LES CAYES, Haiti – Maxon Clersaint is in the business of spreading hope to his people in Haiti. In fact, some would say he’s a proprietor of hope. Haiti seems to run low on it, and perhaps has for many years, so his abundance stands out. He believes that his home country can – and will – turn around.
I met Clersaint during my short stay in Les Cayes, Haiti. This is the third part of a four-part series on how Richland County is connected to the impoverished country.
Years ago, Clersaint had a dream. In it he said he saw schools, homes and churches, children and adults, all working together for the common good and to bring God glory. So he quit his job as a representative for Digicel (Haiti’s largest mobile phone network provider).
Putting his knowledge and experience as a construction manager to work, he started building. The result was a fenced campus in a coastal community in southwestern Haiti known as Welsh.
“God is our teacher. He is our brain. He is our mind. With God we can do anything,” said Clersaint as he stood on the grounds of the Welsh campus.
He started building in 2002. Now, the campus is home to a school, two Homes of Hope, an outdoor toilet facility, and a clinic. Another larger school is under construction.
When he ran out of money to continue building onto Welsh, he did not stop believing in the dream’s potential to expand. By that time, he had hired teachers to work in the school and nurses to work in the clinic.
Meanwhile, Loving Shepherd Ministries (LSM) had already built one Home of Hope, an idea Clersaint would later adopt. After building one themselves, LSM felt the need for an experienced Haitian contractor to continue construction. In early 2007, Ed Schwartz, the President of LSM, met Clersaint.
“I was excited to meet a Haitian visionary. I was very pleased to see the depth of excellence and experience he had in doing concrete and cement construction. He had a lot of experience and we needed that. He’s a man of faith and a man of integrity,” said Schwartz.
Soon after meeting Clersaint, Schwartz hired him as a construction manager.
Out of their friendship and partnership in ministry came the current Home of Hope model.
The Home of Hope is a sanctuary to children who are subjected to the restavek culture or put into vulnerable situations. Each home can house a dozen children. Some of the children are HIV-positive.
In 2006, the first two Homes of Hope were built on the Welsh campus, housing 25 children who are HIV-positive. Since then, 18 Homes of Hope have been constructed in southwestern Haiti.
Nearly 220 orphaned children now have homes and parents they proudly call their own.
“I have joy for what I do [for these children] and enjoy spreading joy,” said a Home of Hope father from Chantal, Haiti.
Clersaint contracted AIDS at birth. As a result, he is under a strict regimen of medication and grows weak and tired easily each day. But he also has hope. And this hope keeps him out of his bed and on his feet as often as possible.
“I don’t want to stay in bed, I want to come out. I have to be here, [to] show the gospel,” said Clersaint.
His zeal has helped grow support for the mission. Through his partnership with LSM, the mission has employed over 100 Haitians and attracted outside help to construct a 4,000 square foot school on the Welsh campus.
The principal at the school on the Welsh campus, Jean Noel, said Clersaint has been an inspiration to him.
“I don’t have words to describe my joys. Max brings me a lot of hope … inspiration in my life. I learn a lot from him. Thanks to everyone in US for making this vision,” said Noel.
And Clersaint is not done yet. He recently purchased a plot of land next to the ocean in a small community known as Lasouce, which translates into “the source.” The community’s land is rich with nutrients due to its natural spring.
“We want to put God’s source here,” explained Clersaint.
He plans to build two more Homes of Hope for boys, connecting them to the Welsh campus, which is less than a mile away, with a walk path.
Clersaint believes anything is possible with God, and he shows that faith by making more progress.
“I don’t like when people say ‘I cannot do this.’ God will always bring you a teacher to teach you how. We need to be His children,” said Clersaint.
