World Hunger Day
May 28th marks the global day of awareness for world hunger.
In Haiti, millions are completely without access to food, right now.
Lespwa Lavi Academy students have not gone hungry once this year
…but our food supply is running low
Gangs still control all highways around Verrettes
We are going to need another food miracle….
The news out of Haiti remains bleak. This week an American missionary couple, Davy and Natalie Lloyd, and their Haitian director, Jude, at Missions in Haiti were horrifically murdered by gangs as they worked at an orphanage north of Port-au-Prince. Meanwhile, the promised Kenyan and multi-national police force was supposed to arrive Friday, and has been delayed at least 3 more weeks. We are hopeful that the armed forces will be able to open up the highways. Port-au-Prince gang leader, Cherozier “Barbeque”, continues to threaten “genocide” if an international force lands in Haiti. Most gangs are less organized and often high on drugs. As the main ports and highways remain closed, food and essential supplies are increasingly scarce.
Yet good people are still pushing back, determined for a better nation. Good people are still loving their families, rejoicing in new marriages, baptisms, graduations and tiny babies. In Verrettes, the community security council, led by Lespwa Lavi director, Mr Duvelsaint, has successfully kept gangs from entering the city for more than a year. While travel just a few miles down the road remains impossible, the city has become a safe haven. Thousands of refugees from Port-au-Prince have come there, many of them unaccompanied minors and young women who have suffered atrocies.
Lespwa Lavi’s local resources are extremely limited to assist refugees, but we were able to open space in our 7th and 8th grades classes to refugee students, allowing them to have a safe place and a daily meal. Our Haitian team is working on solutions to keep as many minors safe as possible, and you will hear more soon.
A full church for Mother’s Day! The church committee organized a special meal and a gift for each mother and grandmother. We also celebrated the hiring of 2 new pastors!