St. Mark’s and St. Andre — Over Twenty Years Together
The Latest from Canon Serena
Long-time St. Mark’s member Canon Serena Evans Beeks, D.Min., is US Coordinator for Haiti Episcopal School Partnerships. Over the past 20 years, whenever political conditions allowed, she has traveled to Haiti, sometimes several times a year. Read her latest posting below about the country, the people, and our paternership with St. Andre in Trinon.
Pont-Sonde, Haiti
Dear Haiti Friends, From two different sources, bad news from Pont-Sonde, Haiti. Pont Sonde is located where the Artibonite River crosses the road between Port-au-Prince and Gonaives, not far from St-Marc. The road from Mirebalais west past the HUM...
Two More Pieces of Writing
Dear Haiti Friends, From the Episcopal Bishop of Southeast Florida, the Rt. Rev. Peter Eaton:...
Haitian Americans in the news and in the crosshairs
Dear Haiti Friends, No doubt you've been hearing the distressing news from Springfield, Ohio, where Haitian immigrants have been insulted with untruths repeated over and over on the news and made into "funny" memes. There just isn't anything funny about making up or...
Cultural Capital Haiti
Dear Haiti Friends, I'd like to introduce another relatively new group doing good work in Haiti: Cultural Capital Haiti, based in Jacmel, the "Arts Capital" of Haiti. Their name uses "capital" in the sense of assets, some of the greatest assets of Haiti...
Haiti’s Mango Emergency
Dear Haiti Friends, Courtesy of Cindy Corell, please see the article below forwarded by Cindy Corell. Cindy worked as a missionary for the Presbyterian Church in Haiti for several years, assisting with agricultural development, particularly with small farmers in...
U.N. Forces to Haiti?
Dear Haiti Friends, The deployment of Kenyan police to Haiti is just "days away" according to yesterday's NY Times in this disturbing article describing the major gangs as now the principal traffickers of South American cocaine to the US and to Europe:...
Haiti Presidential Transition Council Announced. Your Support is Needed
Dear Haiti Friends, I am forwarding a message from our friends at WORK (dignified jobs, community development, Haitian leadership development) outlining and explaining the progress of the U.N./CARICOM support for a transitional team to restore security in Haiti and...
Thanks and Easter wishes
Dear Haiti Friends, It is a pleasure to forward a letter (attached) of thanks and Easter greetings from the Rev. Kesner Gracia, Coordinator of the Partnership Program for the Diocese of Haiti. Those of you on the mailing list who are not directly involved in school...
Speak Out to Support Haitians
Dear Haiti Friends, I'm sorry to be a few days behind with information -- I plead the excuse of cataract surgery, second eye completed Wednesday and now in the eyedrops and sunglasses phase. All successful so far, and I recommend it! Below my signature please...
Resignation of Ariel Henry; background on gangs
Dear Haiti Friends, Ariel Henry's anticipated resignation as President of Haiti has been announced:...
The partnership of St. Mark’s with St. Andre’s Episcopal Church and School in Trianon, Haiti began in 2001. That year, one and then two parishioners began making regular visits, taking with them the offering from the St. Mark’s School’s Christmas Eucharist.
The relationship grew until 2007, when St. Mark’s members were able to make our first group visit. Since then, groups from the church and school have visited annually when conditions in Haiti have permitted.
Students at St. Mark’s School took the lead on such projects as a new four-room classroom building, a water project, and new school uniforms. Support from St. Mark’s pays teachers’ salaries, covers the occasional hot meal, and provides for repairs on the water system—which was damaged in the hurricanes of 2008—and the replacement of the old classroom building, which was damaged in the earthquake of 2010.
St. Andre’s was the first church and school on Haiti’s central plateau established by Bishop James Theodore Holly when he founded the Episcopal Church in Haiti in the early 1860s. Since its founding, St. Andre’s has offered a primary school for the children of local subsistence farmers. In Haiti, only 50% of the children have access to any education at all.
Please pray for the people of St. Andre’s, especially the children. If you can, give your financial support.