Videos:
For 33 years now, we have been providing food and the Gospel to the people of the poverty-stricken mountains and plains of Haiti. Much of this once-fertile land is now barren and dry, where the trees have been long since chopped down, mostly to make charcoal. During the rainy season, mudslides and floods are common, as there is nothing to hold the soil in place on the steep mountainsides. It is extremely hard to grow crops in these regions, and for the people trying to scratch out a living here, every day is a struggle for survival. According to a 2000 survey, 54% of the population in Haiti are "without sustainable access to an improved water source", and 49% of the people are undernourished¹. The small huts you can see here often house families of 10 or more!
The white sacks that you see in the pictures are food supplies that were provided by USAID, one of our primary food donors. Many of the people will walk for miles, even all day long, in order to arrive in time to receive one of these bags of food.
With so many hungry people all in one place at one time, it can sometimes become difficult to keep everyone orderly. We tell the people that Jesus sent us, and sometimes keep everyone singing together while we hand out the food. We also exhort them to thank Jesus after receiving the food.
Take a look at the sidebar on this page for links to a photo slideshow and videos of our food distribution....
Most importantly, we are glad to be able to tell these people about the good news of the Gospel, and how there is actually a real hope in Christ, especially for them. During our feedings, we teach them a Bible verse, and sing and pray together before we distribute the food. Before, during and after this, we find plenty of opportunities to communicate with them one-on-one, explain to them more about Jesus, or help with particular cases of urgent need. It is a real blessing to see how thankful they are for even the small bit that we can give them.
Many of the children in our orphanages have come from these areas, as it is not uncommon for us to take an especially needy or malnourished child (or a few) back home with us after the feeding for extra help.
Recently we have especially shifted our focus to aiding smaller, Haitian-run orphanages that are especially in need of food and other aid. There are many, many of these, some of which are more established (though still poor), and some which do not have much more than the roof over their heads. They may have few children or many in their care, but either way, their need is great, and we have found that this way we can reach out to help many more children besides those we take into our orphanages.
