The Haiti Ministry is a unique program that was launched in spring of 2007 and linked St. Mary with Ste. Therese Parish located in Marbial, a mountainous region in South Haiti.
St. Mary of Milford is a member of the Parish Twinning Program of the Americas (PTPA), which consists of over 350 “twin parishes” between U.S. and Haitian parishes as well as those in Central America, Cuba, Mexico, and Canada.
Haiti is the third poorest country in the world and the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Ste. Therese Parish
Ste. Therese, located in the remote mountainous jungles of southeast Haiti, has approximately 60,000 parishioners spread across an area roughly the size of the territory between Hartford and Milford. The parish is located about 15 miles from Jacmel – the nearest city. The poor state of roads or the lack there of, however, makes this parish a remote location, which takes over six hours to reach from Port au Prince, about 30 miles away. The parish has a primary church, ten satellite chapels and a K-12 school.
Clean Water
One in every eight children in Haiti dies from diseases due to contaminated water. The Twinning Committee has been working with Gift of Water a well established, not for profit water purification program that has been working primarily in Haiti for over 15 years.
The Twinning Committee has been working since 2011 with Gift of Water, a well-established, not-for-profit water purification program that has been working primarily in Haiti for over 15 years. With your financial support, the St. Mary Twinning Committee has already provided 650 water filtration systems to Ste. Therese Parish serving approximately 6,500 residents of Marbial.
Each filtration system is very simple and only costs $40 to operate for a year. Water is collected in a five-gallon bucket and poured through a carbon filtering system that includes two chlorine tablets. It comes out clear of impurities into another bucket with a spigot.
A Twinning Committee member in Marbial for the March 2013 Medical Mission inspected the water systems at residents’ homes to ensure proper usage of the systems and to recommend corrective actions. Twinning Committee members will continue to work with Gift of Water and to better support the clean water initiative in Haiti.
Medical Missions
Medical missions generally take place annually each spring. The team typically includes three to four physicians, 2-3 advanced practice registered nurses and several resisted nurses to provide ambulatory care of the community. Our surgical team, led by Dr. Richard Garvey, senior attending surgeon a Bridgeport Hospital, are able to perform 20+ surgeries at a hospital in Jacmel (10 miles south of Marbial) during the week. The other members of the team, led by Dr. Meredith Williams remain in Marbial and are focused on primary and preventative health.
Education
Ste. Therese Parish has a K-12 school in Marbial as well schools in two of its 12 satellite parishes. The parish also operates a “Free School” attended by children whose families are too poor to allow them to attend the regular schools as they must work in the fields.
Through generous contributions, the St. Mary Twinning Committee has been able to provide a year of education to over 850 students. A donation of $35 pays for one student’s education for a year.
International Sea Container Shipment
Annual Shipment provides the opportunity to send bulk goods to St. Therese Parish
Volunteer Opportunities
We are always seeking new committee members to bring new skills and ideas, help out at events and reach our fundraising goals.
DONATE
If you would like to support and donate to any one of the above causes, you can do so online by clicking the donate button below.
Contact
Parish Office
(203) 878-3571