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.
UN Forces to Haiti – what’s happening?
Dear Haiti Friends, Here's an article from today's Haitian times about the UN's deployment of police support to Haiti: https://haitiantimes.com/2023/12/06/kenya-police-deployment-haiti-5/ As you can see, "high level meetings" are being held while the Kenyan Parliament...
Haitian Women Collective
Dear Haiti Friends, I want to commend to you the work of the Haitian Women Collective whose newsletter appears below. If the education, general health, and reproductive health of girls and women is an important part of your partnership, you may wish to watch the two...
Things changing by the minute in Haiti
Dear Haiti Friends, It's still difficult to get accurate news from Haiti, but the following seems to have happened: 1. Mirebalais: After the attack on the Partners in Health/University Hospital in Mirebalais at the end of last week, the local police and a...
Update on the Haiti Hospital Attack
Dear Haiti Friends, If you have friends in Mirebalais, you have undoubtedly herd from them that a gang has apparently relocated from Port-au-Prince, possibly in advance of expected UN police assistance. People are attempting to shelter in place. It goes...
The Closing of the Haiti-Dominican Republic Border
Dear Haiti Friends, Several of you have asked about the closing of the Haiti-DR border and the dispute over canal construction. Below is today's issue of the Haitian Times with some articles about the conflict. I do not know a lot of details, but have...
News from Haiti
Dear Haiti Friends, I know you're tired of hearing from me this week! One more thing: I've just received news from a friend about yet another very sad kidnapping of a family member in Haiti. I want to remind everyone, please, please, if this happens to friends...
Thank you
Many thanks to all of you who have continued to support our partnership with St Andre Episcopal Church and School, Trianon, Haiti. The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti is the second-largest educator of children in the country, behind the Roman Catholics who are first...
Possible support for Haitian police
Dear Haiti Friends, Today's Haitian Times includes an article about Kenyan security officials currently meeting with the Haitian government and the National Police to discuss possible support under the aegis of the U.N....
Calendar and Chocolate
I know for a lot of you it's a very busy time with the beginning of a new school year, so as a reminder, I'm resending the Haiti school year calendar with classes scheduled to begin September 11. If you provide regular support to your partner school during these...
Melchie, Jamaica, and what to say to friends
Dear Haiti friends, There's a nice article about Melchie Dumornay, one of the stars of the Haitian women's soccer team, in the New Yorker magazine: https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/melchie-dumornay-is-the-revelation-of-the-world-cup-so-far Melchie is...
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.
