Letter from our Executive Director

On January 12th, 2010, just a few minutes before 5pm, I found myself sitting outside a Haitian home waiting for a Bible study to start. I moved to Haiti as a mid-term missionary just 11 days prior to this moment. As I sat waiting for the study to start, I was focused on staying cool and trying to understand Haitian Creole, the language everyone was fluent in and spoke at a rapid pace around me.

The study never got started though. At 4:53pm, there was a sound like a stampede rushing towards us. At the same time, the ground rippled under our feet and we stood up alarmed, scared, and confused. I was no longer worried about sweat or language. I joined everyone at the study in trying to understand what just happened.

The earthquake of 2010 killed over 200,000 people. This tragic event impacted pretty much every family in the country. Almost everyone knew someone who died in the quake or had a friend who did. The widespread devastation and the way the world got behind Haiti during this time of need developed remarkable unity within the hearts of the Haitian people and those serving as volunteers from abroad. Nearly everyone involved shared a common mission of rebuilding Haiti. It was during this time that myself and a group of friends caught a vision for the power of Christian education. Of hope through education. As an organization, our story, started in the midst of deep tragedy. Beauty was birthed out of brokenness.

Fast forward to today. Haiti finds itself in yet another challenging chapter in its story. The country’s leadership is divided. The current crisis isn’t a natural disaster, but a political one. The average person is confused, angry (or at least frustrated), and desperate for change. People don’t know who to believe, who to trust, or how to move forward. The average Haitian is suffering. Lack of fuel, lack of food, lack of… you name it. Life is hard right now. Harder than it already was.

And yet, despite the current circumstances for the country at-large, there are pockets of people who are united and moving forward. There are churches and businesses, families and communities, schools and NGOs, fighting for reconciliation and hope. Our schools in the Central Plateau are in this fight. Despite the challenges, we’ve been able to remain open. We are still operating and serving our students. God has provided for us in that way.

Our ability to stay open is largely correlated to our location in rural Haiti and, equally important, the strength of our Haitian staff. Our location is relatively remote and quiet. Haiti is one of the most densely populated countries in the Western Hemisphere, which means there are still plenty of people in our area, but compared to the major city centers, we’re located in a sleepy little farm town. Beyond our location, our indigenous team’s relentless resolve and deep commitment to our mission has kept the doors to our schools open. They are the true heroes of our story.

At this point in time, we’re optimistic about remaining open indefinitely; however, we have had scary moments where rioting, road blockages, and demonstrators have filtered into the communities surrounding our schools. These experiences have led to a pervasive fear among community members, school parents, and members of our staff team that schools, even in remote areas like ours, might be targeted if they remain open.

Nevertheless, our Haitian team is committed to our mission. They are tenacious, gritty, and resourceful. They love serving our students and know that the best thing for everyone involved is for our mission to continue.

In the midst of uncertain times like these, we believe it is important to communicate clearly and transparently about both the challenges we’re facing and the commitments we have to our work.

Challenges:

• Uncertain Future: The families we serve and those employed on-the-ground are nervous about what the future holds. Uncertain times often times lead people to experience trauma, violence, and relational instability. Often times, rash decisions are made that have a lasting impact on people who had no choice in the matter.

• Healthcare Access: Many hospitals are closed. Demonstrators block the roads to get to those that are open. Our remote location amplifies this challenge and has delayed needed care for some of our staff members, students, and parents in our school family.

• Food Availability: Food prices have increased steadily over the last year as Haitian currency continues to inflate. Our organization is partnered with Feed My Starving Children. Every other month, we pick up “manna packs” full of nutrient-rich meals for our students. We are currently unable to pick up our allotment of food because of roadblocks in the capital city.

• Staff and Student Security: If rioting infiltrates the communities our schools operate within, it will become unsafe for our students and staff to walk or commute to school. We will be forced to close or operate in nontraditional ways.

• Short-term Sending: Due to the U.S. Department of State’s travel warning and reports of violence throughout the country, we have been unable to send mission teams to serve at our schools for the last 10 months. While we are disappointed to push “pause” on short-term trips, we are encouraged by our Haitian staff’s ability to continue carrying out our mission.

Commitments:

• Continued Operations: While our mode of operation might need to change, our commitment to providing hope through education to those we serve in Haiti will NOT. Regardless of whether that means operating in new ways or new places, we’re committed to empowering our staff team to serve our students.

• Healthcare Fund: Each year, our class sponsors and school supporters fund a healthcare fund for our staff and students. This money helps purchase vitamins and medicine and sends a handful of students to hospitals each year. We’re committed to using this budget and will look at increasing this fund due to transportation cost increases if needed as the year goes on.

• Food Service: Last school year (2018-19), providing one warm meal per day for the entire school cost $50 per student. We expect that number to double to $100 per student this year if roadblocks continue and we’re unable to pick up our FMSC food allotments. Despite the added cost, we’re going to do everything we can to feed our staff and students five meals per week.

• Staff and Student Safety: We’re committed to keeping our staff and students safe. Our Admin Team has been practicing school lockdown procedures and our Executive Team has been discussing operational contingency plans should rioting become a consistent part of daily life in our communities. We will not put our staff and students in harm’s way.

• On-going Training: Despite pushing “pause” on short-term mission trips, our focus on staff training and support will continue. Through weekly videoconference meetings, our stateside staff team and volunteers will continue providing resources, coaching, and encouragement to our Haitian team. We are committed to walking with our staff as they traverse the current challenges.

Haiti is in the midst of an interesting, challenging chapter in its story. It’s easy to become discouraged or even hopeless about the future of the country and its beautiful people. But, rather than becoming discouraged, our team at One 17 is choosing to ground our hope in Jesus, knowing that He uses all things for good. We launched our work just over 8 years ago in Haiti because we believed every child deserves the opportunity to reach their potential by developing and discovering their identity in Christ. We are as committed to this belief as ever before. In fact, we see a greater need for a new generation of leaders to be developed, educated, and invested in than ever before. Now is not the time to retreat or shrink back. It is a time to unite and commit to staying in the fight that we entered into years ago.

Will you join us and stay in the fight? There are three ways you can continue engaging in our work:

1. PRAY: add your name to our Haiti prayer list by completing the form below. We will email you a short list of prayer needs twice per month.

2. ENCOURAGE: share a word of encouragement with our staff team in Haiti. We’ll translate it and send it down. We encourage you to leverage scripture as you encourage our team and send them a message using the form below.

3. INVEST: consider becoming a class sponsor at $37 per month or make a one-time gift of $100 to provide food to one of our students.

Thank you for seeing beyond the challenges facing Haiti into the eyes of the beautiful people who desire to experience hope, health, and a better future.

Together,

Curtis Stout

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