=============
PROJECT PROFILE 2003
WHAT IS NEEDED | OUR OBJECTIVES | HOW YOU CAN HELP
"We
have no water, no electricity, no secondary school, no hospital - just a
badly equipped dispensary" said
Fr. Jean-Alick, whose parish of Irois felt as
if it lay at the end of the world. "We don't even have any police here.
We are a long way from everything; we are an abandoned town. And the people
are very, very poor. At Sunday Mass the collection is usually about 50 gourdes
(£1.40). Some of my parishioners don't even have a house. The people are
so poor that there is no possibility of buying furniture for my house.
I have no wardrobe, so I have to keep my clothes on the floor. We do not
have enough chairs for our meetings."
It is to Fr Jean-Alick Revanche that the people turn for help and consolation. But Fr Jean-Alick himself has to rely on the parishioners for food, and even then no meal is guaranteed. "When my people live wretchedly, then so do I." The locals have to walk for up to two hours to get drinking water. Ninety-five percent of the population of Irois is illiterate, only 3% have completed primary school and just 2% have attended secondary education. The annual income of a family with six children does not exceed $200. The state does little to change things.
Nonetheless, there are numerous priestly vocations in Haiti. Although only about the size of Wales, the country has over 200 students at the major seminaries, and dozens more young men in minor seminaries. Anticipating his imminent ordination, one seminarian said:
"When God calls us, He gives us all the means we need to face up to whatever awaits us in life. We must trust in God. It is important to go and meet the people with their difficulties: they expect something from us - Christ."
To raise as much money as possible to help Fr Jean-Alick complete the church building, above all providing electricity for light and heat through the installation of solar panels.
III HOW YOU CAN HELP
| 9 March, Sunday |
Please do give generously for this good cause |
| 16 March, Sunday |
Please - come and enjoy an excellent cup of Irish coffee - donate cakes, small and large - buy cakes for your Sunday tea |
| 28 March, Friday | 4.00 pm: Afternoon Tea at parishioner's home, 54 Berrylands, Surbiton |
| 6 April, Sunday |
|
|
18 April, Good Friday |
|
| 11 May, Sunday |
|
| Date to be announced |
|
| Date to be announced |
|
|
Also being organised |
|
| Donations at private lunch and private dinner | |
| Donations at soup lunches | |
WE NEED LOTS MORE HELP
There are many ways in which you can help between now and late June when a cheque will be presented to representatives of the charity. We need more people to organise:
CAKE SALES
Organise a cake sale after each of our three Masses and perhaps combine that with coffee.
__________________________
SOUP LUNCHES, or
DINNERS
Organise these at your house or in the small Church Hall for your friends and parishioners and ask them to make a donation to the Lenten Project. Hold a raffle. Last year several parishioners raised a lot of money this way.
________________________
DONATE A SERVICE
LIKE WASHING A CAR, DOING SOMEONE’S SHOPPING,
GIVING LIFTS
I am sure many of our teenagers and younger children, with their parents' permission, can come up with ways of helping and raising money in this way.
__________________________
BARN DANCE
We need someone to organise this fun event which is very popular. It was a great success last year.
YOUR LENTEN PROJECT CONTACT IS DYMPHNA OR PETER