Blog

For years our RMI Haiti office, our storage and depot facilities, and missionary homes have struggled with reliable electricity.  All of these are a part of Cite Lumiere, the mission center that is the headquarters for MEBSH, our Haitian Partner Church Association.  There are quite a few offices and other missionary homes on Cite Lumiere besides RMI’s.  They all rely on city power, which is erratic and unstable, and Cite Lumiere’s single aging generator.  Both are very costly.  Sometimes getting fuel for the generator is an issue.   Recently the cost of fuel has skyrocketed, increasing the cost even more.  This affects the operations of the office and homes; it goes beyond having lights, fans, and computers – it affects our internet as well.  Not having internet means that the field can’t communicate with our ministry partners all over the US as well they can’t communicate with the RMI International office.

 I don’t know about you, but I have had a hard time getting into a true Thanksgiving mindset.  2020 has been such a tough year, for individuals, families, businesses, communities, and our nation, not to mention the rest of the world.  The challenges most of us have had to face as a result of Covid-19 have been daunting:  lock-downs, quarantines, stay at home, work from home, kids trying to learn from home, loss of loved ones, loss of job, income, or business, not to mention politics!  It has been a tough, crazy, hard year. And yet the Lord tells us in Phil 4:6  “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  I have been anxious…about so many situations…and issues…and…so much Lord!  The deep prayers for so much and so many, the petitions, and requests have been made.  But with thanksgiving? 

 YES! Teams have begun to return.  Three teams came in during the fall.  The Bayou (Lafayette, LA) met with the ladies of the church and distributed 100 hygiene kits. They did a number of home visits where they were able to share the word of God, pray with them, and leave them with a box of food. They also helped to serve the hot lunch to the kids in the school.  Creekside (Gainesville, FL) went to their Sister Church, Baradere, and were able to visit all the satellite churches. The Sister Church Coordinator and the church have invested in all those churches and he came to see how the projects were doing. They came with a team member who is from another US church that is a potential partner for the Tet Source church. It was a very productive visit. Lifehouse (Delaware) was able to do the usual services and

 As we enter the Giving Season, we invite you to provide a better way of life for a Haitian family.  With the global COVID-19 pandemic, Tropical Storm Laura flooding, and civil unrest, Haiti has seen its fair share of heartache this year.  As a result, many families are experiencing real hardship that is only going to get worse.  Food scarcity is a real problem, many lost their gardens due to flooding/wind, and all are struggling with the loss of income.  Thus RMI is offering 3 impactful essentials that are immediately available. Food Boxes-Rice and Cooking Oil – Each case of food contains 216 chicken flavored rice-based meals fortified with vitamins, protein, and minerals.  Household staples, like rice and cooking oil, have risen to prices most families cannot afford. Bag of Seeds – Crops were widely wiped out in flooding from Tropical Storm Laura, making a gift of seeds very timely

 As a tropical storm, before hitting Louisiana in late August as a strong hurricane, Laura passed by Hispaniola, inundating it with massive amounts of rain and some wind.   RMI staff contacted all of the C3 partner churches and here is the report. All the pastors reported major flooding and the loss of most of their crops, such as bananas, plantains, corn, peanuts, and beans.  Churches along the northern coast of the peninsula reported that fishermen lost fishing equipment such as nets and canoes.   Along the coast on the end of the peninsula, a major bridge at Roche a Bateau was completely washed out.  Only motorcycles can cross to the other side right now.  This makes access to Tiburon, Port-a-Piment, Aux Coteaux, Les Anglais, and Chardonette cut off until the water goes down and some other kind of crossing can be made.  None of the pastors talked of animal loss, but

Reconnaissance (recon for short) is a general search, examination or survey of an area or situation. Between last year’s political unrest and COVID-19, many teams have been unable to visit their C3 partners. We recognize many churches’ reluctance to send a full team – yet they want a first-hand report on how their churches are doing. This is why we are introducing the RMI Recon Teams.    The goal is to re-acquaint US and Haitian churches with one another, to encourage each other, and to bring back to the US fresh vision for future partnering together as well as excitement to schedule a visit for the church in 2021.  It also allows other churches to experience different C3 Partnerships and their communities.  Again, most importantly, these visits would be to prepare churches for a team visit in the future.   Each Recon Team is Friday to Wednesday. The cost is $695. 

RMI loves the concept of the “Church”, the family of God.  The fact that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ is one of the foundations of RMI’s principle ministry, our C3 Partnership Program.  That same principle is at work in the way that RMI staff prioritizes “teamwork” and working together as family.  The RMI staff are one of the things that sets RMI apart from other agencies.  We are blessed that all our staff (Haiti and US) are first of all and foremost, Godly men and women.  This is our foundation. They also must be sold out to the concept of teamwork, integrity, humility, and family.  We emphasize that they are not there for a job, but are called to ministry, to be a missionary to their own people and the US churches. Posted in each office is a framed copy of the RMI Haiti Employee Values.  Here

Tet Source (pronounced sous) is a very remote village up in the foothills of southern Haiti.  Five years ago Pastor Jean Benoit came from his large church in Labiche to establish a satellite church.  God blessed his faithful witness and preaching and soon a small congregation was established.  But Tet Source is a very poor community and could not afford to build itself a church building.  Thus, their services were held under a makeshift lean-to structure called a tonel (pronounced toe nell).  It provided a little bit of shade for the 80 member congregation. Meanwhile, in Baraderes, a neighboring district, an RMI corporate sponsor regularly visited his church’s C3 partner church.  He also has sponsored, along with others, the building of several schools, churches, and several other large projects in the Baraderes area.  After his trips to Haiti, he regularly shared his love for Haiti, the great needs there, and

We are committed to ensuring that our schools are schools of excellence.  This means making sure that each teacher is well trained.  We have partnered with P4H Global to give our teachers the necessary evaluation and training that they need.  The first session of week-long training was completed by 54 teachers from 4 of our Hope for Kidz schools.   It involved classroom observations, evaluations, and training.   RMI staff member, Patrick, did a great job making sure the training went well and was a success.  We look forward to partnering with P4H Global again, training more teachers. Don’t forget…it’s time to renew your child sponsorship.   You can do this HERE.

It’s time to renew your sponsorship of your child (ren) that you sponsor through RMI’s Hope for Kidz Sponsorship Program for this upcoming 2020-2021 school year. If you don’t currently support a child, then now is the perfect time to start!  It is truly a life transforming experience for these sponsored kids.  Getting a basic education is the key to enabling them to rise above the poverty that they were born into.  Education is also the key to improving the country as a whole. It is also life transforming due to the Hot Lunch Program that enables the kids to have one hot, nutritious meal at school.  These meals make it possible to concentrate and learn.  It is formulated to provide the vitamins, nutrients, and protein that they need to go from malnutrition to good health in just a few months.  Sometimes the improvements in the children are astonishing. Sponsors

This young boy lost his leg after an illness and infection that went into his bone.  He is from the Desriveaux School and is 11 years old.  He had outgrown his previous prosthetic leg and foot and was in need of a new one.   As you can see from his smile in the pictures, he was very happy for his new leg that our Hope for Kidz Program was able to provide for him from the Medical Fund.   He will go every two years to get it checked out and see what needs to be done. Please pray for him, for this leg to work out well for him and for his whole situation. We are excited to see what plans God has for this young boy. What a way to transform a life!

Current Situation On March 19, 2020, the Haitian President announced that 2 cases of the COVID-19 had been found in northern Haiti.  He also announced most of the same precautions as the US such as the closure of schools, factories and most stores and businesses, no gatherings of more than 10 people, practicing social distancing, shelter in place and hand washing as well as instituting a curfew.  All airports were also closed to commercial flights. These measures are not easy for the Haitian culture, where they live their lives outside of their homes and shop for food just for that day’s meal.  It is a nation of 12 million people living densely packed into a mountainous 10,000 square miles.  There are few medical facilities.  Reportedly there are only 64 ventilators in the whole country. So far we are not seeing much multiplication in infections, but that could be coming.  We

One of the first things you notice about Drevel is his huge and ready smile.  The second thing is the homemade wheelchair that he is confined to.  He is in his 40’s and has been a Christian for over 25 years.  He isn’t married, so he relies on his brother or friends to wheel him around.  He was born with some severe physical disabilities but that hasn’t kept him from living for Christ, sharing his joy or serving in the church.  He really enjoys spending time with visiting teams from his church’s US C3 partner.  It’s always a great encouragement to him and he enjoys partnering with them in their community outreaches.  Despite his limitations, he is active in the youth group (in Haiti, anyone who isn’t married, is regarded as a young person).  He has a nice voice and sings with the men’s choir.  One of his passions is