Our story
The Good Samaritan Foundation of Haiti was founded in 2007 with the dream of creating a free school on the remote island of Île à Vache, Haiti. This small island off the southern coast of Haiti has about 15,000 inhabitants. The school we established on the island at the village of La Hatte now serves 270 students, employs full-time teachers, and provides a nutritious meal to each student daily. Since 2017, we have also produced about 50% of the food for this lunch program on the island with our agriculture programs. We believe that the children of Haiti, no matter how remote their community, deserve education and nutritious, sustainably produced food.
Our activities, which now include a second school near Petit Goâve with an additional 270 students, are focused providing opportunity for our students. Our vision is to provide Haitian children with the skills and opportunities they need to live healthy, productive lives in their own communities.
Where we work
Île à Vache
Île à Vache, meaning “Cow Island” in French, is a 20 square mile island off of Haiti’s southern coast. Located across a strait from the southern port of Les Cayes, infrastructure on the island is very limited and everything is brought on wooden boats. In fact, Île à Vache is one of the last places in Haiti where traditional wooden sailboats are still constructed and used for daily life. For the 15,000 inhabitants, these transport costs increase the cost of living and result in very little infrastructure for transport, and little to no electrical, educational, and public health infrastructure. Many needs must be met by travelling to Les Cayes, but for many islanders, this is out of reach. Very few nonprofits operate on Île à Vache, which makes GSF take our mission there all the more seriously.
Morne Tapion
The IMECT school (Institution of Classical Education of Tapion) near Petit Goâve is located on the slopes of the mountain of Morne Tapion in western Haiti. During the 2010 earthquake, the previous school on this site was completely destroyed, and GSF stepped in to manage and rebuild the new IMECT school, starting with a temporary building. Thanks to generous private donations, a permanent building was constructed including a larger kitchen to support our meal program.
