Sister Catherine Sarther visits Lagonav, Haiti
Sister Catherine Sarther, a member of the Beyond Borders Board of Directors, and the Province Haiti committee, visited Haiti from January 29 to February 1, 2018.
When people talk about Haiti, the first thing that comes to mind is that it is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. But that is not how the Haitian people think of themselves. Haiti has rich culture which in part, embodies the characteristics of resilience, creativity, ingenuity and faith. Haiti became the world’s first independent black republic and second independent nation in the hemisphere when it successfully conducted a slave rebellion, overthrowing their French colonial masters in 1804.
Since February, 2017, the Atlantic-Midwest Province of SSND has been engaged in a partnership in Haiti with Beyond Borders, a non-profit organization working in Haiti for over 20 years.This collaboration in Haiti focuses on developing two Model Community Initiatives (MCIs) on Lagonav in the communities of Ti Palmis and Nan Mango. Both of these communities are located on Lagonav, an island off the western coast of Haiti. The collaboration between SSND and Beyond Borders is focused on: ending violence against women and girls in Haiti, preventing parents who are poor from sending their children into domestic servitude as restaveks, providing sustainable livelihoods for economically vulnerable families and supporting efforts to provide children’s access to education and the training of teachers.
