June 2024 Update
1. Finish the building in Les Cayes started in 2023. Approximate cost $40,000
2. School uniforms (mentioned above). Approximate cost $1,500
3. Finish paying teachers for the final month of last year schooling. $1,000
4. Tuition for start of Fall 2024 school year. $1,500
The new Prime Minister of the transitional government has announced that he has approved the project of opening a port on the western tip of the southern peninsula of Haiti; about an hour’s drive from our Les Cayes compound. This will greatly improve access to needed goods while reducing the cost of transportation and the impact the gangs have had on all goods shipped to this region. The two pigs that were provided several years ago by a generous donation of a couple from Pennsylvania are still producing piglets. Recently, three piglets were added to our small farm. The cow that was provided by a donation has been producing milk for the children, but she has now been “dried off” in anticipation of delivering a new calf. We hope this calf will be a heifer
(unlike the first couple of her calves which were bulls) so we can build a herd of milk producers.
The children and staff at Divine Ministries in Hope for Children send their deep-felt thanks and appreciation for your continued love and support which makes it possible for them to survive the severe conditions they face every day in Haiti.
610-451-1996 or markgillette1007@gmail.com
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May 2024 Update
Travel to Haiti has been suspended for the past three months due to gang activity. American Airlines cancelled my scheduled flights in March, April and May. The next date they plan to attempt flights into Haiti is June 15, 2024. I have a ticket for the week after that, though with the news we received this week regarding missionaries in Haiti being killed and our government recommending all our citizens leave Haiti, we will reevaluate the situation closer to the travel date.News media has largely ignored Haiti for the past two months as little changed from week to week. There has been some progress as a seven-person interim government was selected and tasked with the challenge of regaining control of the country and conducting a democratic election no later than February 2025. We have been told the long-promised help from Kenya finally started arriving this week in the form of 50 police officers early in the week, to be followed by 150 more before the end of this week. Perhaps as many as 500 Kenyan police will arrive before the country is back under government control.
We were also told that the USA has sent five military aircraft and thirty military ground vehicles to help by equipping the Haitian police with better equipment than the gangs. Reportedly, the local gangs have begun to realize their days are numbered. Many low-level gang members have turned in their guns and prominent gang leaders have tried that approach as well, though the response they received when they asked for forgiveness/amnesty was that they could look forward instead to capture, prosecution, and the eventual elimination of all gangs.
Daniel believes that in two or three more weeks the situation in Haiti should be vastly improved and the airport should be back to full operation and under government control. All glory to God!
Haiti is normally hot, even by Haitian standards, in July, August and September, but Pastor Daniel told me this week that temperatures there are unseasonably hot; so hot the children cannot even sleep inside our building at night. Fever is widespread and several of our children have been hospitalized with severe symptoms. The main well pump for our water supply gave out this week, but we were able to find a better pump and have improved the overall design of the system, which should increase the useful life of the new pump.
In our most recent newsletter, we mentioned the new Bible College we have begun as a special project to help educate local pastors. We named it H.E.L.P. (Haitians Equipping Laymen and Pastors). There are many local pastors eager to begin official training, and we have four qualified teachers and an administrator in place waiting for the arrival of training materials. Shipping training materials into Haiti has been delayed due the unrest and temporary elimination of trusted forms of shipping. Even DHL has refused to deliver packages to Haiti since March 15th. If no other shipping option becomes available, I will put the course material in my luggage to carry there on my next trip.
The Bible College, though urgently needed, is a departure from our main mission to the orphans, and we are trusting for God to connect us with additional forms of support to make this training possible. Please agree with us in prayer that God will provide for this increased need for funds.
The children and staff at Divine Ministries in Hope For Children send their deep-felt thanks and appreciation for your continued love and support which makes it possible for them to survive the severe conditions they face every day in Haiti.
Sincerely,
Mark Gillette, TeamOne27
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February 2024 Update
It was necessary for me to fly from Port-au-Prince to Les Cayes rather than drive across the country, as protests and gang activity make that option impossible. I will reverse that process on the day I return to the USA for the same reasons.
We now have 75 children living at our compound and attending school, either at our K – 5
on-site facilities, or at nearby locations. We had intended to take only five children from a
friend’s orphanage that was closing in P-au-P, but ultimately accepted 15 of the 32 children that would otherwise have been returned to the streets. Some of the older ones have yet to be enrolled in school as we wait on God to supply the funds needed for tuition, uniforms, shoes, books and supplies; things every student in Haiti must provide for themselves. Additionally, we now have 15 older boys living in P-au-P in rooms we provide, along with food while they work in their chosen profession and learn to live on a budget, something many people never learn.
certified Bible College for pastors and laymen in Haiti. H.E.L.P. Haitian Equipping of Laymen and Pastors. When we announced the project in church last Sunday at a pastors’ installation service, there was an immediate response by several pastors present that they want to attend. There is a real need for qualified training, and we believe God is arranging for it to be supplied. Pastor Daniel is currently working with potential Bible teachers to develop a budget. The classes will be held in the buildings we already have available.
Mark Gillette, TeamOne27
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Jan 2024 update
Much has happened in Haiti since our last update! The roof for the new building in Les Cayes has been completed and windows are now being installed. Most projects in Haiti are completed in stages; we started building by faith with roughly half of the projected funds needed and are trusting God for the remainder. Meanwhile, due to the urgent need and action to move from Port au Prince to avoid gang activity, we have children and staff living in unfinished rooms; there is much yet to be done!
Note: the solar-powered system in place was not capable of producing all the needed electricity. Eventually more solar power equipment will be installed, but a generator backup system is a prudent investment.
Bad Result: Unfortunately, gang activity has become increasingly worse. Goods and services are both scarce and extremely expensive.
My “November trip” to Haiti was rescheduled three times due to the difficulties in getting airplane tickets inside Haiti. Because gangs harass anyone who appears to have money, people fly from PAP to Les Cayes rather than drive; the small airline has been stretched beyond their capacity. Pastor Daniel needed over two weeks lead time to secure in-country flights for me, and even then had difficulty. I finally have the necessary tickets for my trip to Haiti at the end of this month.
Unfortunately, Haiti doesn’t appear any closer to holding their long overdue national election because the gangs don’t want it to happen. Please pray that the election will occur and Godly individuals will be elected that will care for the people rather than lining their own pockets. Power, prestige, and pocketbooks seem to guide the current decisions.
Also, cholera raised its ugly head again at the end of 2023 due to heavy rains and rising water tables.
Please join with us in prayer that God will supply:
– the funds for the current construction project,
– patience for all who are now living in temporary living quarters,
– the re-emergence of sanity and safety in the streets, and
– the establishment of a working government that actually works for the good of the people who elected them rather than their self-interests.
Mark Gillette, TeamOne27
610-451-1996 or
markgillette1007@gmail.com
We are taking the first steps of a new ministry to train pastors in Haiti. Many men are serving with little training and little opportunity for it. In fact, last year a special gift was received that allowed us to provide Bibles to 75 PASTORS who did not have their own copy of God’s Word!
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September 2023 Update
Much has happened in Haiti since our last update: We have continued building our new orphanage on the compound in Les Cayes, we have moved all the children and staff from Port-au-Prince to the new building location (though it is still under construction) into temporary quarters, and we have shipped a 40-foot container filled with food and equipment to Haiti which has successfully arrived in P-au-P.
But the biggest development is the situation with the gangs, known by Haitians as “the gun people.” The gangs recently announced to the country that they were sorry for the way they have treated the country and that they were relinquishing control of the roads and methods of transporting goods. There was rejoicing over that announcement, but the populace is naturally skeptical of this change and is cautiously testing the veracity of the gangs’ intentions regarding travel and other activities that would have been normal prior to the rise of the gangs.
If true, it would mean that the long overdue national election could be held. President Jovenel was killed in July of 2021 and since no election was held in the eighteen months that followed, all government offices were officially vacated, by constitution in January this year. That did not actually result in government posts being abandoned, but it did create a slowdown and backlog in government services. Perhaps better days lie just ahead.
I am in Haiti this week and witnessing the last of the necessary transfer of equipment and personnel to the countryside of Les Cayes. Perhaps we will even see the container delivered to our compound in Les Cayes. There is a very involved legal process to be endured in the processing of the paperwork for releasing the container from Customs.
The roof for the new building in Les Cayes is currently only partially completed. The metal rebar is in place and the forms have been built in preparation for the pouring of the cement, but we lack the resources to buy the materials and pay for the labor to complete the roof. Our original cost estimate for this part of the project appears to be accurate, but due to the urgency for moving the children to the countryside prior to the start of the school year, coupled with the very real threat of gang activity, we started building by faith when we had received roughly half of the projected funds needed.
There will of course be other costs of finishing the building once the roof is finished, but completing this part of the project will allow us to house children in the building, even before we install ceramic flooring, plumbing, electricity, and paint the building, inside and out. The balance needed to complete the roof is $10,000; one third of the original cost estimate. The children are really happy and excited about living out in the countryside with cleaner air and vastly more room to exercise and play.
Please join with us in prayer that God will supply the funds for the current construction project, patience for all who are now living in temporary living quarters, the reemergence of sanity and safety in the streets, and the establishment of a working government that actually works for the good of the people who elected them rather that their self-interests.
Thanks for your continued support in the many forms that takes.
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Aug 23 Newsletter & Fund Request
a) $30,000 to finish the roof of the building now under construction at our compound in the countryside of Les Cayes. In order to move the children and staff now in Port-au-Prince, where life is increasingly more dangerous due to gang activity, to the much safer environment of Les Cayes, we need to have a roof on the fifteen-room building we
began to build earlier this year. UPDATE: A church in Central Ohio has already
committed $15,000 to this project!
c) $4,500 Summer staff pay for the month of July. Due August first.
e) $1,200 Each month is the pay for six teachers. Needed each month throughout the school year, September through June.
f) $300 Health and beauty care and laundry.
h) $200 Electricity bill in PAP. The government charges us this amount each month whether or not they actually provide electricity, which can be sporadic at best.
Note: This bill will also end after we move operations to Les Cayes.
i) $3,500 Needed for food each month. This figure has grown due to gang activity and the increasingly expensive food prices that are a result.
j) $300 Basic medical needs for vitamins and a nurse who visits three times each week to keep watch over our children and staff.
Note: Emergency medical needs cannot be predicted, but each month there are incidents that require hospital visits and additional medicines that add to the budgeted figure.
k) $300 We must pay for a government worker who is required for us to operate an orphanage. This person monitors our record keeping and daily care for the children, including education.
l) $500 Transportation of students to outside schools, travel to secure supplies and food and transport same to our locations. This figure includes gas, oil and basic upkeep on our vehicles.
a) $8,000 This is what we have been paying annually for the two orphanage locations in PAP – one house for girls and one for boys.
Note: This cost will be eliminated (praise God!) by moving our operations to the compound on the land we own in Les Cayes. The land was donated to us following the major earthquake of January 2010, and we built the existing facility there debt-free as funds became available over time.
a) $45,000 Once the roof is on the new building in Les Cayes, we will need to finish pouring cement for the floors, install ceramic tile floors, electricity, plumbing, windows, doors and coat the walls inside and out with cement parging and paint.
b) $500 to $850 per month for a lunch program to feed the children who live outside our compound in the surrounding Les Cayes area to whom we provide school at little or no cost. Their families cannot afford to educate their children, so we negotiate a price they can afford and register their child(ren) at our school. Often these children arrive having eaten nothing in the last one or more days. They fall asleep in the classroom due to lack of energy caused by malnutrition. We had hoped to find an NGO (non-government organization) that specializes in such programs to help feed these children, but many NGO’s have fled Haiti due to the current danger and widespread unrest. We estimate we can feed all these children lunch three days per week for $500, or all five days per school week for $850 per month.
Thank you for your partnership!
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April 2024 Update
Mark Gillette, TeamOne27
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