Delivering food, shelter, and hope to the poorest of the poor
All God's Children
Give Shelter. Quench Thirst. Restore Hope.
No Place to Lay Their Heads
Haitians want to provide their children with a safe, comfortable place to lay their heads at night, but they face rainstorms that batter their mud-and-straw shacks, flood their dirt floors, and feel more like a nightmare. Providing their children with basic necessities is a challenge too. When they need water to drink, they must often spend hours collecting it from a distant, unclean source. Please help these families escape these hardships. Working together, we can provide them with a path to a brighter future.
A Beacon of Hope
This fall, Cross Catholic Outreach is calling on U.S. Catholics to help our long-standing partner, the Kobonal Haiti Mission, bring relief and hope to the poor. With your support, we will put Christ’s love into action by funding the construction and repair of 85 homes, the installation and repair of 7 hand-pump-operated wells, and critical aid.
For over 30 years, the Kobonal Haiti Mission has had a proven history of reducing poverty. Thanks to donors like you, we have built 795 houses, installed 33 clean water wells and provided microloans to 1,066 families. Additionally, 200 families are provided food each month, and over 1,200 children receive education at the Mission’s two primary school campuses. Join us in our campaign to continue transforming the lives of Haiti’s poor.
Poverty in Haiti
Political instability, food shortages, natural disasters and a lack of basic infrastructure have kept most Haitians in a cycle of poverty for generations.
The Fenelus home is typical of most poor Haitian families.
Housing Needs
When the rains come, Veronique Fenelus’ mud walls melt away, leaving just the latticework of supporting sticks underneath. This flimsy barrier and the many holes in the rusted sheet-metal roof allow water to flood into the home, soaking the family and their possessions as it turns the floor into a puddle of mud. Veronique is just one of many rural Haitian mothers struggling to raise children in flimsy, vermin-infested shelters, and like her neighbors, she sees no clear path to a better way of life.
Nearly 60% of Haiti's 11 million people live below the poverty line.
Almost 55% survive on less than $2.41 a day.
Water Problems
For Dilson Alika, getting a drink means rising at 3 a.m. to beat the line at the ravine, where ground water drips into muddy holes. Once the source goes dry, he must wait for more water to fill the hole, drop by drop. For Dilson and others like him, fetching water takes up hours of the day and gets in the way of other work. Even then, there is never enough water available to prevent dehydration and keep a clean, sanitary home.
Holes like this are the only means many have to quench their thirst.
50% of households are malnourished, and 22% of children suffer chronic malnutrition.
How You Can Help the Poor in Kobonal
Sustainable Housing and Water Solution
Join us in equipping our local partner, the Kobonal Haiti Mission, to be a beacon of hope to these families by providing life-giving aid that includes sturdy, solar-powered homes and clean, abundant water.
Safe Homes
Your gift will help build and repair 85 sturdy weatherproof homes, replacing the dirt-floor shacks many Haitian families must endure through difficult seasons.
Clean Water
Your gift will help install and repair seven community water wells that will bring clean, refreshing water to 4,500 people who fetch contaminated water from unsafe sources.
Solar Light
Your gift will help provide life changing indoor electricity to households in need, illuminating places of physical and spiritual darkness with Christ, the Light of the World.
Safe Homes
Restore the God-given dignity of the poor
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.
Total homes: 85 (25 new homes / 60 repairs)
Beneficiaries: 253 people
Cost: New home – $8,580 / Repairs – $1,402
Materials: Concrete walls & floor; galvanized steel roof
Size: 713 square feet (4 rooms & a porch)
Features: Secure doors and windows, small solar panel for indoor electricity
Help build and repair 85 sturdy weatherproof homes to bring security and dignity to Haitian families struggling to get by.
Clean Water
Quench thirst in Jesus’ name
Water is vital to the villagers of Kobonal. It is critical for drinking and cooking, but it’s also essential for sustaining the fruit and vegetable gardens they depend on for food and income. Seven community wells will make use of freestanding hand pumps. Community leaders will oversee and perform maintenance. Each well is to be surrounded by a cement wall for security. Water will be free, but benefiting families will be encouraged to contribute a small amount to handle any future repairs the water system may require. This gives villagers a greater sense of ownership and pride.
Beneficiaries: 4,449 people
Water Source: 7 clean, hand-pump-operated wells
Cost: $300 per family to provide a clean, safe new well; $320 to repair one well
Features: Cement wall enclosure for security, free for benefitting families, hygiene and sanitation education for community members
Delivery Mechanism: Freestanding hand-pump wells
Help provide funding to build two and repair five community water wells that will bring clean, refreshing water to 4,449 people who must otherwise fetch contaminated water from unreliable sources.
Solar Light
Shine physical and spiritual light
The Kobonal Haiti Mission recently added a brilliant new feature to the homes we are building: solar light! Solar power is a practical option in Haiti, where the sun always shines and many properties have no access to an electrical grid.
Each panel will be installed along with three light fixtures, illuminating a family’s home so the day’s activities don’t have to end at sunset. They will also be able to use the panels for activities such as charging a basic, prepaid cell phone — a device that has been revolutionary in poor, remote communities where traditional landlines never existed.
The option of turning on a light will be especially important for students who have homework and struggle to see in their dark homes.
By supporting this much-needed enhancement of the Mission’s housing program, you just might light a child’s path to a brighter future!
Proven Transformation Strategy
Committed to the long term
When Father Meaux and his missionary team arrived in Kobonal in 1989, he was heartbroken by the suffering he encountered. In the years that followed, he established the Kobonal Haiti Mission to address the endemic issues, both material and spiritual, that held the community in a chokehold of despair. He started by opening a small Catholic school — a move that earned the people’s trust and helped the Church establish a local presence.
Since then, the Kobonal Haiti Mission has served, empowered and inspired countless families through housing, clean water, microfinance, feeding and education. The Mission also has a clinic to host visiting medical teams, and it recently finished constructing a beautiful chapel to accommodate the many local families who gather each Sunday for Mass.
The children of Kobonal are allowed to hope and dream. They can imagine a life beyond abject poverty, and they are working hard to achieve the future they desire for themselves and their families.
Brilliant Solution: Solar Light!
The Kobonal Haiti Mission recently added a brilliant new feature to the homes it builds: solar light!
Solar power is a practical option in Haiti, where the sun always shines and many properties have no access to an electrical grid. Each panel will be installed along with three light fixtures, illuminating a family’s home so the day’s activities don’t have to end at sunset. They will also be able to use the panels for activities such as charging a basic, prepaid cell phone — a device that has been revolutionary in poor, remote communities where traditional landlines never existed.
The option of turning on a light will be especially important for students who have homework and struggle to see in their dark homes. By supporting this much-needed enhancement of the Mission’s housing program, you just might light a child’s path to a brighter future!
Answer the Cries of God’s Children
Jack McElligott first encountered Fr. Meaux at a Mass in Lafayette. Now he and his family faithfully and joyfully give to Cross Catholic Outreach in support of Fr. Meaux’s efforts to fight Haitian poverty.
Fr. Meaux and the Kobonal Haiti Mission are transforming lives and ushering the poor into a tangible encounter with Christ’s mercy. You can advance this sacred work and make a real difference for vulnerable children and families by giving a gift to Cross Catholic Outreach.
Join us in empowering the Kobonal Haiti Mission and its efforts to spread hope and light to All God’s Children!
“…and I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
2 CORINTHIANS 6:18
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Cross Catholic Outreach
Our mission is to mobilize the global Catholic Church to transform the poor and their communities materially and spiritually for the glory of Jesus Christ. Your gift empowers us to serve the poorest of the poor by channeling life-changing aid through an international network of dioceses, parishes and Catholic missionaries. This cost-effective approach helps break the cycle of poverty and advance Catholic evangelization.
Proceeds from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures incurred through June 30, 2021, the close of our ministry’s new 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.
