In a country torn by violence, earthquakes, hurricanes, political unrest, and poverty, last week may be one of the worst in Haiti’s 200+ years as a free and independent country. The United Nations reports that nearly 250 residents in Citè Soleil were killed or injured in gang warfare between July 8th and July 12th. The violence continues.
Early this morning, Abner, the principal of our Barefoot School informed me that one of our students had been shot in the stomach Friday night. According to our principal, “A Catholic priest named David put the boy on the back of a motorcycle and took him to the Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) clinic.”
This afternoon, GBCCS Manager Justin confirmed that the boy is Alvin Vernet Marc. Alvin is 13-years old and attends our fifth-grade class. According to Justin, the doctors were able to remove the bullet.
We remain committed to conducting our summer camp in August for the very reasons Justin presented the idea in the first place, “The idea of the summer camp is to keep the kids away from the gangs and gang wars in Cité Soleil, and it will help us keep our eyes on the children and monitor them throughout the summer.” We hope to make our final decision this week. You can be certain that the safety of the children and the volunteers who conduct the camp will be our first priority. You can learn more about the camp here.
Mitakuye Oyasin
This is sad news. I will be praying for Alvin. All things considered, I think it would be good to persevere with the camp. Somebody needs to be a positive example for the community. It could be a life and death decision, though.