We have always had a burden for the Haitian children in the Dominican Republic living in the bateyes. (Bateyes are small housing communities for workers and their families near the sugarcane fields.) The DR’s largest crop is sugarcane. These fields are larger than you can imagine… they stretch for miles and miles and miles. One rich family typically owns them. Workers are needed to cut the sugarcane and prepare it for the market, so many Haitians move to the DR “trying to find a better life.” Sadly enough, they work hard from “sun-up to sun-down,” and many Haitian children work in these bateyes also. Schools are rare, and usually far away from the bateyes, so many children do not go to school.

Emmanuel is one of our Haitian workers living in the Dominican Republic. His wife had a burden for these children also, and started some feeding programs in the bateyes. We are sponsoring this wonderful work. They gather the poor to sing and talk about the Lord, and then, they give a large bag of food to each family. Since this is the main Holiday time, they fixed a wonderful Christmas feast for the children and their families. Jesus said, “When thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind, and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee…” Luke 14:13,14