Empowering Visionary Thinking in the PLH Community

By Laura Nott

Empowering Haitians to build a stronger Haiti. This is the PLH motto. But this is not just a catchy phrase or an abstract idea. This is the metric by which PLH operates. This month, I was proud to see the leaders of PLH put this into practice yet again by including our Haitian leaders in their strategic planning process. 

PLH is currently in the process of developing a 3-year strategic plan. Guesly Dessieux (CEO) and Sarah Comstock (Board Chair) asked me, as the in-country worker, to arrange a meeting with three of our Haitian staff to complete the first stage of the strategic planning process.

On Aug 17, Thonny Fabien (Haiti Operations Manager), Benedic Maxime (Camp Marie Operations Manager), Gerald Grecilien (English Instructor), and myself joined together to discuss the desired state of PLH — where we want to see the organization in 3 years. As instructed, we asked ourselves, “What is a 10?” In other words, what would it look like if PLH was functioning in a way that warranted a score of 10 out of 10? We considered programs, administration, organizational culture, infrastructure, financial management, etc. 

Throughout the discussion, I continued to marvel at the passion, commitment, and pride of the three men that sat with me. They openly shared their ideas, dreams, and concerns. They listened and fed off each other and myself. They took their task seriously. Much of what they discussed was in regards to the culture of PLH: how we as an organization can blend Haitian culture and American standards and how we can perpetuate a Christ-like attitude within our own team as well as the larger community we are a part of. They discussed the end goals of spreading the gospel and empowering individuals to succeed. I appreciated how they didn’t only list the programs and facilities that they dreamed of having for the community but they also put thought into what a healthy organization looks like and what the true results of the work will be. 

As we reached the end of our 3-hour meeting, Benedic commented, “This is the longest I’ve ever spent speaking English.” I am so proud of this man and the leader and advocate he is for PLH and his community. As the operations manager for Camp Marie, he fields most of the questions and requests from the community, oversees projects and resolves issues, and PLH has high expectations on him, but he stands firm. None of us are perfect, but he is humble, level-headed, and rooted in Christ. 

In a few weeks, the stateside team will conduct their own strategic planning session asking themselves “What is a 10?” But the notes from the Haiti meeting will serve as a valued voice of the Haitian people. In the upcoming months, we plan to continue working through the next three steps of the process with the Haitian and stateside committees. 

This process has reiterated why it is that I believe in PLH and what they are doing. I am proud to work for an organization that values their staff and those they serve enough to give them a platform and truly hear what they have to say. And I am proud to work alongside American and Haitian employees that are passionate and comfortable enough to share their voice and work together to accomplish a shared goal. I am also humbled by the community of people in Oregon, Missouri, Kansas, and so many other places who support this work with their time, money, knowledge and passion. Together, we truly are empowering Haitians to build a stronger Haiti. 

PLH is strong. God has blessed this organization with experienced, humble leaders, with committed workers, and with passionate supporters. These three groups make up the PLH community. I consider myself blessed to be a part of it. I hope you do too.

August Mission Experience: Building Relationships

By Amy Bentz

On August 1, 2018 our team departed PDX and began our journey to Haiti. Our team consisted of twelve members coming from all over Oregon. The main purpose of our trip was vision casting and building relationships within the community of Camp Marie, Haiti, the community where Project Living Hope is based. Because we believe Christ intended relationships to be the building blocks for change, we want to be known as an organization rooted in relationships.

The first stop on our trip was to The National Museum of Haiti, where we learned about the history and the people of Haiti.

Our next stop was Extollo, an organization we are partnering with. We currently have four men from the community of Camp Marie enrolled in their masonry program. We toured the facility and were able to see first-hand the ways they are teaching and empowering Haitians to learn masonry and carpentry skills.

We arrived at our guest house that evening. The Ortlip guest house is located 10 minutes from Camp Marie in the neighboring town of Montrouis. It’s a beautiful location and we enjoyed our first Haiti sunset.

Day two, Julia began giving violin lessons. The students were eager and learned so much!

Then we hiked the PLH property and picked some watermelon to have with lunch!

We ended our day with a cooking class. We first shopped for the ingredients in a Haitian market. Then we worked side-by-side with Haitians and learned how to prepare plantains, bread fruit, and pikliz. It was a great experience, we all enjoyed working together to prepare the food and then eating together. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

On day three, we attended church in Camp Marie. Pastor Marcel delivered a beautiful sermon on the importance of a strong church - one with spirit-filled leadership, doctrinally sound messages, uncompromising convictions, a strong emphasis on faith and prayer, faithful and generous giving, people who serve in the strength of their spiritual gifts and who value relationships, and a vision for the lost world. The worship was beautiful and our own team member, Julia, played violin with the worship team.

After church, we walked into town, visited a few of the PLH staff members’ homes and met their families. We also were able to introduce the team to the magistrate of Camp Marie, Marielourdes. She welcomed our team and expressed how excited she is to be working with PLH.

After lunch, we set out for the Olympic Center to watch a soccer game. After we arrived, a tropical storm blew in and the game had to be canceled. It was quite a storm! It even hailed, which is a very rare occurrence in Haiti. The children were running outside and catching it in their hands and eating it. While we didn’t get to see a soccer game, there was no shortage of entertainment. A group of young men entertained us with some street dancing.

Day four, our team split up. One group stayed in Camp Marie and the other traveled into Port-au-Prince. Mike and Julia had their second day of violin lessons. The church’s music director was there helping the kids learn and his son took lessons that day.

Brad, Walky and Ian took video and measurements of the road. They got to speak with Marielourdes, the magistrate, about our equipment needs and plans for the road. They also got to meet a number of community members who live near where the road will be built.

The rest of the team visited GOEX and LIFE SA, two apparel production facilities. We met our operations manager, Thonny Fabien there, so he could see the two companies that make t-shirts and sports uniforms.

In the afternoon, we went to a village near Croix-de-Bouquets where a number of artisans make and sell metal pieces made from old oil drums.

Day five, half the team went to Port-au-Prince while the other half of the team stayed to work on the road and for day three of violin lessons.

The team that stayed in Camp Marie visited Clean Water for Haiti and the PLH property. They were promised that the equipment for the road would be available on the weekend, so the Camp Marie team offered to go talk to the director of ODVA (the department in charge of road building in Haiti) to discuss our needs. While they were there, they worked out an agreement to send a bulldozer down to widen and extend the road to our property the very next day! Praise the Lord!

The Port-au-Prince group went to two companies, Haiti Design Co. and Deux Mains. We took an artisan workshop where we got to learn how to make Haitian jewelry.

Day six was our last full day in Camp Marie. Before we left for Camp Marie, one of our Haitian team members, Obenson, led our team in a prayer for the road.

I think we were all nervous that it wouldn’t actually happen. But, when we got to Camp Marie, the bulldozer was there! He cleared the road while the community members watched and cheered!! Praise the Lord for His plans that happen in His time.

All the violin students came together for one last lesson. Two were able to play “Twinkle,  Twinkle Little Star” for us. And Julia gave the students a mini recital to show them what they are striving for.

In all, the PLH vision trip was a tremendous success.  We were welcomed into the community and the relationships that were established further unified PLH and the community of Camp Marie. It was exciting to be a part of this trip and to see God work through our team.

We gathered together yesterday, with our families, one month after returning home, to reflect on our trip and celebrate the relationships we established as a team and with the beautiful people of Haiti.

We praise God for opened doors that allowed for the road to be built out to our property.  Having access to the property is huge and will now allow for soil testing to be done, getting us one step closer to construction! Our soccer teams have been doing well and we just launched our young men’s league on August 12. Our English classes will resume in September and we look forward to expanding into new job skills and sports in the upcoming months. Thank you for your faithful support of Project Living Hope!