Haiti (MNN) — Gang violence in Port-au-Prince has intensified to a level that puts children at risk even when they are in school. Roseline DeHart with For Haiti with Love says just this month a fly-by bullet killed a student through a classroom window.
“People are trying to move away from Port-au-Prince, so their kids can be able to go to school someplace else and safer,” she says.
Yet many schools in Cap-Haïtien, where DeHart is based, are already at capacity. What’s more, incoming children often don’t have the necessary resources, including funds, to enroll in the public school system.
That’s why For Haiti with Love has started a scholarship support program to help kids navigate school in a new place. DeHart says they’ve placed 200 children so far.
“People in the states sponsor a child to go to school. They pay for their school year, uniform and whatever they need. That is a huge help for the kids.”
Haitian school children. Courtesy of Unsplash.
This program kicked off six months ago when DeHart and ministry colleagues started conversing with kids in Cap-Haïtien.
“Their thing is, ‘I want to go to school, but I can’t,’” she says. “So that’s when we started it.”
The annual cost of a Haitian child’s education is 200 US dollars. DeHart anticipates the biggest challenge will be maintaining that funding year-to-year.
“We don’t want to tell the kids, ‘This year, sorry, we can’t pay for you anymore,’” she says.
Please pray that God would provide all needed funding for this sponsorship program, and pray that children would be blessed by it. You may also consider donating in the spirit of Matthew 25:40, “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
“The kids do want a future,” DeHart says. “They do want to do something – to be somebody someday. They just need the opportunity to do so, and we want to give them the opportunity.”
Featured photo courtesy of Unsplash.
