Nativity Parish’s first pilgrimage trip to Haiti in over 2 years is tentatively set for September 13 – 17, 2006. On this trip, about a dozen parishioners and friends of Nativity will visit Fr. Jean Printemps and the people of Nativity Village at Merger to dedicate the new primary school there (conditions permitting). Then the group will travel to Cap Haitien to spend some time with Fr. Duken Augustin and the villagers of Petit-Anse, where Nativity’s Operation Starfish® will begin a second “Nativity Village” development this year. Conditions in Haiti are more settled at this time, allowing pilgrimage trips to commence once again, although we keep a close eye on conditions in Port-au-Prince. This past March, Fr. Martin and Jim McDaniel visited Haiti with Food For The Poor officials and had a safe and comfortable experience.

Food For The Poor will coordinate travel arrangements for the group. The trip will begin with a visit to Food For The Poor’s headquarters in Deerfield Beach, Florida. For more information, contact Jim McDaniel, Nativity’s Operation Starfish® coordinator, at jim@starfishmission.org or 703-455-2400.