“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.
One-hundred-sixty-seven Haitians in 23 families are benefitting from the generosity of the SSNDs and their many students, staff and friends who contributed $40,000 to the province’s Hurricane Matthew Fund. The families live in two communities, Matènwa and Masikren, on the island of LaGonave, where they have always struggled to meet their basic daily needs, even before the storm.
We offer Sr. Justine’s prayer or create your own prayer on behalf of Haiti’s children.
Prayer for Haiti
November 16, 2016: As the initial investment in our newly-formed collaborative, we invite the School Sisters of Notre Dame to partner with two new rural communities on La Gonav where we are planning expand. The new communities are Tipalmis (SSND delegation members visited and stayed in this community in April) and Nan Mango (southeast of the community of Matènwa, which the delegation also visited).
