Haitian Volunteers Never Give Up

Haitian Volunteers Risk lives to help their village

Our Volunteers in Haiti are quiet heroes. They have worked with courage and dedication to save their village, even though many have been made homeless themselves by Hurricane Matthew.

Miragaone is a remote village in the mountains of Haiti. It is a very poor community. After the earthquake 5 years ago, the situation was made worse with the arrival of over 30 orphans from relatives in the cities. Families really struggled to feed them and there was no money to send them to school. With the help of Rose Charities and a group of local amazing volunteers, the village has been progressing. Food production increased, the orphans went to school and new skills were learned. A goat was provided for each orphan to help assist with their costs to their adoptive family. The volunteers registered a Haitian non-profit “Espoir Avec Christ” and held many youth activities that united the whole community and gave the young people hope for the future.

Hurricane Matthew Devastation

Hurricane Mathew devastated the village, nearly all the houses were damaged or destroyed. All the vegetable gardens were washed away, goats and chickens were lost. As the storm passed people surveyed the wreckage around them and had no idea what to do. There was no food and no help from the large organizations. Here, in Vancouver, we had $1000 ready to send but there seemed no way to it to get Miragoaone. Then the network of Haitian volunteers got busy, and by the end of that first day we had $1000 transferred to a volunteer called Pierre. He bravely stashed the money in his clothes and travelled by bus to Miragoane, which was a very dangerous thing to do and risked his life. The next day 170 families had rice, oil and spaghetti; enough to feed themselves for a week. Thanks to your donations we were able to send a second $1000 by the same route again. Pierre picked it up in Port au Prince and braved the busses to deliver it to his town.

Rebuilding Hope

The volunteers are now turning their attention to rebuilding. Houses need repairs and new roofs. February is the time to plant new seeds and rebuild the gardens. Children need supplies for school.

The volunteers have given so much. If we can donate a little for them they will be able to rebuild their community and do so much more! There has never been a time when Miragoane has needed your donations more than now. $20 will provide seeds for a garden or supplies for a school child. $100 will put as roof over a family. The volunteers will do all the work for free.

If you would like to donate to help Haiti recover from Hurricane Matthew, please click on the link below, and write “Haiti Hurricane Relief” in the comments.