Mt. Pisgah Lutheran Church
The Haiti Mission
Out of Disaster Comes Hope
Although Haiti is a Caribbean Island nation, it is not a tropical paradise. It is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Nearly every year Haiti is rocked by an earthquake or pounded by a hurricane. The catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake of January 12, 2010 brought devastation with a death toll of 220,000 and destruction of 250,000 residences plus 30,000 commercial buildings. The tent cities that popped up were rampant with disease, looting, violence, and even more deaths.
After the earthquake of 2010 it became apparent that the people of Laotchikit were in desperate need of assistance. In response to this crisis, Haitian Pastor Walta Jean Duliepre Clericus and his wife, following the guidance of Jeremiah 29:11, purchased land to construct a church. Laotchikit was an extremely poor area with no church or other civic structures. Laotchikit homes are very small, and the people are extremely poor. There are no doctors, hospital, electricity, and no jobs. (The only water in the Laotchikit area was from a small murky spring).
In 2010, Pastor Walta started holding church services under a shelter. Since there are no paved roads, the people walk up to 5 miles on dirt paths to attend church on Sunday. After two years of construction with make-shift tools and donated materials, Pastor Walta started indoor services at The First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Laotchikit in 2013.
Knowing that education is the key to abolishing poverty, Pastor Walta in cooperation with Lutheran Churches in North Carolina started a school at the church.
Sharing Jesus, Changing Lives
Recognizing the important role of education in transforming the Satanic Voodoo culture and abolishing poverty, Pastor Walta in cooperation with Lutheran Churches in North Carolina started a school at the church. God is blessing these efforts at Christian education! In 2013, Mt. Pisgah Lutheran Church & Preschool raised funds to hire qualified, trained teachers and pay their salary each year.
The boys and girls of Laotchikit are so eager to attend school that they crowd together on crude benches. Over the years, Mt. Pisgah has worked to provided the school with a multiple room facility, wells for clean water, sanitation, medical assistance, a dormitory for orphaned children, as well as resources for education.
Throughout Haiti, children commonly have just one meal every three days. To support the learning minds, the Laotchikit Church School feeds the students a hot lunch each day.
Currently there are approximately 520 students enrolled at the school in Laotchikit, which provides education from preschool to sixth grade. Thanks to efforts from Food for the Poor an additional building was completed in 2019. With the expansion, the school now offers seventh and eighth grade. Seventh grade through high school students are sponsored through individuals, who "adopt" a student to pay their tuition and pray for them. Currently we have 66 sponsored students through this program.
Mt. Pisgah's Haiti Team regularly has volunteers travel to Laotchikit to share the love of Christ and assess any needs the school may have. Most importantly Mt. Pisgah fevervently prays for Laotchikit and its people. The results have been amazing! As Pastor Walta boldly preaches, "God is good! Always!"
