A New House for a Family of 5 in Haiti

I met this family back in 2011 when I was volunteering with Living Media International 2 of the 3 children were in school then. It always hurt my heart seeing the condition of their little home. But they were doing the best that they could to take care of their children. Often times living conditions are hard in Haiti, their are many people that find scraps of materials to build a temporary home. But with lack of employment and resources, the temporary home looks to be permenent solution.

When I visited the family in 2016 I saw that they had started the foundation for a new house and 1/2 walls around the house. These are just kind of projects we like to get involved in with the Elijah Project we started in 2015. We wanted to find a way to help people that were struggling to make a difference for themselves and just needed a bit of extra help.

Lydia in school uniform.

Jean Paul at New Life School.

In 2016 we already had 3 projects but I talked with Raphael about any extra funding we could help out John and his family. We dug into our own funds and purchased cement to finish the walls, nails, and corregated tin for the roof. We also provided funds so Jeanette could feed the boss who had volunteered much of his time. The house (room) wasn't ready to move into but we had made a little more progress and we had a budget we could go back and raise money for next year.

We presented at a couple different churches in the Black Hills and one individual heard our story and wanted to make a difference in whatever way he could in Haiti. He made a $500 donation so much of that money went to this project as well as an outhouse for a neighbor. Which I find ironic considering this individual gave money from his plumbing buisiness. Plumbing is important in every country!

Raphael cooked 2 Haitian meals for fundraising at 1st UMC in Vermillion and the church also did matching funds for money raised for building projects. It is so amazing to see progress being made in our community. We couldn't do it without help from many different individuals.