Partners with Sassier Zanmi Sasye: Engendering Hope, Creating Opportunity and Improving Lives in Haiti.
Partners With Sassier Blog
Rebuilding Lives and Communities
We've had three good days of work in Sassier, but it's just the start of a long process, as the needs are many and great. While providing immediate relief is still our top priority, we've also begun to lay the groundwork for the rebuilding efforts ahead. Rebuilding...
Green Shoots – Harbingers of Hope
We're looking for signs of hope in Sassier. We're used to looking for signs of spring. After months of winter's grey skies, we eagerly anticipate the first green shoots emerging from the near frozen ground - filling us with hope for spring's flowers. Can summer be...
"Life Restarts – Restart Life"
The below is taken from a text message from Deacon Gerry Keenan, who is on the ground in Sassier, Haiti this week as part of the Hurricane Matthew relief effort. The pictures below tell the story. Looking off the balcony of the parish house, it was as if I had...
In Post-Hurricane Haiti, a Picture of the Human Toll Begins to Emerge
The article below is taken from the front page of today's Miami Herald. If features Concepcia Pamphile from our clinic in Sassier and the administrator of the hospital in Jeremie. As you will see, the relief effort is underway and the work that needs to be done is...
Situation Update from Haitian Civil Defense – October 6, 7:30 p.m.
Here is the situation update put out by Haitian Civil Defense on October 6, 2016 at 7:30 PM, translated from French by Google. It is 7:30 pm, October 6, 2016 #MatthewHaiti 1. US Army helicopters landed at 3: 30 pm at the Toussaint Louverture Airport. 2. Digicel...
Hurricane Matthew Roars through Sassier
"I don't think we will survive." - Mondy Pamphile October 4, 2016 Deacon Gerry Keenan received this text this morning from the head of our partner organization in Haiti. He and his family are huddled in their home as 100 mile per hour winds howl around them and...
Adopt a Student in Sassier
Please consider adopting a student in Sassier! We need your help to keep the smile on our students' faces. For $150 per year, you can sponsor one primary school student for the school year. Please complete the donation form below and keep the smiles shining!
Sassier Medical Clinic Day 1 – A Young Life Saved
On September 4, the new 14 room medical clinic welcomed its first patients - the culmination of a 12 year effort to bring primary medical care to Sassier, a poor community in the mountains of southwest Haiti. The Clinic's first patient was a young boy who suffered...
Graduation Day in Sassier!
Graduation Day! June 17 was Graduation Day at College Pierre Toussaint in Sassier. June 17 was Graduation Day at College Pierre Toussaint in Sassier, Haiti! Forty-three students graduated from 13th Grade, the final year of high school in Haiti. In addition to a...
The Rains have Finally Returned!
After several years of drought, the rains have finally returned to the greater Sassier area. The drought has resulted in five failed harvests, resulting in significant hunger for many people throughout the whole Grand Anse province, in which Sassier is located. By...
Sassier Clinic Update: I Wish It Would Rain
This update is a Good News/Bad News report. The Good News is that the supports for the new concrete roof were removed during the last week in June and everything looks great. (See the photos) The concrete cured properly and all the portions of the roof are properly...
Graduation Day!
Last Saturday was another big day in Sassier-the second this month. Last week we reported on the completion of the roof on the new Clinic. June 13 was Graduation Day for twenty 13th graders at College Pierre Toussaint and the whole town celebrated! Remember that 10...
Up on the Roof…
The concrete roof was pour on the new Clinic building on Friday, June 5. for those of us used to large cement mixers and related apparatus, you will see from the picures that construction methods are somewhat different in rural Haiti. The concrete is mixed in a pit...
Being Proud of Who You Are
For Americans, 4th of July is a day of parades, celebration and flag waving. Almost every town has its own parade and related events. In Haiti, May 18 is much the same - celebrating the first Haitian Flag, first raised in 1803 by those fighting for Haiti's...
Kidnapped in Haiti – by Sassier Primary School Students
During our visit to Sassier last week, I was apprehended by a roving band of first and second graders who had just finished their school day. Rather than angry, threatening tones, these kidnappers were filled with laughter, giggles and joy. Since Djak Djeri (Deacon...
Live from Sassier: Our Teachers are THE BEST!
This week we are coming to you directly from Sassier. The students in the St. Jean Baptiste Parish schools in Sassier are the luckiest in the world. They have the BEST teachers! Not only are they skilled, caring and always willing to go the extra mile for their...
Two Months and Counting…
It is only two months (58 days to be exact) until Sassier's College Pierre Toussaint 13th Graders graduate! Some have attended the Sassier Parish schools since Kindergarten, while some started with us more recently. Sunday, June 13th will be the 3rd Graduation...
Trees That Feed
Thanks to long-time Friend of Sassier Deb Guy, we were introduced to Mary and Mike McLaughlin, whose organization, Trees that Feed Foundation, is doing fantastic work in Jamaica and in Haiti. Trees that Feed provides sustainable food sources to communities through...
Building a Firm Foundation – the Gift of Good Health!
Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. - Psalm 127 The dream of having a real medical clinic in Sassier is decades old. Over the past ten years, we have been able to improve basic health care in the Sassier area through education,...
Kanaval
In Haiti, as in many other Caribbean nations, the weeks leading up to Ash Wednesday are filled with celebrations, culminating in Carnival (Kanaval in Haitian Creole), which begins the Saturday before Ash Wednesday. Haiti's version of carnival season always starts in...
For the Love of Sport
One of the great blessings of our relationship with the people of Sassier is the way it inspires others. A perfect example is the partnership forged for us with Dreamweaver International by our longtime friend and supporter, Chris O'Donnell (not the movie guy, but...
Building and Rebuilding in Sassier
Monday, January 12 was the fifth anniversary of the devastating Haiti earthquake of 2010. Students and parents in Sassier took time to remember those who were lost, injured and whose lives will never be the same. Haiti is still healing and rebuilding. Progress has...
Back to School in Sassier
In 2004, 200 students went to school in the Church and sometimes had peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. The first 8 classrooms of the first school building were under construction. It's hard to believe that September is upon us, and that school has begun. In...
The Shoes are on Their Way!
Ten pallets piled high with 189 boxes of gently used shoes left Winnetka this past week on their way to Sassier, home of Sacred Heart’s twin parish, St Jean Baptiste. Although we lost count, we are sure that there are more than 4,000 pair of shoes, which means there...
College Pierre Toussaint, L’Ecole Michael Heiming and the Sassier/St Jean Baptiste community was delighted to welcome a group of 18 people from the College of New Rochelle (CNR) and the Archdiocese of New York last week.
College Pierre Toussaint, L’Ecole Michael Heiming and the Sassier/St Jean Baptiste community was delighted to welcome a group of 18 people from the College of New Rochelle (CNR) and the Archdiocese of New York last week. The team included 12 students and 4 faculty...