Haiti: Improving the lives of sponsored children

Last year, thanks to you, families received goats, children had lifesaving operations and students didn’t have to walk hours to get to school…

We would like to share some of the highlights of 2014 to show you how your support is making a real difference in communities on the Island of La Gonave.

5 children received lifesaving medical treatment

Sponsored children are monitored every 90 days. When a child isn’t well and needs medical care, World Vision responds. With assistance from the Ministry of Public Health, five children in 2014 were referred to the city where they benefited from specialised care.

Port de Bonheur:

Daryl Crowden, World Vision Australia’s Regional Portfolio manager, visited Port de Bonheur project last year. He had the opportunity to meet five-year-old Thenko, who benefited from surgery that changed his life.

“He had an accident and his foot and ankle were badly broken. Thenko’s family could not afford to access the inadequate medical facilities on the island. As a result, the bones healed badly and the boy was essentially crippled. When World Vision staff met Thenko during sponsorship registration, they arranged for him to receive the treatment needed. Now the little boy runs and is involved in all the normal activities, including school.”

Grand Lagon:

Thanks to those who sponsor a child in Grand Lagon, Jean was able to receive lifesaving medical assistance. Jean’s mother Dumas, tells her story…

"I will not stop saying thank you. World Vision helped me save the life of my little boy. I take care of him and send him to school, but Jean fell ill, suffering two hernias. Health providers [in La Gonave] told me the case required surgery. So I said ‘I will lose my son because I do not have enough money’. World Vision supported us and Jean’s surgeries are very successful. This gives me an inner joy and also gives me the strength to hope and to live. Thank you so much."

155 goats and savings initiatives helped families build their income

Port de Bonheur and Grand Lagon:

In order to strengthen the economic resilience of vulnerable families, 88 households in Port de Bonheur and 67 in Grand Lagon received a goat. Livestock gives families the opportunity to increase their income by selling the offspring, allowing them to providing more food and better nutrition, school fees for their children and healthcare.

PACODES:

World Vision encouraged parents, primarily women, to develop and manage community-owned savings groups that help with long term financial goals and stability.

Louise, a woman who attended a World Vision savings group shares her story …

"I have eight children and a husband who practices gardening. The revenues were far from sufficient to meet the family’s needs. [Our] children, who were not sponsored, could not go to school. Luckily, having received [profit] after making the laundry for a neighbour in the area, I was able to save … I bought one donkey, three pigs, and pay school fees for my children."

50 young children in Port de Bonheur don’t have to walk two hours to attend school anymore

For children in remote communities, accessing facilities including school can be very difficult. Malerne, a mother of six with four children in the sponsorship program has been encouraged by the presence of World Vision in her community. She shares her story …

"I thank the godfathers and godmothers [sponsors] of World Vision who contributed. Previously, I had great difficulty that my children can go to school, because of the remoteness of schools for small children, my children walked for about two hours to go to school. The program supported the establishment of an early childhood school in my community … [now] my children walk less than half an hour.”