Two years after the massive earthquake of 2010, we landed in the small island country of Haiti. Our taxi from the airport to the small village of Grand Goave was a big, old yellow school bus. While the bus swerved and bounced its way to the village, we peered out the open windows. What we saw shocked us: devastation of buildings; throngs of people moving about the city of Port au Prince; garbage piled high; ugly polluted waterways, and ubiquitous tap-taps, colorfully decorated, with human beings hanging onto the back of the speeding trucks with abandon! We thought we had landed in hades.

Move forward to 2024, and we find ourselves heartbroken because we cannot enter the country to see the precious friends we have made in the past eleven years. How did our thinking go from, “We are in hades “ to “When can we go back?”

After several trips to Haiti, we found our niches—Dr. Joe in a mission clinic, Martha in the schools. We soon forgot the scenes in Port au Prince, and instead focused on being the hands and feet of Jesus to dozens of joyful Christians doing their best to live life triumphantly in the face of numerous obstacles.

As I got to know the school personnel, it slowly became apparent that some of my educational experiences would benefit the hard-working teachers in the elementary school on the mission compound. After hours and hours of discussions, pages and pages of notetaking, and assessments of current conditions, another educator and I put together several trips’ worth of educational in-services for the educators.

At that time, this particular mission was fully funded by an organization in the USA. Sadly, due to the gang activity, the mission cannot send groups on mission trips at this time (see Haiti’s Heartbreaking History); consequently, the mission is now only partly funded.

In 2013, our church asked us to visit another location in Haiti—the village of Chambeau in the mountainous county of Boucan Carre. Even though our church had been sending a portion of money each year, it was not nearly enough to support the students and teachers in the school of 1100 mountain children. We agonized with the teachers regarding their support, and we were heartbroken to see the children so hungry. We learned that many of the children walk two hours to school and two hours back home. Some of the mothers carry their small children on their backs for two hours to get to school, then the mothers stay all day to take the children back to their homes.

God led us to tell the story of the school in Chambeau, Boucan Carre, Haiti, once we returned from our 2013 trip. Our church increased its funding and several of our Christian friends have been supportive with funds in this endeavor. We continue to operate by faith, but thus far, the teachers have been supported since mid-2013. Building repairs and textbooks continue to go unfunded.

Lifeline Christian Mission, headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, has been gracious to share beans and rice with the mountain school whenever they have extra food available. The school in Boucan Carre is extremely grateful for the food; however, each time the food becomes available, the principal, Michel Simevil, must rent a truck to travel four hours to Grand Goave, and four hours back. Not only is he risking his life by driving through gang-infested Port-au-Prince, but the cost of renting the truck is $600.

These experiences we will take with us to the end of our lives; however, our lives are not over, and even though travel to Haiti is now curtailed, we still carry a heavy burden for this, the poorest country in the Americas, and especially the two locations where we have been privileged to serve.

Our Haitian friends still need us to walk alongside of them as they traverse a difficult road. Our earnest desire and prayer are that ABCsforHaiti will be able to provide encouragement and support for these dear children of God.

If you feel God’s tug on your heart on behalf of our ministries in Haiti, we would be honored if you would join us in supporting the children, teachers, and administrators.

Joe and Martha Walker.