Lawrence County missionary seeking help for Haiti

On Nov 29, 2023

ELLWOOD CITY ― On Sunday, missionary Autumn Marshall will speak about her work in Haiti at the 11 a.m. service of Bell Memorial Presbyterian Church.

Marshall will share her experiences in Haiti, which ranks 168 out of 187 on the 2014 Human Development Index, making it one of the poorest countries in the world.

Marshall, president and co-founder of 5 Star Global Ministry, headquartered in Pulaski, returned to the United States the first week in September to gather supplies and financial help for the ministry.

“As the conditions in Haiti continue to deteriorate and supplies become more expensive and scarce we are taking as many steps as we can to ensure we can continue to provide for the more than 350 children and families that we serve for the rest of 2023 and into 2024,” Marshall said this week.

Marshall said there is not one elected official left in Haiti, over 200 gangs continue to take control of large portions of the country and there are hundreds of thousands of displaced Haitians, making transportation difficult and often unsafe.

Haiti is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world and the U.S. government has designated it a “Level 4. Do not travel.”

“I do not feel safe when I am traveling, but when I get to my home in Haiti I feel safe,” Marshall said.

The Dominican Republic closed its borders to Haiti over five weeks ago by land, sea and air, causing great hardship because the majority of the 5 STAR Global Ministry’s supplies come from the Dominican Republic including medicine and food, and not knowing how long this closure would last the ministry sent emergency funds to Haiti to stock up on supplies for a few months. Marshall has been adding a lot of extra supplies to her shipments to Haiti that she would normally buy in Haiti.

The border closing has resulted in no eggs and no bread because there is no flour coming from the Dominican Republic and pharmacies are running out of medicine.

“Food prices have skyrocketed again. The average Haitian can’t afford to eat daily. Malnutrition has greatly increased in the last two months. We are extremely blessed that the Port-au-Prince shipping port is still open and we can still get supplies from the US. We are preparing for worst case scenario if the port does shut down,” Marshall said.

“Since we do not know what the future holds for the next 12-18 months we have decided to ship as many supplies as we can from the US to ensure we can keep our programs running,” she continued.

The majority of the supplies were donated, some were purchased and others were bought through donations to the ministry’s Amazon Wish list.

“We are beyond grateful and so blessed by all the amazing supplies we have collected and have been shipped. I would have never imagined we would receive so many needed supplies. God provided down to the crazy details of an oxygen concentrator that bottles oxygen that I have been praying for, but we now need to raise the money to cover all the shipping costs,” Marshall said.

The critical supplies will last for the next year and some for two years and they need to raise $10,000 to cover the shipping cost.

In 2007, Marshall, formerly a resident of Pulaski, went on a short-term mission trip to Haiti, serving at a children’s hospital named “Heaven’s Waiting Room” because the children were waiting to die.

“My heart was broken. I felt God telling me to fight for these children. I was there for three months and did other trips until I moved there full-time in 2011,” Marshall said. “I will be here until mid-January accepting donations of supplies and the money to ship them.”

Crédito: Link de origem

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