My First Visit to Haiti | The Haitian Orthodox Mission

My first visit to Haiti was in February 2018 where I was working as a physician in medical clinics in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding community. The Feast Day of the Meeting of the Lord fell on a Thursday this year and I contacted Fr. Amboise of St. Dorothy’s Church to get directions to the church. My son and I attended Liturgy that morning in the small chapel with about thirty other Orthodox Christians, many of them children. The Liturgy was in French and the homily was in Haitian Creole. We were in the midst of people of whom God knew and cared for especially, a community that knowingly depends on Christ for everything, strugglers who suffer under extreme poverty and live day-to-day depending on the mercy of God. This deep, spiritually moving, experience for me was a life-changing moment as I felt as if I was being pulled heavenward by the prayers and example of our Haitian Orthodox brothers. Since that time, I have returned to Haiti, both for work and to visit the other parishes and schools. Metropolitan Demetrius has asked me to serve as the liaison for the Haitian Orthodox Christians.

There are many needs in Haiti, and likely this will be so in the future. Specifically, we are in need of donations for the Food Program in both institutions. In many cases, this is the only solid meal these children will get each day. Our cost every year is roughly $7,000 US dollars, which supplies almost 500 children with a daily meal for the year.

“Please help us support them both morally and materially. Let us not refuse solidarity with them, as human beings and our fellow brethren, and let us demonstrate that the feeling of love for mankind is still living within us and the love of self has not devoured us.” — St. John of Kronstadt

In January 2019 the Dean of Latin America and the Caribbean, Fr. Maximus, and I will be going to Haiti to meet with clergy and the faithful. If you are able to donate church items, medical supplies, or spiritual reading material in French this is an opportunity for secured delivery. Please advise me at my phone number or email address in regards to our departure date and available space. On previous visits to Haiti, we would typically set up a mobile clinic and see scores of patients from the early morning hours until deep in the night. It is my hope that eventually we can staff and support a small full-service clinic in one of our locations in Haiti. If you are interested in this project please contact me directly.

In Christ,

Lazarus