Haitian International Missions (H.I.M.) is partnering with the Christian Education Center for Deaf and Handicap Children in Les Cayes, Haiti. Since 2006, the Center has grown and now includes 37 children. Sponsors are needed at $25 a month or $300 a year.
Life in Haiti is hard, and even more so for those born with disadvantages. Deaf and disabled children and adults who have never learned sign language are confined to their home or begging on the streets. Outreach Director Cory Grimm and his wife, Lynn, sat down recently with H.I.M. Director, Zacharie Dieuveuille and the Center’s leaders and determined the best way to solidify the Center’s budget is through recruitment of sponsors for individual children.
The total cost to run the school is $12,500 per year. Administrator and Director Julianna Laine has never received a salary, and sometimes only enough money to pay the teachers about half of their salary. The food supplies often run low for the children, whose parents cannot afford to pay tuition. Julianna’s husband, Lucner, makes a decent Haitian living through some translation work, some university teaching, and farm work, which has helped supplement the school.
The couple talks passionately about the visions and dreams for this school and ministry. First, as mentioned above, to solidify the current budget. Second, to expand the size of the school—it now provides for less than 1% of the disabled. Third, to expand educational offerings to include trades in addition to academics. Fourth, to expand the ministry impact into the school’s neighborhood and also to the students’ families on holidays and summers.
Check out the children, their pictures, sponsorships, and more information at www.ouradventuresinhaiti.blogspot.com or call Lynn at 712-203-8604. You can change the life of a child in Haiti.