, BCDC will begin Phase 2—Rebuild: helping reconstruct homes, churches, schools, and clinics, restore businesses, replant gardens, and meet other needs. We will work with them as we can.

Teams have been on the ground helping to console those affected and to reassure them that hope is not lost and that they are not alone. They know that God and people like you feel their pain and care. Perhaps this comfort is even more important than the material aid. Please pray for those who do not yet know Jesus – that they’ll be encouraged to seek and follow Him AND that God continues to lead and provide for these vulnerable families.

Please pray for the safety and efficacy of the teams on the ground and that the recipients of their service will know they are loved and cared for. Continue to pray and spread the word to others who might be interested in helping.

HISTORIC BACKGROUND ON THE SERVICES BERACA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATON HAS RENDERED TO THE PEOPLE IN HAITI

After the January 12, 2010 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti, Pastor Mullery and his team extended BCDC from NY to Haiti, where they currently serve the cities of Leogane, Cabaret, Jeremie and Cape Haitian with a number of community programs and mercy ministries in addition to planting churches and rebuilding schools and businesses.  This has caused scored of impoverished and destitute people in the region to be lifted out of poverty and become productive and fulfilled, as they learn to bloom where they are planted.  Following are some of the programs:

• Training and mentoring Pastors and leaders. They are currently training 1700 leaders.
• Creating and sustaining approximately 400 jobs through their motorcycle taxis, micro-lending and mini bus services.
• Conducting mobile medical clinics, bringing healthcare to thousands of underserved Haitians through the local churches in their communities.
• Training and equipping teachers and principals, providing a good education to their students by the use of certified U.S. Haitian-American teachers.
• Planting churches that are the hubs for spiritual and socio-economic health and development in the Haitian communities.

The event of Hurricane Matthew not only devastated the region, but also caused food shortages throughout the nation. BCDC began networking with some of the local churches to re-plant what the hurricane destroyed, which now includes hundreds of churches.
The Reforestation Project focuses on replanting trees in the denuded countryside to help avoid the continued massive erosion of cultivated land in the region. It is known as the breadbasket of the country, as a good portion of the crops that feed Haiti are grown there. For every tree gone, they plant three new seedlings. Teams from Beraca keep traveling to Haiti with needy material, tools, and supplies, and work in partnership with Haitian believers in rebuilding church buildings, community centers, and homes that have been destroyed by the hurricane.

FROM R.K.’S CORNER

The Bridge partners with two excellent Christian organizations who have been on the ground in Haiti for years, doing outstanding work in serving the local population by helping them improve their and their family’s lives, both spiritually and physically.  Children in Need Haitian Project (CINHP) established in NYC in 2005, has been doing an outstanding job in helping educate the children in the town of Lesnipasse, 10 km southeast of Port-au-Prince.  Four years ago, Sharon Cushing, CINHP’s Administrator, introduced me to Mullery Jean-Pierre, Senior Pastor of Beraca Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY, who with his dedicated team has served his Haitian people since 2010 in the region of the recent earthquake. I  strongly encourage you to take time to read prior updates on the effective service these two groups of Americans are doing in helping the Haitian people help themselves and bloom where they are planted.  You will find those stories on our website, just click on: 

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/category/haiti/

If you want to give toward specific emergency items for the hardest hit victims, Sharon has complied a suggested list below

EMERGENCY RESPONSE NEEDS WITH APPX. COSTS:

Personal Needs:

• Meals for a family for a week – $10
• Hygiene kits – $25
• Family emergency shelters – $40
• Water filtration kits – $50
• Solar panel lights with USB charger – $70

Medical Needs:

• Cots for patients at hospitals – $60
• Generators for hospitals – $2,500
• Large canopy tent shelter for hospitals – $15,000

Please mark your donation 8162 RELIEF AID—HAITI.  It will be sent in full to meet the intended emergency needs!

I will never, ever forget the look in the eyes of this tiny skeleton of a 3-year old child. Staring intently, his eyes never wavered from the hardboiled egg I’d started peeling for him ‘Could this be for me?’ ‘Could this entire egg really be for me, only?’ he questioned with his eyes.
At my slight gesture to hand him the peeled egg, he quickly grabbed it from me, held it tightly in his tiny hands, took one big bite, held the rest in his two fists for a moment and then squished the remaining portion into his dirty pockets, not knowing if or when he would get a next meal.

Our first Children In Need  (CNIHP) medical outreach took place on October 24, 2008. Our school was transformed into a temporary health clinic.  We examined 126 patients over a two-day period, many of whom had not seen a doctor in years. Most of the adults we examined were severely anemic.  Many had critical hypertension with BP 200/100 and up. Yet, I believe the real reason we were there that day was to save the life of a three year old boy named Fednor.  He was in the end stages of starvation.

Fednor’s step-grandmother arrived to the clinic with two healthy-looking, seemingly well-cared-for children to be examined by the doctor. Anoise, the Community Leader, advised us that there was a third child at home. We pressed the woman as to why she had not brought the other child along, too. Uncomfortable with her response, we strongly urged her to bring him which she initially refused to do. Troubled by her reluctance, we declined to examine her two children until she brought Fednor.

We soon  learned why she was so reluctant to bring him.  Fednor was covered from head to toe with scabies, had sunken eyes, a  bloated belly, and ribs prominently protruding from his tiny, malnourished frame. He could only stand for a couple of minutes before needing to squat. According to Dr. Sanchez, who examined him, he would have died of severe malnutrition within days, had we not intervened.

From the beginning, Fednor had an extra special place in my heart. I could sense an intense spiritual struggle raging over the life of this little boy. Throughout Fednor’s life, his social situation was unstable and filled with horrific traumas. His father and mother were separated, each trying to survive by working in Port-Au-Prince. With both parents gone most of the time, Fednor had been left to the care of his paternal grandfather and step-grandmother who lived close to our school. Tragically, as often happens, Fednor was seriously neglected, almost to death.

We arranged for him to come to the school each day to eat lunch with our students until he was recovered enough to attend preschool. Once he began his education, the neurological damage caused by being malnourished for years became evident. He had difficulty concentrating and learning. Our Pre-school Director, Julia Jules, took him under her wing, as a surrogate mother, brought him breakfast and snacks plus vitamins and supplements each day and tailored the curriculum to optimize his learning potential.

Sadly, a year later, Fednor suffered another disruption in his young life. His father, a healthy 28 year-old, contracted a fever of unknown origin and died within a few days. This time Fednor’s paternal uncle took over caring for him and, thankfully, agreed to let him continue to attend our school and  learn of the love of Jesus.  But as soon as his mother thought she could care for him again, she would take him out of these loving and stable homes to live with her. As he got older he was a help to her at the market and, as a result, did not attend school. Fednor became street smart and as a young, vulnerable teenager got involved with the wrong people. Tragically, last summer, at the age of 16, Fednor was shot and killed on the streets of Port-au-Prince in an area known to be controlled by gangs. CINHP helped his family to bury him in the beautiful mountains of Lespinasse where he was born.

I tell you these details so you can better understand why we continue to fight for justice for the children of Haiti. Fednor was deeply loved by CINHP. Saving his life and providing a good future for him became an ardent pursuit for us throughout his short life. In so many ways Fednor embodies our work in Haiti.
Children In Need Haitian project exists to give the children in the community of Lespinasse a “future and a hope” as our guiding verse (Jer 29:11) states. To me, Fednor’s own death reflect the overall helplessness of precious children who grow up in toxic environments and tragic circumstances – where structural, social, and spiritual oppression run uninhibited with very few available interventions.

Sharon Cushing, Executive Coordinator for CINHP writes:

We believe that the best way to a better future for Haiti is to prepare today’s children to be the leaders of tomorrow – to identify and seize opportunities for themselves and become creators of opportunities for others.

Though Jeanette and I haven’t been to Haiti for nearly two years due to the civil unrest that continues to plague the country and now Covid-19, the work continues and is prospering! God is doing amazing work through our staff in Haiti, who, though a bit weary, are doggedly determined to serve the children of  Lespinasse. They even found a way to do a “school at home” program during the Covid-19 closure so that our students didn’t fall behind.
This year all 13 of our 9th-grade students passed the state exams and nine of them began attending high school. This is monumental. There was a time when this would have been unthinkable. It shows growth in the mindset of the community. It shows a developing though fragile hope for the future. The parents are beginning to move beyond surviving to planning, and that is encouraging.
A few items we’ve yet to accomplish include: build a new kitchen, install a pre-school playground and additional restrooms to accommodate our growing student population, provide health insurance for our staff, construct a public cistern for the community, and begin a literacy program for adults and others who are unable to attend school.          

Our gratitude goes out to our staff for their dedication and perseverance,  and to our faithful friends whose finances and prayer have enabled Children In Need to do: 

• Serve 200+ children and employ 26 full and part-time Haitian staff.
• Provide daily nutritious meals, mentoring, and basic healthcare for each of our student.student.
  
• Build a beautiful new school building with a play area.
  
• Deliver quality education that has earned us First Place in the region and enabled our older students to pass the state exams and qualify for high school, year after year.
  
• Provide emergency assistance to families, including a house for an elderly couple whose home was destroyed in a hurricane.
• This year we’ll enter into an agreement with Child Evangelism Fellowship to begin Youth clubs and summer camp for our students and other children in the area (implementation by summer 2021).
• We are also in early discussions with a partnering organization that may be able to help our graduating students with high school scholarships and vocational programs.
  

From R.K.’s Corner

In the July, 2013 issue of The Bridge Report, we featured for the first time Children in Need Haiti Project (CINHP) under the headline From New York City to the Mountains of Haiti (see https://www.bridgeinternational.org/the-bridge-report-july-2013-from-new-york-city-to-the-mountains-of-haiti/ on our website).  There, we introduced you to Jeanette Felix, the founder and visionary of the mission.  She and her Executive Coordinator, Sharon Cushing, are helping the children in a small mountain town Lespinasse, by removing them from a destiny of poverty and deprivation to a fulfilled and productive life, by the love of Jesus, education, and good health care.  In our October 2016 issue, we followed up with a story how CINHP assisted the town in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.

UNICEF reports that in the world today, 1 billion children live in poverty and neglect.  It is a dizzying statistic no one can relate to, but we all can relate to one person.  That’s why, in this update report from Haiti, we have chosen to report on the short life of one little boy, Fednor, who was rescued from that statistic by CINHP, then loved and cared for by the staff.  Here is also an uplifting progress report on their school, and their efforts to educate in the midst of Covid-19.

CINHP is a worthy ministry, please mark donations
8155 Children in Need Haiti!

 

FROM R. K.’S CORNER

In June last year, I traveled to New York City for a week to sit by the bed of a dear, longstanding friend, Goldie Rotenberg, who was struggling through the last stages of cancer. Sadly, she died a few days after I left.

While in the City, I spent a day with Jeanette Felix, Founder of Children in Need Haitian Project (CNHP) and her co-Director, Sharon Cushing. They are doing a vital work in the mountain region South-East of Port-au-Prince, providing a Bible-based excellent education for the local community’s children grades K through 8. They serve in many other practical ways to help the people rise out of poverty and become healthy, productive families, utilizing the local resources available. The Bridge has at times helped sponsor the school.

In October, 2016, Hurricane Matthew devastated Haiti. It destroyed the mountain farmers’ harvest, and ruined many of their homes. Our donors gave generously both then and in 2017 toward relief aid for the island, which we have divided between several partnering ministries serving in Haiti. Of the $2500 given through CNHP, $1000 helped rebuild the home of one of the school’s workers, and another $1000 toward helping the farmers restocking their seed bank for the planting of crops for the upcoming season’s harvest.  See former Bridge posts on this:

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/2016/10/

Shortly thereafter, Jeanette called me. The mountain farmers had pulled together and were in the process of solving their problems without help from the outside. Would I mind that the Bridge funds given to the mountain farmers through CNHP be directed to another ministry, Beraca Baptist Church, an American-Haitian church in Brooklyn, NY? They have for a number of years successfully been engaged in serving the people of Haiti (Beraca means “Blessing”). With the Bible in one hand, and hammer and plow in the other, they are empowering local people in several communities, like the city of Jeremie, located on the tip of the peninsula to the West of Port-au-Prince. Hurricane Matthew had done landfall there and literally obliterated the city and large swaths of the surrounding countryside. Without clean water, food, and shelter, the people were desperate. Beraca received the funds, due to Jeanette and Sharon’s unselfish generosity in helping those in worse condition than their mountain people. It was used toward the Reforestation Program in Haiti—see report below.

The day I visited CNHP, Sharon had set up a meeting with the leaders at Beraca Church. We drove to Brooklyn where we met the Senior Pastor, Mullery Jean-Pierre and two of his co-pastors. There was an immediate rapport between us, as we found we shared like vision and practical approach to serving the Gospel in the nations— it was like meeting family members we had just discovered existed! I gave them another $3000 from one of our generous donors to be used toward their ministry toward single mothers and their children left destitute after the hurricane—see report. In this issue, I present Beraca Baptist Church and their extraordinary outreaches of love to their local community and to Haiti.

VISITING BERACA BAPTIST CHURCH IN BROOKLYN, NY

“What a stunning sculpture!” I exclaimed, “what a vivid symbol of a thirsty man lifting his face toward God and drinking from the Living Water!” Pastor Jean-Pierre smiled, “ That is not exactly the symbolism of this carving”, he explained. During a meeting with him, two of his co-pastors, and Sharon from CNHP who had introduced us, I had been captivated by this expressive wooden carving sitting on the cabinet in his office, not knowing it was a replica of the original statue located in Port-au-Prince in Haiti, which represents the call to rebellion against slavery— see above. “I have never heard this interpretation before. You actually see the Haitian people through the eyes of God’s heart—I believe this  belongs to you, R.K. “ – and with those words, he gave the mini-replica to me. I am honored to have it displayed in our living room as a reminder of the physical and spiritual thirst of those we serve among the peoples of color in the nations.

I believe this gesture of generosity characterizes Pastor Jean-Pierre’s heart which is permeated by Jesus’ love and care for people. He is a Haitian in America who has not forgotten the cry of his own people in Haiti, nor in his city in New York, as he and his team are successfully accomplishing extraordinary things for God in both places!

PASTOR MULLERY JEAN-PIERRE AND HIS TEAM REACHING OUT WITH FAITH, LOVE, AND  HOPE TO THEIR COMMUNITY AND TO HAITI 

Mullery Jean-Pierre, Senior Pastor of Beraca Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY was born in Haiti to a Haitian father and a Dominican mother. He and his Jamaican wife, Cacheta have six children and seven grandchildren.

Having a Puerto Rican daughter-in-law, an African American son-in-law and a Trinidadian sister-in-law, Mullery feels right at home in leading a multicultural congregation. Under his leadership the church has grown from 80 members to 1200 worshippers; although a predominantly Haitian/Haitian-American church, Beraca is home to 17 other different nationalities.

When Mullery was called out of corporate America, he left his management position at a Wall Street firm and never looked back. Those years prepared him for the many administrative leadership positions to which God has called him to serve.

As Mullery’s desire to reach the community grew, He founded the Beraca Community Development Corporation (BCDC). With his church family, the services to the local community include:

• Youth development programs.
• A food pantry.
• Serving seniors at a local Seniors Adult day care center.
• Partnering with their local high school to provide employment and mentoring for the students.
• Partnering with the Districts Attorney’s office’s Alternative Sentencing Program, providing alternative forms of rehabilitation to those who’ve committed misdemeanor or petty crimes.

After the January 12, 2010 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti, Mullery and his team extended BCDC from NY to Haiti, where they currently serve the cities of Leogane, Cabaret, Jeremie and Cape Haitian with the outreaches:

• Training and mentoring Pastors and leaders. They are currently training 1700 leaders.
• Creating and sustaining approximately 400 jobs through their motorcycle taxis, micro-lending and mini bus services.
• Conducting mobile medical clinics, bringing healthcare to thousands of underserved Haitians through the local churches in their communities.
• Training and equipping teachers and principals, providing a good education to their students by the use of certified U.S. Haitian-American teachers.
• Planting churches that are the hubs for spiritual and socio-economic health and development in the Haitian communities.

The event of Hurricane Matthew not only devastated the region, but also caused food shortages throughout the nation. BCDC began networking with some churches in the area to re-plant what the hurricane destroyed, which now includes hundreds of churches. The Reforestation Project focuses on replanting trees in the denuded countryside to help avoid the continued massive erosion of cultivated land in the region. It is known as the breadbasket of the country, as a good portion of the crops that feed Haiti are grown there.

Teams from Beraca keep traveling to Haiti with needy material, tools, and supplies, and work in partnership with Haitian believers in rebuilding church buildings, community centers, and homes that have been destroyed by the hurricane.

During our meeting, Mullery told us about a ministry which began during one of his trips to Haiti with two of his co-pastors overseeing and participating in various restoration projects. While walking in the streets, women approached and propositioned them. They were told by the local people that literally thousands of women with children have been left destitute after the disaster, either because they are single mothers, or their husbands have left them to go elsewhere to seek for jobs, but then never to return home.

With the community in shambles, no available jobs, food supply or clean water, the women have been forced into the streets to sell the only commodity they have left—their own bodies—to provide just morsels for their family to fend off starvation.

The pastors accepted their offer and paid for two hours of service. However, instead of taking advantage of these desperate women, without condemning them, they gave them food and shared the Gospel—the good news, with emphasis on how much God loves them. They were then offered a basic course in reading and writing. The women willing and committed to change, were then offered training in an income-producing cottage industry. This takes them off the street, regains their dignity and makes them able to provide for themselves and their children. This unique street ministry continues as an outreach by local believers, whereby hundreds of women have experienced the transforming power of the Gospel which has given them a new hope and a future and brought them into a caring community of believers!

The leaders and members of the church family at Beraca live up to its name — BLESSING! They are indeed a blessing to those who encounter God’s love in action through them!

“The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to Him.” D. l. Moody

BACKGROUND ON HURRICANE MATTHEW

Still trying to recover from the 2010 earthquake which caused more than 200,000 deaths in and around the capital of Port-au-Prince, and an ongoing cholera epidemic and outbreak of typhoid during which 10,000 people have died and 700,000 have become ill, Haiti is again victim of a major disaster!  On October 4, Hurricane Matthew made landfall on south-western Haiti as a category 4 storm with winds up to 145 miles per hour.  It devastated the region with a population of 2.5 million people; a community leader describes the situation on the ground as “complete destruction”. Matthew has severely damaged 200,000 homes.  90% of the houses on the southern coast are destroyed.          

In the city of Jérémie, the hurricane blew off the roofs and collapsed 80% of the buildings, including every structure not made of concrete. Nearly all the crops and livestock in the larger region were wiped out by the wind or destroyed by the subsequent flooding, leaving the majority of the population, who are subsistence farmers, destitute. With bridges and roads washed away, many communities are now inaccessible to receiving relief aid, except by boat or air.  It is feared that massive death by starvation and a renewed cholera epidemic, due to lack of food and clean drinking water, may result in a catastrophic human disaster.  Major relief organizations and WHO (World Health Organization) are mobilizing efforts to help, but they may, regretfully, be running against time.

The Bible commands us as believers to be generous towards the poor.  Practical expressions of compassion and mercy are intrinsically interwoven into the faith of the believers as an extensions from The Source: God’s love through Jesus Christ!  Although The Bridge does not directly work in Haiti since there is already a large Christian presence, and our focus is more on unreached nations, we make ourselves available to resource partners who serve the poor in Haiti on a grassroots level.  In the aftermath of the 2010 hurricane, thanks to our generous donors, we were able to send a sizable amount of money through them to help groups of victims restore their lives.

In Haiti, we have been working through two of our trusted partners, Jorge Urra, and Jeanette Felix who via their own individual ministries have helped establish a network of indigenous leaders in Haiti who serve people in their local communities. You will find more information about them and their ministries below.

There are many good, efficient large Relief Aid agencies in the States who, in disaster situations like this, are needed to do the heavy lifting, like mass emergency assistance and rebuilding of damaged infrastructure, however, often their overhead and administrative costs are sizable.  The Bridge is more the fish-and-loaves ministry. Through our partners we deliver from hand to mouth without middlemen or deducting overhead and admin. cost — trusting that God will multiply! Your donation will be applied in full, directly toward the spiritual and physical needs of Hurricane Matthew’s victims in Haiti! Please mark your donation 8010 Haiti Relief.

OUR PARTNERS WORKING IN HAITI

Jorge Urra — from Cuba to Haiti with the Gospel

You will find Jorge Urra’s background information, his testimony and ministry, posted at: https://www.bridgeinternational.org/pdf/july2011.pdf

A few days after hurricane Matthew had passed through Haiti, I called Jorge to inquire if he had heard from his Haitian leaders of the churches and orphanages he has served on the island for over 12 years.  The answer came back, “The winds did some damage to buildings in those areas, but the floods have ruined the harvest and killed the farm animals.  Every place is up to three feet under water. There is little or nothing to eat, and the  drinking water is contaminated.” 

Jorge will personally be going to Haiti with a team in a couple of weeks to bring as much relief aid and other assistance as possible to his Haitian network of pastors who will distribute them to the most needy among orphans, elderly and destitute. 

Jorge Urra was born near Havana, Cuba some fifty years ago. He grew up  surrounded by Fidel Castro’s atheist communist  ideology, yet at 14, he came to faith in Jesus Christ, and was filled with the transforming love of his Heavenly Father. God’s compassion and love translated later into a ministry toward the rejected and fatherless—the unsaved, the orphans, and the welfare of God’s people in poor countries.  He is presently involved in bringing leadership training to local pastors and relief aid to orphans in Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru.

Steve and I have known Jorge and partnered with him for 21 years.  He is a man of faith and passion with an apostolic gift and an impeccable integrity!  He presently lives with his wife, Magdalena in Miami where he has planted and pastors a multi-cultural church.

From New York City to the Mountains of Haiti

Likewise,  you will find Jeanette Felix’ background information, her testimony and ministry, posted on this website at: https://www.bridgeinternational.org/2013/07/

The school Jeanette and her team founded in 2006 and continue sponsoring via their ministry Children in Need Haitian Project (CINHP), is located in Lespinasse in mountains up to 4000 feet about two hours drive south-east of Port-au-Prince.  The school  provides a full time Christian education including school supplies, and  a warm nutritious meal daily for 120 students grades 1-6, and 3 levels of Preschool. Recently, they finished building a new school building.  In the two pictures above, you see the old school building they initially renovated for educational use, and then new building adjacent to the old.  CINHP is largely self-financed by the Felix family and a few friends.

 

 

 

 

Most of the people in the region are subsistence farmers, eking out a living in the valleys between the mountains. Jeanette writes, “ Apart from the south-west of the country which has total devastation, there are many other areas of Haiti that received heavy winds and torrential rains on steep mountains with few trees to prevent erosion and mudslides. These areas are never reported in the news and international aid does not reach them. The only access to most of these areas is by foot, like Nouvelle Touraine, located in the highest mountain range in Haiti in the south.

Friends and contacts in the region report on  unbelievable destruction to homes, livestock, gardens, crops, and food bearing trees (i.e. bananas, avocados, plantains, coffee beans), their sole source of food and income sold in neighboring towns, all carried by foot on the heads of these strong and resilient people.

There is an urgent, immediate need for basic construction materials— tin, 2x4s, nails, hammers as well as tarps, basic first aid supplies, basic medicines, and food.  We have people on the ground ready to buy, organize and mobilize all supplies into the steep mountains to reach these areas. Let us be the ones who show them that God has not forgotten them!

FROM R.K.’S CORNER

My first encounter with Haitian people was in 1985 when I first met Steve.  He owned and operated a 20 acre commercial nursery where he employed 23 Haitian field workers. Sitting in Steve’s car surrounded by his workers in the midst of myriads of potted plants, at his bidding, I shared my faith and told them about the mission work I was doing (my French was doable then). In the years after Steve and I were married, we employed over a hundred legal Haitian workers. They were all reliable, hard-working, and self-motivated to making a good life in America for themselves and their families.  God gave me a love for this beautiful people. Since then I have come to count many Haitians among my personal friends.

The Haitian people have continually suffered throughout their 500 year history under slave masters, wicked foreign rulers, corrupt local governments, and natural disasters.  Yet, the problem in Haiti is not socioeconomic … it is SPIRITUAL!   Self-proclaimed Voodoo doctor, elect President François Duvalier, declared in 1971 voodoo—religious witchcraft— the official national religion. This was affirmed in 1990 by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Therefore, I believe Satan has a legitimate claim on Haiti, albeit there are many sincere Christian believers among them. Please pray that the Lord will send His Spirit of comfort and revelation of truth to set the captives free, and strength to the Haitian believers that they may boldly share their faith with others!