Haiti Partner Post
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Introducing Deb and Bruce Robinson in Haiti,
Hello! We’re Bruce and Deb Robinson, and we are missionaries serving under the Union of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Haiti. I’ve been working full time with the Organization for Integrated Rural Development in Northwest Haiti (ODRINO) since 1983, and was joined by my wife Deb when we married in 2000. We work with a Haitian team of churches and pastors to help address the pressing physical needs of those in their communities.
ODRINO is a local Haitian development organization working in the Moustiques River Watershed in Northwest Haiti. It provides drinking water systems, irrigation canals, roads, schools, church and other development/relief work in the region. Northwest Haiti is one of the poorest areas of the poorest country in the Northern hemisphere, and is semi-arid, prone to droughts and famines. In many communities, most of the men are not present, having gone to the cities or the Dominican Republic in search of work. Those left behind battle with the land, living with minimal and poorly spaced rainfall, diseases that affect the crops, tropical storms and theft. Many of the schools can’t hire qualified teachers, and children often spend the majority of their time hauling water, gathering firewood and taking care of the animals for their families.
Isenaida is 3 years old and attends Ebenezer Baptist School in Haiti. Sponsor her today!
Through partnership with CCI, schools have been able to hire qualified teachers at the schools, teach children a Christ centred education, and greatly improve the children’s nutrition by feeding them at school. Because sometimes (often) at home there is little or nothing to eat, the children don’t like weekends, holidays, or rainy days. ODRINO and CCI also provide all schools with a clean source of drinking water. At some locations there is even enough water for families in the community. The fifth benefit to the children is help with health care emergencies. There is someone at each school following the children and CCI helps with special health care needs. Since CCI has started helping, people from outside the church are attracted to sending their children to school at the CCI school because the level of education and care is higher than elsewhere.
Please keep us in your prayers as we are hoping to expand into several other schools centred around Passe Catabois in Northwest Haiti. We are hoping to make sure the school, church, and if possible the community have a reliable source of drinking water. Other projects to help with access roads, improving local agriculture, reforestation, and other development projects around sponsored schools and communities.