We know things like this are difficult to read and think about for you - our families and friends who continue to care and to give. At the same time, in the midst of these circumstances, there are incredible ways we have seen our leaders from our Haitian partner - NGO "Light for Living International Ministries", overcome such difficulties and hardships as they serve their communities. So let's meet some of our amazing leaders from LIFLIM (Light for Living International Ministries - our partner NGO in Haiti,) who constantly monitor and support our children and families across our multiple humanitarian Programs: Pastor Reggie Celestin & Johanne Celestin - CEOs LIFLIM Program Supervisor Johanne Celestin, Social Worker Yndjy Belval , and Love Community Home Mumma, Merline Vincent. These incredibly passionate and dedicated men and women, share stories with us in our regular monthly meetings, of how even though our families and children and students in Carrefour live in the constant reality of the gangs, the violence, the sickness, the food shortages and sky-rocketing inflation - they are grateful every day that we are partnering with them faithfully to support the children and families with
We want you to know that our sponsored children and families are all safe, they have you and us all together -THANK YOU. With your help and generosity, in the last year alone, we have worked with LIFLIM leaders (our partner NGO), to: BOUVIER, CARREFOUR
IN CARREFOUR, PORT AU PRINCE
AND FINALLY, IN CAVAILLON - DURING THE JULY/AUGUST SCHOOL HOLIDAYS
Here they are at SUMMER CAMP!
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What is happening in Haiti? Stories of our Heros and Heroines amidst the Extreme Hardship It always blows my mind that we are not only on the same planet as Haiti, but that it sits in the Caribbean - just a 90 minute flight from Miami, Florida! But tragically each week, this proximity to America, sees Haitians on rickety boats trying in dangerous ways to get to the USA! Some are washing up on the shores of Florida, others are risking their lives trying to get to and across the Mexican border, and still more are patiently waiting for an elusive humanitarian visa. They just want to live in peace and with the hope of a decent life. The dreadful oppression of poverty is their present reality... but we believe with our Haitian leaders, teachers and parents, that Haiti has HOPE. And that's why we - you and us together with them - pour love and kindness and resources to combat food and educational insecurity into their communities and families - to help support and care for them and their precious children! AND WHAT IS HAPPENING IN REGARDS TO THE COLLAPSED GOVERNMENT AND STRUGGLING POLICE FORCE IN HAITI? Other UN countries are now about to offer Haiti's failing Police Force some assistance. We hope and pray that this helps rather than hinders the process of stabilising the country as they try and head towards democratic governance again. Our amazing leaders - Heros and Heroines all of them - share stories with us in our regular monthly meetings, of how even though our families and children and students in Carrefour live in the constant reality of the gangs, the violence, the sickness, the food shortages and sky-rocketing inflation - they are grateful every day that we are partnering with them at this traumatic time, to support them with
A special Christmas message from our precious Haiti children and leaders! I and our Haiti team meet with Johanne and Reggie, Yndjy, Jean and Merline every month online. Our amazing Haitian leaders @ LIFLIM. We chat often on Messenger to be with each other and to discuss important choices. We all wish we were meeting in person. Even though Haiti is still dangerous and volatile... some would say even more so, our leaders are constantly filled with gratitude. And so am I. So is all our team in Australia and the USA. We are so grateful for THEM. These incredible leaders from our partner NGO (Light for Living International Ministries), are visionary, resilient, grateful and kind. We love them all. Most of you may be aware of the serious implications of Haiti’s ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis for all our children and families in Haiti. With daily protests and civil unrest against the government of Haiti, armed gang violence that has now reached Carrefour; with shortages of fuel and clean drinking water, and widespread acute hunger, our families are truly struggling. However, our essential Frontier Projects / LIFLIM Programs: our Food Security Programs and Educational and Training Programs - are continued by these amazing leaders as they give so much to provide food, education and critical support for so many of Haitian families and children!\ We are honoured and grateful to partner with them! What's been happening since July, 2023… Bouvier Mountain School is continuing to flourish with 135 students and 5 full time teachers. This year we have helped to establish:
Love Community Home (LCH) LCH building was unfortunately effected by both flood and fire this year but with so much support from many of YOU and our amazing ambassador, Michael Crossland, extensive renovations are ongoing! We have again been blessed to have the continued educational support of Hatchlings Early Learning Centres, - Brisbane-based childcare centres. This support continues to ensure the educational opportunities for our 9 LCH children! Thank you, Hatchlings! No words can convey our gratitude! A special thank you video to the children's favourite - Michael Crossland - our amazing Ambassador! Love Family Homes Program (LFH) Our children and families are safe and togther! Given the year Haiti has had, at times our wonderful staff often modified ways of delivering the food packages due to the great civil unrest and food shortages. Despite the challenges we have had great joy. We have had the pleasure of planning the graduating of eight adults out of the program. These young adults have now either found employment or are planning to leave Haiti or have already left Haiti to be with family in the USA. We are so proud of them and hope they may return to share their inspirational stories to the younger LFH children in the years to come. Thank you for your incredible care and support! We are so very grateful! Merry Christmas and happy New Year! Cheryl and John and all the Frontier Projects Haiti Team in Australia and Haiti Although situated on the crystal blue water of the beautiful Caribbean, Haiti’s story in 2023 continues to read as a nation shaken to the core by constant natural, political and humanitarian crises. I could post so many negative photos. I am choosing not to. Again. For amidst the tragedies – of which our leaders @LIFLIM (our partner NGO in Haiti) and children and families are personally very familiar, we have so many stories of HOPE and LOVE and LIVES TRANSFORMED through their RESILIENCE and PASSION, and through our faithful partnership – which is also made possible through your care, prayers and generosity. Thank you! And every year, we send out gratitude and thanks for our FPH Ambassador - Michael Crossland for his faithful love and support for so many kids, orphans and families! Even though we cannot as yet, safely take teams to Haiti, we continue to faithfully meet ONLINE regularly, often weekly, with our leaders – to ensure that all our families and children are safe and that our partnership programs are still growing and continue to meet the needs of so many families and children experiencing extreme poverty and hardship. How do we continue to do what we do, when we cannot get to Haiti? That’s easy – our Haitian LEADERS are the HEROS! 3 important ways we are always moving forward: 1. We ask before we aid. I've always believed that our Haitian leaders have the answers within - they are the visionaries in their own communities - particularly for us in Haiti through the leadership of Reginald and Johanne Celestin - (LIFLIM). We always ASK what they wish to do in continuous relationship - and then partner with their vision and inspiration. 2. We find the real heroes in their own communities and invest in them. We have invested in new Haitian leaders since 2012 - and this year - 2023-23, even moreso! We employ Haitian trainers, teachers, educational and administrative leaders and social workers! 3. And we are committed to Evaluating our Impact together with our Haitian leaders. This can be hard to do when things are so tough - but we are committed! We will never just keep doing the same old same old! We have undertaken this through many Zoom meetings, in 2022-23! In these meeting, we hear and partner with their REAL LIFE STORIES, to bring HOPE, LOVE and TRANSFORM LIVES! Love Community: Some of the highlights and challenges in 2022-23.
Hatchlings Early Learning in Australia - Our incredible Educational Sponsors for all our LCH children! Hatchlings Early Learning Group in Australia heard about the incredible Love Community story through our inspirational ambassador, Michael Crossland. Rachel Langford and the whole team at Hatchlings - across their two campuses at Waterford and Rochedale in Old, Australia are now supporting the education of all our LCH children! They will also join with the children in Haiti to participate in ESL fun and learning via live video-link in 2023-24! Incredibly exciting! Bouvier School Programs: Some of the highlights in 2022-23.
Empowerment through Education - Bouvier School again supported by iNSPIRED EDUCATION The school year is just come to a close, with summer holidays starting mid-July. Bouvier School has over 160 students receiving an education - and 8 full-time Haitian teachers: Kindergarten to Year 7! Every morning they school has a Welcome assembly and flag-raising. Then into classes with their amazingly dedicated Haitian teachers. Read more HERE. iNSPIRED EDUCATION partnership continues! iNSPIRED EDUCATION is an incredibly innovative Australian educational platform that supports many of the Bouvier students, through educational workshops run in Australia! With our heartfelt thanks to RASHAN at https://i-edu.com.au/kshare/ Inspired Education Australia (IEA) has again this year, been in partnership with Frontier Projects Haiti - with the aim to facilitate the realisation of sponsoring, improving, developing and facilitating the education of the children in need, in Bouvier School, Haiti. 1 x Workshop = 1 x Child Sponsored with over 34 students already sponsored - 2022-23! Check out the inspirational video here: Thank you for your incredible care and support! Blessings for the new financial year. xoxo Cheryl and John and all the Frontier Projects Haiti Team in Australia and Haiti www.frontierprojects.org/simplygive.html A very special Christmas message from our precious Haiti Leaders! Gratitude and Giving Every day, my heart turns to Haiti. Every. Single, Day. And every online meeting we have together with our Haiti partners, is inspirational! And heartbreaking. But there's incredible opportunity within the hardships! Let me explain. Every week we listen with open hearts as Reggie or Johanne, Merline or Yndjy share with us the immense difficulties that they and most Haitians face, on a daily basis! These incredible leaders from our partner NGO (Light for Living International Ministries), are visionary! We meet often to discuss all our partnership Programs together... Programs that are able to continue strongly through your giving and care and generosity. So a warm thank you to YOU - our giving community in Australia! Most of you may be aware of the serious implications of Haiti’s ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis for all our children and families in Haiti. With daily protests and civil unrest against the government of Haiti, armed gang violence, and now an outbreak of cholera amidst the continuing covid pandemic; with shortages of fuel and clean drinking water, and widespread acute hunger, our families are truly struggling. However, our essential Frontier Projects / LIFLIM Programs: our Food Security Programs and Educational and Training Programs - enable our leaders to continue to provide for our families and children - food, education and critical support! This all happens because of you all - your giving means so much! Thoughtful Reflection: The incredible opportunity amidst the ongoing crisis This year, more than ever before, as I've tried to grapple with the serious implications of our partnerships 'moving ahead' amidst the incredibly tough reality of life in Haiti , I have realised that we are faced with an unprecedented opportunity! Amidst this crisis, there’s an invitation to change, to re-imagine and to reinvent ourselves. Although it’s tempting to return back to 'the way we've done things in the past' - the old normal - when we are able to again return to Haiti in 2023, we shouldn’t. The 'old normal' was the problem. We need a 'new normal'. Let me explain. When the borders of Haiti (and across the world) slammed shut in March 2020; Haitians remained in Haiti. Rightfully, Haitian nationals were tasked with taking charge and leading their people through these challenging times. Lives are dependent on their leadership. And we have some of the most incredible leaders that we know and love and work with! The Biggest Problem.... the old 'Normal' Here is the problem: Historically, charity to Haiti has come in the form of handouts - mainly food, clothes, buildings and money. In an ongoing time of crisis like this, we have keep asking ourselves:
This 'healthy' approach hasn’t been the case with most nonprofits and missions groups in Haiti and around the globe. Giving with the 'best intentions' across the globe is often characterised by deep cycles of aid that cause an unhealthy dependence on the giver while stripping the receiver of dignity. I've spent much time over the last 2 years reading books like When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert and Dambisa Moya's confronting book Dead Aid. All my research - including much online - is now informing our future Frontier Projects aid in Haiti! So what are the best voices all saying? Our past ‘normal’ in the nonprofit world hasn’t been working. I believe that NOW is our chance to dig deep and do better! Nonprofits and missions groups work with vulnerable communities that desire real change, and we can be part of that change. What an incredible adventure! We have a divine opportunity to re-imagine WITH our partner communities, what they could look like years from now without our interventions. How can we ensure that we are on the right track? I believe in the following THREE STEPS - and this is how we are have been moving ahead - particularly this year more than ever before! We are creating a NEW NORMAL! The Exciting Solutions .... our New Normal... 1. We ask before we aid. I've always believed that our Haitian leaders have the answers within - they are the visionaries in their own communities - particularly for us in Haiti through the leadership of Reginald and Johanne Celestin - (LIFLIM). We always ASK what they wish to do in continuous relationship - and then partner with their vision and inspiration. 2. We find the real heroes in their own communities and invest in them. We have invested in new Haitian leaders since 2020 - and this year moreso! We employ Haitian trainers, teachers, leaders and our social worker! 3. And we are committed to Evaluating our Impact together with our Haitian leaders. This can be hard to do when things are so tough - but we are committed! We will never just keep doing the same old same old! We have undertaken this through many Zoom meetings, in 2022! As we head into 2023, I believe with all my heart, that now more than ever, we have the opportunity to change course and amplify our impact. My hope is that nonprofits around the world will lean into these challenging times and re-imagine how we can better achieve independence and capacity-building in vulnerable communities. These challenging times for us all will forever reshape our world, and it’s our responsibility to ensure it’s for the better. So, from us all at Frontier Projects Haiti and Light for Living International Ministries in Haiti , we bless you and your families and wish you a very special Christmas! See you in the New Year - which we believe for you as well - that it will be a year of incredible IMPACT - for your loved ones and for those you care for across this vast, beautiful planet that is our Global Community! With Love, thoughtfulness and Gratitude,
Cheryl Cheryl and John Ward on behalf of our Frontier Projects Team My heart is always filled with hope! Despite the reality that it has been a difficult time across the globe, with rising costs of living and difficulty accessing supplies, and as you would realise, Haiti still being no stranger to these difficulties. Every day in Haiti our leaders from our partner NGO - LIFLIM (Light for Living International Ministries) deal with ongoing fuel and food shortages, days without access to electricity, and then there's the constant political unrest and gang violence! However, now more than ever, we remain committed and hopeful, we stay positive and we continue to empower our leaders, families and children through educational and social programs designed by our inspirational Haitian leaders! Encouraging stories of celebration and empowerment.Celebrations have been aplenty this year and we want to share these with you and to thank you for helping us to make these celebrations possible! We also couldn't do all that we do, without the love and constant support of our Ambassador-Michael Crossland. Thanks Michael for all you do! Love Community Home (LCH) Celebrates 15 Years of Loving Care of Orphans & Children!Love Community Home (LCH) reached an incredible 15-year milestone this May, led by the Vincent family: Merline, and her mother and father - Pastor Guy Vincent and Madame Vincent. Frontier Projects has been partnering with LCH for 10 of these years. Merline also celebrated a special birthday herself! Celebrations were combined to honour Merline and the Vincent family! What a wonderful time was had by the children and all! Haiti Flag Celebration Day - May 18thAnother wonderful celebration for the children and staff of all our programs, was the Haitian Flag Day. This day is a Haitian holiday to celebrate the creation of the Flag of Haiti during the Haitian revolution. The day is celebrated each year on 18 May, which is the anniversary of the date of the flag's adoption in 1803. LIFLIM and our Love Community children and families celebrated with a special meal and ceremony. Hatchlings Early Learning in Australia - Now our incredible Educational Sponsors for all our LCH children!Hatchlings Early Learning Group in Australia heard about the incredible Love Community story through our inspirational ambassador, Michael Crossland. Rachel Langford and the whole team at Hatchlings - across their two campuses at Waterford and Rochedale in Old, Australia are now supporting the education of all our LCH children! They will also join with the children in Haiti to participate in ESL fun and learning via live video-link in 2022! Incredibly exciting! Birthday Bliss CelebrationsWe have been able to celebrate the birthdays of the children with a monthly gathering, and of course cake ! The celebrations honour each child during their birthday month. It is a lovely way to bring a smile to the faces of these precious children and young adults. Empowerment through Education - Bouvier School supported by iNSPIRED EDUCATIONThe school year is just come to a close, with summer holidays starting at the beginning of July. Bouvier School has over 160 students receiving an education - and 8 full-time Haitian teachers: Kindergarten to 6th Class! Every morning they school has a Welcome assembly and flag-raising. Then into classes with their amazingly dedicated Haitian teachers. Read more HERE. iNSPIRED EDUCATION partnership continues! iNSPIRED EDUCATION is an incredibly innovative Australian educational platform that supports many of the Bouvier students, through educational workshops run in Australia! With our heartfelt thanks to RASHAN at https://i-edu.com.au/kshare/ Inspired Education Australia (IEA) has this year been in partnership with Frontier Projects Haiti - with the aim to facilitate the realisation of sponsoring, improving, developing and facilitating the education of the children in need, in Bouvier School, Haiti. 1 x Workshop = 1 x Child Sponsored with over 24 students already sponsored! Check out the inspirational video here: Teacher Training is at the heart of what we do: Empowering those that teach the children! During Haiti's Covid19 multiple lock downs, Bouvier school teachers enjoyed the opportunity to do further teacher training. Their passion for teaching was constantly reinvigorated! We have employed a Haitian trainer - Mr Germeil - and the teachers truly appreciate the extra training in the summer holidays. They will then be ready to start the new school year safely in September, 2022. 33 Students Sponsored through one Fabulous Aussy "Marathon to Make a Difference"Empowerment through SponsorshipsFrontier Projects partners with LIFLIM in Haiti to provide holistic support for parents in poverty by assisting in areas related to their children’s well-being. Through the incredible support of Michael Crossland, our champion, friend & ambassador, & YOU, our incredible sponsors, we have re-united over 30 of our Love Community children back into their own homes, through our Love Family Homes program. Our 9 orphans in Love Community Home (LCH) are always lovingly cared for & attend school in a large family environment. We continue to employ a Haitian Social Worker - Yndjy Belval to support each child through their school & home life and support their families with monthly food packs (from you, our sponsors), community support & life-skills. An opportunity to get to know your sponsor-childAs part of our commitment to building community across the globe, we are offering our sponsor-families the opportunity to get to know your sponsor child better and to allow them to get to know you. We are inviting you to put together a short video or letter about yourself and family. We would like to share this so your sponsor child / children get to know you. This could be a start to forming a relationship with you. This is not meant to be professional or flashy, but simple and real. Please consider finalising a short video or letter as soon as possible, so we can prepare all the material together to present to the children. If you prefer a letter with a photo you can email this to us and we can translate to French for you. You can find a blank template right here if you would like to use it!
Our USA Team Leader - Alyssa, receives a special AwardOne of our core team members from America, Alyssa Barber, has been recognised for her humanitarian efforts. Alyssa received the 2022 Inaugural Ivory Jnr Community Service Award at the Blue and White Hampton University Gala, for her incredible work through Frontier Projects in Haiti. Congratulations, Alyssa! We are so honoured to have you on our team! EOFY Giving! Thank you for re-sponsoring and re-giving at this time! |
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July 2024
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