Pray with Haiti, January 14, 2024
Lectionary Selection: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Prayers for Haiti
Lord, hear our prayers as we are perishing at this moment. We come to you as our giver of life. Please attend our cry. Hear our cry because those who are against life hinder us.
You know we are almost out of breath and have nowhere to rest our heads. Our grandparents always turned to you when they were in trouble, and you never let them out of shame. We also let you know that all our energy, hope, and strength come from you because we can no longer count on others. Life has turned into a nightmare for us. A new day is calling us, but we still experience a long night reflected in tears from our eyes because we know that those who rely on You will never be disappointed.
Please, God of life, make our adversaries see who you are and that you are the God who never abandons your children. Please give us life at its fullness, not because we are good, but because of your love for your son Jesus, who came and died for us. Please give us strength and courage to stand up amid our calamities. Thank you, God. In the name of your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns until the end. Amen.
Mission Moment from Haiti
The relationship between the Ecumenical Foundation for Peace and Justice-House of Hope, and Global Ministries dates back many years. From the beginning, it was always a horizontal relationship, where we always decide together what we can do and work together on a spiritual, educational, professional level with the children, the youth, and the adults we serve. In fact, Global Ministries has been one of the partners that stood with us after the January 12, 2010, earthquake up until now. Global Ministries has helped us by accompanying the people during their suffering, helping us feed them, and assisting us by supporting them in satisfying their basic needs. After the earthquake, we could acquire new facilities and improve them enough to serve hundreds of children and youth.
Thanks to this relationship, many young people who were living in violence left violence to become a partisan of peace, and hundreds of young women who had fatherless children in their hands managed to take their lives in hand. Thanks to this support, thousands of teenagers have integrated into the House of Hope and benefitted from school education and professional and technological training. And thanks to this support, several young leaders in the area benefit from those programs.
Unfortunately, on August 22, 2023, bandits who were chasing everyone in our community entered the premises, looted everything we owned, set fire to all the program’s administrative space, and burned down all the archives and heritage of more than 25 years of work. However, thanks to God, we will not be discouraged. We know God will not let us go because He is faithful; He will never leave us. We have already received support from Global Ministries that allowed us to provide resources for our staff, students and their families, and other people related to the House of Hope with shelter, food, and emergency supplies, among other things.
We continue to believe that the support of our partners, friends, brothers, and sisters will allow us to repair all the damage and continue to move forward. It is a blessing that we can do it together.
Written by Polycarpe Joseph, Executive Director, Ecumenical Foundation for Peace and Justice, “The House of Hope”
Partners in Haiti