(Graphic credit November2013Calendar.org)

Haiti (MNN) — Most people resolve to “shrink” in the New Year. They outline weight loss aspirations and sign up for gym memberships.

Starfysh is a little different. Growth is their goal for 2015. Founder Steve Edmondson says 2015 is a vital year for their ministry in Haiti.

“We’ve reached a critical mass,” Edmondson states. “We need to move beyond a briefcase and a home office. We need to move so that God can take it to the next level.”

Since its inception in 2010, God has used Starfysh to do amazing things on the tiny Haitian island of La Gonave.

In 2014 alone, they accomplished the following:

• Progress toward being recognized by Haiti as an official NGO (non-government organization).
• Completion and full outfitting of an RMDU (Remote Mobile Dental Unit).
• Installation of bio-sand water filters in three villages.
• Delivery of nearly 2,000 banana trees to island farmers.
• 

  (Photo credit MNN/Katey Hearth)

  Began work on Life Garden, an agricultural research and demonstration farm.

• Hired a full-time agriculturalist as Life Garden project director.
• Began an aggressive program of planting, harvesting, and distributing moringa.
• Growth of Starfysh school in the village of Makochon.
• Added two grades: now pre-K through 5th grade.
• Facilitated village’s purchase of land for future new school build.
• Continued teacher training and Creole-language resources.
• Hosted many work teams (over 100 guests!) at their base-of-operations.
• Added a solar powered projection system that can present the “JESUS” film to up to 500 people at a time.

“The over-arching narrative for 2014 is ‘God’s provision through us and for us,'” shares Edmondson.

“Ours is a story of ‘Little is much when God is in it,’ and ‘His strength is made perfect in our weakness.'”

(Photo credit MNN/Katey Hearth)

The Grand Rapids, Michigan-based doctor says even bigger things are lined up for 2015.

“We’re just going to grow beyond the bedroom office, so to speak, into a more on-the-ground, effective organization that can grow our projects,” Edmondson states.

See specific 2015 goals here.

You play a critical role in making it all happen. Surround Starfysh with prayer, and click here if you’d like to help financially.

“We can always use financial gifts,” Edmondson says.

“But really, if we received nothing but people on our side petitioning heaven for us, that would be the most awesome gift.”

More about Starfysh’s work on La Gonave.

When that is a question presented to you on a daily basis, imagine someone coming to your town with a third option: clean water.

In La Gonave, this is reality. Steve Edmondson of Starfysh says that dirty water is the second-largest cause of death on the island.

“Clean water is a major, major, major issue in all of Haiti,” Edmondson says, “especially La Gonave which is isolated from the rest of Haiti.”

This causes diseases like Typhoid and Cholera.

In most western countries, we don’t know the reality of day-to-day life-and-death decisions.

“Its not that they have a choice,” Edmondson says. “There is no clean water for them. It’s not like they have clean water on the one hand, dirty water on the other hand, and they opt for the dirty water. And when they’re thirsty and they’re dehydrated and they might die from that dehydration, they’ll just go ahead and drink the dirty water, knowing that they may well pay the consequence.”

(Photo courtesy of Starfysh)

Part of the work that needs to be done is to build wells and teach communities how to take care of them. However, often more than half of the wells on the island are broken and sit useless after a year.

The other answer is to clean the water from the sources that are already there.

In the La Gonave context, bio-sand water filters, which mimic natural filtration and purification processes, work best.

Starfysh has been blessed with inexpensive access to large quantities of filters. They’ve seen illness rates decrease in the villages, and so far, 600 villages and homes around the island–equating to 4000-5000 people–are now drinking safe water and are not getting sick.

Not only do the water filters prevent harmful illnesses, but installing them provides teams an opportunity to spend time with these people.

“In going and visiting a home, yes, one of the important reasons we visit a home is to place the filter,” Edmondson says, “But we also want to invest in them and to build on their God-given dignity and to recognize that they’re people, and they’re not just objects of our affection and objects of our good works.

“They are people who are created and loved by God.”

The people of La Gonave are not a check mark on a to-do list.

(Photo by Starfysh)

Starfysh underscores this by training Haitians from  La Gonave all about the filter so they can help when Starfysh isn’t there to troubleshoot the appliances. They also gauge how well the filters are working.

In this way, Starfysh is enabling the people of La Gonave to carry out solutions to their own problems.

Finally, the filter works as a platform to share the Gospel. Edmondson says, “Installing a water filter is an expression of the Gospel. It’s not the Gospel over here and the water filters over there. What we do is a tangible expression of love, and it’s a tangible expression of the same Gospel we proclaim.”

When they bring the water filter to these places, Starfysh follows up by telling the villagers why they are there in the first place. They want to show how faithful Christ is.

If you would like to help the work of Starfysh in Haiti, Edmondson suggests you start by praying.

He explains that nothing they do will be meaningful unless God is working alongside them. He asks that you pray for the power of God to work through Starfysh.

The container eventually was released to Starfysh in Haiti. (Photo by Starfysh)

Edmondson explains that many times they see prayer working all around them. When customs held a container full of water filters for many months, Starfysh asked people like you to pray. Within two weeks, the container was released to them.

Pray also that Starfysh would continue to seek God’s will.

For practical ways to help, click here to give financially or go on a trip.

Many children were orphaned by the 2010 earthquake.
(Image courtesy EFCA)

Haiti (MNN) — It’s easy to see the amount of physical need in Haiti: it’s the Western hemisphere’s poorest country, healthcare is lacking, and many villages don’t even have clean water.

But saving Haiti will take more than money. The problems of Haiti’s people stretch beyond limited resources. Starfysh founder Steve Edmondson says the battle is spiritual.

“We put a lot of stock, and need to put a lot of stock, in the power of God,” Edmondson notes.

On the Haitian island of La Gonave, Starfysh empowers people with a two-fold approach. While caring for physical needs like clean water and healthcare, Starfysh workers establish and cultivate friendships. These lead to conversations about Jesus and His salvation.

“When people just pray in general, and pray consistently, the things we do day-to-day are made more effective because God is in it,” says Edmondson.

“I can give you examples of how things have happened that we cannot explain by human terms.”

The latest example took place just a few weeks ago. A shipping container full of supplies needed for Starfysh ministry on La Gonave had been detained by the infamously corrupt Haitian customs officers. Using word-of-mouth and social media, ministry leaders mobilized people to pray for the quick release of the container.

“Within a week or two, that container was released from the [Haitian] customs that had pretty much hijacked it for months,” Edmonson shares.

“Praying is a practical thing that people can do. If we can move the hand of God through prayer, as God invites us to do, that is practical.”

You can receive the latest prayer needs and join the Starfysh prayer force by following the ministry on Facebook.

(Photo credit Micky Aldridge via Flickr)

Haiti (MNN) — People debate whether addressing physical needs or spiritual needs is more important for ministry. MNN asked this question on Facebook and got a myriad of responses.

For Starfysh founder Dr. Steve Edmondson, Gospel work on the Haitian island of La Gonave is both/and, not either/or.

“We set it up as this either/or question, and we have one choice. Maybe it’s the wrong question,” Edmondson states. Phrasing the question differently changes the implications of its answer, he explains.

Gospel work: spiritual or physical?

The question about Gospel work shouldn’t be, “Which is more important?” which implies an either/or choice, but rather “How can we address both?” which suggests a both/and solution.

“As long as we set the Gospel of Jesus as central to what we do, then it’s central in the context of what their reality is,” says Edmondson.

“To proclaim it and to demonstrate it through acts of love and service is an expression of the same Gospel. To not express the reality of that Gospel through our acts of love is a [disservice] to what the Gospel of Jesus is.”

Edmondson points to Christ as an example.

“Jesus came down; He left heaven…and entered our reality,” Edmondson states.

“To the extent that we can do that in other people’s lives, we are demonstrating what Jesus did for us and are demonstrating that Gospel in what we do.”

Gospel work on La Gonave

(Photo credit MNN/Katey Hearth)

There are many ways Starfysh puts this both/and solution into practice. From clean water and agriculture initiatives to education projects, Starfysh addresses dire physical needs in the name of Christ.

Starfysh also folds Gospel work into various island health programs. They regularly send community health workers into La Gonave villages, Edmondson explains. These workers teach the communities about WAter, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), the importance of using latrines, basic first aid, etc.

“In the context of that, they bring up also people’s need for God and what God has done for them,” Edmondson explains. “It’s only in the context of showing up in that village that we have gained an audience and earned the right for people to hear about the Good News of Jesus Christ.”

You can come alongside their work by praying, giving, or going.

MNN spoke with Starfysh about their partnership with organizations in Haiti. It becomes apparent that what makes their teamwork successful is supernatural. Their shared vision to pursue God’s will has led them to begin an agricultural ministry on the island of La Gonave.

Partners in Missions

Steve Edmondson, founder of Starfysh, says, “The National Wesleyan Church of Haiti and also the organization WISH [West Indies Self-help], and Starfysh have come together in collaboration and we have made the steps forward to develop an agricultural research and training, teaching gardens right there on the island of La Gonave.

“We have established where that would be, we have our site all paced out, and we are developing plans for putting that together.”

Banana plants (Photo courtesy of Katey Hearth)

Agriculture has always been in the plans for Starfysh since their beginning in 2010.

Edmondson says, “It’s no secret, certainly, in Haiti that agriculture has to be part of the formula for any meaningful development and transformation of that land.”

Agriculture on La Gonave has declined in the past several years because of deforestation and loss of topsoil.

Starfysh, in the partnership, plans to bring in various plants and seeds to see what grows best in the Island’s soil, and pass that knowledge along to the nationals. The land they’re looking at will house that research.

“It will also be an area where we can teach farming techniques, soil reclamation, composting techniques, water harvesting and catchment, irrigation techniques, techniques for gardening in places where you would never think a garden could exist,” Edmondson explains.

Agriculture potential in Haiti

Photo courtesy of Katey Hearth

So, what’s the point of teaching people agricultural skills? Edmondson says, “The vision would be that agriculture would thrive, that La Gonave, instead of being a place where the soil is thin and the trees are sparse, that it could be green again. And instead of being a land that reminds you of a desert, it would be a land that is reminiscent of a tropical Caribbean island that it used to be.”

Another benefit of focusing on gardening is that growing food in-country on the island will reduce costs for the residents of La Gonave.

“Economics is a part of the equation for agriculture or any other thing you do. Economics provides the sustainable structures to see something have a long-term success,” Edmondson says.

Starfysh hopes to be able to encourage the people of La Gonave to purchase locally-grown produce as opposed to out of country products. He says that even though it may be more expensive in the beginning, it would be worthwhile in the end. It would help prop up the beginnings of prosperous business in La Gonave, including exportation to other islands and countries. He mentions that mango trees are a crop that grows particularly well on La Gonave–a place to start.

But more important than growing food, Edmondson is adamant that there needs to be another type of growth: “The Gospel, of course, is engrained in everything we do. The Gospel, of course must be proclaimed.

“We must proclaim in all we do that Jesus is Lord and He is the source of a true transforming of our individual lives and of the culture and of a country.

“And so, in all we do, we must proclaim Him to be the source of all that is good and all that is redeeming.”

Edmondson explains that the agricultural instruction that aids everyday physical needs serves as a platform, a context, for Starfysh and their partners to speak into the lives of people.

“The Gospel is everything that we do,” Edmondson says again, “We don’t want people to come to the end of their days warm and well fed, but not knowing the Christ who can give them eternal life. And if we stop short of conveying that message, then we’ve fallen short of our goal.”

Photo courtesy of Katey Hearth

Are you excited about agriculture in the missions context? Get involved!

Edmondson says, “I think the biggest thing that people can do right now is to pray that we would follow the Lord’s leading in what we do and be discerning of His direction for this new venture in our ministry.”

Pray that the new agriculturist would fit into their plan to follow God’s lead. Also, pray that Starfysh, WISH, and the National Wesleyan Church of Haiti would continue to work together well.

To support financially, follow this link (specify “Agriculture and Farming” in comments box).

This man is currently in La Gonave Wesleyan Hospital receiving his 6th liter of intravenous fluids for a Chikungunya infection.
(Image, caption courtesy Starfysh)

Haiti (MNN) — Chikungunya, a mosquito-borne virus normally found in Asia and Africa, has made its way to Haiti.

Its symptoms are similar to dengue fever, and it has no cure, says Starfysh founder Dr. Steve Edmondson. While the disease isn’t deadly, the pain it causes keeps people in bed for days–sometimes even weeks.

“I spoke to one gentleman who has had dengue…and he said it [Chikungunya] was worse than the dengue,” shares Edmondson. “It’s a very severe flu-like syndrome. It’s characterized by usually a high fever, which is followed by intense joint and muscle pain.”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Chikungunya was first reported in the Caribbean last December. At last count in March, there were more than 8,000 suspected infections in the Caribbean. Haiti’s Public Health Director recently told Edmondson that the Port-au-Prince and La Gonave region holds at least 500 reported incidents.

Normally, La Gonave avoids most of the serious illnesses that impact Haiti’s mainland. They’ve encountered their fair share of cholera, Edmondson shares, but 12 miles of open water between La Gonave and the mainland serve as a natural buffer.

“There is some insulatory effect. Just because some things are reported on the mainland of Haiti doesn’t mean we’ll soon see it on La Gonave,” says Edmondson.

“It stands to reason that we will eventually, but it didn’t take long at all for this Chikungunya thing to show up.”

(Image courtesy Starfysh)

Dr. Edmondson says a great number of severe flu-like illnesses are being reported on La Gonave right now, and he suspects many of them are indeed Chikungunya infections. Starfysh workers are helping however they can, but they can’t do much beyond treating the symptoms: muscle and joint pain, fever, headache, nausea, etc.

By caring for people in their time of pain, however, Starfysh workers are forming relationships with people that pave the way for Gospel conversations.

“When we get seriously ill, we start to think very seriously about life…and because of that, people are very receptive to talking about spiritual things,” Edmondson notes. “When things are going great, we kind of find ourselves confident in our own abilities, and we’re not as receptive to the Gospel and the plans God has for us. But when we’re sick, we pay much more attention.

“That’s where Starfysh, and other organizations that bring the Gospel and the Good News of Jesus Christ, come in.”

Edmondson and Starfysh want to do more than treat symptoms, when it comes to La Gonave’s medical needs. That’s why they’re training a community health educator and forming a Remote Mobile Medical Unit.

Temporary care will do for this current, non-deadly outbreak of Chikungunya. But more work is needed for Starfysh, if they want to have the capability to respond during outbreaks of malaria or dengue fever on La Gonave.

“We don’t want to wait for the problem to present itself before we start getting ourselves organized,” says Edmondson.

Contact Starfysh here to see how you can help islanders by providing prevention education and resources.

“We are just an e-mail away if somebody would say, ‘I’d love to raise money for a mosquito net,'” Edmondson says. “We can get mosquito nets very inexpensively, and we can be very effective with very few dollars.”

In February, a short-term missions team from West Michigan visited La Gonave with Starfysh.

Haiti (MNN) — Have you ever thought of short-term missions as a two-fold ministry? The ministry of short-term missions is sometimes seen as strictly a one-way street: “There are people in Place X that don’t know Jesus and we, as Christians, are going to share the Gospel with them.” Or the mindset can also go like this: “There are people in Place X that need physical help and we, as Christians, are going to help them.”

But what happens when short-term missions turns into a two-way street?

Dr. Steve Edmondson, founder of Starfysh, says they regularly host short-term missions teams on the island of La Gonave, Haiti. Teams come to the island on a regular basis to help with Starfysh projects, bringing sustainable transformation in Jesus’ name. Through the ongoing ministry of Starfysh, Haitians are committing their lives to the Lord.

Some people on the teams have also come to know Christ as a result of seeing His love in action.

“We will oftentimes have people who are very ‘neutral’ in thinking about spiritual things. They come down with a humanitarian bent, saying, ‘Well, I’ll go down and satisfy this longing I have in my life to do good things,'” Edmondson explains.

“And yet…when you act like Jesus, you learn about Jesus.”

Starfysh works alongside Haitians to transform communities and share the Gospel. Their work centers on five main areas of development: agriculture, clean water, education, health, business creation, and relief aid.

Work teams volunteer in association with churches, such as the Bauer short-term missions team that visited La Gonave in February. Starfysh also gets a helping hand from Rotary teams and medical professionals that work with Edmondson.

“When we pray around a family or around a water filter that’s just been installed, that has impact in the heart and life of a person standing there who has never given serious thought to inviting Christ into [his] heart,” says Edmondson.

“That has its own witness, but then it invites conversations later on that evening, and people are very open [to the Gospel] who would not otherwise be so open.”

Gospel opportunities
Christ-following team members get to share the reason behind their work: they love and serve others because of Jesus and His sacrifice. And, Edmondson observes, their testimony doesn’t just reach unbelieving team members. The ripple effect reaches loved ones and coworkers at home, too.

“People often will say to me, ‘Why do you do it?’ or ‘What drives you?’ Or they will comment on the fact that they admire what [Starfysh does],” shares Edmondson.

“And it just gives me a take-off point…to talk about what drives me…. What drives me is the fact that Christ lives in me.”

Putting faith into action opens doors in the secular world for Edmondson, but it also provides a starting point for returning work teams. Edmondson says he’s heard many stories from Starfysh teams about the ripple effect of short-term missions.

“That’s really the power of the Gospel, because…people pay attention when we don’t just talk about our faith,” Edmondson explains. “It’s in the fact that we put our time and our money and our energies where our mouth is. That makes an impact.”

If you’d like to put your faith in action to help the people of La Gonave, contact Starfysh by clicking here.

“This thing of being a Christian is not an academic, cerebral enterprise,” states Edmondson.

“Jesus came to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is here. And if it’s here, then what place do we have in it? It’s not just to sign people up, but it’s to visit the prisoner and to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry.”

80% of Haitians live below the poverty line,
and 54% live in abject poverty.

Haiti (MNN) — Haiti is full of difficult problems. It’s the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, and according to the CIA, 80% of Haitians live below the poverty line. Over half of the population lives in “abject poverty.”

La Gonave is where most of Haiti’s poor reside, which makes the island’s residents arguably the poorest people in the Western hemisphere. But Starfysh founder Dr. Steve Edmondson says they’re running into a good problem on La Gonave.

“Our ability to field teams is pretty tapped out right now,” he says. “We’re working a good six months [out] and trying to field the requests to come.”

Starfysh works alongside the Wesleyan church on La Gonave to bring holistic care and the Gospel to island families. Work teams help Starfysh achieve their project goals, but it always turns into a two-fold ministry.

“While we benefit from the work they do, the much-greater benefit is what…happens in the human heart of the people that come,” says Edmondson.

A work team from Bauer Community Fellowship
came to La Gonave in February.

When people come to La Gonave as part of a Starfysh work team, they get to live out the command of Jesus in Matthew 28. They build friendships with islanders of all ages, demonstrating the tangible love of Christ. Teams also get to share the Gospel in word and deed, through translated prayer time and meeting physical needs, like the Bauer team did in February.

By putting faith into action, Starfysh work teams walk away with a greater understanding of both the Great Commission and La Gonave’s challenges.

“Until people see firsthand, and feel firsthand, and see and smell and experience firsthand what it means to ‘go into all the world,’ then it’s very hard…to understand,” Edmondson notes.

When work teams head home, they provide yet another benefit to the ministry of Starfysh.

“We couldn’t purchase that type of advertising…when you go back and show your pictures to your friends, and put it on Facebook and Twitter, and all those sorts of things,” said Starfysh Work Team Director Freddy Williams in a previous article.

But what about the people of La Gonave? Sure, work teams provide manpower for Starfysh projects. But are they of any personal benefit to the islanders?

“They love the fact that people would take out of their time and expense…to come down and spend [time] with them. It’s very affirming,” Edmondson explains.

“The fact that someone would show up in their reality, at their home and at their doorstep, is deeply meaningful to them.”

“You have to understand that many people in Haiti, especially in the remoter parts, have this thing in the back of their minds, I believe, that nobody really knows they’re there. They feel rather forgotten. The fact that someone would show up in their reality, at their home and at their doorstep, is deeply meaningful to them.”

Edmondson adds that Starfysh loves having teams join their work; it just might be a while before you can go. In the meantime, you can find plenty of ways to help the people of La Gonave here.

Pray that the families Starfysh is helping will come to know Christ as their Savior. Pray for wisdom and discernment for ministry leadership as they seek better ways to mobilize work teams.

Last year, children at JHCL were
ragged, thin, and lacked confidence.
Today, they’re just the opposite.

Haiti (MNN) — Every nation’s hope rides on its young people, and it’s no different on La Gonave, Haiti. Starfysh is considering an investment in the next generation by partnering with a Haitian-run orphanage.

Development coordinator Renee Janofski explains how Madam Soliette started The Jesus Home for Children of La Gonave (JHCL).

“Since she was a little girl, she’s always had a dream to help the kids,” says Janofski. “She didn’t know how it was going to happen, but she knew that she had a dream.”

Madame Soliette and JHCL’s 80 orphans moved to a newly-built four-acre facility called the Children’s Village in April 2013. Grouped by age into eight pod-style housing units, with each unit overseen by a “house mom,” children receive two meals a day, education, health care, the Gospel, and more.

As basic daily needs are met and God’s love is shown abundantly, Janofski says the children of JHCL are blooming.

“They were surviving, and Madam Soliette wants to get them from surviving to thriving,” she states.

Craig and Renee Janofski with their two children, Morgan and Jaron.
(Image courtesy Okipe.org)

The Janofski family was recruited by Okipe to serve as missionaries on La Gonave for the next two years. Okipe is a co-op of ministries, churches, and individuals who are coming alongside Madam Soliette to help with resources and long-term strategic planning.

“Anyone who has a desire to partner with Madam Soliette and give her any help that they can is really a part of Okipe,” explains Janofski.

Renee, her husband Craig, and their two children Morgan and Jaron are serving as a liaison between Okipe and JHCL. By living side-by-side with JHCL and Madam Solliette, they can better communicate needs and opportunities to Okipe.

The opportunity to partner with Starfysh is a recent development. Janofski met Steve Edmondson, Starfysh founder and director, at a ministry forum in December 2013.

“We’ve just recently connected paths with Starfysh, and so hopefully in the future we’ll be able to partner with them,” says Janofski.

Agriculture is a big need
at the Children’s Village and might be a way Starfysh can partner with JHCL.

Agriculture might be one of the best ways Starfysh can help. Janofski says development in this area can help the orphanage become more self-sufficient, and it can also help the children develop future job skills.

“They’re trying to grow their own agriculture, but she [Madam Soliette] would admit that she doesn’t know a lot about it,” Janofski explains.

Starfysh wants to bring agricultural development to every corner of La Gonave. Ask the Lord to clearly show Starfysh and JHCL how they can best work together.

Pray also for the orphans Madam Soliette cares for.

“Pray for the older kids, that they would really personalize their faith,” requests Janofski. “Especially as the kids are getting older, just pray for their spiritual growth.”

You can meet Madam Soliette, the Janofski family, and the children of JHCL by visiting La Gonave on a short-term missions trip.

“A lot of teams will come in the summer when the kids are out of school so that they can do music camps or drama or different VBS-type things,” says Janofski.

Learn more about Okipe and ways to come alongside them here.

DeDe poses for a picture.

Haiti (MNN) — The entitlement mentality is prevalent on La Gonave. When Caucasians drive by, small Haitian children run to the roadside and yell, “Blanc! (White) Give me dollar!”

On an island with no economy, very few natural resources, and a high number of NGOs, white people are perceived as human ATMs. But Starfysh loans are a hand up, not a hand-out.

DeDe, the very first recipient of Starfysh’s micro-enterprise program, says he previously worked as a translator for West Indies Self-Help (WISH). However, “The money they pay me for a month was not enough to supply for my family,” says DeDe.

DeDe and his wife have six mouths to feed at home. With DeDe’s meager income, it was a struggle to feed his family each day, let alone pay for each child’s schooling. DeDe says it costs more than $100 USD to pay a month of tuition for a single child.

With Starfysh’s help, DeDe was able to start a bakery.

“The business I do is helping me do a little better to feed my children,” DeDe says. He’s even able to set aside a few dollars to help pay for his children’s schooling.

“I thank God for that, and I wish God will provide more and more for Starfysh.”

Over the next three years, Starfysh hopes to help 100 families start similar businesses. Starfysh’s Freddy Williams says eight other small business owners should have their loans completely paid off by the end of this month.

Learn the ins and outs of Starfysh’s micro-enterprise program here.

DeDe sends his bread to the Makochon school each week.

Although DeDe’s bakery has gone through some tough times in the past year, his steadfast faith is helping him persevere.

“God has a surprise for each of us,” he says. “I am not able to do anything but God can do everything.”

Starfysh loans have put quite a few projects in motion since the group began four years ago. Through a Starfysh loan, one Haitian worker was able to purchase a planer to help build Compassion’s new school in Trulejean.

DeDe invites you to come see God’s work for yourself.

“Dr. Steve was a blessing for Haitian people…because that kind of work [we] cannot do without Dr. Steve,” states DeDe. “One day, God will make it on your heart to come to visit La Gonave to see why Dr. Steve comes.”

Contact Starfysh to join the next work team heading to La Gonave.