“People often ask, why go to Haiti? What can change? I ask you to look into the eyes of anyone of these children from Cite Soleil and ask them. Has school changed you? Has having food daily at school changed you? Does hope for tomorrow change you?
We will meet the new class of this year in a week! Those eyes are why this school enters its 6th year and we keep going to Haiti.”
– Jeff Clark
A team from AFF has been assembled for a “back to school” visit to Haiti in late October. During the trip, we’ll visit the three main American Friendship Foundation projects in Haiti, assess the impact of Hurricane Matthew at each site, make some visits to our other local partners. Our three core projects in Haiti are:
- J Nissi School
- Ororaedh Orphanage
- Canaan Medical Clinic
Many of you who read this blog post have visited these sites with a past team. We are looking forward to capturing photos, video, and interviews with our Haitian project directors and sharing them with you upon our return so you always remember that connection you created. You are a part of the story!
As always, donations are appreciated to support these projects and 100% of your gift goes directly towards supporting these worthwhile projects.
Below you can read a more detailed overview on the project sites we’ll visit.
J Nissi School
Started in 2011, the J Nissi School serves kids in Cite Soleil, which is one of the poorest and most dangerous areas of the Western Hemisphere. Over the past five years, we have partnered with our school administrator Jean Philippe to build a a safe place within the community for our students where they get a good meal every day and the education required to break the chain of poverty.
During our October visit, the team is going to distribute brand new school uniforms, backpacks, and school supplies direct to our students. For those of you who have visited the school, you know what a fun day this is for the kids!
We are also hoping to have a meeting with the parents of the students, to take the teachers out to dinner, and to take the kids for an offsite field trip.
Canaan Medical Clinic
We are also very excited to have the opportunity to spend some time with Dr. Edouard Bordes on this upcoming trip. Dr. Bordes runs the clinic in Canaan, which is a city that sprung up as a refuge for victims of the 2010 earthquake. His clinic serves a community of 200,000 Haitians and is an essential service in this remote area outside of Port-au-Prince.
While visiting, we’ll have the opportunity to see the operating room that is under construction at the clinic. This new OR is intended to serve as a birthing center for the women in Canaan. Dr. Bordes pours his heart into his work and we look forward to discussing his future plans for the clinic and how we can support his efforts.
Ororaedh Orphanage
We continue to support Pastor Silar Déluc and his wife in their superhuman efforts to house, feed, and educate 65 kids under one roof at the Ororaedh Orphange near Port au Prince.
During this trip, we’ll have the opportunity to visit Pastor Silar and his extended family, see how the school is developing, and thank him for his faithful service.
