HAITI PARTNERSHIP

For the past fourteen years (beginning in 2008) St. Mark’s parish has partnered with St. Luc’s school in Mercery, Haiti. The partnership has brought many challenges and rewards to us as a parish. We have navigated our way working with three different priests over the 14 years.  Each priest has had varying English-speaking skills. Several members of St. Mark’s have visited the school in Haiti on four different occasions. The purpose of the visits was to build relationships with the students and teachers and to experience the conditions that exist in Haiti. 

The school consists of one building with 9 classrooms plus a principal’s office. Classes start at Pre-K and go through 7th grade. There are approximately 300 students who attend St. Luc’s from September through June. There is no public school support in Haiti. Most of the students who attend St. Luc’s school are not able to pay for their uniforms and school fees, many of them walk long distances to school. The school is open to all faiths.  Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and only 60% of its population can read and write. 

The main support provided by St. Mark’s is funding of teachers’ salaries and a daily lunch program. The lunch program has been especially critical to the students and teachers due to the ongoing scarcity and high prices of food in the country. 

Over the past several years we have reached out to the local community to ask other churches to join in our partnership with St. Luc’s school. These churches include the Union Baptist Church, St. Andrew Presbyterian and The Mystic Pilgrims as well as MAEC (Mystic Area Ecumenical Council).  St. Mark’s and our partners have supported several special projects over the past years. In 2016, at the teachers’ request, a daily hot lunch program was started at the school. Two years later a school library was funded. A long-awaited 7th grade was established in 2019 and a well was constructed to supply drinking water for the students and teachers. In 2020 we funded a summer lunch program which is on-going. That same year the only latrine at the school was rehabbed and a second latrine built from the ground up. All building materials were purchased locally in Haiti and Haitian tradesmen provided the labor. 

The partnership continues to focus on support of the school’s teachers and students and to fund special needs as they arise. It is our hope that sometime in the future we will be able to provide funds for an 8th grade at the school. 

We pray that the partnership with St. Luc’s school will continue to thrive for many years to come.