It was thrilling to have Berry Riché visit St. Brendan’s over holiday season. For those that do now know Berry, he has been the translator for many years when the HaitiReach ministry would visit Our Lady of Fatima in Bassin-Zim, Haiti. Over the years Berry has excelled in his educational pursuits, and now lives in Richmond, Virginia, attending J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has an article about Berry with more details on how he and three other Hinche scholars we able to come to the United States and attend college.
Berry gave an excellent speech to the congregation at the Sunday celebrations on December 18th, 2011. Since then various parishioners have shown Berry some of the sights and sounds of Atlanta. Berry also help with the St. Joseph’s Food Pantry distribution, where he also demonstrated that not only does he speak Kreyòl, French, and English, but was also very comfortable speaking Spanish!
Berry is studying hard to get a degree where he can help his community in Haiti. HaitiReach, through your generous donations, has already started to build a school in Bassin-Zim to ensure the education of all the villagers. If you would like to know more about the scholarship opportunities for others like Berry, please feel free to email us at info@haitireach.org, visit our web site, and friend us on Facebook at Haiti Outreach.
Education, like clean water and health care, substantially increases the abilities of the villagers and those in the surrounding area and provide opportunities for their children.
May God bless you and yours in this Advent and Christmas season.
