Why: THE NEED
Does Haiti have political unrest, Covid, terrible inflation, climate change, violence, sex trafficking, religious unrest, etc.? YES, in fact, to the utmost extremes in a small country the size of Maryland. On top of that, it is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, 3rd poorest in the entire world. Most have no electricity, no running water or even sanitation. Another difficult statistic about Haiti is that it has a very large population of deaf, due to the lack of medical care (add failed medical system to the list above).
That’s where Haiti Deaf Academy’s mission and ministry begin. After deafness is recognized in a child, ideally we immediately start to teach sign language. The brain is wired to accept and retain language at a very tender age. If it is not acquired young, the mind rewires, and language acquisition becomes much more difficult and sometimes impossible. Can you imagine being 8 years old, 13 years old or even an adult and never having participated in a conversation in your entire life? Not even knowing or grasping what a conversation is? Not even knowing you have a name!
Most deaf, like hearing, are physically and mentally normal, intelligent human beings. God equipped them with every talent. With language to communicate, we see math wizards, artists, athletes and even those that are gifted in music! Imagine that!
So how does one hear about Jesus and his life altering saving grace? If you can’t hear and you have NO language you can’t:
- Know that you have a beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ, who loves you dearly
- A God who came to earth to offer us freedom from our sins
- You don’t even know that God designed us with a freedom of choice. After hearing the Good News, every human being on this planet, has the choice to accept or reject Jesus’s invitation.
Hearing loss adds an additional obstacle to our world list of heartache. However, this one, deafness, has a positive outcome if recognized early and language begins. We’re working in Haiti, but deafness is not bound to one country, it’s present around the globe, wherever people reside. It’s a forgotten community. Help us to reach out with LIFE saving language.
In a residential environment, it is very difficult providing essentials like food and clothing under conditions that reached an inflation rate of 27.8 pct in May 2022, let alone have enough left over to dedicate to the ministry vision goals. And with the ghastly political environment & unfortunate increased gang violence, Haiti, although being such a tremendously poor nation, has lost favor in the world’s eye. We at Haiti Deaf Academy continue, no matter what, with renewed passion and focus to nourish, physically and spiritually, the beautiful deaf children God has entrusted to our care. Any support to the vision just shows the world that ALL things are possible with God and his community at your side.
EDUCATE, ENCOURAGE, EMPOWER & EMPLOY