At this time last year, 46 children in our Education Program needed financial assistance to attend school. We put out the call on Twitter, asking you to help us raise funds for these 46 children and we wanted to do it in 46 days.
With the school year approaching, we’d like to invite you to join us again. Right now, you can give a one-time donation of $210 that will enable HFF to enroll a child in school for one year. This fee covers tuition (there is little access to free public school in Haiti), books, uniforms, materials, and a snack each day.
Because we consistently visit the families in our programs to see how they are doing, we can easily keep you updated on the progress of the child you send to school. You can give a child a great opportunity today. Grab a partner, go in together, and encourage your friends to do the same.
Jamie
“It was great to connect with friends to make a gift go further. By sponsoring a child, we directly see out impact and get to experience the reward of seeing that child succeed in school. Together, a little went a long way.”
- Christopher Whitlatch who, along with two friends, sent Rosalinda to school last year.
“Just knowing that such a small amount of money will improve the life of a child and her family and give her an opportunity she would not have otherwise was more than enough to convince me to give. I like that I know I am really making a difference.”
- Anonymous, on sending Daphka to school last year.
“Last year, two friends and I sponsored a young girl named Rose Andre. We did this because we realize the value of education, and saw this as an incredible opportunity to be able to help someone in need. We know our contribution is giving her the tools she needs to grow as a person and to provide for herself and her family.”
- Katie Dudas who, along with two friends, sent Rose Andre to school last year.
“I didn’t want this child’s family to have to decide which child could go to school. I wanted to help them give their younger child an opportunity, too.”
- Anonymous, on sending Kervens to school last year.
2-year-old Edanson was abandoned at a hospital, sick and dying, weighing only 10 pounds.
Knowing that most mothers only abandon a child when they are afraid, desperate, and feel they have no other options, Haitian Families First asked hospital staff and members of the community to help us find the mother.
We’ve helped in this situation before and knew we could do it again.
The next day, we found Clamene who told us that she had searched for help for a long time, but was unable to find it, and now she didn’t think Edanson would live.
Because she had no money, she left him at the hospital, hoping doctors would care for him. If she’d stayed with him, she would have been forced to pay, otherwise, the doctors would have refused to treat him. Leaving him seemed her only hope of having him treated.
With our promise to help her, she came back to the hospital bringing along her infant daughter Nashka. Doctors took care of both children during their hospital stay and, true to our word, we helped with the bill. Edanson spent close to a month in the hospital recovering from illness surrounding malnutrition. During this time we also found that Clamene suffered from pneumonia and anemia. This meant that her infant daughter Nashka was not getting proper nutrients from breast feeding and was not growing adequately.
With the help of Haitian Families First’s basic medical and nutrition programs, Edanson and Nashka are home with their loving mother, and their older brother Esteven. Nashka is breast feeding and growing every day. Esteven recently started his first year of school. Edanson may not realize how close he was to not making it, but we will certainly remember in order to help the next family in need.
Last week I returned to Pittsburgh from Haiti just in time to celebrate International Women’s Day – a day that means a lot to us at Haitian Families First, for many reasons.
The obvious? We’re women!
Although I started my work in Haiti when I was technically just a girl, I have grown up in the last 10+ years to become a woman who cares about other women. And as an organization aimed at caring for children and keeping families together, our biggest impact in a community is often through the strong empowered women in our programs.
Take Jeta, a mother of two who, when we met her, had placed her four-year old daughter with a distant family member hours away because she felt unable to properly care for her. She had lost her job and her partner, and was struggling to feed her young son.
We hired Jeta to work as a community liaison for HFF, and she is now raising both of her children at home. She spends hours in the hospital comforting families enrolled in our Health & Wellness program, she visits newborns to be sure that their caregivers are meeting their needs, and answers any questions they might have.
Last week (as I explain in the video above) we faced an unexpected challenge: we purchased our weekly supply of powdered formula/milk and distributed it to the families, as usual. A few days later, we received calls from many families that the kids had gotten sick.
We found out that the milk had been contaminated with microscopic bugs and eggs.
This is tough for us. Not only did we face higher than usual doctor bills for the kids who became ill, but we had to repurchase an entire week’s supply of milk. This unexpected event cost us approximately double what we normally factor for a week.
In the days following the kids getting sick, Jeta took the lead on checking in with the families that we had not heard from to make sure that their kids had not been affected, and helping them to make ‘serum’, a homemade version of pedialyte made using purified water, salt, and sugar.
Thanks to Jeta’s diligence in checking in on the kids, only a few of them had to be hospitalized for dehydration. She’s a tremendous asset to the HFF family and knew just what to do during this trying time.
Unexpected struggles like this can be tough on our organization, as we are careful to plan out our budget. In Haiti, the unexpected can happen any time, and we have to be ready. This week, we want to ask you for your help.
Whether you contribute the equivalent of your favorite gallon of milk or join the nutrition program as a monthly sponsor, your love of milk can make a difference.
