In the midst of Haiti’s crisis, Telemaque Vernet has become a lifeline for more than 60 children in Canaan, north of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Vernet, an educator and Protestant pastor, runs the Institution Mixte Lumière Celeste school and Église Du Christ Harmonie Des Rachetés, both of which have been upended by the recent escalation of gang violence.
“Unfortunately, due to the crisis, we can’t function. I have a school, but the school has almost been destroyed,” said Vernet, 43. “Out of the students we have now, some are orphans,” and the others are children of parents who could not afford to flee the violence.
The school has become more than a place of learning; it is now a sanctuary for many children who have lost their homes and families to the violence and the chaos.
Lemer Celest School is a private school for children in pre-kindergarten to the sixth grade. Vernet, the school’s director, said that since January 2022, he has stopped collecting fees so local children could have a safe place to go.
“The kids whose parents can afford to pay left the town,” he said. “The ones that are here can’t afford to pay the tuition.”
The school serves about 60 children and maintains an open-door policy, as highlighted by a third grader named Princile, 7, who understands this well: “They don’t turn people away because of money.”
For children who are orphans or whose parents are homeless, Vernet has made arrangements for them to sleep in the church, providing them with sleeping bags.
“Some of those kids left to go live with an uncle or an aunt, and every now and then, I follow up with them and share some food, etc.,” he said. “If they have absolutely nowhere else to go, I try to keep them here with me.”
Vernet said many of the children have witnessed unspeakable horrors and, before coming to the church, lived in constant fear of the violence that ravaged their community.
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