Good morning,
Finally some good news out of Haiti: moderate calm has returned to the country. This calm is due to the fact that the population has been taken out the gangs. One of the gangs south of our campus in Fermathe has completely been eradicated, its leader killed and followers killed or scattered. All of this area has regained life with children going back to school and members of the population going about their business.
The gang that controlled east of our campus is still active but they have limited their actions. Many families are starting to returned to their homes.
In Christ,
Daniel Jean-Louis
President of Baptist Haiti Mission
Here are some highlights:
Schools
- The school year is close to an end before it even starts
- Normally it is supposed to end in May but the government has prolonged it all the way to July to recuperate some days where there were no schools notably the first quarter of the academic year.
- Many of our schools that fell under gang control have reopened.
- We are trying to see if food can be delivered but the main roads are still not yet very practical so that might have to wait until next August
- The school registration is near 100 % completion. At least phase 1. This is a major milestone didn’t think we could achieve.
Churches
- A new district pastor will be taken the leadership of the district of Petion Ville
- The head leader resigned last November and the possibility of meeting has been so limited that we had to do the vote online on zoom with limited internet.
- Pastor Zaccur Dalien will be, by the coming Sunday, the new leader of the district of Petion Ville
- He has a family, wife and 2 children
Hospital
- The hospital is still struggling with lack of attendance due to the gang violence.
- Patience are coming but not has much as before. With some of the gangs taken out we are seeing an upward trend but it’s not to the level needed yet
- We have taken the decision of having everyone work half shift to cut the payroll in half. This way that will allow us to keep going
- We are praying for the new solar panels to be installed and help us cut the cost of diesel and restore self sustainability
- A US based non profit, Build Health which has done solar systems all over the world and in Haiti, will do an assessment early June. Contract for the prospect has been signed.
- We had a first company lined up but couldn’t deliver the level of planning needed