In an earlier piece today, How is Haiti Faring Five Years After the Earthquake, development and recovery effort data and details were rather pessimistic. The numbers bear out that while some overall development achievements have been met, there is still a long way to go to help Haiti fully recover. And, yet, there continues to be successes all over Haiti. Our partners are helping to make these successes happen.
SOS Children’s Villages
On January 10, 2015, SOS Children’s Villages opened its third village for orphaned children in Les Cayes, Haiti. 63 children will be provided a home. For over 30 years, SOS Children’s Villages has provided family-based care and education programs in Santo and Cap-Haïtien, Haiti. Immediately following the earthquake SOS Children’s Villages took in 400 orphaned children and fed 24,000 children every day.
“The biggest challenge for SOS Children’s Villages during the earthquake was to find a way to welcome these children because the village was too small,” said Celigny Darius, National Director of SOS Children’s Villages – Haiti. “We installed temporary houses to enable us to take them in.”
In addition to the opening of its third village, SOS Children’s Villages has invested in six schools to renew education on the island. And 3000 children receive support through their community centers.
“Efforts to rebuild the most affected areas move at a slow place, and the need to support vulnerable children and families remains high. Many of the children and families who survived the earthquake lost everything and experienced severe emotional trauma,” said Lynn Croneberger, CEO of SOS Children’s Villages – USA. “In 2010, we made a strong commitment to support these survivors. Thanks to generous donors and the Government of Haiti, we are able to continue to provide support to Haiti’s most vulnerable.”
See SOS Children’s Villages new village in this video.
Donate to SOS Children’s Villages and help them continue to provide homes to orphaned children.
Midwives for Haiti
In low-resource settings maternal health care can be hit or miss. In Haiti, the maternal mortality rate is 380 per 100,000 live births per World Health Organization data. That is why Midwives for Haiti is critical to saving mothers’ lives.
Through its mobile clinic Midwives for Haiti travels to rural Haiti to provide 20 pre- and postnatal clinics each year and provides delivery services its maternity Center at Ste. Therese Hospital. They also train skilled birth attendants and will graduate its seventh class this year. Midwives for Haiti also launched its postnatal program that will ensure more women will be able to deliver their babies at Ste. Therese Hospital and will not be discharged before being adequately examined. Midwives for Haiti also trains traditional birth attendants as they provide delivery services for 70 percent of Haiti’s expecting mothers.
Donate to Midwives for Haiti to contribute to their lifesaving maternal health care.
Oxfam USA
Oxfam released its Haiti Progress Report recently and is worth reading. In the report, Oxfam reports fundraising and spending as well as where the money was spent.
Oxfam raised 106 million and has spent 101.3 million thus far. 594,000 beneficiaries were reached across Haiti in water and sanitation, disaster response, reconstruction, protection and economic development.
Donate to Oxfam and allow them to continue their life-changing work in Haiti.
PSI
We recently published two letters by PSI Global Ambassador Ashley Judd about PSI’s work training health workers. PSI is committed to helping sex workers stay safe through education and HIV testing and counseling. PSI also trains health workers to provide family planning and reproductive services in Haiti.
Read: Join Ashley Judd in Supporting Health Workers in Haiti and How PSI Keeps Sex Workers Safe.
World Vision USA
As one of the largest NGOs in the world World Vision often benefits from having long ties within countries and communities. That makes recovery efforts seamless. In fact, World Vision has been in Haiti for 36 years.
Here are some of World Vision’s impact in Haiti since the earthquake:
- 2 million people received food relief
- More than 200,000 people received emergency shelter
- 250,000 students participated in school feeding programs in more than 800 schools
- Cholera prevention and treatment for 300,000 people
- Potable water provided for close to 24 months for 90,000 displaced people in camps
Read more of its impact at Five Years After Haiti Earthquake, Families Still in Transition.
Donate to World Vision through child sponsorship to help a child in need.
Photo: UN
Social Good Moms 