PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti. – The Prime Minister of Haiti, Jacques Edouard Alexis, received in his office on January 18th the Batey Relief Alliance’s Founder/CEO, Ulrick Gaillard and a delegation of the organization’s senior Board of Directors, including Dr. Thomas Beague, Sara Beague and Dr. Raymond Thertulien.

The purpose for the high level meeting was to brief the Minister about the organization’s initiatives to establish a permanent health mission in areas of Haiti that are deprived of basic health services and economic opportunities. “I am very satisfied to hear those plans, and personally committed to providing any support that may be needed to make the projects a success,” said Mr. Alexis.

At the meeting were also advisors to the Minister’s Cabinet and the foreign press. During the five-day visit, the members of the Batey Relief Alliance also met with the Minister of Health, Dr. Robert Auguste who is already working on signing an agreement with the organization and has identified specific projects to be implemented between his Ministry and the Batey Relief Alliance. Meetings were also held with the United States Aid for International Development (USAID), Minister of Diaspora, and a number of Parliamentary Representatives.

For the past ten years, the Batey Relief Alliance has worked in the neighboring Dominican Republic installing health facilities and running preventive health programs in HIV/AIDS, primary care, blindness, nutrition, water/sanitation and education.

The Batey Relief Alliance is currently recruiting groups wishing to carry out five working-day mission trips to serve children and families severely affected by poverty, disease and hunger in the Dominican Republic’s impoverished urban/rural slum or batey (sugar cane plantations) communities.

Activities may include delivering short-term medical, eye, or disaster relief assistance, repairing or building homes or schools, or starting a new project of community building or education. The group may be between 10 to 25 volunteers made up of professionals, retirees, or students. A letter of interest must be sent to the Batey Relief Alliance at least three months prior to the first day of a mission.

For more information or inquiries, please contact Ulrick Gaillard at bateyrelief@mindspring.com or (917) 627-5026. To learn more about the humanitarian work of the Batey Relief Alliance, visit our website at www.bateyrelief.org.