SPR enjoys a rewarding relationship with our partners of the Episcopal Church in Haiti.
Current Project: Fair Trade Coffee
We have been working over the past year on the idea of a Fair Trade Coffee initiative in the southern mountains of Haiti, with our long time partners in St. Etienne. Last summer, SPR sponsored two young Haitians to come to the Chicago area to take a business course at Illinois State University and to make contacts with potential coffee trading partners in the U.S. These two entrepeneurs are currently working to make this venture a reality in southern Haiti as SPR continues to offer them material and spiritual support.
Long-time Friends
Ste. Trinité School, part of the Diocesan Cathedral complex in Port-au-Prince, offers the most comprehensive training in music of any organization in Haiti. In the fall of 2002, we sponsored a trip to Chicago for their young singers group, Les Petits Chanteurs. 35 Haitian students and faculty spent a week performing, sightseeing and learning as our guests. Over 400 people attended a joint Petits Chanteurs and Chicago Children's Choir concert at SPR. The Chicago Symphony provided a master class for the group. Another highlight was a trip to the top of the Sears Tower.
Our other partner is St. Etienne Parish in a remote mountain region. There we have been involved in several projects, including a micro loan program to strengthen the economy, reforestation, and, most significant, we are working with two other American churches to help build a new school and church to serve the hundreds of people who study and worship at the site.
Haiti Task Force members organize periodic group trips to Haiti to plan and to visit our partners. |
