Earlier this year, HFF received a call from our friends at Steel City Mission Group in Pittsburgh who had a desire to help us in our work in Haiti.
Marie Winter, Esther Kanfoush, and the rest of the SCMG team visited us recently to provide medical services to hundreds of children in our communities and many families in our programs. Additionally, their team of medical professionals provided our staff in Haiti with supplies and training so that we can improve and continue the medical support services we’ve been providing for years.
What a fantastic effort from all involved, which just goes to show how much of an impact we can make together.
Whether you can travel to Haiti to provide medical services or donate $10 from the comfort of your own home in the US, your effort does not go unnoticed and it really makes a difference in the lives of the families we serve. Marie Winter explains how in the interview below.
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Vivian Lee Croft: What did you do with HFF in Haiti?
Marie Winter: We put together medical bags for families filled with over-the-counter medications and toiletries for children and adults [so that HFF can provide a family with quick care, as needed]. We also brought medications to administer.
VLC: You’ve followed HFF for years. What surprised you about the work?
MW: What HFF is trying to do [keeping families together] is amazing. Haitians have a very strong sense of family. We served about 800 families while we were there, and they all have a very strong sense of family. I was amazed by how many kids we served. HFF’s work is really amazing.
VLC: Is there a story that particularly affected you or your team?
MW: I saw a young women, 30 maybe, with two little kids, and she had heart failure. It’s stuff like that that strikes you – these are common things to get care for in the Unites Stated but there, they can’t get it. And kids are in crowded spaces and living in poor conditions so many of them have skin problems. They are easy to treat. That’s another thing about Jamie [and HFF]. She said, ‘Tell me what this is and how to treat it, and I can take care of 20 more kids after you leave.’ We were all really impressed by that.
VLC: The hundreds of children and adults in our programs were very grateful. HFF still has a lot of work to do though, because families approach us every day and we have to turn many away due to lack of funding to serve them. Are you interested in coming back?
MW: We’re already talking about coming back next year.
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