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Haiti Committee Main Contact: Leslie Dunne ldunne85@hotmail.com

Since 1986, St. Charles parishioners have been partners with the people in the area around Cavaillon in southwestern Haiti. Find our more about our Haiti and our ministry’s history over the past several years and activities in the areas of education, economic development, faith/church, and health.

Our Areas of Focus Education: Each year, parishioners sponsor students through the Sponsor-a-Child program, allowing them to attend Catholic school. St. Charles parishioners sponsored 678 students at six rural elementary schools during the 2006-2007 school year. This was a 20 percent increase over the previous year. We also fund modest lunch programs at those schools; in 2006-2007, $35,000 was sent to our sister parishes to support these. Learn more about the Godparents Program and additional ways you can help with the schools by contacting Elise or Marc Tessier at Haiti_Godparents_Program@yahoo.com. Economic Development: We have helped complete the building of a high school, Provided a new motor for a grain mill, and helped start a cooperative community store. We are supporting two micro-credit programs to help start or expand small businesses. We would like to expand these to other rural communities as we raise funds and as community groups organize to manage funds. If you would like to get involved in this area, please contact Richard Young at rcyoung22203@yahoo.com. Health: We assisted in building a health clinic in the villages of Sudre, Flamands, Boilear, and Gros Marin, We are providing operating funds for the Gros Marin clinic, the newest of these. If you would like to help with the clinics, please contact Pat Newman AMRGC@aol.com. Special Events: The Haiti Committee hosts a Haiti Carnaval each year neara the start of Lent. It includes a visit from the Haitian choir of the Sacred Heart parish in Washington, DC. If you would like to be involved with the planning, please contact Richard or Caroline Young at rcyoung22203@yahoo.com.

Background on Haiti Haiti is the poorest country in our hemisphere, located only 800 miles from the United States. More than eight million people live in an area about the size of Maryland. Two-thirds of Haiti is mountainous, and many villages are not accessible by road. Most of the rural people are subsistence farmers. Severe deforestation and soil erosion coupled with Haiti's location in the hurricane belt puts Haiti at severe risk of devastating floods. Half of the population is illiterate and, whether in the countryside or in the cities, lives in abject poverty. Our sister parishes, Cavaillon and Gros Marin, are in the diocese of Les Cayes on the SW peninsula of Haiti. Cavaillon, an old town, and Gros Marin, a newer one, are the centers of active, vital parishes. Most of the parishioners, however, live in rural settlements and attend country chapels. The priests visit these chapels like circuit preachers on the American frontier. In between visits, local lay leaders hold prayers services and coordinate religious education and social programs.

Our History