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.
The complex relationship between the Dominican Republic and Haiti
View this email in your browser June 20th, 2023 One island. Two nations. Worlds apart?Behind the rhetoric distancing Haiti and the Dominican Republic Haiti and the Dominican Republic share one island–Hispaniola–whose peoples, cultures and economies are...
Good News and Bad News
Dear Haiti Friends, News trickles in about massive flooding in the southwest of Haiti. A flash flood in Leogane has caused a great deal of destruction and loss of life. The following message is from the Medical Benevolence Fund which is a supporter of Hopital St...
Melodie Celeste
Dear Haiti Friends, A plea for unity in Haiti from our friends at Melodie Celeste, St. Pierre, Mirebalais: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYjfppvxVsI Best line in the song: "Division will not lead." We need that message in the U.S., too.
Article from a member of the Montana Group
Courtesy of Jerry Harner, below my signature is an article by a member of the Montana Group. One of the points it makes that in addition to being the drug market that funds a large portion of the crime and unrest in this hemisphere, the US is also an exporter to...
Celebrate Haitian month at Banbôch Kreyol Fest 🇭🇹
For those of you who will be in New York at the end of May -- Kreyol Fest is making a return on Sunday, May 28th! Please see below for more information. For fans who have stayed at the Hotel Oloffson in Port-au-Prince, RAM is onstage at 7:00pm. Coney Island...
Haiti and Gangs
From the Haitian Times online newspaper, here is a collection of articles about various aspects of the challenges of the gang warfare in Haiti: Special Report - Gangs in Haiti: A deeper look - The Haitian Times No easy solutions, alas.
Haiti 10-year plan summary released
USAID has produced a strategy document in response to the Global Fragility Act intended to guide the US in reacting to Haiti's government crisis and precarious situation. While there are not a lot of specifics, it does talk about the shoring up of Haitian police and...
Celebrating 20 years in Haiti
Dear Haiti Friends, I was privileged to be along on the first couple of trips St. Stephen's, Austin, TX made to its new partner school, St. Etienne in Salmadere, Haiti. That partnership is now 20 years old, and almost unbelievable change has come to Salmadere...
Article by Alan Yarborough
I want to recommend this article by Alan Yarborough whose perspective on Haiti is always balanced, well-informed, and shaped by his experience living there as a very useful volunteer:...
Jackie Williams, Friend of Haiti, Passes Away
I am sorry to tell you that another of Haiti's greatest and most useful friends, Jackie Williams, has died. She had been in gradually failing health for many months, and died peacefully last night. Her children Marcia Cash and Frank, Clarkson, and Taylor Williams...
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.
