About EBAC

A Christian academy and orphanage in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, where two women from Pennsylvania gave 48 years of their lives to raising and educating children through faith, love, and an unwavering belief that God called them there. Now home in the U.S., they continue the fight from afar.

Alice Wise and Kathy Gouker, missionaries and co-founders of EBAC

The Heart of EBAC

Alice Wise & Kathy Gouker

Co-Headmasters · “Miss Alice” & “Miss Kathy” · Dunbar, Pennsylvania

Alice and Kathy met as teenagers at Dunbar Baptist Church in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Both graduated from Bob Jones University with a shared calling to serve God wherever He led. After working with the Independent Gospel Mission in West Virginia, they made their first trip to Haiti in 1977 and never looked back.

They returned permanently in January 1978. Twenty-seven children awaited their care, with only a few mud huts on the property. Among the first was Guislene, a three-year-old girl found by Pastor Cebien on her mother’s grave. Neither Alice nor Kathy has children of their own. The children of EBAC became their family.

For 48 years, Alice directed music at Children’s Church worship services while Kathy played electric keyboard. The children knew them simply as “Miss Alice” and “Miss Kathy.” Haiti’s worsening crisis eventually forced them to return to the United States, but they continue to support EBAC from home, writing prayer letters, raising funds, and fighting for the 95 children who are still there.

“It has always been our dream that the orphans would become missionaries wherever the Lord puts them. And so when some of them are, we are very happy.”
Alice Wise

“We don’t have to think that we have to solve all the problems of Haiti. We just have to do what we can do.”
Kathy Gouker

Daily Life at EBAC

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described the scene: inside the gates, girls in clean dresses tie bows and braids in each other’s hair. Boys laugh and tease as they play soccer. Girls play with dolls. The street just a few hundred feet away is a different world entirely.

Worship

Children's Church every Sunday, led by Alice and Kathy with music and praise

School

English, math, Bible, history, and computers through the ACE Christian curriculum

Meals

Two meals a day, with Hearts for the Hungry providing a daily feeding program

Play

Soccer, dolls, marbles, laughter. As Kathy says: kids are kids, and they have fun being kids

“In the United States, I feel like kids grow up too fast, but in Haiti you can see a girl who’s 12 years old still playing with a doll. You’ll see boys playing with marbles, at 12, 13 years old. So kids are kids, and they have fun being kids.”
Kathy Gouker

The Founder

Pastor Cebien Alexis

As a boy, Cebien Alexis attended a Baptist missionary’s vacation Bible school and came to faith in Christ. His father kicked him out of the house. With help from relatives, he completed Bible school, then at age 27 used his last $12 to rent a building and plant a church with 11 new believers. Within a year, 100 people were worshipping regularly.

From that beginning he built a ministry spanning 200+ churches, 85 schools, and Faith Christian University. He calls his medical clinic waiting room “the preaching room” because he preaches the gospel to every patient before treating them, starting at 4:00 a.m. When Haiti offered him the ambassadorship to Germany, he declined: “Why should I serve man when I can serve the King of kings?”

His daughter Alexis and her husband Mike founded Olive Cove, Inc. in 2016 to formalize U.S.-based support for EBAC. Everything Alice and Kathy do at the orphanage and school is built on the foundation Pastor Cebien laid.

“They are like mothers to the kids. They treat them even better than a Haitian can treat them.”
Pastor Cebien Alexis, on Alice and Kathy

48 Years of History

1971

Pastor Cebien Alexis uses his last $12 to rent a building in Ile Adam. Plants his first church with 11 new believers. Within a year, 100 people are worshipping regularly.

1977

Alice Wise and Kathy Gouker, two young missionaries from Dunbar, Pennsylvania, make their first trip to Haiti and meet Pastor Cebien.

1978

Alice and Kathy return permanently. 27 children await their care with only a few mud huts on the property. Among the first is Guislene, a 3-year-old found on her mother's grave.

1980s

The campus grows. A school building is added and the ACE English-language curriculum is adopted. The church-planting network expands rapidly.

2003

Pastor Cebien founds Faith Christian University near Cap-Haitien, offering programs in theology, agriculture, construction, nursing, and more.

2010

Haiti earthquake devastates Port-au-Prince. Refugees flood north to Cap-Haitien. EBAC's Children's Church swells to 150+. The orphanage prepares hot meals for a local hospital serving victims.

2011

IDADEE, founded by six EBAC graduates, opens its doors to orphans. What began as a childhood dream becomes a real institution serving Cap-Haitien.

2017

CHIDA Hospital opens: a modern 15-bed facility funded by MLB pitcher Adam Wainwright and staffed by EBAC graduate Dr. Wislyn Avenard. Serves 9,614 patients in year one.

2025

Hugs for Haiti launches to rally ongoing monthly support for EBAC through Olive Cove, Inc. Haiti's humanitarian crisis makes the need more urgent than ever.

The Children

Approximately 95 children live at EBAC, ranging in age from 3 to 30. In Haiti, a young adult with no family and no income has nowhere else to go. EBAC remains home until they can stand on their own. More than 300 children have passed through EBAC over its history.

Many were abandoned, abused, or left with no family. In all their years at EBAC, there have been zero adoptions. Being an orphan in Haiti is very different from the U.S. EBAC provides not just food and shelter, but a family.

“They are like mothers to the kids. They treat them even better than a Haitian can treat them. They get better care than our own people will ever give to them.”
Pastor Cebien Alexis, on Alice and Kathy

The School

EBAC Christian Academy uses the ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) curriculum. Approximately 50 students are enrolled, taught by 5 teachers, with Alice Wise, Kathy Gouker, and Dr. Cebien Alexis serving as co-headmasters. The language of instruction is English, which is exceedingly rare and valuable in Haiti.

Calvin University sends students to teach French at EBAC because mastery of French alongside English makes graduates unusually well-prepared for Haiti’s universities. The combination of English fluency and French proficiency is a competitive advantage most Haitian children never receive.

At a Glance

Students: ~50 enrolled
Teachers: 5
Curriculum: ACE (English)
Subjects: English, Math, Bible, History, Computers
Headmasters: Dr. Cebien, Alice, Kathy

Orphans Who Became Leaders

The IDADEE Story

Approximately 30 years ago, a 12-year-old boy named Remy Fils-Aime wrote a handwritten letter to Pastor Cebien asking for admission. During his years at EBAC, Remy developed a vision: that the orphans around him would become leaders in Cap-Haitien and would build their own orphanage on a nearby hilltop. Six friends from EBAC became the founding team of what became IDADEE.

Dr. Wislyn Avenard

EBAC Graduate → Physician

Medical Director of CHIDA Hospital. 9,614 patients served in year one. 110 babies delivered. ER treats 74 patients/day. 82 local jobs created.

Remy Fils-Aime

EBAC Graduate → Visionary Leader

Built an AC repair business in Port-au-Prince to fund college for other EBAC graduates. Led IDADEE from dream to reality, now with 200+ employees.

Pastor Jean Claude

EBAC Graduate → Church Planter

Pastors two churches. Runs New Vision Children's Home with his wife Monica, caring for 11 children. Another orphanage born from EBAC.

What IDADEE Built

40+

Children in care

300

Students in schools

200+

Jobs created

30K

People with clean water

The EBAC campus in Morne Rouge, Cap-Haitien

The Campus

EBAC sits in Morne Rouge, on the outskirts of Cap-Haitien. The campus provides safety and stability in a country experiencing extreme violence. It houses dormitories, a school building, a medical clinic, a church, and a Hearts for the Hungry food warehouse.

The contrast is stark. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described it: inside the walls, children in clean dresses tie bows in each other’s hair while boys play soccer. The street a few hundred feet away is a different world entirely.

Location

Morne Rouge, Cap-Haitien, Haiti

EBAC sits on the outskirts of Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti, 20 minutes from the city center. Mission teams arrive by charter flight from Fort Pierce, Florida.

Region

Nord Department

Founded

1977

Campus

School, clinic, dormitories

Nearby

IDADEE, CHIDA Hospital

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Partner Network

EBAC’s impact has been amplified by partnerships with organizations and individuals across the United States.

Olive Cove, Inc.

Fiscal Sponsor, 501(c)(3)

Founded in 2016 by Pastor Cebien's daughter Alexis and her husband Mike Swittel. Hugs for Haiti operates as a fundraising initiative under Olive Cove. Also administers the R.E.A.C.H. program for 85 schools. Candid Gold Seal.

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