PEARLS in Haiti

07/25/2025

I have so many good memories of lunches and Rum Punch enjoyed on the beautiful veranda at this historic hotel. 💔

Once a haven for the world’s rich and famous, the landmark hotel was burned down this month as violence gripped Port-au-Prince

07/16/2025

NS1 took their final exams on June 30 and NS4 took theirs yesterday. In Haiti, high school consists of grades 10-13 (called NS1, NS2, NS3 and NS4). Students graduate once they complete grade 13.

07/13/2025

School is out in Bonnette! Look at all of these beautiful children! Your financial support not only ensured they had nutritious school lunches and clean drinking water, but also an education (your support helped pay teacher’s salaries) and a safe place to learn. PEARLS’ covered the annual rent for the building with your generous support. THANK YOU!

05/21/2025

The teachers at The Village School of the Future recently completed new certification and had a little celebration in honor of their hard work and dedication to the students and community.

05/21/2025

Sainfait sent me this video taken on Monday, at The Village School of the Future, in celebration of Haitian Flag Day.

Haitian Flag Day commemorates the creation of the first Haitian flag in 1803, a symbol of the nation's struggle for independence and unity. It's a day of national pride and celebration for the Haitian community both in Haiti and around the world

03/07/2025

01/12/2025

15 years ago today.

12/09/2024

12/08/2024

I know it’s been awhile since I last posted. It seems that every news update gets progressively worse. My heart is continually heavy for the people and country that I love so much! It is so hard to understand why the Haitian people have to suffer so.

With that said, it is important that I keep you updated on the positive things that are happening.

School is back in session at The Village School of the Future. They have not been able to return to Bonnette, but continue to rent a building farther east. Thanks to our generous donors, PEARLS was able to transfer tuition for our PEARLS of Wisdom Grant recipients, cover the teachers salaries so they could return to work and provide funds for clean water and hot lunches.

Thank you for your support!

10/09/2024

HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER GOES ABROAD FOR SUPPORT AFTER GANG MASSACRE
(Reuters)
Sat, October 5, 2024 at 7:19 p.m. EDT

SAINT-MARC, Haiti (Reuters) - Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille embarked on a trip to the United Arab Emirates and Kenya on Saturday to seek security assistance in the aftermath of one of deadliest gang attacks in the Caribbean nation in recent years.

Haiti is reeling after members of the Gran Grif gang stormed through the town of Pont-Sonde in the western Artibonite region early on Thursday, killing at least 70 people, including infants, and forcing over 6,000 residents to flee.

The massacre caused widespread shock even in a country that has grown accustomed to outbreaks of violence, and where the national police force is outgunned and understaffed.

"As you can see, we are being attacked on several fronts," Conille said in a press conference before the trip.

Last week, the U.N. Security Council authorized for another year an international security force that is intended to help local police fight gangs and provide law and order.

So far, the mission has made little progress helping Haiti restore order with only about 400 mostly Kenyan police officers on the ground.

"One of the aims of this trip is to go to Kenya to discuss with President Ruto how we can speed up the deployment of remnants of the Kenyan troops as quickly as possible to continue supporting the national police force," Conille said.

Conille said he would discuss with his counterpart in the United Arab Emirates "how we can find regular flows to help the Haitian national police to combat security."

On Friday, Conille, flanked by heavily armed police, visited patients at a hospital who were being treated for injuries from Thursday's attack. He promised reinforcements were en route from the capital, Port-au-Prince.

A spokesperson for Haiti's national police told Reuters on Friday evening that the director of police in charge of the Artibonite department had been replaced.

Gran Grif is the largest gang in Haiti's Artibonite department, according to security analysts. The region is home to many of Haiti's rice fields.

The gang's leader Luckson Elan said the attack was in retaliation for civilians remaining passive while police and vigilante groups killed his soldiers.

This week's killings were the latest sign of a worsening conflict in Haiti, where armed gangs control most of Port-au-Prince and are expanding to nearby regions, fueling hunger and making hundreds of thousands homeless. Promised international support still lags and nearby nations have deported migrants back to the country.

The number of people internally displaced by the conflict has meanwhile surged past 700,000, nearly doubling in six months.

(Reporting by Steven Aristil and Harold Isaac; Editing by David Gregorio)