Dear Synod Grants and Scholarship Review Committee,

On behalf of Church of the Cross, we would like to thank you for your recent contribution of $800.00 for our mission trip to Haiti.  Because of your generosity, nine members from our congregation were able to visit this country.

As requested, we would like to give you a short recount of our trip.  We visited Haiti from February 10-18, 2007.  Our church has been sponsoring the work of Pastor Desarmes and his wife Blonde with Mission Evangelique for over 20 years.  It is remarkable to see all of the progress that has come to fruition, under their guidance and vision.  Our main objective for this trip was to gather information on the 39 children currently sponsored by church members and get informa-tion about additional children needing sponsors.  We took photos and completed a questionnaire on each child.  We were able to deliver a small bag of goodies to each child, along with a photo from their sponsoring family here in the States.  Several people from our group agreed to become sponsors for children they met, while in Haiti.  We believe that this type of information collecting will greatly encourage the continued financial support from people in our congregation and will give them a sense of connectedness to those in Haiti.

We were also able to assist with some light construction work on a church being built in Gressier.  The construction work in Haiti is very time consuming and difficult, due to a lack of resources and tools.  Our group helped carry water and sand in 5 gallon buckets to make cement.  We also formed supportive, iron frames to hold the cement in place.  The home of Pastor Desarmes and his wife has a cistern well, but no pump for it.   One of the men from our group, who had visited their home before, took a hand pump and PVC pipe to construct a new pump for them.  This was a great blessing.

We visited several places receiving funding from our church, including schools in Gressier & Trouin, the clinic in Gressier and St. Croix Hospital in Leogane (which is a joint project between the Episcopal Church and the PCUSA).  We were able to take various over-the-counter medications with us for the pharmacy at the clinic, including eye drops, vitamins, analgesics, and pain relievers.   At the schools we had time to interact directly with the children and see the progress being made in their education.  The national average for students taking standardized testing to advance beyond grades 6 and 12 is only 35%.  Both of our sponsored schools have maintained a 100% passing rate for students taking these tests and have received certification from the Government of Haiti.  Because the schools are private, the curriculum includes daily teachings of the Bible and Christian values.  We believe that educating the children is the best way to ensure that they will have a fulfilling future.

Again, we would like to thank you for your financial support.  If you would like additional information about our trip, we would be happy to provide it. It is a blessing to have your partnership in serving the people of Haiti.  Attached are some photos from our trip.

With sincerest appreciation,

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