In 1944 Rueben and Lila Clark arrived in Haiti with a burden for the interior of Haiti, the Central Plateau. In 1945 - 1946 they moved to the small inland village of Pignon to preach Christ where His name was unknown - or so they thought. Instead, they found 300 people who knew of "The Great One" and had been praying for a teacher for twelve years. During the period between 1946 and Rueben's death in 1951, the Clarks established some of the first schools in the area and laid the basis for what are now an estimated 80 indigenous churches. Lila stayed eight more years translating Sunday school material into the people's native Creole language. She then returned to the United States to educate her daughter.

For several years Lila returned to Haiti each summer to teach English and Bible classes. Then in the late 1970's she returned full time to Haiti to establish a secondary school on the Plateau. In 1977 Lila and a group of Christian educators formed the Haitian American Friendship Foundation (HAFF). With the help of a grant from American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA), HAFF constructed eleven buildings used for classroom and technical training on a forty-acre campus. The secondary school, named Institution Practique de Bohoc (Bohoc Training Institute), teaches as many as 250 students in their late teens and early twenties in grades 7 through 12. Classes are taught by a combination of Haitian and American staff.

Over the years HAFF's ministry has expanded beyond the borders of the 40-acre campus striving to create a holistic ministry meeting the spiritual, educational and physical needs of the Bohoc community and surrounding area. HAFF's education program has grown to provide community education through a number of different programs. HAFF helps to provide training for administrators and teachers in underprivileged rural primary schools in the area. Project Healthy Family works in conjunction with Haitian volunteers in remote areas teaching literacy, health, hygiene, and evangelism. Few pastors in Haiti have formal training creating a great need to equip local pastors with a better understanding of God's Word and how to effectively teach Biblical principles. To meet this need HAFF utilizes visiting North American pastors as well as full-time staff members to teach and mentor local church leaders. Rural Haiti has many regionally and community based peasant groups dedicated to acquiring training to share with their groups. Countless opportunities exist to present potentially beneficial workshops and mini-seminars on subjects such as bee keeping, soap making, fruit tree grafting, basic first aid, carpentry, and small engine repair to name a few.

In 1993 an agricultural program was developed in cooperation with Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO), based in North Fort Myers, Florida. This program currently evaluates alternate agricultural techniques and plant varieties and introduces those with potential for improving the livelihood of local farmers. Since the majority of rural Haitians are subsistence farmers this dynamic program has tremendous potential to impact many lives.

HAFF understands the importance of meeting physical needs in addition to spiritual and educational. HAFF has developed Mercy Ministries to better address many of the physical needs of this area. HAFF maintains a small medical dispensary managed by Haitian nationals to help respond to the great demand for reasonably priced health care. Visiting doctors and nurses from the United States and Canada have the opportunity to help in our on-site clinic or participate in one or two day mobile clinics to remote areas. Visiting medical professionals are encouraged to exchange techniques and information with our Haitian medical staff. HAFF also has a clinic that distributes eyeglasses when they are available.

Dr. Jerry Pennington, an American dentist, spends up to six months per year in Bohoc under a cooperative agreement with HAFF. He maintains a full service dental clinic employing a staff of three Haitian men that he has trained. Services include basic cleaning, fillings, extractions and the manufacture of dentures.