Outreach News
You may be aware that Haiti is experiencing a terrible situation because of gangs and violence originating in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The gangs virtually rule the capital and the area around it. Women and children are fleeing this violence by escaping into the more remote hills, where Samuel, a SIFAT graduate, lives and serves. SIFAT is one of our international partners funded through Faith Promise.
Since 2010, Samuel has been teaching his people in Haiti the things he learned about growing more food and purifying their water. In 2019, SIFAT funded his first proposal to help 50 women get food security for their families by learning better agricultural techniques and working together to help each other. These women worked hard together, prayed together and believed that God would help them. The project was successful, and the women grew enough vegetables to eat with extra to sell. They could pay school fees for their children and buy things for their families.
More than five years later, they are still succeeding in their agricultural co-op. Their gardens have become sustainable. They have helped Samuel start other agricultural projects in communities where children are hungry and cannot go to school. University students studying agronomy have visited Samuel to see his successful projects. Samuel now finds himself helping refugee families settle among the communities participating in his projects. The women who were once so desperate themselves are sharing what they have to help these refugees.
A recent letter from Samuel describes the situation: “I received 30 women and their children today, crying, because gang violence and guns made them leave their homes. I accompanied them to stay in Jannot, where we are working an agricultural project. I wanted to make sure that these families leave the difficulty of finding a place to stay and to get food and clean water to drink. I prayed with them a lot and let them know that we will bring them together with the community to work together. The women and children of Jannot cried because of the great pain and sorrow in their hearts when they saw that these refugees have nothing. I told the new families not to be discouraged. The women of Jannot have already found a small piece of land that other families there have set aside for them to make their own gardens in the future to solve the problem of hunger and poverty.” Until these refugees can get their gardens growing, Samuel and the people he works with are sharing what they have, so that all will have something to eat.
