First Christian Church of Massillon
1020 Wales Rd NE | 330-833-8559 | Office@FCCMassillon.com

Hi everyone,

 

Hope everyone is doing well. I wanted to send out a brief update regarding what I'm up to, but more importantly regarding the current state of Haiti. 

 

Since December 2015, I've been able to physically call Haiti my home. Although, I did two brief missions with MSF, my home base is now Haiti. This is where I was until one week ago. And one week ago I had to make the hardest decision of my life: to leave my Haitian family and join my American family while Hurricane Matthew passed through and threatened to destroy the country I love so much.

 

Thankfully, we've had good communication throughout the storm. And even more thankfully, everyone is physically OK. But the storm reeked havoc in Haiti. The eye of the storm passed over Les Cayes. My Haitian friend has said "you can't even imagine how bad the destruction is." The brief pictures on the media are mirrored in what I'm hearing from on ground. The pictures are not showing destruction of isolated places, but the breadth of this type of destruction is huge! 

 

I know there are many, too many, organizations collecting money for Haiti, some big and some small and I know my request may get lost among them, but my request is that we help the Haitians directly by giving them funds and letting them autonomously decide their priorities. The women who run Foyer des Enfants de la Providence are the most selfless people I know. They have taught me resilience and how to dream, and I want us to empower them in this state of despair.  

 

I was talking with them this morning and they are overwhelmed with the current situation. There are several items that need to be addressed in order for them to continue to live and advance the lives of the children.

 

Directly related to hurricane damage:

New mattresses: much of the bottom floor flooded and destroyed several of the children's mattresses, so these will need to be replaced (cost unknown)

 

Solar panels: the city power system is down for the count; we would like to purchase 3 solar panels and batteries ($750-1000) alternatively the cost of gas to run the generator (not preferred)

 

Pantry: the pantry was destroyed and all food stores were lost; we need to replace the food stores and also repair the room (unknown cost)

 

Wall in front of the house: part of the wall is down and this needs to be repaired for security (cost unknown)

 

Labor for all projects (cost unknown)

 

Food and water: there is still food for purchase in the market, if we can purchase food we can reduce our reliance on NGO handouts

 

Additional priorities: although the immediate priorities are the relief efforts, there are many priorities that can not be overlooked because in the long run can be more detrimental if not addressed

 

Professors downstairs: the orphanage runs a kindergarten downstairs for neighborhood children regardless of the ability to pay. They ALWAYS struggle to pay the professors and this year they said it is going to be extremely difficult ($500/month)

 

New property: the plan is to move to the new property by summer 2017; significant progress has been made, but we still need a kitchen and pantry ($10,000) this move is critical as their is limited space at the current house with the opening of the school and also will allow us to be more self-sufficient with agriculture/livestock

 

 

I know this is a lot to process, and trust me I gave you the abbreviated version. Imagine being the ones on the ground dealing with this all. I can't imagine, and I can't imagine, not doing all I can to help them get through this. They are my family too and I'm asking you to consider helping as if it were your family. Like I said the best way to support is through funds directly to the orphanage, as they support the community as well. Please give!

 

Thank you all for your continued support, especially in this time of need.

 

Cheers,

Marisa Sochacki