Seven Virginia churches are strengthening their relationships with an Episcopal school in rural Haiti, despite four years of pandemic, gang violence, and political unrest that have prevented in-person travel to the island nation.
On September 15, members of the Virginia-Haiti Collaborative made a virtual visit to Ecole St. Marc’s, Cerca-la-Source, a ministry of the Diocese of Haiti that they have supported for 15 years.
Between 2009 and 2019, over 100 members of the collaborative’s seven churches (Trinity, Arrington; Trinity, Lynchburg; Trinity, Staunton; Emmanuel, Staunton; St. John’s, Waynesboro; Good Shepherd, Blue Grass; and Grace, Lexington) made a dozen trips to Cerca-la-Source, a village near Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic. Stuart Hall, an Episcopal boarding school in Staunton, also participated in the past. The Virginia Episcopalians were excited to renew the connection.
“Thanks to Zoom, we’ll get to hear the kids sing, visually tour new facilities, ask the teachers about their joys and struggles of late, and celebrate with the administrator, Father Schneyder Couloute,” said the Rev. Roger Bowen, a retired priest who was one of the collaborative’s cofounders.
“These in-person connections mean so much to us, and to the children and communities of Haiti,” he added. “You maintain the commitment of the long-term relationship by these visits, and the face-to-face conversations.
“So often Haitians say they feel forgotten by the larger world. Seeing each other, if only on screens, it’s vital to the partnership.
“We hope the Zoom visit will encourage more people to support the collaborative on this end. And, in Haiti, we want the meeting to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to support for the students, and the school’s future.”
Haiti has suffered widespread civil unrest since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. Violent crime has escalated as rival gangs and paramilitary groups compete with each other for power, and weak emergency governments have been unable to bring order or provide adequate humanitarian assistance. The World Food Program says that thousands of Haitians have fled their homes and estimates that half of the citizens — 4.97 million people — lack food security.
In July 2023, the U.S. State Department evacuated all non-emergency government employees from the Caribbean nation and banned all civilian travel “due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and poor health care infrastructure.”
Though clashes between several rival gangs have been reported in the area around Cerca-la-Source, Ecole St Marc’s has continued to hold classes. Support from the collaborative has paid teacher salaries and provided scholarships to many of the school’s students. Despite great social upheaval, funds have been transmitted securely throughout the crisis.
Haiti’s diocese, the largest in the Episcopal Church, has remained in turmoil throughout the crisis. It has been without a bishop since 2019 and is divided between rival factions. Several priests were thrown in jail in 2022 amid investigations into alleged arms smuggling, though a senior priest told TLC in 2023 that no evidence of wrongdoing was found and that the church had been the victim of a fraud.
In a time of such uncertainty, the collaborative’s continued support and engagement has been a great blessing.
The connection was developed in 2009, when the Rev. Walin DeCamps, a Haitian priest who oversaw several missions and schools, preached at Trinity Church in Staunton.
“His presence and proclamation were so moving that a number of parishioners were inspired to help his mission,” said the Rev. Tuck Bowerfind, rector of Grace Church in Lexington.
To build its relationship, the collaborative has relied on a framework provided by the National Association of Episcopal Schools’ Haiti School Partnership Program, a ministry that has connected up to 70 of Haiti’s Episcopal schools with partners across the Episcopal Church.
In-person connection has been a vital part of the collaborative’s strategy, alongside consistent financial support. One group sent by the collaborative even built a solar panel array to power the school’s computer lab.
The Rev. Canon Serena Evans Beeks, director of the partnership program, said that “about two-thirds of the more than 250 rural Episcopal schools in Haiti have no partners, and with the current travel ban, it’s hard to find people willing to take on the relationship. In addition, current partners, including the Virginia Haiti Collaborative, would always love to have more people on board. When we can travel to Haiti and help people enter into friendships with those they meet face to face, partnership sells itself.”
Beeks encourages congregations interested in developing relationships with Haitian Episcopal schools to contact the Haiti Schools Partnership Program.
Allan S. Hadfield, who made a trip to Haiti with the Virginia-Haiti Collaborative five years ago, said he yearns to return soon.
“That trip opened my eyes and touched my heart; I truly got more from the Haitians than I gave. They live their faith, they share things selflessly and were so gracious with us. I hope to return one day to see them again,” he told TLC.
Collaborative participant Esther Larkin described her visit to Ecole St. Marc’s as “one of the most important trips of my life.”
“I learned so much from my Haitian friends, especially about love, faith, and community.”
Bowen reminisced: “When we don’t go, we are missing — the little boy in kindergarten who offers us his chair, the baby in the pink dress that someone in New York sent to Haiti, the man in the woman’s hat with the black rose on it who cries when he prays, the beautiful singing that bubbles up during the prayers of the people from the soul of the congregation and scrubs my soul, the hero priests who hike miles, sometimes through the heat and mud and dust, to their congregations without even losing the crease in their pants, the first-grade student who carefully wraps a portion of her school lunch rice and beans in a banana leaf to take home to a brother who cannot attend school and who has no lunch.”
He hopes to experience it all again soon, but for now, the Zoom visit keeps alive those memories, and a relationship that gives hope and sustenance to hundreds of children in one of the world’s most troubled countries.
