“Our mission is to proclaim the good news, directing our entire lives toward that oneness for which Jesus Christ was sent.”
AMSSND Province Haiti Committee
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) 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 and preventing parents who are poor from sending their children into domestic servitude as restaveks. The Model Community Initiative seeks to provide holistic community-based support to address the root causes of violence and restavek. Please click here to learn about the progress made in the first three years of the Haiti Partnership.
As the province’s engagement in Haiti has evolved in partnership with Beyond Borders, our sisters have learned about the urgent needs of the people of Lagonav, Haiti. Our sisters have visited the island and felt compelled to identify further ways that SSND can help support.
Please click here to support the Water Initiative
Support The Water Initiative This initiative was launched as we learned about how scarce and precious water is on the island of Haiti. Given that water is one of the province’s four commitments, the sisters felt compelled to do more to help families in Haiti have access to water. The results so far have been life-changing for the 96 families supported with rainwater catchment systems last year. Click here to read more about this.
Help us in meeting our goal of reaching 100 additional families with water catchment systems in the coming year. Each catchment system will cost approximately $350 each per household, and our goal is to raise $35,000. This will enable a household to utilize rainwater for their home and garden use. Accompanying agricultural and nutritional education will enable the garden to flourish as a source of food and income.
May 1st Labor and Agricultural Day - a national holiday in Haiti.
May 2nd Flowers’ Day was celebrated during the Duvalier era in the capital’s bicentennial plaza decorated with flowers and the colors of the Haitian flag with artists and musical groups.
May 18th Haitian Flag Day. In a pact signed by the Black and Mulatto officers at the May 1803 congress, the officers created the Haitian flag on the last day of the congress.
AMSSND is committed to the goal of universal access to clean water. As part of that commitment, our province engages in education and advocacy efforts regarding the spirituality and vitality of water around the world and how to protect it. We advocate changes such as the elimination of bottled water, straws, and other plastics that pollute the earth's water and the life depending upon it. We also support and learn from projects that provide life given access to water.
This is a report of the Haiti partnership’s Teacher Training Program for Year 2 completed in Summer, 2018.
