Notre Maison (Our Home) Orphanage Update- April 2024
Greetings everyone!
It’s been a while since our last report, so I thought I would share a few lines to keep you posted. Not much has changed regarding the lack of security in Haiti. Gangs continue to rule over almost every part of the country and the Haitian government along with others who benefit from the chaos don’t seem to care at all. This is why Marie and I have not been able to travel to Haiti, having originally planned to do so last September. We are finding it a bit frustrating, to say the least.
The borders between Haiti and the Dominican Republic (DR) have been reopened (somewhat), but things are not running very smoothly. Considering that we need to drive about 7 hours from the Dominican capital before even arriving at the border, we’re being a little cautious. We are waiting and hoping that things will improve soon and that we can finally travel.
My last trip to Haiti was from January 24th to March 1st, 2023. During that trip God blessed our efforts with 7 baptisms. 4 of those 7 souls were our own kids from Notre Maison, the orphanage: Alanca, Christelle, Miphaela, and Davinski. The other 3 were: Lovenica, Woodley, and Andou, a worker at Notre Maison. I left Haiti on February 27th (so, one year ago, today) as I started the journey back to Canada, going through the DR. Can’t wait to go back!
All thing considered, our kids and the church in Fonds-Parisien are all well. The Lord has added a couple more souls to the church. Roodley, one of the kids has had some skin rash and had to go see the doctor a few times. But he is doing a lot better now. By God’s grace, everyone is fine.
The kids are developing and have grown a lot. Ironically, that has caused some problems. While our trip is on hold and we are not able to bring all the stuff, including the school uniforms, that we had purchased to take to the kids last September. As the kids continue to grow, their shoes and most of their clothes are now too small. The most challenging part relates to our girls who have outgrown their skirts. They need new ones now, and cannot wait for us to come to Haiti. So, we are sending some money to our folks down there to try and get the kids what they need in the meantime.
Another big challenge for them is the lack of electricity. As some of you may recall, they were having some power outages with the Solar system last year because their storage batteries were dying. Given the lack of security, nobody can go to Port-au-Prince to buy replacements. We were planning to buy new batteries last September in the Dominican Republic and bring them to Haiti. Since that trip has remained on hold, their batteries have been dead for a while now. This has had a domino effect, depriving them of electricity for all uses including the submersible pump used for watering their gardens and growing the vegetables that they need. In the meantime, they are using the manual pump. Things are not easy for them.
Please continue to keep them and the Haitian people in your prayers, that somehow, things will improve a little!
Thank you for your continued support.
In Christ,
Jean Volcy