We encourage you to listen to Rev. Jean Paul’s report to get the latest details on the continuing kingdom work in Haiti and Jean’s present situation involving being unable to return to Haiti due to the international flight closures until June. In summary, the Corona virus continues to gradually spread in Haiti, and our medical clinic is swamped with new patients seeking assessment and diagnosis for fear that they might have the virus. The healthcare situation in Haiti is precarious at best when not overloaded with pandemic conditions. There are inadequate hospital facilities and even local medical clinics to handle such a patient overload. Our other primary concern is to keep all of the children in the Souls Winning orphanage free of infection from the virus. Much prayer and support is needed in the days, weeks, and months ahead in order for us to continue the essential work among the men, women, and children of Haiti. Despite the unprecedented disruptions created by the Corona virus in Haiti, we continue in our commitment to further the vision for Haiti and pursue the various projects already underway or scheduled to begin this year.
We know that you are very preoccupied right now keeping your own families safe from the virus and managing the interruptions and alterations to your daily routines and work in order to carry on this year. However, our brothers and sisters in Haiti face even greater challenges than we do here in the United States, due to their lack of a robust healthcare system and adequate resources to manage in the coming weeks and months. Meanwhile, our regular care for our children and the support for our ministry staff and our medical staff in Haiti continue as before. Please consider helping us today through one-time or monthly giving to further our kingdom vision. Giving opportunities include:
New Joy House Orphanage—Operations continue in serving our 91 boys and girls at the New Joy House orphanage. Our biggest challenge is keeping them safely distanced from the medical clinic and the exploding patient load entering the compound. We do have fencing and a security staff to keep our children out of the way of exposure. It is a big job to feed, clothe, and teach our children within the compound, as the schools are now closed in Haiti, as they are in the U.S., but of course there is little infrastructure available for on-line learning. We continue to need support and much prayer for the work of our orphanage director, our house parents, security people, housekeepers, cooks, and our government-assigned social worker. It only takes $85 per month to sponsor one of our New Joy children, and we have 75 children at present who do not have direct, individual sponsors.
Reformed Bible College Academy—Our second Bible college class of 20 students has been interrupted repeatedly during the past 18 months due to violence and now the Corona virus. But we have developed a work-around plan to send the course materials and assignments in French to Pastor Paul, who will teach some of the courses himself in a more intensive format involving three to four weeks at a time, rather than the one week at a time format we were using with visiting professors. Because of this methodological change in our format, we will need more financial support. While we will have less expense for traveling professors from the U.S., we will have additional expenses to assist the students with travel, food, and housing for longer periods of time each college session. It takes $1,500 per week to fully provide for the 20 students, so each three to four week session will involve $4,500 to $6,000 of support. Please consider helping us by underwriting a week of classes for the students, or by sponsoring one student for a three-week session at $255 or for just one week of studies at $85.
Reformation Medical Clinic—The Reformation Medical Clinic in La Plaine, managed by Souls Winning Ministries, is a 5,000 square foot facility providing crucial medical services and preventative assistance to the Souls Winning orphanage, church network, ministry employees, and especially to the local community. Presently, in the face of the Corona virus pandemic, the clinic is overwhelmed with daily patient intake and lack the staffing capacity to meet the huge increase in demand. Your help is needed at this time so that the clinic can add more temporary staff and also obtain some additional medical supplies to cope with the great need in the area.
New Presbytery/Church Network—Haiti’s new presbytery initiative, a team approach involving MTW, the OPC, and some PCA presbyteries (including the Northwest Georgia Presbytery), has been delayed for some months by the civil unrest and unsafe travel conditions in-country in Haiti. Now, a renewed effort is underway to formalize this new presbytery during the summer and begin working together as a network of Reformed churches serving the people of Haiti. You can partner with us by praying daily for the final consummation of this presbytery and the cooperation of the churches who are involved. Giving in support of this effort will help with travel and meal costs for the ruling elders and teaching elders who gather for the presbytery from their various churches from all over the nation of Haiti.
Church Planting Projects—Pastor Paul and his Souls Winning staff continue to plant new churches in Haiti, often using the graduates from our Reformed Academy Bible college. At this time, there are church plants in Gonaives, Jacmel, La Gonave, and Cap Haitian, to name just a few. We continue to need support for the construction of a church and multi-use facility on the land previously acquired in Jacmel for the congregation there, who continue to crowd themselves into a private home for their services. Any gift toward this crucial development project would be a tremendous help and encouragement to the brothers and sisters in Jacmel.
July Container/Virtual Classroom Project—As we did last year, with your generous help, we plan to send another container to Haiti this summer. The container will be purchased, rather than rented, so that once it is unloaded in Haiti, we can pair the container with last year’s container on the new raised foundation at the Souls Winning compound which will be converted into a single virtual classroom space. Much support for this project has been provided by Dr. Wiley Smith, our medical clinic consultant and an MTW medical missionary. We will need additional giving to help us fill the container with food supplies in space not occupied by the needed construction supplies, and for our usual customs expenses in Haiti. You can purchase food supplies for the container, which we expect to send down in July. Coordinate drop-offs with Martin Hawley. Or, make a one-time gift and designate what you would like us to purchase for the container. Items requested:
- 25 to 50 pound bags of dried white or Jasmine rice
- 10 to 50 pound bags of dried pinto or black beans
- Large bags of flour or sugar
- Large boxes of dried pasta noodles
- Large boxes of dried milk
- Basketballs
- Soccer balls
- Rolls of sterile gauze and bandages