by Craig Waddell

Since 2010’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, BGAV has worked with the Source of Light Center (SOLC) in Port au Prince, in the Delmas 19 neighborhood. SOLC includes a children’s home, school, vocational training center, and church. Our goal has been to help vulnerable children and young adults prepare to have a sustainable future.  

The dire situation in Haiti is well known, and it is currently impossible to visit and work together with our friends in person, but we are doing what we can to provide them with vital resources for all who are taking refuge in the Center. Thank you in the name of Jesus for your support: the children at SOLC would not have food nor other necessities without your help. Your donations are critical in helping cover the expenses, which continue to increase since the collapse of government-regulated services and the ascendancy of gang rule with its prevalence of violence. The harbors and airport are virtually closed, throttling the importation of goods into Haiti; sometimes it is hard to find what the Center needs. Fortunately the solar power system and the water well still work, and the SOLC continues to help supply water to people in the neighborhood. 

There are 35 children, youth, and young adults at the SOLC, as well as two cooks, one laundress, and three house mothers. The SOLC has also taken in six schoolteachers who have been driven from their homes by violence, including one whose house was burned down by arsonists. Delmas 19 is no longer a safe neighborhood, but it is not yet directly controlled by a gang. Nonetheless, no one can leave the compound right now, and there are frequent exchanges of gunfire outside the SOLC. All the schools are closed, and teachers could not commute to work anyway. These circumstances have an emotional effect on everyone there, and even if the teachers tried to hold classes in the Center, the children are too traumatized to focus on schoolwork.

Pastor Ronel and the team do all they possibly can to address the emotional and physical needs of the SOLC family. This includes this year’s summer camp with crafts and other opportunities to be creative. There have been numerous attempts to restart school instruction, as well as vocational training in the areas of cooking, sewing, automotive, and electrical repair. Pastor Edson and the church on site try to cultivate a life of faith that is rooted in God’s presence during the present difficulties. Pray for them, as there are few opportunities to leave the confines of the compound. The constant unrest and awareness of the danger of violence outside subject the children to long-term trauma.

Pray with us that God helps us to effectively stand with the SOLC in their mission to be a light in the Delmas 19 community, that the chaos in Haiti will come to an end, and that our friends there will stay safe.