There is a building deportation crisis at the Dominican-Haitian border and during the past month we've asked you to help those who are without anything at all ... no food, clean water or even a pot to cook in.
You responded enthusiastically.
Here's how your money is helping:
Because of your generosity, FFP's Dominican staff purchased supplies to create 200 CARE KITS* (filled with food and cooking items). Many of our Dominican church partners worked with us hand in hand to help assemble the kits.
 |
| FFP's church partners in the DR help assemble Care Kits. |
Our Dominican staff drove trucks loaded with these kits to the deportation camp in the border town of Anse-a-Pitre (at the very southeastern corner of Haiti). Our Haiti staff drove an arduous journey up and over the mountains to meet them there and join in the effort.
 |
| FFP's Dominican, Haitian and American staff in Anse-a-Pitre |
The FFP team was surprised to discover that since Kristin and Heather visited the camp two weeks ago it had swelled from 200 families to over 400! This increase would really challenge the distribution.
 |
| Tents in the camps are built from sticks and whatever scraps can be found. |
But first, they gathered the community together for a time of worship.
 |
| Pastor Valentin leads people in a time of worship. |
"The people are hungry and scared, but they are also so hungry to worship God. Even though they have very little, they still praise God and trust Him to provide," said Pastor Valentin.
Any community distribution can quickly deteriorate into chaos, but fortunately due to our team's experience, they maintained an orderly and calm process. Knowing they wouldn't have enough for everyone, they first identified families with children. And they encouraged those who received to share with those who didn't.
 |
| FFP staff members distribute the Care Kits. |
Said one of our partners, "This was the smoothest distribution I have ever seen! The FFP staff knew exactly what to do and handled the crowd with compassion and respect."
 |
| A pregnant woman is so thankful for her Care Kit. |
While the long-term goal is to relocate these people into communities and with family, we saw an immediate need to provide life-saving help. We thank you for helping make this heroic effort possible. Your donations have literally helped save lives and given hope to many who feel like they don't belong anywhere.
 |
| ... |
Says Kristin Hamner, FFP's Dominican Director, "The crisis is far from over, and will probably continue through the end of the year. Our next step is to supply five-gallon water jugs, deliver clean water and distribute additional food. We're working with our partner Water@Work for clean water solutions. And we're talking with the government to see how we can work together to care for these wonderful people. We need continued support so that both our Dominican and Haitian staff can respond to needs as they arise."
 |
Kristin with the Water@Work team discuss ways to bring clean
water to the deportation camps in Anse-a-Pitre and Malpasse. |
*CARE KITS include rice, beans, oil, cereal, sugar, canned meat, pasta, salt, tomato paste, bouillon cubes, coffee, cooking pot, knife, cooking spoon, matches and a five-gallon bucket with a lid.
Thank you for your donations! We are grateful and overwhelmed with your generous support so far. But the needs persist!
We need at least 200 donors to give $30/month through the end of the year so we can continue to meet the basic needs of the people in the camps.
Will you be one of them?
