Delivering food, shelter, and hope to the poorest of the poor
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Kobonal Haiti Mission
Help Transform the Lives of the Poor
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Together, we can defeat material and spiritual poverty.
In a dark corner of Haiti, the Kobonal Haiti Mission shines as a beacon of hope. For more than 30 years, , its founder, Father Glenn Meaux, has worked tirelessly in this remote farming community to care for the poor. Your support helps his ministry provide clean water, food, safe housing, education — and the love of Christ — to the destitute.
The Darkest Corner of the Diocese
Haiti is one the most impoverished countries in the world.
Nearly three in five people live below the poverty line. Kobonal was once called “the darkest corner of the Diocese of Hinche.” Its families had extreme humanitarian needs. Many lived in flimsy shacks and drank contaminated water gathered from nearby streams. Lacking electricity, clean water or sanitary latrines, and decent educational or employment opportunities, they felt hopeless.
Kobonal Haiti Mission is improving the material and spiritual well-being of the poor — and you can help!
The Kobonal Haiti Mission: A Beacon of Hope
When Father Meaux and his missionary team arrived in Kobonal in 1989, he was heartbroken by the poverty he witnessed. In the years that followed, he established a Catholic community to address the local poverty — and his mission has since become a beacon of hope in the diocese.
Kobonal Haiti Mission has helped hundreds of families by building safe and resilient homes, providing clean water and sanitary latrines, offering agricultural assistance to make the families sources of income more sustainable for the future, and ensuring educational opportunities and spiritual formation.
“Once I was exposed to the poverty, and saw the children in the streets, I fell in love with the country. I fell in love with the poor.” – Fr. Meaux
How Your Support Helps Families at Kobonal
Build and repair sturdy weatherproof homes, to benefit families who are currently living in makeshift shacks.
Fund community water wells that bring clean water to families who must otherwise fetch contaminated water.
Support 500 students with their secondary education and help provide a quality Catholic education and nutritious meals for 1,600 students.
Join us in empowering the Kobonal Haiti Mission.
Safe Homes
The cycle of poverty can be difficult to escape, but having a safe place to call home can make a real difference. The initial goal of the mission’s housing program is to improve the living conditions of families sheltering in fragile mud-and-stick huts. The long-term goal is to enable each family to become a landowner, a homeowner and a self-supporting farmer within a faith-filled community.
Each year, Kobonal builds approximately 60 new homes and repairs 60 other homes for poor families. The homes feature cement walls and floor, and a galvanized steel roof. Homes have secure doors and windows and even a small solar panel.
Typical Floor Plan
Materials:
- ✔ Concrete walls and floor, galvanized steel roof, treated wood frame.
Size:
- ✔ 713 square feet, comprising four rooms and a porch
Features:
- ✔ Solar power lights and basic electricity, an outdoor latrine, lockable door and hurricane and earthquake resistant.
Protecting the Investment
A new roof. Refreshed paint. Upgraded windows. Every home needs periodic repairs. That’s why, after three decades of building homes, Fr. Meaux wants to ensure past beneficiaries are able to keep up with maintenance and to make important upgrades to their homes. Making necessary repairs is also the Mission’s way of protecting the investment previous donors made in the homes they sponsored many years ago.
Your support helps the Kobonal Haiti Mission build and repair sturdy weatherproof homes.
Clean Water Wells
Water is vital. For the villagers of Kobonal, it’s not just for drinking and cooking, but also to sustain important gardens they depend on for food and income. Community wells make use of freestanding hand pumps. Without them, villagers would have to gather water from unsafe sources, including contaminated lakes and streams.
Supplying an entire family in Kobonal with clean, safe water costs just $249. Community leaders oversee wells and perform maintenance. Water is free, but benefiting families are encouraged to contribute a small amount to handle any repairs — giving villagers a greater sense of ownership and pride.
Clean Well Overview
Delivery Mechanism:
- ✔ Freestanding hand-pump wells
Features:
- ✔ Cement wall enclosure for security; for benefiting families; hygiene and sanitation education to community members
Water Source:
- ✔ Community water committee assembles and they collect small dues from families for use of the well
- ✔ Community training sessions on hygiene education
- ✔ Repairs are done yearly on inoperable wells
Access to Education
Most Kobonal families are too poor to afford the costs of a public school education. To combat this, Kobonal provides reduced or even free tuition and uniforms to its primary schools. Thanks to friends like you, the Kobonal Haiti Mission was able to expand its Mathebonite school campus in 2021, and today, its two campuses are able to educate 1,600 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
The Kobonal Mission School is one of the largest — and best — in the region. Students receive spiritual formation through catechism courses and weekly Mass. Fr. Meaux partnered with Cross Catholic to offer a scholarship program, providing for 480 financially struggling students to attend secondary school, plus 20 scholarships for university students.
Education Overview
Beneficiaries:
- ✔ 1,600 primary school children
- ✔ 500 students attending secondary school and university
Tuition Includes:
- ✔ Books, uniforms, breakfast and lunch
Spiritual Formation:
- ✔ Daily assembly where students and teachers pray together; prayer also takes place before and after all activities, catechism courses and weekly Mass
Your support helps the Kobonal Haiti Mission educate and feed primary school and secondary education students.
Feeding Programs
Life in the Central Plateau is harsh and many families in Kobonal are still utterly poor. For extremely destitute families this outreach can mean the difference between starvation and survival. Funding from Cross Catholic Outreach donors helps the mission distribute Vitafood meals and provide staples to some of the diocese’s most needy families.
Feeding Overview
Beneficiaries:
- ✔ 250 families
Food Staples Include:
- ✔ Cornmeal, beans, cooking oil and soap
Vitafood Meals:
- ✔ Specially formulated meal packs are rich in protein and contain key vitamins and nutrients to energize, strengthen and improve
the health of vulnerable children and families
Your support helps the Kobonal Haiti Mission provide monthly food rations to extremely destitute families.
Proceeds from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures incurred through June 30, 2024, the close of our ministry’s fiscal year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the project, the excess funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry.