An Important Update from Haiti

By Guesly Dessieux, PLH Founder & Executive Director

We want to thank you for your continued support of Project Living Hope and for your faithful prayers. Now more than ever, we truly need them.

Over the past few weeks, gang activity has intensified in nearby communities. As violence escalated, many families were forced to flee their homes, often leaving behind everything they owned. In response, we have been actively involved in relief efforts through our partner churches to support hundreds of displaced people who have found temporary safety. Out of concern for everyone’s well-being, we made the difficult decision to suspend all programs on our campus.

Gangs have been actively confronting resistance groups and attempting to expand their control. Just a few days ago, a family attempted to bury their mother when armed gang members arrived, firing shots into the air and stopping the burial. They believed the gathering was connected to resistance fighters. Once they were convinced it was a funeral, they left. This traumatic incident sparked further fear, leading many families to flee yet again, while longtime residents in the area have also begun evacuating.

We want to thank those of you who supported our Giving Tuesday campaign to bring hope and joy through a community event this Christmas. With many families fleeing these past couple of days, our Haitian leadership will assess the situation and determine if we can proceed with a large event as planned or partner with the local churches to hold smaller events or simply provide food relief. We assure you that your gift will bring encouragement, joy, and full bellies to families who desperately need it. Thank you for your understanding as the situation changes day to day.

We are grateful that our property has remained untouched. Due to its isolated location, it does not serve as a strategic area for gang takeover, which has helped protect it. Several staff members continue to return to the campus to care for and protect the campus. While we understand their commitment, we have emphasized that human life is far more important than property. Buildings can be rebuilt; a lost life cannot be replaced. We encourage them to prioritize their own safety and their family’s safety. 

We ask for your prayers that this ongoing violence in Haiti will cease. We trust fully in God’s plan for our organization and will continue to act in service by supporting displaced families. 

Project Living Hope has been exploring options to expand its work. Watch your mailbox for more on that next week. We continue to pray that God will guide us as an organization and protect. Each life is precious to him.

Psalm 32:7: "You are my hiding place; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance" 

Thank You! Your Support Is Feeding Families in Crisis

We are so humbled by the response to our emails about the current crisis in our area. Many of you have given generously and we want to say a huge thank you! Because of you, food relief is being distributed to those seeking refuge in our community. 

In the first round of distribution, our Haitian staff provided food to two churches and eight community members who are hosting a total of 238 refuges. Your generosity is providing for these men, women, and children. Thank you!

Crisis Update: Displaced Families Find Refuge

Families continue to flee as the gang advances north. The national police, locals, and mountain people engage in fighting with the gang every day, but the gang is gaining control of more neighborhoods. There are now 130 people taking refuge in a church in our community and another 120 that have been taken in by families in the community.

We are so grateful for the support that we have received since our last update. Over $3,000 has come in to provide food relief to these families that have fled their homes. We have purchased food and are providing that to the church and families who are caring for these displaced families. Thank you for standing with us in prayer! 

Haiti, with pressure from the international community, has begun the election process. The goal is to place a president in power in February of next year. For over a year, a nine-person presidential committee has been in charge of the country. We pray that a new leader can be put in place to guide the country to peace and a stronger future. 

Pray for Haiti: Families Fleeing Violence

Last week, we shared about an outside gang taking control of a town just 15 minutes from the PLH campus. In the early hours of Friday morning, the gang went to seize guns from the mountain people that you may remember have a long history of fighting with the town. The mountain people fought back, and fighting has continued in the town since.

With the shooting, hundreds of people began fleeing the town, with more than 120 seeking refuge in our community. These families flee with nothing and have nowhere to go. Churches have opened their doors as temporary shelters, but they have little else to offer.

PLH has begun purchasing emergency relief food supplies as we assess how to best support those who have been displaced. Please continue to pray for protection, provision, and a miraculous end to the violence.

Hurricane Melissa also rained down on Haiti, Cuba, and Jamaica this week. Our area experienced heavy rain and strong winds. There was some minor damage to the PLH fence and grounds, but no major damages. Other parts of Haiti suffered major flooding with at least 25 people killed and 18 others missing, as well as many homes destroyed. We pray for these families who have lost so much.

Unrest Near Our Community – Please Join Us in Prayer

We want to share an important update and ask for your continued prayers for Haiti and Project Living Hope.

This past Sunday, boats full of gang members from further south showed up in two towns just 15 minutes from where Project Living Hope's campus is located. They entered an orphanage looking for guns and assaulted some of the workers there. We are told that one of these towns is now under the gang's control. Please pray with us for deliverance for these communities and for all of Haiti!

While the gang has not entered our community, it is possible that their spies are already in the area. PLH leadership is following the situation closely, communicating with community leaders, and taking necessary steps to secure the organization and our staff as best we can. The PLH campus is located at the end of a small valley with only one way in, making it not an attractive place for gangs to try to move into because they could be easily cornered by police. The campus has acted as a place of refuge for members of the community in the past when things have gotten uneasy and people want to retreat from the highway. We anticipate that this could happen again and we are stocking extra food in case people camp out for an extended period and are in need of emergency relief.

The PLH youth programs have been on fall break. Each year, we pause after a busy summer of activities to give students time to settle back into school, with plans to reopen in November/December.  For the safety of our staff and youth, we will extend this break until the situation has stabilized and it is safe to resume normal programming. Our staff continue to care for the property, but we are prioritizing everyone’s safety during this uncertain time and cannot risk having many people frequent the campus.

Even in the midst of this hardship, we remain confident in God’s faithfulness. His promises endure from generation to generation. We believe He is still writing a story of hope and renewal in Haiti.

Your ongoing support allows us to stand with the Haitian people in hope, even when circumstances are difficult. Thank you for praying, giving, and believing with us.

Hope Amid Hardship: Standing Strong for Haiti’s Youth

By Laura Polynice, PLH Executive Assistant

Play, Learn, Grow! 

Summer is here! As kids in the states are running between sports camps, VBS, and play dates, PLH is providing kids in Haiti with similar opportunities to play, learn, and grow. 

Every day, youth gather on the campus to participate in soccer, basketball, English, or artisan crafts. Each of these programs provide youth with purpose, belonging, and life skills. With few opportunities in Haiti, PLH is a unique place for kids to be kids in a safe and uplifting environment. PLH now employs 30 coaches and teachers who are pouring into these youth every week. 

Check out the new paint job on the basketball court! 

PLH vs. Camp Marie! 

This summer, the PLH soccer and basketball teams are competing in weekend matches, testing their skills against one another. PLH also recently hosted a match between the local community team and the PLH staff and coaches. Over 300 people came to the campus to watch the game. Matches like these are a way for PLH to encourage community in a positive environment.

Volleyball Coming Soon! 

In May, PLH received a $25,000 matching grant from the Huddart Family Foundation to construct a volleyball court and launch a PLH volleyball program! The recent fundraising dinner in Eugene raised $18,000 towards the $25,000 needed to unlock the full match. In October, we will be holding a volleyball tournament fundraiser to raise the remaining funds needed. Click below to play in this tournament fundraiser or to give directly to bringing volleyball to youth in Haiti.

An Update on the Haiti Situation

The situation in Haiti remains much the same. Gangs continue to take over more neighborhoods, people continue to live in fear, and hunger continues to claim more lives. Many hospitals and clinics have closed, with others operating with limited staff and resources, making medical care difficult to find. With great effort and money paid to the gangs that control the highways, some resources and supplies are transported around the country. Populations struggle to continue life as best they can. The community where the PLH campus is located remains quiet and free from gang activity, but it is cut off from the rest of the country by gang-controlled highways.

Praise God with Us

With all these challenges, we continue to thank God for the location where He has placed Project Living Hope. The PLH campus is a safe haven for youth. When they step on the campus, they can leave the troubles of the country and simply play, dream, and grow as youth should. We praise God for the Haitian leaders He brought to PLH who are keeping programs running and pouring into these youth every day. We thank God for all of you who are supporting this work and impacting lives in Haiti. 

How Virtual Learning is Changing Lives

By Laura Polynice, PLH Executive Assistant

One of Project Living Hope’s four pillars of work has always been job skills training. This has taken various forms over the years. In its first location, PLH organized courses in auto mechanics and artisan crafts. After moving to Camp Marie, we began English courses which grew to include specialized, advanced courses in medical English, translation, Bible, writing, and TEFL. PLH began to offer scholarships to young people from the community to study trades including welding, masonry, electricity, and auto mechanics. These trainees were then contracted by PLH to work on campus construction projects. We also organized workshops led by visiting teams. Workshops included coaching, parenting, and English. As gang activity and insecurity in Haiti increased, PLH could no longer bring in visiting teams, scholarship students could no longer travel to the trade schools, and the students and teachers could no longer travel to our campus regularly for English classes. We had to shift gears and find a new approach. 

Virtual Courses

We set up Starlink Internet on our campus and began organizing virtual courses. We have had several individuals in Oregon who are experts in their field volunteer their time to teach these courses. Students come to the classroom on the PLH campus to join the class on Zoom, while others join from their home.  These trainings have been on a variety of subjects aiming to help individuals succeed in their personal and professional lives. Topics have included: 

• Personal Finance   (74)

• Parenting   (20)

• Coaching   (9)

• Discipleship   (41)

• Chicken Raising   (12)

• Auto Mechanics   (65)

• Emergency Response   (15)

• Pastoral Ministry   (60)

• Solar Power   (34)

All together, these virtual courses have trained 330 participants! 

For each course, we prepare handouts with the English and Haitian Creole translation. The instructor teaches from Oregon, and our translator on staff interprets from his home in Port-au-Prince. The PLH classroom is outfitted with a projector, speaker, and conference camera, allowing everyone to see and hear each other. Students in the classroom and joining online are able to ask questions and join in the discussion. At the end of each course or workshop, students who have completed the course receive a certificate. 

Youth Courses

In addition, PLH organizes classes for youth with 67 youth participating in artisan crafts and 105 participating in English. These courses provide young people with valuable skills, hope for their future, and purpose and belonging during this dark and difficult time when many young people are falling into a criminal life. 

PLH will continue to offer virtual courses and we have several new courses already in development. We will continue to seek opportunities to send young people to other trade schools. In fact, we have two students starting a plumbing course next month. We will continue to offer youth courses on our campus and we hope to expand to new courses including culinary arts this year. 

Building a Stronger Haiti

Haiti has faced decades of poverty and joblessness. Business and employment are key to breaking Haiti’s chains of dependency and building a stronger Haiti. PLH’s job skills training seeks to provide valuable training that will assist people in finding jobs and starting businesses. PLH is also working to create small businesses on our campus to generate income and create jobs. The challenges in Haiti have created innumerable roadblocks in these plans, but we are committed and we are working to make these businesses a success. 

Join Us!

We are always looking to expand our job skills training and business creation efforts. If you have expertise in these areas and are interested in helping to develop or teach a virtual course or assist with our small business ventures, we would love to talk to you! Simply reply to this email to get connected!

Another way you can support these job skills and business efforts is to donate. Because of a generous donor, all one-time donations to Project Living Hope through March 31st (up to $20,000) will be doubled! Give today and make double the impact in Haiti! 

Thank you for partnering with Project Living Hope in empowering Haitians to build a stronger Haiti!

PLH Board Retreat

By Roger Pedersen
PLH Board Member

Many organizational boards gather for a retreat or focused conference to do yearly, or bi-yearly planning. Even churches and Christian non-profits do this, and for good reason. It provides an opportunity to get to know each other better and experience the collective brain power of the group to look forward to what is next and improve ministry. 

Project Living Hope has been doing board retreats for several years. We met for another January 3rd - 4th. The board members who were able to attend this year already had a sense of camaraderie and commitment to the mission. To keep Christ central to the organization’s work, the Bible and prayer were included in the agenda. This did a couple of things that transformed the retreat. It was an invitation for God to show up and take charge of the meeting. Yes, we had an agenda, but we discovered that through the inclusion of the Holy Spirit, we as a group went way beyond the agenda. 

A careful review was made of PLH’s successes and limitations in Haiti, a country in crisis, over 2024. PLH couldn’t send people or materials. We even had to bring US personnel out of Haiti for safety reasons. But we were amazed at how God has been at work in Haiti despite these limitations.  The impact of the ministry has more than doubled. The omnipresent God also lives in the community there. It is obvious. Other regions in Haiti are excitedly hoping that God will bring the same programming and opportunities to them. These things led to celebration and worship. Thank you, Jesus!

A second review was the yearly finances. (Yawn.) But wait. Here also, God impressed me in a big way. First, even when a ministry is highly restricted because of governmental crises where lawlessness prevails, God is going to bless whom God wants to bless. Everything that is needed to sustain the ministry and the people coming to the PLH campus is being provided for. God is doing that. Second, you would think that an organization that has been unable to send its leaders and visitors to location would have trouble raising money. But God is a blessing! The ministry is being provided for.  So, the board, led by the Holy Spirit, was able to readjust our priorities and become more focused on what God is doing. Plus, new resources and opportunities for personal support appeared that will lead to amazing new relationships with fans of PLH in America. This led to more celebration and praise. 

It would be easiest for me to spend the most time in this blog on the “dream” part of our retreat. Having learned what God is already doing with PLH in Haiti, it was interesting to see a subtle shift in priorities. Some of the “well, since we couldn’t do it this year, maybe we can do it next year” ideas moved over to allow room for what God is already doing and how we can be more involved in those activities. What was fascinating was watching priorities shift from what we might do to how we break through the barriers of present-day Haiti and become more active with what God is doing through PLH. We know that we cannot count on the Haitian government for help at this time. This will require inspired ideas from God (and we received several), trusting God for miracles, AND tons of prayer. 

I think a big takeaway for me from this retreat was the realization that God is leading PLH to a bigger impact despite the efforts of Satan to destroy Haiti and her people. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

We believe in the power of prayer because of how God has responded from heaven for Project Living Hope this past year. We are redoubling our efforts to invite God to become more active and pay more attention to what He is already doing there. A part of that effort is to invite every one of our PLH family of friends to join us in praying daily with us. 

I know that it is hard to discipline ourselves to pray daily or add one more thing to our already full prayer list. So, we came up with a prayer booklet of 21 prayers. They are simple, easy prayers that you can lift up to God from your heart. Our God is awesome, and it appears that He intends to continue doing big things in Haiti and through Project Living Hope. So as you pray these prayers, say them with boldness and high expectation that He will be knocking down dark walls separating the people of Haiti from His heart of love. 

Click below to access the prayer guide. Join us in prayer as we watch God do more miracles for the families participating in Project Living Hope.

At Project Living Hope, we depend on the prayers of our supporters. You can learn about urgent prayer request and join others in prayer by joining our prayer team!

As a member of our prayer team, you will receive:

• Notification of prayer needs as they arise.

• Stories and praise reports that share how God is answering our prayers!

Christmas in Haiti

YOUTH AND FAMILY CELEBRATION

On December 28th, PLH hosted a festive Christmas party for youth in our soccer, basketball, and artisan programs—and their parents. Over 950 attendees enjoyed basketball and soccer games, a hearty meal of rice, beans, and chicken, and the joy of coming together as a community. Our coaches loved the opportunity to connect with so many parents, who expressed their appreciation for providing a safe, nurturing space for their children.

To further spread holiday cheer, we distributed 540 gift bags filled with essential food supplies, including rice, beans, oil, and spaghetti, to support families during the holidays.

STAFF AND FAMILY CELEBRATION

In addition to the youth event, PLH continued an annual tradition dating back to 2018 by hosting a Christmas party for our staff and their families. This event allows us to show appreciation for their hard work and dedication while offering encouragement for the year ahead. Each staff family received a gift of food supplies to enjoy during the holidays.

Thank you for supporting PLH and making events like these possible!

Farewell, Coach Toutou

Toutou was one of Project Living Hope's passionate coaches who volunteered his time on the property. If there was a soccer game or activity on the property he was there. Unfortunately, Toutou passed away too soon, only 44 years old. Over the last few years, Toutou struggled with his health, often spending a lot of time going to see different doctors hoping they could figure out what was going on with him. Haiti's medical infrastructure has been in disarray for many years and most clinics and hospitals have very little resources to truly evaluate and treat patients. The limited number of medical providers makes it hard as most clinics are often overrun with patients. The insecurity and instability have only added to this problem as the gangs make it hard for people to travel to the few hospitals in the country that have any resources and could have helped a patient like Toutou. Toutou left behind two young kids.

The PLH staff, players, and community honor Toutou for who he was and the lives he impacted.

We will miss you Toutou.  Rest in peace in the loving arms of the Father, knowing your suffering in this world is over.