Through the 70s, MMI conducted numerous short-term projects in Haiti. More recently — and prior to the 2010 Haitian earthquake — Tim DeYoung, who serves as MMI Haiti Director, began spearheading our renewed ministry to Haitians. Tim, along with his wife Paola, provides wise leadership in the challenging country.
Project Sites
MMI teams work Monday or Tuesday through Friday and relax the first weekend. When the project is in Ounaminthe, teams have a chance to visit Fort Liberty and go into Cape Haitian for some shopping. The second workweek ends on Thursday and the team goes back to Port au Prince on Friday.
Ouanaminthe: In the northern part of Haiti on the border with the DR. It is a highly populated and needy area largely forgotten by the rest of Haiti due to its distant removal from all major commercial centers. Its proximity to the Dominican border allows for limited commerce, but does not increase access to basic medical care. We are hosted by Hughes Bastien, an independent missionary, and the Brethren Church.
Les Cayes: Located along the southwest peninsula of Haiti. We work out at the Lumiere Mission Hospital, which is MMI’s host institution in Haiti. This hospital operates very similarly to MMI’s Santana Center in the DR.
Milot: Located in the foothills 15 minutes south of Cape Haitian, the camp is spacious with ample dormitories and living facilities.
Callebasse: Located a short drive south of Port au Prince up into the mountains MMI is partnering with a local Missionary run summer camp providing dental education and fluoride treatments to all the kids in the camp. MMI is also blazing trails in the general care of mobile clinics. With the recent purchase of a portable dental machine our service in the field to the patient has improved. We are now able to fill cavities and not just pull teeth. So, if you like kids, Haiti, and the mountains, thi is the project you are going to want to be on.
Look for new and upcoming projects in Fon Parisien, Fon Verette, possibly surrounding areas of Port au Prince and in various other mountainous regions.
In-country Travel
Whenever possible, MMI teams take a charter flight to the worksite on the same day they arrive in country. MMI participants are responsible for the cost of this in country flight (about $100 round trip).
If flights do not permit, the MMI team spends its first night in Port au Prince then travel the following day to the project site.
Housing
Accommodations are in rustic dormitories with bunk beds and cool showers. Electricity is 110, same as USA.
More About Haiti
Haiti is slightly smaller than Maryland, with a rough and mountainous terrain. The weather is tropical and semiarid where mountains in east cut off trade winds. Haiti has an elected government system with its capital city being Port-au-Prince.
People & Economy
About 80% of the population lives in abject poverty.
Currency: Haitian gourde
Industries: sugar refining, flour milling, textiles, cement, tourism, and light assembly industries based on imported parts.
Agriculture: coffee, mangoes, sugarcane, rice, corn, sorghum, and wood.
Population: around 6.8 million.
Ethnic groups: black 95% and mulatto plus white 5%
Literacy: 45%
Religion: 80% Roman Catholic, 16% Protestant (10% Baptist, 4% Pentecostal, 1%, Adventist, 1% other). Roughly one-half of the population also practices Voodoo.
Language: French and Creole
Learn More
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World, by Tracy Kidder
A biography of Dr. Paul Farmer who addressed the ravages of disease numerous years in Haiti and one mans drive to change a small community in the central plateau.
Walking on Fire: Haitian Women’s Stories of Survival and Resistance, by Beverly Bell
