On January 12, 2010, Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake, with a death toll estimated at 220,000. The capital city, Port-au-Prince, was effectively levelled. Around 1.5 million Haitians were left homeless, Cholera and other diseases thrived and many people lived in make shift camps, struggling to find enough food and clean water.
In the aftermath of the earthquake, with so many displaced people, Yvrose, a Haitian born teacher, and her husband Pierre-Richard felt strongly that God was calling them to work amongst the poor and needy in their home land. They set about trying to reunite displaced and orphaned children with members of their families. When all avenues were exhausted, they looked after the children themselves and set up an orphanage which currently offers a safe and loving family environment for around 30 children aged from a few months up to teenagers. Subsequently they set up a school to educate both those in the orphanage and local children, Hope Academy. They live by Faith, trusting God to provide their most basic needs of food, shelter and clean water.
Hope House, Haiti now includes, the orphanage (which is more like a family!), the school, educational outreach to the surrounding area including other schools in the mountains and a small but growing farm. Members of The Point have been out and visited Hope House and we continue to maintain close links, with Yvrose visiting us on several occasions.