Dear Friends, This quarter, World Renew Haiti evaluated our partnership with two important institutions: PWOFOD and STEP. Leanne Geisterfer, our regional team leader, was present for the PWOFOD evaluation. The team was grateful to God for the strengths this institution has developed in mobilizing churches and reinforcing the links among them to better work within their communities….

Dear Friends,

This quarter, World Renew Haiti evaluated our partnership with two important institutions: PWOFOD and STEP. Leanne Geisterfer, our regional team leader, was present for the PWOFOD evaluation. The team was grateful to God for the strengths this institution has developed in mobilizing churches and reinforcing the links among them to better work within their communities.

Our appreciation for our work with Community Service of the Theological Seminary (STEP) of Port-au-Prince grew as well. Mark Vanderwees, World Renew consultant in Nicaragua, was part of the team. We all developed a better sense of what it means for STEP to work within a politically dangerous setting and reconcile the population with its own members. The challenges are great for us, and more than ever we are conscious of our need for God’s discernment as we plan and invest more in this community. The Mission Director and groups from Calvary Church in Holland, Michigan visited STEP and the Fort Mercredi area. They are very interested in joining us in this daring venture.

Another interesting situation here in Haiti is the transition from disaster response to community development going on in Leogane. After such a key disaster intervention with survivors of the 2010 earthquake, the disaster response project in Leogane has come to an end. At the same time, a livelihoods program has also been initiated, in partnership with the organization ZOA in Holland, and it is smoothly moving the work from disaster response toward community development. Today, in this country where agriculture is a priority and food security is a broad concern, World Renew has succeeded in implementing and training twenty farmers associations in Leogane. They are not strong yet, but they are growing.

Celebration of World Renew’s 50th Anniversary in Haiti
The Haiti World Renew staff celebrated the 50th anniversary of World Renew on December 21. Dr. Lesly Jules, a former employee, was our main speaker. Jules gave a brilliant and unforgettable speech on community development. Willys Geffrard, former Coordinator of the earthquake response program, shared with our guests and partners lessons learned from his two-year experience in Leogane. Two Haitian singers, Jean Marc Cassamajor and Jean Bernard Cerin, brought their extraordinary contribution while Barbara Cassamajor accompanied them on the piano. Special thanks to Jean Bernard and Barbara and Jean Marc Cassamajor. We also took advantage of the opportunity to recognize the efforts of SKDE for their contribution to the development of Cooperatives in Haiti; to PWOFOD for their contributions in church mobilization; to STEP for contributions to peace-building in Fort Mercredi; and to Adelson Jean Philippe for his contribution to increasing access to literacy for the population of Carrefour.

I would like to share AdJean Philippe’s interesting story with you:

Fifty-year-old Adelson Jean Philippe is a deacon at Communité du Christ Church in Port-au-Prince. Adelson is a graduate of a three-year diaconal training program implemented by Pwogram Fomasyon Dyak-PWOFOD. In 2005, Communité Du Christ Church, along with other churches in Port-au-Prince, began a project for orphans and vulnerable children that is funded by World Renew. Adelson and two other deacons were members of a committee that oversaw the implementation of the project in Carrefour.

Adelson approached the project with vigor because he himself was an orphan who grew up missing the love of his parents. Adelson and the committee members also began a literacy program to help parents and caretakers improve their opportunities. Adelson faced an additional challenge when the other two committee members quit part way through the project, and he continued to do his own work as well as theirs.

At the end of the Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) project in 2006, the program had grown to three literacy centers that served forty parents and one-hundred children. Adelson managed each of the centers while creating a an organization called Compassion for the Orphans of Haiti or CPOH to provide private school scholarships for the children. At the end of the original OVC program, there were no more funds, no more administrative support available from PWOFOD, but Adelson saw a need and created his own NGO called CPOH in order to take over the services by the project that ended. He did this through networking and use of local resources.

Adelson later opened eleven more literacy centers in eight additional regions, reaching an average of 27 students per center. There are now around 390 participants in total, with 14 teachers among them, including Aldelson’s wife and two of their adult children. Adelson has been working to establish the learning centers using what he learned as a deacon and OVC project assistant. With his help, CPOH has also been able to access community resources in the area through local school principals who make their local classrooms available for CPOH literacy classes in the afternoon and provide scholarships to the children. CPOH, under Adelson’s leadership, is a partner with the Secretary of State in literacy programs and their new graduates recently received a graduation certificate from the President of Haiti at a special ceremony held by the Secretary of State for Literacy.

Adelson is a highly disciplined man who is employed as a martial art trainer for the Haitian police force. He also devotes himself to community development work and church activities. Adelson’s dream is to see the institution he implemented serving more and more vulnerable people. He has proven that he can do great things by networking with the resources he has at hand in the local community. He is a man of God who believes that his community work and preaching the Gospel go hand-in-hand.

Prayer Requests:

  • Our local partners as they face more challenges and continue grow stronger.

  • World Renew staff as we face the transition in Leogane.

  • Adelson Jean Philippe, his ministry and his family.

  • Our project with SKDE in Bercy. We hope to implement a water project here this year

 

Grace & Peace, 

Lunise Cerin-Jules

Country Consultant
World Renew Haiti