Our newsletters and visit reports

In addition to the latest quarterly letter, you will also find on this page the archives of past letters, downloadable in pdf format (Acrobat), the latest visit reports from our director and the external evaluation reports. 

LETTER TO FRIENDS OF SISTER EMMANUELLE

« Whatever the continent, the most compelling desire of a poor person, her/his essential need, is to be respected. Here we touch upon the sine qua non condition of all humanitarian action: to show equal respect to every human being. » (Sister Emmanuelle)

Dear Friends,

Jean Claude François, the coordinator of the programs we support in Haiti, returned to Geneva in mid-February after spending two months there. Here is his report:

“Four major cities are run by gangs, who act as the police, the justice system, and the tax authorities. Those who resist are gunned down!
Motorcycle taxi drivers are actually experts in organ harvesting: the bodies of their clients are found the next day in remote fields, sometimes devoured by starving dogs.

In early February, the Presidential Council appointed in 2024 resigned under popular pressure and pressure from the United States, which sent three warships to the Port-au-Prince harbor (to protect its interests in the country in the event of civil war and a mass exodus of Haitian refugees).

Citizens who could do it have left the country.

Farmers limit their production to subsistence levels because bandits often help themselves to their crops. 80% of food products are imported (from the United States and the Dominican Republic).

The price of fuel has tripled in one year. A bag of cement is 4 times more expansive than two years ago.

Every day, poor and unemployed youth risk being forcibly recruited into a mafia network: 70% of the members of the country's 26 most powerful gangs are under 20 years old.

Despite this appalling situation, our programs in Hinche have suffered no damage and our staff remain in good spirits.

Founded in Hinche in 2010, Jean Price-Mars University has taught three graduating classes: to date, 255 students have graduated in fields as diverse as business management, accounting, agronomy, civil engineering, theology, and nursing.

All graduates have found employment, either in the country or abroad.

53 nurses educated in our university (over several years) passed the 2025 national examinations of the Ministry of Public Health (success rate: 78%). (Photo: Graduated nurses, graduation ceremony, January 2026)

In January, we opened a medical school in response to the demand from about thirty young people from gang-infested cities where schools are closed.                                                          (Photo : A classroom at the Jean Price Mars University new School of Medicine)
The university currently has 360 students and a staff of 37 teachers and 9 employees.
Two school buses, each with 72 seats, have been imported from the United States to transport students who previously had to walk for over an hour from the city center to the university.

Bethesda School has 200 children (from the streets) in primary school and 350 in secondary school.
In addition to free education, they receive every day a hot meal thanks to the generosity of the NGO Food for the Poor.
The results of the 2025 GCSE'S under C Grade exams show a 92% pass rate.

The 22 operating clinics provided 8,755 consultations in 2025 with a staff of 44 employees, despite the difficulties these employees face in reaching the clinics, which are located in rural areas. Medical staff receive half a day of training each quarter. Built between 1997 and 2000, our modest healthcare facilities were in need of maintenance: 10 clinics have been repaired in 2025, and 11 more will be this year.
The average cost of treatment is CHF 0.70, thanks to the production of herbal medicines by the laboratory, which are distributed free of charge.

The Phyto-Cosmos laboratory employs four people, including a specialist.
Our pharmacopoeia contains dozens of varieties of medicinal plants, both from forests and plantations. Our community health workers requested 333 liters of medicine for 2,464 treatments in 2025. Other organizations also place orders with the laboratory.
These medicines provide relief to many people in both urban and rural areas, as the cost of imported medications is extremely high. Furthermore, there is a shortage of conventional medicines on the market: the increase in customs duties has slowed imports.

Our 25-hectare farm is a production and training center for young people. It wasn't very busy in 2025 due to road insecurity. Transporting our mangoes (15,000 trees) to Port-au-Prince for sale is impossible because of bandits who steal goods and even trucks on the roads. The same is true for our sugarcane (16 hectares). To prevent the fruit from rotting on the farm, we invite local residents to come and take what they can for free.
The farm employs 12 people who care for 25 cows, 12 beehives, and 6 hectares of medicinal plants. We lost several beehives due to the presence of Asian hornets in the country. Despite this, we still harvested 19 liters of honey.

The well drilled in 2025 provides drinking water to the university and the hotel. Its flow rate is 114 liters per minute.»

We thank the tireless Jean Claude for his exceptional commitment, and are impressed by what the local teams are able to accomplish in this chaotic situation.

Your donations and support are warmly appreciated! 

Happy Easter!

Patrick Bittar
Director