Dear Friends,

It’s been several months since I’ve returned from Haiti and just as long since I’ve written to you. To be honest I’ve been discouraged and didn’t know exactly what to write. Many of you have been wonderfully faithful in your continued donations and sponsorship and our hearts are full of gratitude for your generosity and faithfulness. Unfortunately however, our monthly income has been down this year and we will not be able to send money July and August for camp, extra activities, savings toward school supplies, and uniforms when school begins again in the fall. I pray that we have enough money to ensure that all the teachers and staff will be paid for their hard work.

As you can imagine, there are many expenses when running two schools. Sponsorship of children helps pay some of these expenses, but as long as we still have so many un-sponsored children, many needs go unmet. Hope in Haiti employs about 30 people – a director of each school, a secretary, about 18 teachers, not including the teachers for the secondary school, cooks, and someone to clean. Thus, we have become part of the economy of this small area in Haiti. Right now in Nan wo stand four small, bare plywood classrooms that were built to be temporary but have become somewhat permanent because of lack of building funds for the new school. I brought a teacher from the States with me on a trip last year, and when she saw these tiny shelters, she was shocked and tears filled her eyes. There is nothing on the walls, children sit shoulder to shoulder, squeezed in tight with very few materials to work with. It is certainly far less than ideal. With the devastating poverty in this area where people don’t always know if they will have food to eat the next day, self-funding the school construction is just not a reality. We are praying that God would provide $75,000 soon to complete Nan wo’s school building, which will have seven large classrooms, seating more than 400 students throughout the day. This goal is large, but not impossible for our God! Being a child in Haiti means you have almost everything working against you–little or no sanitation or medical care, hunger, abject poverty, broken homes or even abusive family situations, and very slim hope for the future; this is the scene I’ve witnessed for years and tried to tell you about. Forgive me if I haven’t communicated well or if you haven’t yet fallen in love with these people as I have. I really believe that as God provides for this school, the light of hope will also be streaming into these kids’ lives.

I have informed Pastor Louinet of our financial difficulty and he says the church and schools will be praying. So are we.

The Haitian school year has come to a close. The children just took their yearly exams, and hopefully all will pass and continue on to the next grade. Please pray for your sponsored child during these summer months between grades. Please also pray about what your role could be in making sure these schools continue. Your involvement does make a huge difference and touches many lives.

Thank you for your prayers and continued support.

Thankful for you,
Dixie