#here4haiti The kids lead the way

Kids lead the way #here4haiti 

We have a big goal of $85,000 for #here4haiti this year and we need your help spreading the word and raising funds. Summer is a great time to get your kids involved! #here4haiti

In our experience kids have a unique way of finding connections to each other across cultures and language barriers. Have you noticed that?! Young children have an awareness and keen understanding of fairness. They have the ability to notice these differences without apology or discomfort. 

Research shows that children notice differences and prejudice even if their parents or adults don't point it out. So, if we choose to share the areas that inspire us to learn more, notice injustices and give examples to be helpers we teach our kids to care for our world. As a community (church or neighbourhoods) we can grow understanding and compassion that will ultimately lead to healthy individuals and healthy communities around the world.

You can save transform lives by supporting now with #here4haiti now

If you have been around #here4haiti for a while, you know Haitian people are determine and resilient. Their deep sense of hope, community and generosity shine through and including our kids in telling that story seems like a win-win to us. We put together a list below of ways to fundraise with kids!

Watch Gino's story and see how just a $50 monthly donation can change a life.

Here are some quick and easy ideas for at home, church or community:

• Run a bottle drive in your community (go door to door or offer a pick-up location, most bottle depots will give you a run down on how to sort and work with them for a fundraiser!)

• Neighbourhood Lemonade Stand (Enjoy the sunshine with kids, learn some skills for running a business and have some fund advertising it with your neighbours. Host a Sunday morning Lemonade Stand at your church and people can donate)

• Host an Art Show (Create art with paint, build something or take photos! Price and sell)

• Garage Sale (Bonus you get rid of your extra household items and give back to a good cause)

• Birthday Party Fundraiser / Online Fundraiser (Use Facebook or Canada Helps to set-up an online page, tell the story of why you're #here4haiti and invite people and friends to join in!)

Donate today! Simply fill in your donation details on the #here4haiti campaign and set-up a monthly or one time donation now. 

Meet Jeff - Aquaculture Video

New! In 2022, the Evangelical Covenant Church of Canada added Aquaculture to our list of projects we are committed to supporting in Haiti. Aquaculture is a way of raising fish in enclosures or ponds to be consumed or sold as food. In 2016, the journey started to explore aquaculture in Northern Haiti. We have hired an enthusiastic young leader, Jeff Philocles as the aquaculture expert to encourage, train and support the start-up of local farmers and groups to start their own farms. The goal is to teach and train farmers to produce fish as a sustainable source of food and income. And it’s working! Currently, we have several partners with 14 ponds so far. Hear the story from Jeff and support Aquaculture which is caring for over 500 diabetic patients. Start today with $25 a month at covchurch.ca/haiti

Whatever we have we will share (Sarepta Project)

Madame Mark is a strong, ambitious woman who raised her family of five kids on her own after her husband passed away. She started noticing a pattern of elderly people fainting in church and took charge to care for them. What started as a way for her family to share their food with a couple people, overnight, it became a feeding project for the community. Hear from her the story of starting the Sarepta Project and support Madame Mark in caring for over 100 elderly and some handicapped youth in Haiti. Start today with $25 a month at covchurch.ca/haiti

A victory in Haiti - Dr. Manno

Dr. Manno has a bold vision for his community and country. He works to overcome misunderstandings with diabetes and other medical diagnosis. A victory for Dr. Manno is an event that encourages him in caring for diabetic patients in Haiti. Hear the story from him and support Dr. Manno's clinic who are caring for over 500 diabetic patients. Start today with $25 a month at covchurch.ca/haiti

What does God see when he looks here? (Petite Anse Feeding Program)

At breakfast as we prepared to go to Petite Anse, which is a very poor area in Cap Haitian we were told to ask ourselves: what does God see when He looks there. 

The day was emotional. We pulled up to the orphanage and immediately the kids started spilling out from the front porch. Warily approaching us with warmth and curiosity. A little boy in a blue shirt wandered over closer to our SUV and I met his huge dark eyes. 

As I crouched down to say hi and ask for his name in Creole. He whispered softly and I missed it. His little hand slipped into mine and he captured my heart instantly.  And from there it slowly began to break. What does God see when He looks here?

We toured Petit Anse and saw Pastor Dugue and Madame Dugue’s house, which is where the food is made for the kids feeding program. On our walk to their house we wandered the streets and there was garbage everywhere you looked. Actual garbage. It’s something you can't even begin to describe. 

What does God see when He looks here?

It was a hard day and I felt sad. I asked myself in the car ride home as the tears were brimming in my eyes; what does God see when He looks here?

I think He sees a Pastor who is obedient to Him. I think He sees the Pastor’s wife loving kids and feeding them. I think He sees orphans caring for orphans. Braiding each others hair. I think He sees people living deeply in community. 

When Jesus says we should love our neighbours, this is what it looks like. Haitians are best example of this. Help support the feeding program in Petite Anse.

The little boy in the blue shirt, who’s name I later found out was Kenny. He fell asleep in my arms. Another child older then him scooped Kenny up and out of my arms to put him in bed. Did you read that?! Another child caring so sweetly for another child. 

My heart has been slowly breaking today. Little moments when I am hit with things the people are missing, but when I asked myself what does God see when He looks here? He sees love. Communities loving each other. 

At dinner tonight I was reminded that when God looks down on our day in Petit Anse He saw the children in the orphanage with so much love and me too. He saw me there too. Learn more about trips and help Haitians thrive.

-Tara Linsley

Please share the stories, share this campaign, share your heart for Haiti.  We need your stories, your passion and action to save lives. Be a part of the movement by sharing your story with us. Share and tag us on Facebook @covchurchcanada.

Whatever we have we will share (Sarepta Project)

A natural leader in her community, Madame Mark fiercely cares for the elderly each week in Haiti. She knows by name the 100 or so people who receive breakfast each Sunday morning. Several years ago, she noticed the elderly people at church were fainting during the service. Connecting the dots, it was realized many were not getting enough food to eat.

Enough was enough. The solution was simple. Feed them. A widower and mother of five, Madame Mark came home from church one Sunday and told her kids we are going to pick three people and feed them every Sunday morning with whatever we have – we will share with them.

In Haiti, as in other countries around the world, when adults are not able to work their children take care of them and help to provide basic needs as they age. If you do not have children or their children have passed away their source of income no longer exists. So, what happens to the seniors?

Madame Mark could not stand to see them struggling. It was the community’s responsibility to care for their elders. But when she offered to share the following Sunday, more than 15 elderly people came forward needing assistance. As word got out, more than they count showed up. Madame Mark found herself running a feeding program.

The Sarepta Elderly Feeding Project has changed a whole community. It has grown from just Madame Mark to her team of people through the church that volunteer to cook breakfast and divide up food monthly that helps supplement their meals for a month at a time for about 100 elderly and several handicapped youth. Some of the support provided to the program is from the Evangelical Covenant Church of Canada. A yearly commitment of 6,620 US is required and the need continues to grow.

Her vision continues to grow for the people she serves and what she believes God has called her to do with the Sarepta Project. What is truly remarkable about the people in Haiti is the care and attention paid to individuals who easily could fall through the cracks and go unnoticed. They are noticed, valued and even with five kids to feed, you share whatever you have.   

Please share the stories, share this campaign, share your heart for Haiti.  We need your stories, your passion and action to save lives. Be a part of the movement by sharing your story with us. Join the movement and donate today.

Share and tag us on Facebook @covchurchcanada.  

Jessica's story - Meeting the needs in my own community

Jessica is 29 years old, living and studying in northern Haiti. She is studying business and administration at the Haut Limbe University (UCNH), and will be graduating in June. She is also responsible for the kids feeding project in Petite Anse, where she helps provide over 160 children with a rice and beans meal twice a week.

Petite Anse is an area outside of Cap Haitian known as a slum, and a lot of the kids who live there don’t get the proper care, nutrition or education they deserve. It was through translating on a trip for a group from the Canada Conference that Jessica was introduced to Petite Anse. Even for people in Haiti this neighbourhood can be devastating to see first-hand. She did not realize the extent of the circumstances her own people were living in, so it was in her heart break that she found the opportunity to use her gifts with kids and administration degree.

Because of people like Jessica and the volunteers in Petite Anse these kids are able to get fed twice a week. She has a desire for taking care of the kids and families in the neighbourhood. Through her time spent in the community, she realized her passion to empowering women could be shared here. Jessica created a day dedicated to teaching the young girls and boys about respect and care for their bodies and relationships with the each other. Culturally Haiti is typically a male-dominated society, but there have been some steps forward for women becoming more independent.

Jessica cares deeply about her country and the people in it, and wants to be able to help other people, as well as empower kids, and women. She hopes the world will see Haiti by the hearts of the people who live there, and not from the negative images typically displayed in the media. “We are smart and strong,” she says, “and I want the world to see that.”

-Kadi Higdon
Photo credit: Kadii Higdon Travel & Photography

Please share the stories, share this campaign, share your heart for Haiti.  We need your stories, your passion and action to save lives. Be a part of the movement by sharing your story with us. Join the movement and donate today.

Share and tag us on Facebook @covchurchcanada.  

My heart would be broken again (Sante 2000 Clinic)

Just before heading into Cap-Haitian, Dr. Manno stopped in the clinic to make sure everything was going well. When he returned he had a little boy named Jacqulin and his mother in tow. Jacqulin is 10 years old and a Type 1 Diabetic. He and his mother live about an hour from Limbe. Jacqulin had come to clinic to get some more insulin however the type he needed Dr. Manno was out of.  Jacqulin needed to go to a different clinic a long distance away in Milot to Hospital Sacre Coeur run by the CRUDM foundation. They have a special program there where they help juvenile diabetic patients and their families.  

Dr. Manno felt it was time for Jacqulin to try and get into that program as it specializes in children. When Jacqulin turns 24 he will not longer be eligible for that program and Dr. Manno says if he lives that long we will once again be responsible for Jacqulin’s care at the Sante 2000 Clinic.  

As we drove, I couldn’t help but to think to myself what I would do if I were a parent of a child with diabetes in Haiti. This little guy was only half the size of my own son Otto, yet he is 3 years older than Otto. As he complained about being hungry and uncomfortable and his mother gripped a small piece of paper (which she cannot read) with the information explaining were she needed to go and who she needed to see. It was terribly difficult to watch.

Our plan was to get Jacqulin and his mother to Cap Haitian and put them on a TapTap for the second leg of their journey. (A TapTap is usually a small toyota truck with a topper, it’s not uncommon to see up to 20-25 people ridings at a time with many hanging on the back). As we reached town it became obvious that the city was not a place either of them were used to. The idea that we were about to them get out of the comfort of our vehicle and into the crowded TapTap was very difficult for me.  

As I watched them leave, I caught a glimpse of Jacqulin’s scared little face. It was more than I could bare. To imagine placing my own son in this TapTap seems unimaginable, yet to get him what he needed to survive I would do it. Driving away from this story was overwhelmingly difficult. As I let the tears flow out from behind my sunglasses and tried to be strong;

“ I remembered that to not allow myself to weep when I need to is the path to losing who I am as a human. Strength is not shown in the absence of tears, but in our willingness to accept them, and what they teach us. ”

I have traveled to Haiti and seen many hard things, however for some reason today was the day my heart would be broken again by this place and these serious issues. Reflecting on this has reminded me that as much as I can try and explain why this kind of thing happens in this world it cannot become a method for removing myself from the shear pain and heart ache it causes.  

There are so many children suffering in our world, so many children that Dr. Manno is called upon to care for, to do the best he can for each one and to trust that God will take it from there.  My heart breaks for them and my friend Manno who each day sees the needs and knows that only God has the resources to care for them. Support patients like Jacqulin and others who need urgent and life saving care.

Can say a little prayer for Jacqulin, his mother and Dr. Manno? Can we say a BIG prayer for others like them and a world that cries out in pain? Jesus said, “what ever you ask for in my name I will give it.” Well, even as I pray this prayer, I know that God’s answer to this prayer lies in his people. It lies in you and I to be people to stand up and do something. Can we choose to place ourselves in front of the hurting in our neighbourhoods and in our world? That I believe is the first step. 

In true Canadian fashion this blog post comes with an apology. It has been my intention to break your heart a little as mine has been broken. Please know it’s with the best of intentions. For when we allow our heart to be broken by what breaks the heart of God, we create soil for new things to grow within us. May this soil grow something new in us all. 

-Pastor Evan

Please share the stories, share this campaign, share your heart for Haiti.  We need your stories, your passion and action to save lives. Be a part of the movement by sharing your story with us. Share and tag us on Facebook @covchurchcanada.

Meeting Madame Mark (The Sarepta Project)

The first thing to say is it has been an amazing experience. There have been some surprises along the way, but mostly it has been a real uplifting journey. Even the things I expected to see, still created some confusion.

This is truly a good place. The people are filled with pride, full of belief, and a sense of community so strong that it has me wondering about the lost connections we have in Canada. Do our collection of items, and conveniences take away from us having this rich life that I have been experiencing here?

The first day we arrived was an overload of information to take in. We stepped out of the plane and I was immediately hit with a battering of heat and humidity. Getting into the building for customs is a relief from the beating sun. It’s not long till the crowded room starts to fill with everyone’s body heat.  

As stepped onto the street outside of the airport it was frantic array of people everywhere. Dr. Manno meets us there and brings some order to everything. Driving to Haut Limbe the street life is almost overwhelming. People are everywhere. Traffic was a hectic array of trucks, cars, motorcycles, and pedestrians all moving at different rates, bobbing and weaving in and out as they share the roads, sidewalks and beaches. Yes, vehicles also drive on the sidewalk. In what appears to be complete chaos I saw people sitting on to the backs of trucks, as calm as can be. They are standing roadside with everything busily moving around them as if it is nothing to notice as all. This is life, this is their normal.

As we drove away from Cap Hatian and towards the rural areas things slowdown. When we arrived at Dr. Manno’s we headed straight to the Sarepta project New Year’s Eve celebration without much pause. One thing that stood out to me was Madam Mark, the founder of the Sarepta project. It filled my heart to help feed the elderly people of the program. I had a real feeling this, right now is where God wanted me to be.

Then I heard this powerhouse of a women talk. The commanding glow of her eyes and her deep-rooted passion moved me. You could feel the pride she has for her community. Without knowing what she was saying, I could see her it flowing past the language barrier.

Later, I heard more of her story from Pastor Evan. Madam Mark was a widow raising her young children in the community of Haut Limbe. She began to notice elderly people fainting at church and even with the pressures of raising a family she saw a need in her community and did something about it. She gave and served by using what little she had to start a feeding program for the elderly at her church. Madam Mark changed my whole perspective. Instead of observing what differs I saw the people. Their character and just how rich in life so many here are.

Madame Mark reminded me of the story from Luke 21 1-4: “While Jesus was in the temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. ‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus said. ‘this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.’”  Support people like Madame Mark who are helping Haitians thrive.

I arrived here with the idea of I would be helping and teaching, but so far, I have learned more than I could have imagined, and all this has come in the first 20 hours.

-Ben Scott 
*Ben was in Haiti in January 2019

Please share the stories, share this campaign, share your heart for Haiti.  We need your stories, your passion and action to save lives. Be a part of the movement by sharing your story with us. Share and tag us on Facebook @covchurchcanada.