Hurricane Irma Impact in Ouanaminthe

Hurricane Irma Impacts Ouanaminthe Thankfully the majority of Haiti has been spared the worst of Hurricane Irma, unlike many of its island neighbors. Due to the heavy rains, though, Ouanaminthe has experienced some significant flooding. Matt White, our Director of Development and Sponsorships is in Haiti now and has sent these photos. Please keep the people of Ouanaminthe and the families of Institution Univers in your prayers. There will be many needs as clean-up of homes, businesses, and the community takes place.

Univers Medical Center and Institution Univers are helping their community in many ways. If you would like to help with the Irma aftermath, please consider a gift to COCINA.  Give Now

Oh PLEASE share this with Everyone you know!

The Univers Story, as told by BittersweetMonthly.com! Univers/COCINA was selected as the Reader's Choice Feature of the Month on BittersweetMonthly.com. Here's the intro... The year was 1991, and just months after swearing in its first-ever democratically elected government, Haiti suffered a serious setback. Hopes for a brighter future were quashed by a brutal military coup. Human rights abuses and destitute poverty drove Haitians to risk their lives fleeing the country.  Boats arrived en masse on the coast of Florida (boats may be a generous term – picture shoddy rafts) carrying desperate Haitians who braved the tempestuous waters in hopes of escaping violence, chaos and upheaval in their home country. But at this very moment in time—one when most Haitians would have given anything for the opportunity to come to the United States, Hugues Bastien sought to return to his homeland. Keep reading (and watching)...

The school year is in full swing!

Praise be to God! We are so blessed with
a new pastor to spiritually lead the students and staff,
with a full school,
with God's faithfulness to our needs,
with students going on to colleges in Haiti because of the generous sponsors God has led to us,
with returning grads employed at the school!

Thank you, for your love, concern and faithfulness to Institution Univers!

Worth Investing In

Please read and prayerfully consider coming to Haiti to see what and Who we are all about!

Additional information and Update on THE JENNIE PROJECT (Gael Jennie Fleurant)

First a letter from Jennie.

Dear friends

 

I am so excited to finish my first year of college. During the year, I’ve completed a whole year of ESL (English as a 

Second Language). I also had an orientation class which were about learning the American culture, and its laws. 

During the last year, my teachers did a great job on teaching me, and I am so thankful for that. I have been involved 

in two clubs, the International Students Club, and the Red Rocks Global Mentors which I was the secretary last 

semester, and I am the president for the summer semester. I am taking advanced classes during the summer, which 

are the last classes of ESL. I am so excited to finish with the ESL classes. I will start the Water Quality Management 

program in the fall. I’ve already registered for some classes. I can’t wait to finally start with my major.

Thank you to all of you who are helping me with my project!

Jennie

Second a letter from her sponsor:

Hi everyone,

What a wonderful summer it has been this year in Colorado. All of our reservoirs are completely full which hasn't 

happened in a long time.Below are some pictures from the Rocky Mountain Conference Dinner which Jennie attended 

with my son, Nate, and myself.   The speaker was Lorie King of UMC Global Health Program Director for WASH & Food 

Security. The United Methodists have been very supportive of our efforts to support Jennie. 

Our new bishop is focusing on food and water issues.  I have added pictures of Jennie, UM Bishop Karen Oliveto, & 

Lorrie King, UMCOR Global Health Program Director for WASH & Food Security. 

Pictured are Nate Yudnich, Karen 

Yudnich, Lorrie King (Speaker), Jennie, and Michael Rowley.

Jennie upon graduation from the ESL Program at RRCC. She will be taking 3 credits this summer and then be able 

to start the Water Quality Management Program this fall.

Scholarships that Jennie will be receiving this next year are: 

United Methodist Women        $10,000

United Methodist Committee on Relief    $2,000

Venice Presbyterian Church, Florida    $2,000

This will almost cover RRCC Tuition and Fees! 

Financial Update

	Tuition /credit hr	Credit Hours	Cost	Fees	Medical	Total
2017 Fall	$578.50	12	$  6,941.99	$     115.00	$           700.00	$        7,756.99
2018 Spring	$595.85	12	$  7,150.25	$     115.00	$           700.00	$        7,965.25
						$     15,722.25
TUITION USUALLY INCREASES 3% EVERY YEAR

$5817.00    Cost for 2017 Summer School Tuition, Fees, Books, 3 Months Bus Pass.

The remainder of money that is in Jennies College Savings and COCINA

$3,272.91        Remainder money in Jennie's College Saving account

$13,105.69     Remainder money in Jennie's COCINA account.

$16,378.60     Remainder money for transportation, yearly trip to Haiti, clothes, books, dental, personal items.  

Thanks again to everyone for their support via monetary or prayers or both, we praise God for your generous support!

Watching God work.

Karen Yudnich,

Jennie's Sponsor

 
 

Update from Jennie, attending Red Rocks Community College, Colorado

Jennie is studying Water Quality Treatment and Management at RRCC. She just finished her first year - quite successfully as you can see! Here are photos from her sponsor in Colorado - Thank you Karen, for keeping us updated!

The first picture is Jennie and Bishop Karen Oliveto. 

The second picture is Lorrie King, UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief), Global Health Program Director for WASH & Food Security. Also pictured left to right Nate Yudnich, Karen Yudnich, Lorrie King, Jennie and Michael Rowley.WASH stands for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene.

The third picture is Jennie finishing up her first year at RRCC

Jennie finished her first year and will be the president of the International Student Association next year.

Congratulations Jennie!

Back in Haiti!

Back in Haiti and have had a great first week back after a very 'eventful' travel journey!

Here's some photos to share of the past week, and of the kids! (The "Peace & Love" is at Miami airport - not only is it a very cool piece of art, it was a good reminder for me in the middle of the 36 hour journey!)

Due to the flight delays I missed graduation which was very disappointing for me; I had to keep reminding myself...God directs my path. I did arrive into Ouanaminthe in the evening after the graduation ceremony. Went directly to the school, and there were still some students remaining for me to hug and congratulate, though, so that made me happy!

Maryann from Ohio joined up with me to visit Univers and see if and where God may use her, so pray for God's direction, as she is seeking His Will, as He has presented this opportunity for her to come check out the ministry.

Summer Camp begins this Monday, so there has been much preparation this week by the staff. The kids are excited! Government exams are upon the students, so many are in the midst of studying for those.

I met with a woman from Kentucky who was here with a mission team this week. She is set to sponsor a college student to go to university in Port au Prince, so Emmanuel and I are busy working on all the details, as well as working on Johnson's housing at Sonlight Bible College to attend this Fall, and raising funding for three other college students.

Please pray we find suitable housing soon for Johnson!

ALL the top scholar english immersion program 2017 students are hosted! Praise be to God! There still is some funding needed for the students travel and ancillary expenses, therefore, it you are so moved, please donate to COCINA, P.O. Box 12695, Columbus, OH 43212 and make sure on the memo line you write "2017 English Immersion Program (ESL)" THANK YOU!!

And, so importantly,

Thank you so much to all my prayer and financial partners who keep making it possible for me to serve these precious kids, friends, and families!

Rice paddies outside of Ouanaminthe...

 Walking to work/market...

A new church built near Caracol...

A Cap Haitien "hardware store" at the market...

 I just love all the little details in this photo of four houses built over street level businesses...check out the staircase to the purple house...I just love this!

 Neighbours and me...

 The kids!

Here's Photos of the English (ESL) Immersion Program Students

Will you consider hosting/sponsoring students this August?

We have both two 7th girls and two 10th boys needing hosting and sponsoring this summer. Here's a testimonial from a first-time host last summer to share:

Institution Univers ESL Students Visit PA

In August we had the honor of hosting two ESL students from Institution Univers in Haiti. Richelcie & Shenay-Love spent a week with us visiting south central PA while studying English. The students toured the PA State Capitol, Snyder’s Pretzel Factory and Utz Potato Chip Factory. They experienced Bowling for the first time with some members of St Peter, enjoyed a Hershey Park Happy Day and a Picnic with friends from Hope in Haiti. Richelcie & Shenay-Love also had the opportunity to visit the Liberty Bell, the US Mint and a few other sites in Philadelphia. We were even able to squeeze in some swimming, a campfire with s’mores, a movie, a trip to the library, some pizza and a girls night with Megan’s friends.

With so much packed into our few days together Richelcie & Shenay-Love still had to find time for their English lessons each day. Megan spent many hours helping them complete their workbooks and journals and they even spent some time helping Megan with her Creole.

Hosting the students was definitely outside my comfort zone, but something my kids were passionate about. With some encouragement from them and a big nudge from the Holy Spirit I finally agreed to host. The week with Richelcie & Shenay-Love was the best week of the summer! Awesome things happen when you listen and take a leap of faith.

Kathy Zagoric

Will you consider hosting and/or sponsoring students this summer in August?

We still have some weeks to fill up so please contact me as soon as possible if you are interested. I can get you in touch with past sponsors, too, if you'd like to ask them questions.

Thank you for your consideration. You won't be sorry doing this!

Progress I see!

I LOVE to see progress in Haiti, no matter what size!
For the church I attend when I am here I see much progress!

As I sat at Legliz Baptiste, I looked around and saw:
A shiny new railing,
The sanctuary has freshly painted walls, and
new light bulbs in all the sockets.
This is exciting to see!

Sunday, men's choir "Gideon", performed - my favorite men's choir at the church!
And the bellow of the full choir brought such joy to my heart - it's GOOD to be back at Legliz Baptiste!

The message was on Ephesians 5:9-10 - 9 "(for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 [a]trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord."
Footnotes:

1. Ephesians 5:10 Lit proving what

and,

Psalm 119:5 - "Oh that my ways may be established To keep Your statutes!"

God loves YOU so much!
Marylee

Here's a video BEFORE the progress, but you can hear the choir's voices:

Here's photos of "the progress":

Here's photos of teams at church with us the last couple years. Can you see the differences between then and now? Just for fun, try to find differences!:

Facing Darkness Official Trailer

Now that this movie has been released on a limited theatre experience (I got to see it this past Monday night) I highly recommend you look for it online or a movie media app such as Netflix - SEE IT! Worth every minute of film.

Love,

Marylee

Congratulations to Angelot!

Angelot St Vil began college in the Dominican Republic earlier in 2017, and just got his first set of exam results...All A's!
Click on link:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=00135f45d4&view=att&th=15ae581d797e9f95&attid=0.1&disp=safe&zw

Keep up the GOOD WORK Angelot!
We are So proud of YOU!
And thank you to his sponsors for believing in him and providing Angelot with this opportunity!

Heading back to Haiti for the first trip of 2017

I guess I was excited to get back to Haiti, when I had the first of two duffels of supplies packed and ready to go by January 12, when I wasn't leaving for Florida until January 26!

I'm now in Florida visiting with my Mom until I depart for Miami and then fly to Cap Haitien on February 1. I wanted to be with her on what would have been my parent's 67th wedding anniversary. It is the first one without my Dad here, so I was glad that the timing of my return to Haiti could coincide with their anniversary. Many of you ask how she is doing. She is taking one step at a time, keeping herself involved with church and social activities. I am glad that, more than once, she has expressed that she can't believe how fast the day goes by - "where does the time go", Mom says. Personally, I think that is a blessing from God!

Last night we were able to attend a mission dinner and presentation at Covenant Church where she attends, and what a blessing that was! I met two missionaries serving Haitiens; one from an orphanage near Les Cayes and the other missionary is a Haitian serving the Haitian community in New York City. There were amazing stories from the Covenant Church supported missionaries from all over the world - locally from Naples, to Homestead, Fl, Orlando, India, and Afghanistan. It is so exciting to hear all that God is doing - all over the world!

As I return to Haiti, I look forward to first meeting with Emmanuel to get caught up on all the "going-on's" since I was last there. Then we will map out the tasks needed to be accomplished to get Hebert to college in Port au Paix in the Fall, Jamescy to college...soon, and work on colleges in Haiti for Rose Mica, Willens and Kensy. We still need financial sponsorship for the latter three upcoming graduates.

It is also time to begin planning for the Univers Top Scholar English Immersion Program 2017. Will you consider hosting and/or financially sponsoring a student for a week or more between late July to late August? Please contact me as soon as possible, if you or someone you know if interested! We need hosts and sponsors!

Please share with me your prayer requests! I want to pray for my readers!
Much Love,
Marylee