From Haiti to Knoxville: Julio Geffrards Story
Hello Friends of Haiti!
We recently wrapped up two consecutive weekends of in-person fundraising at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and want to say a big THANK YOU to all who donated and volunteered to make our campaign a success.
We are well on our way of reaching our goal of raising $50,000!!
If you didn’t have a chance to donate yet (life gets busy!) it’s never too late. We appreciate any amount at any time.
This year we were blessed to have Julio Geffrard join us in person and we talked about his journey from being a former student in Boucan-Carré to being able to come to the United States for two years through the State Department’s Humanitarian Parole program. His story is inspiring and an example of what can be accomplished through generous donations like yours.
Julio’s Story
Julio first met “the foreigners” during one of the early mission trips from Knoxville to Haiti in 1999. He was a high school student at the time and knew English well. It was the beginning of a long friendship that has now allowed him to travel to the United States.
He arrived in Knoxville on April 19th and is staying with Dr. Dean and Cindy Mire who are helping to get him situated in Knoxville while he awaits his work authorization.
It has been a dream to come to the United States, to make a better life. My parents sacrificed a lot. My older brother is disabled and requires a wheelchair and help with everything. The little money they had went to his care and there was no money for me and my sisters to go to school. I was finally able to go to school when I was eight years old. The help from the Knoxville Haiti Outreach Program means so much. I wouldn’t be here without it. It helped pay for my education and now I am here ready to give back.
From Humble Beginnings to Dedicated Support to our Mission
Julio was born in Port-au-Prince and moved to Boucan-Carré when he was 5 years old. He shared a small two-room house with his parents, his older brother, and two sisters. After high school, he moved to Gonaïves in the northern part of Haiti to continue his studies and finished a four-year program in Law at the École de Droit et Sciences Économiques de Gonaïves (EDSEG). Instead of staying there or moving to Port-au-Prince, he decided to return to Boucan-Carré to teach English at the same high school he graduated from.
In 2016, Julio began working with the Haiti Outreach Program as a translator and to help during the mission trips. Julio also serves as the administrator of the medical clinic, ordering medicines and supplies from the Dominican Republic and ensuring they arrive safely at the clinic. (See main image, Julio far right.)
He says that the support from the Haiti Outreach program is very evident at the schools. In addition to helping children attend school by paying for tuition, fees, uniforms and more, the money goes towards paying teachers’ salaries. This steady source of income is life changing for them and their families.
“The teachers are paid every month, and they work hard,” said Julio. “In the public schools, the teachers are either not paid or paid irregularly and many stop going to school. If we can find some additional funding it would help to increase our teachers’ salaries because the cost of food has gone up so much.”
In the last several years, he was instrumental in ensuring the success of several projects supported by the Haiti Outreach Program, including getting materials and labor to rebuild the steps to the clinic which had become unsafe, installation of solar panels for the clinic, rebuilding a water cistern, and many more. Read more about our medical mission here.
Julio is extremely thankful to the Mire family and others who have made it possible for him to come to Knoxville. He is eager to start work to help support his family, which now also includes his wife. Julio is hoping she can join him very soon in Knoxville. She is awaiting news if she is also able to come to Knoxville under the Humanitarian Parole program.
Thank you for your support!