A sample text widget
Etiam pulvinar consectetur dolor sed malesuada. Ut convallis
euismod dolor nec pretium. Nunc ut tristique massa.
Nam sodales mi vitae dolor ullamcorper et vulputate enim accumsan.
Morbi orci magna, tincidunt vitae molestie nec, molestie at mi. Nulla nulla lorem,
suscipit in posuere in, interdum non magna.
|
GOC University, located in Port au Prince, Haiti was totally destroyed in the Earthquake of 2010. After over 30 years of dedicated service to the people of Haiti, its founder and president, Dr. Fritz Olivier, has had to start all over again. And, that he has! His vision and faith knows no limit.
The Academic VisionUniversite GOC, building upon its tradition of dedicated service to the people of Haiti, will be recognized as a unique center for a variety of higher education experiences serving the Caribbean region and the Americas.
Characterizing all of its programs and serving as a foundation for its uniqueness, is a commitment to an applied, experientially based education for all students in its programs. The University’s degree programs will focus on those majors, which represent these elements and incorporate them into the academic experience.
Mom and GOC are partners and are committed to rebuilding GOC so that thousands of students will have access to quality education and the opportunity to be a part of a skilled and professional workforce that will rebuild Haiti in excellence.
The Island of Boman
Off the shore of the fishing village of Petite Riviere De Nippes, Haiti lives over 200 destitute Haitian fishermen and their families on a little isle made of sea shells and that has a solar powered lighthouse. There’s no running water, no sanitation system, no school, no church, no clinics no communication, no refrigeration or safety from a storm, no modern boats…just dug-out canoes from logs. There’s no vegetation, no grass, no trees…just the sea, sun and the threat of annihilation from a fierce storm.
There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide,….nothing.
But MOM offers hope through a fishing village initiative that will bring the families back to safety on the mainline. We are searching for grants and partnerships with churches, fraternities, sororities…anyone willing to donate and to help us to jumpstart the process of developing a viable fishing industry for economic development.
As we develop our economic development plans in partnerships with several universities with whom we have partnered, updates and progress reports will be posted. Recently, our program manager in Haiti has initiated a test in which a small order of fish will be purchased from a vendor in Port-au-Prince and the order will be tracked all the way from its catch to the capital to determine just how feasible the development of the industry will be. An evaluation will be made of all of the obstacles encountered and their solutions.
It is a big job, but we believe we can make a difference, especially if you will help us with your tax deductible donations to MOM. (PayPal major credit cards at www.haitipoverty.com, www.mercyoutreachministry.org, and www.fishersworld.com/mom
Sit back and watch this heart-wrenching video of fishermen and their families locked in abstract poverty and isolation in the middle of the sea. I dare you to put yourself into their shoes just for a moment and to imagine being on that little seashell island with a heavy storm looming on the horizon. Go ahead…visualilze it. Will you ignore the gut-wrenching fear that you feel in your heart? Please care. Please pray for these families. Please help MOM to rescue them!
The Children of the Mountains is about our efforts to support education in the mountainous community of Fond Verrettes and the community of Robio. In this Smielbox made in 2010, we feature the two schools that are determined to bring literacy to these little ones whose lives have been subjected to extreme poverty and deprivation of even the most basic things. By supporting the teacher salaries, we all can make sure that these kids get a chance in life by being literate. I hope you will get the message and help us to help them.
The Children of the Mountains – Album #2 showcases the distribution of school supplies for three schools in Fonds Verrette! You will be able to see the new latrines that were built for two schools. Now instead of one single, unsanitary toilet for over 100 kids, there are two latrines per school. We wnat to build new environmentally safe dry composting toilets that are more sanitary, have no odor and does not attract flies when propoerly used and maintained. Will you help us to do that?
The following SmileBox in memory of our beloved Rev. Karine Gaetjens has been updated to include additional photos of her as a child and young adult.
On July 12, 2011, our faithful translator (Haitian Creole) and fellow minister, went to sleep in the Lord. The Rev. Karine Gaetjens transitioned to her final home and will be greatly missed. She provided invaluable services to our organization (MOM), our church and our personal business interests. Her beautiful smile and warm smile and demeanor will be missed particularly by all who knew her in the U.S. and in Haiti. with our ministers in the rural areas.
We extend our sincere condolences to her family and friends all over the world.
There is no modern equipment or machinery. Manual labor and persistence are the ingredients that’s mixed with faith and belief in the Word of God that says that a man is worse than an infidel if he doesn’t provide for his family!
When I visited that community several years ago, I taught a special seminar for the women at the church, and one for the men while sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch of Pastor Joseph’s home. I taught both groups that God wants us to be prosperous, but we each had to use our skills and creativity to create our success with assistance from the Lord. I encouraged the women to sell whatever they could to make money. They all had the ability to become “business women”! Well, they did and they all opened “stores”. Stores in this part of the world are blankets or thatch that’s spread on the ground or maybe on a wooden table for the more “affluent” ones, and items of every description from toiletries to shoes and clothing are proudly displayed. They purchase these items from either the capital of Port-au-Prince, or from the Dominican Republic.which is close by to Fonds Verrettes.
I taught the men from the Book of Genesis. I explained to them that God was a farmer….He planted the Garden of Eden. So if He could plant, what was their problem? Why were they trying to get to the city where unemployment and poverty is rampant, when they had all of this beautiful land available in the mountains that could be planted? They listened and the next thing I knew, the people were toiling away at their little businesses and working hard to lift themselves out of poverty. You can read and view more photos about this at www.mercyoutreachministry.org.
With the assistance of Mercy Outreach Ministry International Inc (MOM), Pastor Joseph has lead the battle against dependency and hunger. A farmer (gardener) from his youth, he has steadily honed his skills in agriculture and today, is a master gardener in theses mountains. See how they plant on the steep mountainsides in terraced rows! They are simply beautiful! There is no irrigation system installed. The mountains are shrouded with dew and the gentle rains assist as well. In their absence, the gardens are watered manually with water from cisterns.
The workers are paid daily. They work to feed their families so they need money every day to be able to buy food for their tables. Those who receive gardens as part of our economic development project are able to grow and cultivate their gardens for food and income! What a blessing. MOM is dependent on the generosity of its readers and followers for funds to provide gardens. Won’t you help us by getting a fundraiser together with friends, associates, your church, club, etc. Your money goes directly to the project. The only administrative cost is the cost of transferring the money to Haiti to Pastor Sylvio.
Please note the form of transportation that this hardworking pastor and teacher has to endure daily. The packed bus is the only form of rural transportation, and this is true all over Haiti. A simple motor bike will provide the transportation that Pastor Sylvio needs to travel from his home to his job down the mountain everyday. We have identified a new Honda bike ($5,000US) for him. The rough terrain does not allow used bikes….you have to see the roads or better yet, travel on them to understand! Please, help MOM to help this young man to manage his time rather than spend unproductive hours each day packed on the back of a truck going to and from work, and then back home to work the gardens! He is NOT lazy, and he is honest, hardworking, caring and shares his knowledge with the people of the mountain. Better yet, he teaches the Word of God and shepherds those souls that are entrusted to him.
There is so much more to share with you about Fonds Verrettes. Please be sure to watch the video “The Children of the Mountains” andf see the work that Pastor Sylvio accomplishes with our educational project. Donations can be made online through Paypal and on this website as well.
Please let us hear your comments. And, more important, please pray for us as we continue to reach out to this community to assist them in becoming free of the shackles of poverty and dependency.
Rev. Dr. Judy Fisher
Note: Please share this with as many as you can. We thank you and appreciate your assistance and donations.
Hello World! MOM has arrived in Cyber Space in rural Haiti with Satellite Internet. And, we did it with human power! With the use of the Pedal Watts System, electricity is being generated by pedaling a bicycle! Yep! You heard me…pedaling a bicycle that’s attached to a generator and a power pack! It works!
It is still a challenge to get folks to pedal their way into cyberspace, but if they want to send and receive emails, talk on the phone, watch movies and educational material, they will have to pedal at least 7 hours to be able to get 4 hours of internet! That’s not bad when you consider that it is better than not having the internet. Education about alternative and sustainable technology will eventually win over cultural hangups! Most people would prefer to just stick a plug in a wall and go for it….but there is one problem here on the backside of nowhere. There is no plug in a wall because there is no electrical grid or infrastructure! The cost of providing electricity and sustaining it is prohibitive!
Human power is perfect for such remote areas and is a pretty inexpensive way to generate electricity for such uses. Thanks to our project manager, we have a Power Team of 10 adults who each have volunteered to pedal for one hour per day to keep the system charged. We have allowed some of the kids to pedal in exchange for bakery treats, but they really cannot produce the amount of power needed to successfully charge the system. But every little bit helps.
We have installed a battery bank consisting of 4 additional deep cell batteries, but the kinks have not yet been worked out. There seems to be a problem with the charger and the size of the inverter. But, we are looking to get it all straighten out in the near future so that we can access additional power from the batteries in the battery bank.
Why a internet system? Communication opens many paths to development. It provides an educational pathway for people of all ages. MOM purposed that it could upload education modules on its website. These modules would then be available for projection in a classroom setting. The projection system will provide educational material as well as entertainment for the villagers. The internet system will also allow us to have long-distance education with a major university in Haiti (GOC University in Port-au-Prince) that is being rebuilt in the aftermath of its destruction by the earthquake.
Our proposed projects in De Nippes all have training components. A large part of the training will be via internet and that’s why our IT platform will be so significant! The trainees will be able to have instruction from the GOC University via internet! The trainees will not have the expense of transportation and lodging in the capital, yet will have the benefit of instruction by GOC’s professors.
The internet opens up communication between the villagers and their families in other parts of Haiti and the world! Just imagine the joy of being able to communicate with family members living abroad and who may have been separated for long periods of time….even years! In Haiti, I am told that the Internet is mainly used for “making friends” on the social websites! Well, this aspect will be greatly limited unless volunteers agree to pedal around the clock!
We are researching the use of a flywheel system to increase the efficiency of our alternative and sustainable system. Flywheels are presently being used in several South American countries successfully for many tasks such as grinding grains, shelling nuts, powering tools, pumping water and all without the use of batteries.
This is an exciting time for MOM as the organization partners with universities to experiment with these sustainable technologies for use in De Nippes at our SUV (Sustainable Urban Village) Project.
Computer literacy is a project that we wish to continue in rural areas. The desktop systems that were set up back in 2003 in Anse-a-veau have all “expired”. They had been used many years before they were donated to MOM and so we are thankful for the time that they worked! Eventually, the systems were cannibalized for parts until they all had become inoperable as well as obsolete. We plan to establish a new computer lab in De Nippes order to start a computer literacy project.
This is why MOM is asking you to support our people to people efforts in Haiti. With your support, we will be able to successfully execute economic development projects that lead to self-sufficiency. It is about “teaching the people how to fish” rather than giving them a fish. Economic independence, education and self sufficiency is the way out of poverty. While the task is huge, we can solve the problem the same way one eats an elephant…. ONE BITE AT A TIME!!!
Here’s a SmileBox of the Satellite System! Sit back and enjoy learning about how we are using human power to pedal our way to cyberspace. The use of human power is gaining popularity across the world. One can find many websites extolling the virtues of human muscle power to drive various technologies! Very interesting and educational, too.
|
