We could tote our own accomplishments, today as if they were merely ours, but beyond the prosthetics, education programs, and water filters, we have been mutually blessed by relationships.  In coming to know one another, we have grown in understanding, compassion, and hope.  And that has been the great gift that has emerged from our walk of solidarity.

Today we celebrate with Landy Millien as she begins her first semester at Casper College on January 17th.  She will continue her nursing studies that were curtailed as the nursing dormitory in Port-au-Prince collapsed around her.  We celebrate with Helen Byrd, the Casper nurse, who tended Landy in a clinic in Haiti and had the grace, insight, and courage to bring such a wonderful young woman to the US to complete her studies.

We pray for Macajou Eliacin and his family, who lost his sister Josianne in the earthquake.  She was a teacher.  We ask for a special blessing on Macajou as he continues his studies in the US.

We celebrate for the kids of Les Cayes, orphans of the earthquake, cared for by Reverend Pierre Aubourg and his congregation.  We celebrate that this week, with the assistance of Paula Egan-Wright, a new school and orphanage, Kay Leslie, has opened for their benefit.  We pray that those who attend that school and those that are still in private schools will grow in knowledge of themselves and become agents of hope in their country.

We celebrate the connection between Dr. Louis St. Louis and Kamil Leman who have worked as partners to provide prosthetics for amputees in Port-au-Prince.  We give thanks for the amputees of Wyoming who have generously given their used prosthetics to assist fellow amputees in Haiti.

We celebrate the clear vision and passion that our friend Serge has for Haiti.  He has survived much difficulty and sees only the good, celebrates potential and beauty, with love and gratitude for all.  We pray for an opportunity to help Serge fulfill his desire to study anthropology and for blessings on his young family.

We ask God to look after all our friends at Matthew 25 House, whose hospitality and lived example of making a preferential option for the poor inspires our work.  God bless Sr. Mary, Ricardo, and all the staff, and the neighborhood of Delmas 33.

For all our Haitian colleagues and friends, for all the volunteers in Wyoming, especially the school kids who have reached out, we give thanks.  For our friends in Kentucky, LA, Montreal, Vermont, Austria, Spokane, France, and Atlanta, who have lent their creativity and inspiration in this effort, we are grateful.

As we continue along this journey, we hope for proactive steps in addressing the cholera epidemic:  the use of the cholera vaccine, assistance for public water systems, and success in bringing pure water to all of Haiti.  We hold tenderly the poorest of the poor, especially those living in places like Cite Soliel and the estimated 500,000 still living in tents.  As Haiti fasts and prays today, January 12, 2012, so do we in Wyoming.

photo courtesy of Roger Lemoyne, rogerlemoyne.com

521,000 cases of cholera in just over a year reported The Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population on December 18th, 2011, with nearly 7,000 reported deaths.  Dr. Paul Farmer, UN Deputy Envoy to Haiti and founder of Partners in Health, terms this epidemic one of the worst in history by it’s size and scope.  Conditions are simply ideal in the negative sense for the continuation of the epidemic.  Dr. Farmer is now pressing the international community for wide scale distribution of the cholera vaccine (see this related article: CHOLERA VACCINATION AN ESSENTIAL STRATEGY FOR HAITI).

Wyoming Haiti Relief is working to addressing the issue of waterborne illnesses, such as cholera, in collaboration with Pure Water for the World.  Working together with Susan Thomas, wife of the late US Senator Craig Thomas, we are working to increase the number of water filtration systems available to the poorest of the poor in Cite Soliel, a neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, said to be the poorest shantytown in this hemisphere.  Through filter systems installed in school that offer pure water to students and their families and the rebuilding of the Soliel 4 water purification plant, we hope to offer clean water as a basic human right.

Today, January 9th, 2012, Susan Thomas and Pati Smith, who traveled to Haiti in October to install water filters, are launching an educational campaign on the situation in Haiti.  You, too, can be a part of this effort to alleviate suffering in Haiti on this the two-year anniversary of the earthquake which left Haiti in shambles.  Follow their campaign here on our website and in local media, learn more, contribute generously!

Macajou is an example of someone who just needs a small boost towards success—higher fluency in English and an international experience would make him a viable candidate for a job with some of the many international organizations currently working in Haiti.  Even one year of college in the US would broaden his net of possibilities.

Supporting students like Macajou is capacity-building for Haiti’s future. Of his six siblings, two were supported in receiving education.  His sister, Josianne, who was a teacher, died in the earthquake.  Macajou’s success will be a lifeline to his entire family, nieces like Geraldine (11), and nephews like Dino (8).  Macajou’s great desire is to work in the field of job creation for Haitians.  He has great potential for being a part of the transformation that Haiti needs now.

Wyoming Haiti Relief has had a relationship with Macajou since March of this year.  He has worked as translator, guide, and driver for our volunteers on the ground in Haiti.  He is trust-worthy, hard-working, has great follow through, and is pleasant and outgoing.  We need your help in bringing him here.  Is there something we can do together to make his dream a reality?  Can you make a donation or pass the hat at your workplace or an organization that you belong to?

Please click here to watch a video introducing Macajou. Raising his tuition may seem like a tall task on it’s own, but it’s not when we all help out how we can.  Your gifts of $100, $10, or $1000 are gifts towards the transformation of Haiti.

Thank you for your generosity and your prayers for Haiti in this time of tension and fracture.Macajou’s Story