Our Story

Our Story

"Our heart is to empower, not provide, for the Haitian people."

A letter from HFAP’s founder and director:

Visiting Haiti on a mission trip in 2003 when I was just sixteen years old, I witnessed first hand the abject poverty of the people of Haiti. My heart broke over the injustices I witnessed: starving infants, battered mothers, widespread malnutrition and so much more. I returned home with a passion to make a change. From then on, my life was consumed with efforts to empower and show love to the people of Haiti.

 

In 2007, I founded Haiti Foundation Against Poverty and began its first programs: child sponsorships and feeding the elderly.

Even before I set foot in Haiti, I had dreams of opening an orphanage. After witnessing the desperate needs in Haiti, I thought the orphanage would be our first priority. But God had other plans. He began laying into my heart the need for education. Children living in the violent slum areas often had no means or opportunity to attend school. Without education their lives would be a vicious cycle of poverty and violence. In 2008, HFAP opened a Christian elementary school, “Les Bours School of Hope” near Cite Soleil, in Port-au-Prince. Education has remained a focus and a priority for HFAP.  While we no longer operate our own school, we do have over 380 children enrolled in our sponsorship program, allowing students ranging from preschool – higher education, the opportunity to receive a life changing education and learn about the love of Jesus.

Shortly after the school opened in 2008 we realized we had a major obstacle in our way. Our students were so sick and miserable they could not pay attention to learn. They were itching with skin infections, their stomachs were full of worms, and their scalps and feet were growing fungus. In our five year plans for the school, we had hoped to begin providing medical care, but it was evident we could not wait that long! The Lord quickly provided all that was needed to begin providing medical care, and in 2009, HFAP began its first medical program.  We began training local nurses and providing medications needed to treat the infections, fungi, and worms.  The health and strength of our students drastically improved!

In 2010, my dream of caring for some of Haiti’s orphaned children became reality. I moved to Haiti and opened an infant rescue mission called, HOPE House. HOPE House is a registered crèche that accepts infants/children under 3 years of age, who have been abandoned. We also provide short term care and respite for children suffering from malnutrition that require inpatient care.  Some of our children have been physically abused and even tortured, and subject to extreme emotional pain. No matter how injured, battered, or hungry they come, God has been good to provide the patience, love, and supplies we need to bring His precious children back to full health. (He uses our faithful donors to meet our children’s needs!)  In cases where the child has not been orphaned or abandoned, they return home to their biological families once they recover.  If the child is a true orphan, we work with Haitian Social Services to advocate for our children to have a forever family through an adoption process.  We believe children should be raised in family, as God intended.

Our heart is to empower the Haitian people. Simple distributions and donated goods will never bring a country, or a family, out of poverty. Education, skill training, job opportunities, and the teachings of Jesus will!  In 2010, HFAP opened a women’s job creation program, called Gift of Hope.  In order to return children from Hope House home to their biological families and keep their health, something needs to change at home. Returning them to the situation that caused the malnutrition and infection they were suffering from, will only allow them to fall back into it. Gift of Hope provides mothers in poverty with the skills and income they need to better care for their children. Entrance into Gift of Hope is available to all mothers who intend to raise their children after their child’s recovery at HOPE House.

"2010, the Year That Changed All."

From 2011-2013 our programs grew and expanded each year. After the earthquake we opened a second clinic in our adopted “tent city”, Cite Jeremie. We started a birth control program that has grown from 15 women to over 1,000 and counting!  We began a lunch program at Les Bours School of Hope, because many of our students were going two or three days between meals.  Since 2007, our child sponsorship program has grown from 17 sponsors to over 450!

As we took time to scrutinize and evaluate each program, we learned that the best long-term change we had made in people’s lives was by providing them with the opportunity of a job. A steady income is hard to come by in Haiti. Mothers and fathers alike plead with us to give them work. They want to work. They want to provide for their families. In 2014 we expanded Gift of Hope and opened a sewing and jewelry artisan program to provide more jobs for struggling mothers.

We now provide jobs and a steady income for sixty-three full time Haitian employees. Praise the Lord! We have plans to increase this number to one hundred by 2020!  

Sharing and living out the Gospel is the reason behind everything we do.  Every morning our employees begin their day with devotion and prayer.  Every Friday we host a Bible study for the women in our microloan program through Gift of Hope.  We provided a Creole Bible to every sponsored student, staff member, and woman in our family planning program.  Our mission teams often distribute Bibles to families in neighborhoods we serve and spend a couple of hours studying the Word together.  We are also involved in our local church, and in the summer of 2018, we opened Haiti’s first children’s church ministry at Rendevous-Christ Church.  Our prayer is for every man, woman, and child who comes in contact with our ministry to see and hear about the Good News of Jesus Christ.  

And on a personal note, while God was preparing and directing the work of HFAP, He was also stirring up something else in my heart – a love for my husband, Frentz Neptune. I met Frentz in 2008 while leading a mission team to our newly opened school. We began dating in 2009, and in July of 2010 we were married.  I carry so much compassion and sympathy for the Haitian people, but I have not lived in their shoes. I grew up with all of my needs met and had a privileged childhood in Midland, Michigan. Frentz on the other hand, serves his country with great empathy. He knows what is it like to watch a mother work so hard to feed her children a meal each day. He knows what it feels like to be hungry – truly hungry. He knows how incredibly important it is to receive an education, and how grateful he was to have a sponsor who helped him financially and told him they were proud of him. His life is an example of the impact a sponsor can make sending a child to school! God has so beautifully equipped Frentz to minister among his people. Together we direct all of HFAP’s programs. In October of 2013 our first son was born, and in March of 2017 the Lord blessed us with a second son.  We also foster three Haitian daughters. God continues to write our love story for each other and the beautiful country of Haiti.

To our donors:

We daily seek God’s direction for this ministry. His ministry. Without your faithful support, these programs would not exist. Your dollars provide life-changing jobs, feed orphaned children, and educate Haiti’s future world changers. And because of you, the love of Christ is being shared with more and more people everyday.

With love and gratitude,

Mallery Neptune