Haiti Mission, Inc.

Haiti Mission, Inc. 

ANNUAL RPT 2021-22 

Message from the Director

Dear Friends of the Poor,

It has been another busy year for HMI.  More wells have been drilled, homes built, children educated, fed and cared for and families given hope.  We now have 65 wells drilled in Haiti and are hoping to drill several more in 2023.   Construction of homes (which numbered 281 at the end December 2022) is now helping four families a month get out of misery.

None of this would have been possible without your sacrificial love and generosity.  The Board of Directors of HMI would like to thank you for all you have done to help us continue to help those in need in Haiti.  Behind every number is a child, a family and a community that has hope because of your support. 

In the epistle of James, we read, “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like. But the one who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres, and is not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, such a one shall be blessed in what he does” (James 1:22-25)

Haiti Mission has often been the only hope many of these families have had – the only family and friends bringing fresh water and care.  We continue to be committed to bringing water to within 500 feet of every child and family in this region of Haiti as evidenced by the continued commitment to drilling and maintaining wells.   Our passionate response to the sound of a hungry and thirsty child is why we are here.  We will continue to work untiringly until these children and their families have the basic needs they deserve.

Our mission has done so much, but we can only see clearly how much more needs to be done.  As we bring our 22nd year to a close, we are more confident than ever that God’s grace and blessings will continue to flow through us into the lives of more people who have been oftentimes forgotten by the world.  With your help we will answer the call of the poor and the needy. With Christ at our side and the power of God in our hearts, we will persist in this labor of love.  We will continue to be doers of the Word and not just hearers.

Peace and God’s choicest blessings be on you and your families,

Deacon Lloyd and Mrs. Faie Duplantis

Feeding the Children, Developing the Economy, Sheltering the Needy

Bec’s Bakery continues to fulfill its mission of delivering a meal everyday to each of the children in the schools which we support.  We began with one hot meal per month.  Although it sounds almost ridiculous to say that was a feeding program, we came to realize that once a month was better than none at all.  Now into its fifth year of operation, Bec’s bakery has greatly reduced the cost of feeding each child.  This bakery also supplies jobs and economic development to the community, further stimulating the growth of the area which means help for the families.

At the close of our fiscal year September, 2022, we have built 281 houses in the area.  This is a substantial and an incredible number of families that now have lovely, durable and dignified homes and no longer have to live in mud and squalor.  The four room houses with porches now afford safe shelter for them and for friends and family.  Our unique Kobonal-Haiti Mission home design and matching fund concept has allowed us to be able to construct an 800 square foot home for a donation of $4000 which has skyrocketed our construction hopes past any projections for which we had hoped. Our new design has dramatically reduced the cost of building houses to $8,000 and our matching fund developed through our Silent Auction has been an incredible blessing, allowing us to raise enough funds to match these $4000 gifts) We are estimating that we will build at least thirty-six homes this construction year – an incredible feat that would never have been possible without your help and the current construction protocol.

As you may or may not recall, the costs of building homes had continued to escalate after the earthquake.  In order to attempt to reduce the cost of construction so that more people could be moved out of these deplorable living conditions, a team from HMI began researching other options.  We were introduced to Fr. Glenn Meaux’s Kobonal Model home in March 2013.  Fr. Glenn had been working in the Central Plateau area of Haiti about a mile outside of the city of Hinche for twenty-three years at the time and had been building this type home for thirteen of those years.  He had built over 200 at the time of our visit. 

Fr. Meaux’s model was unique in so far as each house was exactly the same.  They had cement slabs but used a floating slab design which had more rebar but did not require very much excavation or special masonry work.  This structural pattern utilizes only a six inch (6”) footing around the perimeter and an average of four (4) inches throughout the foundation. Fr. Meaux was gracious enough to send his crew to Numero Deux for two weeks to train the HMI team and actually build three of the Kobonal model homes.  The process went very well with the HMI team building the third house by themselves after working on the first two with the Kobonal team.  The end result was that the cost of the houses dropped from $12,500 to $7,500. But beginning in 2022, with the prices of gasoline and materials soaring up, the price of building a house is now at $8,000.  With a design and a plan, untold numbers of people are hoping and praying that we can continue to help them move from desperate and despicable misery to a dignified poverty with the promise of a better life.

Agronomy – Hope for the future

HMI continues to work with several men from the Jeremie region to develop an experimental farm where they could earn a living, produce vegetables, poultry and other livestock products and serve as a model to encourage and help others in the community become more proficient in agronomy skills.  Their efforts have born much fruit.  They are very excited about what they have been able to achieve.  The villagers are very appreciative to find fresh produce readily available. Our persistence and continued commitment to this area of our mission work is making a big difference. 

Healthcare Initiatives

From the very beginning of our mission efforts in Haiti, we have tried to follow some basic W.H.O. guidelines which recommend making parasite eradication medication and vitamins available to all the populace in developing nations.  Again this past year we have promoted and implemented Albendazole and multivitamin distribution several times a year.  Haiti Mission pays a nurse to look over the health needs of the school children and the families of the several villages where we work.  She has continued to coordinate the distribution process.  Haiti Mission has been responsible for distributing thousands of Albendazole and multivitamin tablets.  The impact on the children and adults has been remarkable. It has allowed them to thrive and develop by the removal of parasites from their system and has also increased the general wellbeing enhanced by multivitamin supplementation. 

Our drill truck has continued to stay busy this past year drilling several more wells, while facing relentless and never ending challenges in our quest to bring the best medicine in the world - potable water - to everyone in the region.   We are thankful to Almighty God to have allowed us the vision and foresight to do everything necessary to bring this rig to Haiti and keep it functioning.  We are going to systematically continue drilling wells in one community after the other in order to provide water that can protect people from disease and pestilence and improve their health.  Most importantly, we are committed to keeping these wells repaired and in working order.  Thanks to all who have continued to support and encourage this very difficult but vital work.

Education

From the humble beginning of one school with about 230 children, the St. Bridget Haiti Mission School System now continues to afford a basic education to the children of the area in buildings constructed by Haiti Mission in partnership with friends, foundations and Rotary groups.   Twenty teachers are being paid monthly.  Auxiliary aides and cooks are also receiving stipends which will help their children and families. Because of this basic elementary education, secondary and some vocational training which is now being made available through your generosity, these children and adults have hope and promise of a much brighter tomorrow.  The school buildings are being used in the morning for elementary grades – preschool to sixth and in the afternoons for secondary grades - seventh to ninth – and in the evenings for various forms of vocational and life-skills training.   We are so proud that the Haitian Government achievement testing in 2014 to gauge the effectiveness of the national and private schools in Haiti resulted in our sixth graders scoring in the 90 percentile group and the secondary kids scored 100%!  Quite remarkable and a powerful indicator of the level of dedication of our teachers, administrators and the parents of the children to education.

Water Development

Bringing water to within 500 feet of every person in the region is still a major and primary focus of Haiti Mission, Inc.  No development in any area is possible without sufficient, clean water.  At the close of the Fiscal year, our unique and effective Cable Tool drilling program has now completed sixty-four wells.  This rig is run by a Haitian team trained by HMI and an American driller.  This process has resulted in efficiently drilling wells in this rocky Haitian environment down to 500 feet, bringing life-giving water to remote areas which could only dream of having water before. Even though the challenges never cease and the wear and tear on the men and equipment is relentless, HMI and the drill team continue to find more successes than failures.  Your participation in our annual golf tournament/silent auction fundraiser and continued support throughout the year gives us the financing we need to continue to drill and maintain wells in the area.  God bless you for helping us focus on this vital project.  God bless our Haitian Drill team and my God bless and protect our precious equipment!

Solar Lantern Project

The positive impact of the lights has been tremendous. We have been able to distribute the lanterns during our "new home dedications" as well as during the food/medicine distributions for the community. We have included instructions in each lantern package, written in Haitian Creole of course, so our Haitian friends will have a clear understanding of how the lanterns work, recharge, etc. Currently there is no to very limited power on the "main" road, and no power to the homes. Solar power now provides clean, renewable, inexpensive lighting. Lighting solutions prior to the LuminAID lanterns were limited to candles, wood fires, or kerosene lanterns, which are unsafe, unhealthy, and costly.

Our goal for 2024 was to provide 875 lanterns, an additional 350 this coming year. The average home will have anywhere from 5-8+ people living together - Starpoint provides 2 lanterns for each new home.  Our supporters have delivered much needed light (and hope to a brighter future) to thousands of children, moms, dads, and grandparents. Our hope when we first started this project was that one day, we would be able to look onto the hillside at night and see the lights being used. Now you can see the lights "lighting up this hill."  You are making these lanterns "beloved" in Haiti, and now the children refer to them as "The Flash"!

Starpoint Charitable Project has been a tremendous resource and supporter of our efforts. Thank you to these teams!