Haiti Partnership Program

Through the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti's Partnership Program, St. James' has been partnered with St. Marc Episcopal Church and School in Trouin, a mountain village located about three hours' drive from Port-au-Prince.

While our partnership with St. Marc is based on long-lasting relationships, the immediate need is for a new school building. The cinderblock buildings which once housed the 432 primary and secondary school students of École St. Marc were completely destroyed by the 2010 earthquake. Working with St. Francis Episcopal Church in Macon, Georgia and the Haitian Education Foundation, St. James' is helping to construct a new, earthquake-resistant school building which will be made from U.S. materials with Haitians and Americans working together.

Education remains a high priority of the Episcopal Church in Haiti. Only 20% of Haitiians are literate, and just 2% of Haitians graduate from a secondary school. St. Francis supports the needs of the St. Marc "école classqiue," and St. James' focuses on the needs of the St. Marc "école des métiers," or vocational school.

While our partnership with St. Marc is based on long-lasting relationships, the immediate need is to get a new, earthquake-resistant eight-classroom school building up and running; the buildings which once served 550 students were completely destroyed by the 2010 earthquake. Last August, working with parishes in the Diocese of Atlanta, five parishioners from churches in the Diocese of Virginia's Region XIII, together with a team of Haitians, erected the steel frame and sheet metal walls made from U.S. materials.

Père Kate and five missioners (including St. James' parishioners Henry Stribling and David Tabor, as well as three others from Region XIII parishes) returned early last Tuesday morning after an eight-day mission trip during which construction of the school continued, and they engaged with six of the teachers and many of the 130 students at the trade school, at which St. James' is sponsoring the embroidery teacher.

After this most recent mission trip, Père Michaud wrote this: "I must thank you from the bottom of my heart for your assistance to the trade school which represents the future for the youth of this town and the surrounding area. Let us join our hands together. Let us unite for the benefit of all so that this trade school may be strong and lasting."

For more information, contact the Church Office.