Hello Friends, Family, and Brothers/Sisters in Christ

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Madilyn Roberts. From early 2018-2020 I lived as a full-time missionary in Haiti. While in Haiti, I met three wonderful families, who I grew to love as my own family. I saw their love for Jesus, desire to share the Good News, and need for consistent work to provide for their families. God led me to create a non-profit called Avek Espwa. The goal of Avek Espwa was to create job development for these three Haitian families and disciple them in community ministry in our local streets of Leogane, Haiti (you can visit our website at https://www.livingwithhopeinhaiti.org).

In 2020 I was in a severe car accident while visiting family in the U.S., which has prevented me from returning to Haiti and doing the stateside financial and administrative work. While I have not been able to return to Haiti or continue developing Avek Espwa stateside, I have stayed connected with our three Avek Espwa (AE) families. In the past three years Haiti has experienced excruciating economical and environmental harm. The instability of the government has led an already extremely impoverished country, into even more hunger, death, sickness, and gang rioting. This has not only made it impossible for Avek Espwa’s job development and community ministry to continue for the safety of our families, but also made the daily living of our AE families dire. They daily worry about their safety, ability to get food and safe water, and the future of their children. God has miraculously provided (often to the dollar) the funding to send $100 per month for our four employees the past three years just to help them survive, however with pricing tripling in Haiti, it does not last as long as it used to. Our hope was that the violence in Haiti would settle down and AE would be able to restart work. Sadly, the country continues to spiral downward with no end in sight.

In January of 2023 the U.S. government issued a unique opportunity for Haitian citizens. Essentially this program is designed to allow Haitians to apply for a potential two year “parole” (basically a form of asylum) in the United States. Compared to the very expensive and near impossible visa grants, Form I-134 is free to apply for and relatively quick (months compared to years). As of now, the U.S. has stated they will be granting this parole to 30,000 Haitians, Cubans, or Nicaraguans per month. In order for a Haitian to be granted parole they must have a sponsor/s/organization who is willing to show financial coverage for each individual. Once in the United States, a parolee is allowed to apply for social security, Medicaid, low-income housing, get a job, and potentially file for a visa allowing a longer stay. Find out more at https://www.uscis.gov/CHNV.

Our AE families have reached out and are desperately asking for the opportunity to leave Haiti and come to the U.S. Through much prayer, Avek Espwa is looking to bring our brothers and sisters to the States! Our first family, the Mesidor family, has all their paperwork and passports in order. The next step is filling out and turning in Form I-134. Avek Espwa needs help to do this. We are looking to partner with individual’s and churches willing to provide one time or monthly financial support to meet the criteria of Form I-134, which will allow us to apply for parole. Our starting goal is to raise $15,000 in order to help show the U.S. Immigrations office that the appropriate finances are available for our Haitian families as soon as they are granted parole. Any and all donations will go directly to our Haitian team’s flights, living accommodations, food, school registration, driver’s license, etc. If they are denied parole, any funding raised will go directly to them in Haiti to help better quality of life.

Can you help? Reach out to [email redacted] to talk about monthly church partnerships or fundraising opportunities, or visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-our-Haitians to make a financial donation. As always, your prayers are greatly coveted as we move forward with this process. To God be the Glory. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35.

Sincerely,

Madilyn Roberts on behalf of the Avek Espwa Team