As part of its summer tour, the Hope Haitian Choir made a stop at the East Boothbay Methodist Church July 25 for a 30-minute performance. The group was treated to dinner, dessert, and good old-fashioned Methodist hospitality. According to chaperone Barb House, the group numbered 15 students ranging in age from 8 to 20 and the concert is believed to be the first ever at the venerable church in East Boothbay.

According to the organization’s website, the singers are from the Port Au Prince area in Haiti.  The children, along with their chaperones, have come to the states for the month of August each year since 2012, singing and dancing and sharing the hope of Haiti throughout the Northeastern U.S.  

The collective brainchild of House and husband Chuck House, the choir was started as a means to share the hope of Jesus Christ the Boothbay couple had been privileged to witness in Haiti. Since 2007, they have been traveling there, originally to connect with their adopted son’s family. The choir was started in 2012.

In the summer of 2014, Hope Haitian Ministries was formed and was approved as a 501(c)(3) organization.  It also has supported the education of three young people. Now, the most recent development has been the building of a school/church in Lamarre, Haiti, where the couple’s adopted son was born, and where his family still lives. 

The group is an all-star team of sorts, according to Hope Haitian chaperone and pastor Jacques Lewis. The singers come from different churches and compete for the right to travel with the group. 

“When we are making the selection we can have over 300 children,” said Lewis. “Some of them are good but putting them in a choir doesn't always work. It’s the best blend of voices and singing.”

Once the choir is selected, they spend many months practicing and making the proper travel arrangements to tour in the United States. 

“We start in November and finish in May,” said Lewis. “It’s a package, the mission and the music.”

For Barb House, who travels with the group to every stop and writes the majority of the contemporary Christian music it performs, it was a pleasure to bring the choir to the church, she said. 

To that end, the group’s mission statement is simple: to speak hope to America through the faith testimonies of those from Haiti and to give hope to Haiti through spiritual development and by practically helping Haitians with education, food, water, medical care and other basic needs, always glorifying the name of Jesus Christ.

“This is about getting the best out of life but not forgetting others around us,” said Lewis.

For more information on the choir, visit www.hopehaitian.com/our-story.html