Update from CCH’s Board President, Wood Parker
September 2026
Dear Friends of Community Coalition for Haiti,
As I write to you in 2026, I find myself thinking about the wilderness.
The wilderness is a place of uncertainty. It is a place where the familiar landmarks disappear, where the road ahead is difficult to see, and where we can easily wonder what lies around the next corner. Yet Scripture reminds us again and again that the wilderness is also a place where God meets His people.
2026 has brought continued difficult days for Haiti. Violence and insecurity have continued to spread, forcing additional thousands of Haitians from their homes and disrupting schools, businesses, churches, health services, and virtually every aspect of daily life. The United Nations estimates that 6.4 million people in Haiti—more than half the country’s population—will need humanitarian assistance this year. Approximately 1.5 million Haitians (that’s 1 in 8 people) have been displaced from their homes.
And yet, Haiti is not simply a story of violence, poverty, and crisis.
Haiti is also a story of extraordinary courage.
It is a story of parents who sacrifice so their children can attend school. It is a story of teachers who continue teaching when resources are scarce. It is a story of health-care workers who care for their neighbors under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. It is a story of pastors and churches that continue to proclaim the Gospel and provide hope. And it is a story of Haitian men and women who refuse to give up on their country.
That is the Haiti that CCH has been a part of for many years—and it is the Haiti we continue to serve.
CCH Remains Present
For many years, CCH volunteers from the United States traveled regularly to Haiti. Many of you traveled with CCH to serve in our Primary Care and Rehab Clinics, or the schools in and around Jacmel, or alongside our staff in the rural communities. I have so many fond memories of medical teams, education teams, church youth groups and other volunteers helping patients in the clinics and schools, and constructing classrooms, building roofs, planting gardens, installing latrines and supporting agricultural projects.
Those activities were important. A lot of help was provided. But the most important part of those visits was always the relationships we formed while working alongside our Haitian brothers and sisters.
Today, the circumstances are different.
We cannot travel to Haiti as we once did. But CCH has not left Haiti. In fact, we’ve been serving in Haiti for 39 years and are preparing to celebrate our 40th anniversary in 2027. (Stay tuned for more anniversary-related information, including the date of our October 2027 anniversary event!)
Our Haitian staff remain steadfast. They are on the front lines of CCH’s ministries. They continue to serve their communities, furnish access to high quality healthcare, provide professional development and training for Haitian teachers, and find ways to provide life sustaining help even when conditions make traditional ministry extraordinarily difficult.
The method of our ministry has changed, but our mission has not.
That mission is made possible by you.
Investing in Haiti’s Future
One of CCH’s fundamental convictions is that lasting change in Haiti must be led by Haitians themselves.
For that reason, our work has always emphasized partnership rather than simply providing assistance. We want to equip Haitian teachers to become better teachers. We want Haitian health professionals to have greater capacity to care for their communities. We want Haitian families and communities to develop the resources and skills necessary to build a more secure future.
Education remains central to that effort.
Partly because of the displaced families from Port au Prince and surrounding areas, the schools that we support have more students than ever. Even with several hundred more students in the rural schools, we continue to provide a hot, nutritious meal for the students every day of the school year. Further, our professional development for Haitian teachers continues to expand. The specialized training that we provided to four of the school directors has exceeded our expectations. They’ve been able to pass along their knowledge to hundreds of Haitian teachers. Also this year, the US Education Team volunteers provided intensive training in eight specific areas to Roosvelt Adonis, our CCH Education Liaison in Jacmel. Roosvelt in turn trained all 11 partner school directors, who are using the new information in their onsite training and professional development in the Haitian schools.
These accomplishments may sound modest when compared with the enormous needs facing Haiti. But we have learned over the years that transformation often begins with something small: a classroom equipped with the supplies a teacher needs; a child given the opportunity to remain in school; a teacher who receives training and encouragement; a family whose health needs are addressed; a community given the tools to become more self-sufficient.
Caring for the Whole Person
CCH’s ministries have always reflected our Christian belief that the Gospel calls us to care for the whole person.
We cannot proclaim the love of Christ to a hungry family without caring about their hunger. We cannot speak about hope to a sick person without caring for their physical suffering. We cannot encourage a young person to dream about a better future without helping create opportunities.
That is why CCH’s work has included education, health care, agriculture, and community development.
Our Primary Care and PT/OT Rehabilitation clinics are seeing more patients than ever before. Many medical clinics have closed their doors and many organizations have left Haiti because of the violence. As a result, the CCH clinics are among the very few facilities that provide easy and affordable access to high quality healthcare. Our clinics saw more than 28,000 patients in 2025 and are on pace to exceed 30,000 patient visits this year. Our vaccination program is in its second year of operation; our trained vaccination nurses administered more than 1,000 vaccines to children and adults last year and exceeded that number already in the first half of this year!
In our Community Development ministries, we built 7 latrines in the community of Savanne du Bois, where we previously built 15 latrines several years ago. We continued our leadership training for leaders in 8 communities.
Through all of these ministries, our goal is not simply to provide a service, though we do that with dignity and compassion. Our goal is to demonstrate, in practical ways, the love of Jesus Christ.
Hope in a Difficult Season
It would be easy to look at Haiti today and become discouraged.
The security situation remains deeply troubling. Armed groups have expanded their influence into additional areas of the country, while displacement and humanitarian needs continue to grow. Children have been particularly affected, with education disrupted and children increasingly exposed to violence and exploitation.
At the same time, there are signs that Haiti’s people continue to seek a path toward a more stable and democratic future. Haiti’s electoral authorities have scheduled presidential and legislative elections for December 13, 2026, although their success will depend heavily on whether sufficient security can be established and the population can register to vote.
We pray that these efforts will succeed.
But whatever happens politically, CCH believes that the long-term future of Haiti will be built not simply in government offices, but in classrooms, clinics, churches, homes, and communities throughout the country.
And that is where we intend to remain.
Thank You for Standing with Haiti
I want to thank you, personally, for your faithfulness to CCH.
Your support does much more than fund a program. It tells our Haitian partners that they have not been forgotten.
When a Haitian teacher receives training, you are there.
When a child sits in a classroom, you are there.
When a patient receives medical care, you are there.
When a Haitian family is given the tools to improve its livelihood, you are there.
And when our Haitian staff continue serving in the midst of extraordinary circumstances, your prayers and financial support remind them that brothers and sisters in Christ in the United States are standing with them.
That partnership is one of the things I value most about CCH.
I believe God has not abandoned Haiti.
The road ahead may be uncertain. There will undoubtedly be more difficult days. But we know that even when His people are in the wilderness, God promises to be with them in it.
The prophet Isaiah wrote: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.” — Isaiah 43:2
That is our prayer for Haiti.
And it is our commitment to our Haitian brothers and sisters: we will continue to walk with them.
Thank you for walking with us. Please note the included information about alternate ways of giving. Some of these might be familiar, and some might not. Please contact CCH’s U.S. staff with any questions or if you need assistance utilizing one of these ways of giving.
With gratitude and hope,
Wood Parker
Board President
Community Coalition for Haiti