Today’s Haiti
. Fearing for their lives daily is another add-on to Haitians’ list of oppressions. Before the violence, Haitians lacked food, clean water, housing, access to health care, and education, establishing Haiti as the poorest country in the Northern Hemisphere. Now, the oppression of poverty is stronger than ever. Shelley Jean, founder and owner of Papillion Market Place in Haiti, just returned from Haiti. She describes the situation as, “Constant fear of gangs, sickness, hunger, and ongoing trauma hover over the population like a thick blanket that they struggle under trying to come up for air.”
Over 200 Gangs have taken over homes and communities; people continue to be kidnapped, raped, and murdered in the streets. Gangs now control 60% of Port Au Prince and the surrounding area.
In the last month, some communities have started to fight back against the gangs. Terror is used to rebel against the terrorist. “You can’t go anywhere without seeing a dead body,” reported one of the artisans at the Market Place. And as horrible as the rebellion sounds, it is showing some success. Kidnappings during the last week have been down. Time will tell. But through it all, Haitians hold to hope and faith. Their resiliency is astonishing.
PieH Scholarship Recipient Update
Partners in Education Haiti scholarship recipients remain in school despite many daily challenges. For example, they often leave for school without breakfast (schools in Haiti do not provide breakfasts, lunches, or snacks). While traveling to school, they fear getting caught in gang-initiated gun crossfire or fear being kidnapped. Unfortunately, this is the everyday reality in Haiti today.
PieH Program assistant Orvilous Edome keeps track of the students and their families’ needs and well-being. To the best of his ability, he ensures the students have what they need to be successful and attend school as safely as possible. In addition, he monitors each student’s situation and alerts the PieH board of potential additional needs.
We promised to stick with these scholarship recipients through graduation and we will keep that promise. We also hope to provide more scholarships in the coming years.
It costs $365/year to send one Haitian youth to High School. If you want to sponsor a student or give a one-time donation, please tap the “Donate” button on the top-right corner of this page.
