Mercyland Christian Mission, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit Christian humanitarian organization, serving the poor and outcast people of Haiti with the purpose of making Jesus known. Mercyland Christian Mission focuses primarily on rescuing orphaned and neglected children from the streets and empowering families to thrive.
The Need
Haiti has a population of around 10 million, nearly half of the population are children under 18 years. In Haiti alone, there are nearly 1 million orphans/neglected children. Port-De-Paix, Haiti currently has over 3,000 children living on the streets according to children services officials. That number do not account for those in extreme poverty, and the restaveks crisis (restaveks are children that are used as slaves in return for food and shelter). Half of all the children under 5 are malnourished. Over 7% of children die at birth; 80 out of 1,000 Haitian children never see their first birthday. According to the United Nations, majority of child deaths are due to hunger, waterborne diseases, and epidemics.
After the 2010 earthquake, it is estimated that 100,000 to 500,000 people fled to the Northwest region of Port-De-Paix. Nearly 40% of this wave of internal migration consisted of children and young people. They are in desperate need.
Our Mission
Mercyland Christian Mission, Inc. exist to bring holistic life transformation to street orphans and the poor in JESUS NAME.
I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. I will have mercy.
John 14:18, Matthew 12:7
The unfortunate situation of orphaned and vulnerable street children is severe due in part to the high death rate of parents under 50 years old. There are many reasons for this early death rate: mainly harsh living conditions, HIV and other infectious diseases, waterborne diseases, malnutrition and chronic hunger, poor sanitation, and natural disasters. When the parents pass away so early, they often leave scores of children behind who would have to find their own ways of surviving. Many of these children living on the streets migrated from distant villages and poor neighborhoods to the streets of the city of Port-de-Paix, Haiti. In addition, there is a high rate of divorce in Haiti due to infidelity. When a mother/father marries a new person, it is often that both sides will have several children of their own. This situation create tension in the blended family which leads to mistreatments, neglect or abuse.
In such cases, children will feel safer on the streets and will run away in the hope of a better life. Worst yet, unwanted pregnancy, trafficking, and sexually exploited girls only add to the crisis. We have known girls of 12-14 years old who were found pregnant while living on the streets. These orphans and street children are left without care, support and guidance. The conditions these children grow up in leave them no choice but to engage in criminal activities to sustain some form of a livelihood. The primary focus of Mercyland Orphanage is to rescue orphaned and abandoned children living on the streets of Port-De-Paix, Haiti, and create programs to help families get back on their feet.
OUR MODEL OF CARING FOR STREET CHILDREN
SAVE • NURTURE • RESTORE • TRAIN • SEND
We save orphaned children from the streets, from abusive and vulnerable situations, and life threatening conditions and neglects to give them a chance to realize their full God given potentials.
We nurture our children in a loving environment with caring caretakers and a staff fully devoted to their holistic wellbeing.
We restore them from the scars of the streets, from traumas, malnourishment, abuse and hopelessness.
Then we train them academically and through various workshops to prepare them for a sustainable future. Most importantly, we get them fully trained through the word of God. Finally, we send them into the world fully prepare to take on leadership roles to transform their communities and set new standards that will get Haiti on the right track. You can be an impact partner that help Mercyland Christian Mission care for the disadvantaged children living on the streets of Port-De-Paix, Haiti.
Mercyland Christian Academy
Mercyland Christian Academy is a school sponsorship program where vulnerable streets and village children are giving the opportunity to attend school. They will have the opportunity to advance academically and be taught the transformative gospel of Jesus Christ. There are currently over 100 children attending our school regularly and the number is growing year after year.
The School program is made available to children in Port-de-Paix, Haiti whose parents are unable of sending them to school. All of the children currently in this program are kids that have lived all their lives on the streets or on the farms without any hope of education or a sustainable future. Education is a light and produces strength; it will help them take initiative to solve their own problems. It is the only hope these children have.
These are families living on less than $2 per day. Can you imagine how long it will take them to save in order to send one child to school? Most cannot even come up with the registration fee of $10 that other schools charge to enroll a child. Can you imagine being 12 to 14 years old and never seen the light of a class room? With your help we hope to break the cycle and educate the children throughout Port-de-Paix, Haiti in order that they may became key contributors to a more prosperous Haiti. Haiti needs its own engineers to design the broken infrastructure systems; its own geologists to help locate its vast natural recourses; agriculture engineers to help stabilize its food capacity; and entrepreneurs to help drive its economy. Through education and Godly character training, you can assure a better future for the children and the country as a whole!
Our History
Our founder Ebenson Verdule spent four (5) years of his life on the streets of Port-de-Paix, Haiti. “Misery and a lack of the necessities for life were the factors that drove me to the streets”, said Ebenson Verdule. “Sometimes, I went many days without food, but God had a plan for my life, and He kept me from starving to death. I would have to say that my experiences do show me why God had me going through all of the dark times – simply, He had a plan. For a long time, I tried to forget my past; the pain I endured and struggles that no child should ever experience. The more I try to forget, the more I would remember. After many years, God has candled a fire in my heart, a fire of compassion, of devotion and of mercy to those children living on those same Haitian streets.”
His parents got divorce when he was just four (4) years old. With his father disappeared, his mother had to find ways to support four children. It was a struggle from the start. While the others three siblings stayed with relatives to alleviate the struggle on this now single mom; Ebenson stayed with his mom (after few years of mistreatment of living as a restavek with others).
At the age of seven (7), Ebenson was living on the street of Port-de-Paix, Haiti where he had to fend for himself after his mother could no longer provide. He remained mostly on the streets until the age of eleven (12); at that point an aunt got news that Ebenson’s father was living in the Bahamas and asked that he consider helping. He responded positively to the call to help. He then moved from the Bahamas to the United States and quickly started the process to bring Ebenson and two of his siblings to the United States. In 2003, at the age of sixteen (16), Ebenson enter the United States and lived in Delray Beach, Florida.
In 2006, Ekaterina was looking for a place to worship and stumble on a small Haitian church where Ebenson was attending. He translated for her since the service was done in Creole. They soon started dating. They got married in 2008.
They wanted children right away, but after two horrifying miscarriages all hope seem to have been lost. “Why wouldn’t you bless us with children God?” was their plea. God’s answer to them in a dream was, “you have more children than you can count, why you asked me for children?”
From that point a bell was ringing in their hearts as they understood that God was calling them to a ministry of caring for children in need. Knowing the immense need and misery of streets children in Haiti, they knew that God was leading them to make a difference in the lives of these orphans living there. “Barren or not, we will go to Haiti to minister to the need of children living on the streets”; that was a vow they made in early 2010.
Just a week after they committed their lives to work with orphans in Haiti, a devastated earthquake strikes the country killing more than 230,000 people and sent a huge wave of new orphans to the streets. Since then, they had taken many mission trips to Haiti to minister to the needs of children living on the streets.
In 2011, they became certified foster parents and started making an impact in children’s lives here in the United States while preparing for the mission field in Haiti. Soon after becoming foster parents, God looked upon them, and Emilina their first daughter was conceived and came into the world in June 2012.
In early 2013, they founded Mercy Land Orphanage, Inc. (which was later changed to Mercyland Christian Mission, Inc. because God had bigger plans) in an effort to rescue orphaned children from the streets and provide wholesome care to all that God would have them minister to.
In 2015, they started taking children from very vulnerable situations to a rented property where they were cared for 24/7. Also, they started the “Victory Scholars” program through which children who would otherwise never go to school are provided the opportunity to go to school.
In 2018, they moved to Port-de-Paix, Haiti to oversee the ministries of Mercyland Christian Mission.