THANK YOU – Your prayers and financial contributions have allowed us to impact many lives this year and for years to come.
In October 2016, hurricane Matthew dealt a devastating blow to the people in the south of Haiti, particularly the people of the Fauge community where Torch of Hope operates. By some estimate, over 80% of the “houses” in the Fauge area and its surrounding villages were either severely damaged or destroyed. With virtually no government help available, hundreds of people, including small children, where left homeless, living in some of the most inhumane conditions. Most people had to pray for God to keep the slightest amount of rain away because their tents/shanty houses could not protect them even from the smallest amount of rain. In the face of such a disaster, even though our school building was also damaged, we set out to help the community rebuild their shattered life. We set a goal of building 50 shelter homes in 2017 to alleviate the situation for 50 families. Many of you joined forces with us and empowered us to help the unfortunate people of Fauge, Haiti. While we have not reached our goal of building 50 shelter homes, here is a summary of what we have been able to accomplish so far:
- Built shelter homes for 7 of the families that were in the most desperate need for shelter
- Provided assistance to 9 more families to fix their damaged homes
- Retrofitted the walls of the half of our school building that had the roof damage and installed a brand new hurricane resistant roof on that half of the school building. A big thank you to Haiti Future for their assistance with this work.
- Provided medical and emotional assistance to many of our students and parents who were traumatized by the devastation of Matthew, the category 4 hurricane that destroyed their village.
- Over 300 students are receiving quality Christian education at little to no cost to their parents.
- 14 students graduated from 9th grade and are continuing their education in high school thanks for your financial support
This may not seem to be a major accomplishment for some, but for those families who received the shelter homes, the material they desperately needed to fix their damaged homes, as well as medical and emotional assistance to deal with the impact and trauma of this category 4 hurricane, these are the types of gifts that money can’t buy. Those who went to Haiti with us (TOH) as well, experienced first hands the impact of our work on the Fauge community. So, we thank everyone who made it possible for us to impact so many lives this year. Our work is not yet done, so we count on your continued support to continue to change even more lives in the years to come.