Respect Haiti Relief

What originated from a common mission vacation to the Dominican Republic in 2006, evolved into many ret­urn visits by Gerald and Kim Brinston to the DR serving the people of Sosua Village, outfitting teaching supplies to their austere four-walls school.

One day while near the border of Haiti, Gerald and Kim Brinston were exposed to the ground-shaking earthquake of 2010.  The devastation and loss of some 300,000 Haitian people impacted Gerald and Kim’s lives and inspired their work to bring hope and new life to an area of greatest poverty in the western hemisphere. Gerald was part of an emergency make up team who rushed immediately into Port au Prince to help wherever they could. After a week of triage care, the team split up, most went home, but Gerald stayed for 8 weeks while friends and co-workers covered his responsibilities back in Canada.  Three weeks later Kim joined him from their home in Alliston, ON. They worked by day and slept on a piece of plywood in a field at night.  Eventually an entire makeshift tarp city grew up all around them. Many days they lived on bananas and water, which often was the only food they could acquire to help others. This intense experience prepared the way for greater service in the mountain villages of Haiti. It was in this surreal time and place they met missionary raised, national, Johnny who has become their in country partner.

Gerald and Kim have made over 40 trips to Haiti and focus on the area of CercaCavajal north east of Hinche, bringing new life through love to a suffering yet resilient people. “I see Jesus in the lives of these precious people and feel closest to God when I am serving them,” says Gerald.

Self funded, the Brinstons work sharing the life changing gospel of Jesus, provide food and medical services, engage in practical help and hope to children caught in human trafficking, train nationals to feed, clothe, and house their people through farming and raising animals. They also host short-term interns who work along side to experience the act of caring for others in this hopeful place.   These are large goals being accomplished one family at a time as they work closely training indigenous leaders to maximize their work.

2013, the Brinstons purchased 35 acres of land with the goal of creating a central relief and training facility including a free water station, gardens for agriculture training, a meeting facility, a hygiene shower house/bathroom, as well reforestation development. January of 2017 they added 40 more acres adjacent to increase the agriculture and farming development.

The life-giving gospel changing a man from within, practical assistance to garner hope, and training to create self-determination, serves to strengthen the community.The dignity that comes from new hope in Christ fortifies the family and lessens the practice of selling or abandoning children into slavery.