Sister Maria Marciano -
Champion for the Poor
2019 & BEYOND...
Under Sister Maria's staffs guidance, drip irrigation lines are being laid for the next crop.
Sister Maria believes in rewarding those who do good. The gentleman in this picture donated the land for the Community Center and as a result will have a home built for his family including children and grandchildren. Their current home is in the background.
In February 2019 a group of Wisconsin missionaries began work on a Community Center in the area of Los Batados, Haiti.
At the end of the 12-day mission, the structure was nearly complete.
A beautiful beet crop.
Irrigation lines are complete..
Agricultural Education Center
Teaching locals how to grow and market food continues to happen at the Agricultural Education Center in Las Cacaos. To date, the farm has grown peppers, sweet potatoes, seedling trees for reforestation and beets.
Miscellaneous Pictures and Information
This truck, is inoperable, but the motor is good and is used to run a pump to pump water from a lagoon that Sister Maria built for farmers to use in irrigating their crops.
Vallejualla
During a 2019 trip, Sister Maria took the visitors to Vallejualla in the Dominican Republic to see some of her work that she did 25 years earlier. She taught agriculture to the residents here that have allowed them to make a fair living by growing food. Her vision is to see the same progress over the next 25 years in the areas of Haiti where she currently is working.
Sister Maria and her team of support. These are the people who coordinate the projects, teach the children and adults and support the mission groups that visit.
Community Center in Los Batados
Sister Maria's vision is to build community centers in some of the remote, mountainous regions of Haiti, just along the Domician Republic boarder. These centers will serve as places to teach adults advanced agricultural practices. They will also serve as medical and dental clinics and places for community meetings and teaching adult literacy. During a 12 day trip in February of 2019, this community center was built.
This area in Katalina is the site for a future Community Center.
A dryer facility which is used to dry fruits, vegetables and grains that are grown in the area. This project was a collaboration between the county's Dept. of Agriculture and Italy.
One of the Green Bay mission group members interacting with some of the children.
Capturing photos and videos of footage for the documentary.
Each night the mission group would review materials and Sister Maria would provide additional information for inclusion in the documentary.
Materials sent via a shipping container are used to support schools, agriculture and the communities in which Sister Maria works. To date 147,130 pounds of donated items have been sent as the result of the support of donors in the Green Bay Diocese.
On a trip in February 2020, the community center served as a place for the mission volunteers to have lunch, out of the heat of the sun.
Without Sister Maria's water systems, women and children travel miles for clean drinking water.
The lagoon from which the water is being pumped is also used to raise fish for which is intended for those are food insecure.
Seeds of Life Documentary
In February of 2020, college student Paige Grube, began work on a documentary featuring Sister Maria and her work. "Seeds of Life" premiered in Green Bay, Wisconsin on January 13, 2021.
Paige reviewing content on site.
Plans for the future
The Green Bay Diocese mission group halted travel to do mission work due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Reports are that the pandemic has had a fairly minimal impact on the people in the regions where Sister Maria works. Once it is deemed safe to do so, mission trips will resume and additional projects will be completed.
The Green Bay Diocese mission groups rely on donations to fund the projects that support the region. For information about how to make a cash donation to support this project, click here to "GET INVOLVED" ====>