Direct Relief has committed $500,000 in Community Grant Funds to assist local groups working in Haiti before the earthquake which incurred exceptional costs or financial losses from the quake. Such community groups were, and are, essential to delivering services and representing the interests of community members. The groups that have received Community Grant Funds are:
Angel Wings International
Led by a native of Jacmel, Angel Wings International, Inc., brings sorely needed medical services to the extremely impoverished children and families served by a local mission. Most—if not all—patients have never been exposed to modern medicine and rely on home remedies to treat illnesses. Angel Wings works to improve the health and well-being of underserved individuals in this community. The health facility is committed to maintaining the highest standards of care, rooted in utmost integrity and moral practice.
A $25,000 grant to Angel Wings will help build a new medical clinic out of shipping containers, hire and train local medical personnel to manage the clinic, and pay for the transport of overseas medical personnel who will work in the clinic for two weeks every month. By providing access to health care where there is none, the rate of disease will decrease, basic social needs will be met, and Jacmel’s residents will enjoy better health and well-being overall.
Asanble Vwazen Jake
AVJ was founded in 2005 to improve the social foundation of the neighborhood of Jacquet and create an alternative school for disadvantaged young people, providing a superior elementary education. The program teaches children and adults to read, which gives them the tools to improve their socioeconomic status.
Before the earthquake, most of Jacquet’s 88,000 inhabitants were living in inhumane conditions without health care, education, or adequate food and housing. AVJ is responding to these conditions, providing 200 children a daily education and running a vocational school and computer school for adults, which helps attendees generate incomes. Direct Relief’s $11,000 grant allows AVJ to purchase school supplies; train and pay teachers; fund the workshops; provide electricity in classrooms; and feed students one hot meal a day.
Asanble Vwazen Solino
Asanble Vwazen Solino (AVS), Creole for Assembly of Solino Neighbors, was formed by a group of young adults in 2005 to help deal with the violence and robberies in the neighborhood of Solino. They created a school to educate the socially marginalized children of Solino free of charge as well as give them one hot meal a day.
After the earthquake, AVS began holding its classes and programs in tents on its property so that children could talk about their fears and engage in activities and games to help them cope. Major renovation is needed to make the school functional and provide students with educational materials, toys, clothes, water, food, and first aid. Direct Relief’s $20,000 grant will help the school’s students get an education in an updated building, a hot meal each day, and post-quake trauma counseling.
Association of the Peasants of Fondwa
The Association of Peasants Fondwa (APF) is a grassroots organization that works to promote healthy communities that promote the civil and human rights of the poor. Together, APF and its communities have created basic infrastructure for the residents of Fondwa, including healthcare services; financial services; agricultural training; and primary, secondary, and university-level education. These opportunities improve the quality of life in Fondwa and strengthen community relationships. APF’s facilities built over the past 22 years were destroyed in the January 2010 earthquake. With the loss of housing and high levels of poverty among the peasant population, healthcare needs in the community dramatically increased.
Direct Relief has awarded a $25,000 grant to fund APF’s basic medical healthcare, screening, and prevention for the roughly 50,000 local residents. These funds pay the wages of three community health workers, two nurses, two physicians, training, and transport for medical supplies and food for six months. By providing health education, nutritional supplements, and basic immunizations, Direct Relief and APF hope to improve the overall health outcomes of the vulnerable residents of this community.
Batey Relief Alliance
Founded in 1997, the Batey Relief Alliance (BRA) addresses the socioeconomic and health needs of children and families severely affected by poverty, disease, and hunger in economically at-risk areas, including the Haiti/Dominican Republic border. BRA provides access to basic healthcare to disadvantaged populations to foster economic self-sufficiency better health.
BRA is working in the southeast border region of Haiti in the communities of Belle Anse and Grand Gosier to build a medical center to provide health services to 25,000 people annually. Direct Relief has been supporting the BRA with medical supplies in the Dominican Republic for several years, and is providing this partner with a $30,000 grant to purchase new laboratory equipment for patient tests to detect, prevent, and cure diseases.
Bureau de Doléances Sociales
The mission of Bureau de Doléances Sociales is to help the poorest and most vulnerable families in the Carrefour-Feuilles area recover from the earthquake. The vast majority of the population of Carrefour-Feuilles, an area that was already marginalized, has no means to consult a psychologist to deal with psychological issues after the earthquake. To remedy this situation, the Bureau of Social Grievances (BDS) will provide psycho-social support to children at the local library du Soleil Carrefour-Feuilles; our grant of $25,000 will support this project. We know that severe cognitive deficits in individuals may have adverse consequences for psycho-social development. The project will provide psychological and economic support to those who have suffered cognitive problems as a result of the earthquake.
Camejo Polyclinique
A $20,000 grant to Camejo Polyclinique in Leogane, Haiti, has fully equipped its newly built operating room. At the epicenter of the January earthquake, Camejo is the only remaining hospital in Leogane, and it has 60,000 patients on its roster of the 400,000 people in the area. Drs. Marie and Joseph Charles—a husband-and-wife physician team—run Camejo and have a dozen medical licenses between them. She is a pediatrician and traditional birth attendant, or midwife, and he is a surgeon. They had plans to open a new hospital which they had taken over in March, but had to continue operating out of the existing clinic because the new site was damaged in the quake.
The hospital is being repaired, and they hope to move in by the end of this year. Camejo’s on-site manager is overseeing the project, along with an electrician and biomedical technician who will purchase, install, and help maintain the new equipment. Being the only surgeon in the area, Dr. Joseph Charles sees most every patient in Leogane who needs surgery. He provides emergency procedures for free to those who cannot afford it, and elective services are provided for a fee.
The Center for Community Health, Education, and Research
In 2006, the Center for Community Health, Education, and Research began providing medical services to the roughly 240,000 residents in the Delmas area of Port-au-Prince with the belief that people in Haiti have the right to be informed; educated; and have access to health information and services regardless of their social and economic status. Using this as a model, the group opened a healthcare clinic to provide free medical services and conduct prevention training programs in the surrounding areas. Unfortunately, the clinic in Delmas was severely damaged in the January earthquake and has to be completely rebuilt. The $25,000 grant provided by Direct Relief will enable them to resume clinic operations in the short term and help them rebuild the clinic and create equitable health access to the residents of Delmas through a health maintenance model of care and services.
Fondation J’Aime Haiti
An estimated 800,000 people are living with special needs in Haiti, which represents about 10 percent of the population. After the earthquake, those numbers have risen significantly. In Haiti, people with disabilities are marginalized and lack adequate access to such basic services as health care, education, and work-placement programs. Fondation J’Aime Haïti works to sensitize the general population about the living condition of people with disabilities to help remove negative stereotypes and cultural barriers that prevent social inclusion.
Direct Relief is providing J’Aime Haïti with $30,000 to launch the radio program “Vwa Moun Andikape En Action,” or “The Voice of People with Disabilities in Action,” to spread positive messages about the capacity of people with disabilities and the need for solidarity and respect. The radio program will accompany disability-awareness campaigns in communities through schools, churches, and other institutions. The informational program will promote inclusive practices and give people with disabilities and their families the tools and motivation they need to face the challenges of everyday life.
Foyer Espoir pour les Enfants
Foyer Espoir Pour les Enfants, or Hope for Children Orphanage, supports orphans and homeless families in the Delmas community of Port-au-Prince, where the number of families who needed help increased dramatically after the earthquake.
The orphanage provides shelter and food for about 50 resident children and also provides education for more than 200 children whose parents cannot afford to send them to a private school. Its goal is to educate more children to become productive citizens in the community. The facility also provides skills training to parents, operates a free canteen for the children and community, and helps locals find employment.
Direct Relief’s $20,000 enables Foyer Espoir pour les Enfants to hire more teachers, purchase desks and school supplies, establish a sustainable canteen, and accept more orphans into their home and more students into their school.
Haiti Hospital Appeal
Haiti has the highest mortality rate among infants, children under five, and women in the Western Hemisphere. A mother is 50 times more likely to die during childbirth in Haiti than in the U.S. In Haiti it is estimated that 75 percent of births take place at home without any form of medical support, placing both mother and child at great risk. This includes an absence in pre- and postnatal care. Due to limited maternity support, a large number of children are also left brain-damaged.
A mobile health unit to reach the slums and rural areas not receiving health support is urgently needed. The earthquake has severely strained the health system in the north, with hundreds of thousands of people now accessing services. The main hospital is severely under-resourced and often mothers cannot afford to pay for services nor do they have the transportation needed to get there.
The Haiti Hospital Appeal (HHA) was founded in 2006 in response to this desperate health situation in the north of Haiti. It works to empower, encourage, and equip the Haitian healthcare system, and to develop the skills of the Haitian medical workforce.
Direct Relief is funding HHA with $25,000 to establish a mobile maternity and pediatric unit. The mobile health unit will provide free pre- and postnatal consultations for pregnant women; a referral system for women at risk; monitor growth of newborns; and provide vaccines and nutritional support; free family planning and health education classes; and support for traditional birth attendants through hands-on training and education. This project will strive to decrease the risk of maternal and infant mortality and birth-related disabilities.
La Fondation Orchidee
La Fondation Orchidee, founded in 2008, provides free education to children and young people in the less privileged sections of Haitian society. It operates though orphanages, clubs, homes, and shelters to provide cultural, social, and educational programs. The foundation targets children who would not otherwise have access to education and pays for their education and food; assists with intellectual development; and coordinates social activities such as excursions, contests, and debates.
In the quake, many schools were destroyed. The foundation’s reading room is a panacea for parents who have no schools for their children to attend; the lack of vocational schools promotes idleness and contributes to unemployment. Direct Relief is providing a grant of $25,000 to the foundation to repair its facility; conduct reading, hygiene, and etiquette workshops for first- through ninth-graders; provide hot lunches; and distribute food, hygiene and clothing to the surrounding community. The program intends to bolster the community in the aftermath of the earthquake, but also return the children back to a sense of normalcy and teach them reading, health, good citizenship, and etiquette.
Foundation Hope for Haiti
Foundation Hope for Haiti, a nonprofit organization founded in 2002, promotes community sustainable development, decentralization, education, civic involvement, and health. Its core philosophy is to encourage collaborative endeavors with other credible organization in Haiti so that aid can be maximized and sustainable.
A $25,000 grant from Direct Relief goes to the Clinic of the Community of Thomassin, a town in the hills an hour from Port-au-Prince. The one hospital in the region has limited capacity, limited yet many destitute people have sought refuge in Thomassin and beyond. The clinic provides basic care to a population of over 15,000. Direct Relief and Foundation Hope for Haiti will improve the healthcare facility and develop clinical psychological services to help children and adults deal with the emotional trauma of the earthquake and learn coping skills to achieve true recovery.
Friends of Petit-Goave
Friends of Petit-Goave (FPG) has been conducting medical fairs in Petit-Goave and the surrounding communities for almost 10 years. It provides medical care to men, women, and underprivileged children who wouldn’t otherwise receive care. In 2004, FPG founded Ecole Decilus Monice, a school to educate underprivileged children and orphans between the ages of 5 and 14. It holds classes five days a week, morning and afternoon, teaching math, Creole, French, reading, social studies, writing, science, and hygiene.
After the earthquake, FPG identified an even greater need for medical care in Petit-Goave. Its school building has collapsed and the students have not been able to attend school for over four months. A grant for $25,000 will enable FPG to provide free medical clinics every two- to three weeks serving 150 to 200 people per clinic. It will also rebuild the schoolhouse and host a large medical fair to provide medical screenings, treatment, and medications to the entire Petit-Goave community.
Gawou Ginou Foundation
The Gawou Ginou Foundation supports the Gawou Ginou Elementary School in Mirebalais, which opened in 2000 with nine pupils. That number has expanded to more than 200 students, an increase of greater than 30 percent in recent months. The school’s approach is to promote self-help through the philosophy of “humanocentrism,” or ethical behavior as the as the foundation for human action.
A $25,000 grant will provide six months of funding for a feeding center and meal program for impoverished students, many of whose parents are seasonal workers living in precarious conditions. The feeding center’s educational programs will include seedling and crop plantings to encourage sustainable development. The school will also offer cultural programming and courses in health and preventive care.
The Global Empowerment Network
The Global Empowerment Network mentors and enriches the lives of young people who fled to northern Haiti by focusing on the academic, emotional, psychological, and social aspects of their lives. The goal is to provide therapeutic support for these young people who have experienced trauma, displacement, and academic problems due to the earthquake. The $25,000 provided by Direct Relief will provide therapeutic services to school-age children in the northern district, train teachers, hire psychologists, and establish a community center that will provide continual support for the long-term mental health needs for Haitians who migrated to the north.
Haiti Soleil
Direct Relief International is providing $75,000 to help Haiti Soleil rebuild Bibliothèque du Soleil, a community library and cultural center in the Carrefour-Feuilles neighborhood of Port-au-Prince that was destroyed by the earthquake. Because schools, churches, hospitals, and homes in the community have collapsed, the people who once used the library as a place of leisure and education need—now more than ever—safe spaces and educational opportunities that a library can provide. The funds will be used to construct a building for Bibliothèque du Soleil and develop the library’s programs.
Bibliothèque du Soleil, founded by the Haitian journalist and novelist Pierre A. Clitandre and Dr. Nadège Clitandre, has been servicing the community of Carrefour-Feuilles for the past five years. Bibliothèque du Soleil provides free access to knowledge and research, literacy development, nurturing spaces for creative expression and cultural exchange, and opportunities for intellectual development. Bibliothèque du Soleil has been servicing the community by offering access to books and a safe place to read and study, and also by organizing programs, workshops and conferences; sponsoring youth activities; and hosting cultural events. The goal of Bibliothèque du Soleil is to transform the community and individual lives through the development of a space for knowledge exchange and cultural enrichment.
Haitian Education and Leadership Program
The Haitian Education and Leadership Program (HELP) began in 1997 when Executive Director Conor Bohan, an American teaching in Haiti, provided his own funds to send one of his top students to medical school. Bohan continued to match high-achieving students with sponsors, and in 2002, HELP was officially granted nonprofit status. A total of 108 students are now on scholarship at five internationally recognized institutions in Haiti. The need for an educated population in Haiti is essential, as 85 percent of Haiti’s university graduates have emigrated and the university enrollment rate is 1 percent. HELP supports students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds more likely to remain in Haiti and provide for their families. Students have a graduation rate of higher than 80 percent and a 100 percent employment rate, compared to the 60 percent national employment rate countrywide.
HELP has established a scholarship fund in the memory of Marc-Erline Dezulma and Evenson Jean, two students who died in the earthquake, and has placed more than 80 students in relief work as medical interns in hospitals around the country, as civil engineering interns, translators, and work-crew supervisors. Teams of HELP students have conducted focus groups and human-rights investigations for Former President Bill Clinton’s United Nations Office of the Special Envoy, The Lamp for Haiti Foundation, and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. HELP is also housing and feeding all of its students working in the recovery effort in Port-au-Prince and providing English- and Spanish-language classes so the students can assist more effectively in the effort.
Because the country’s universities are closed, HELP is incurring at least six months of unbudgeted and unfunded costs while their students are employing their education and training to help their communities. Direct Relief is providing $25,000 to cover these costs so that HELP can continue to send high-achieving students to school.
Haitian Health and Education Foundation
The Haitian Health and Education Foundation provides health care, health education, and high-quality practical training for medical professionals in Haiti. The Foundation strives to contribute to the improvement of health conditions in the rural and urban population through preventive care, primary care administered at the outpatient clinic, secondary- and tertiary-level training, and inpatient hospital care at the Haitian Community Hospital.
In the aftermath of the earthquake, the Foundation provided free medical services for three months at the Haitian Community Hospital to the roughly 250,000 residents in the surrounding areas. It is now forced to begin charging patients again or risk running out of money and shutting their doors. However, the roughly $4 (US) fee that they ask patients to pay for medical services can be insurmountable for many Haitian people. Consequently, Direct Relief has provided a grant of $25,000 to enable the hospital to keep offering free services for pregnant mothers and the severely handicapped for three more months and to hire three Haitian medical personnel to work in the clinic.
Konbit Sante
Founded by a group of U.S. healthcare professionals, Konbit Sante works to create effective healthcare systems in developing countries. Through its professional connections, the group was introduced to leaders in the public health system in Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second-largest city, approximately 85 miles north of Port-au-Prince, where Konbit Sante now supports various health facilities. The population of Cap-Haitien has grown tremendously as people displaced by the earthquake have sought refuge and a new start.
One of Haiti’s ongoing health issues is its very high maternal mortality rate - 670 deaths for every 100,000 live births - mostly caused by delays in care. Direct Relief’s grant of $25,000 to Konbit Sante is targeted to address two of the three most common delays to obstetric emergency care: delay in recognition of an emergency and delay in seeking care. With the funds, Konbit Sante is providing monthly training and supervision to 40 traditional birth attendants on the danger signs of obstetric emergencies, as well as establishing a dispatch and transportation system so that mothers facing an obstetric emergency get to the hospital.
In the region, an estimated 500 to 750 pregnant women at any given time, 15 percent of which will likely experience some level of obstetric emergency and require timely, skilled intervention. This grant is anticipated to serve at least 80 pregnant women facing an obstetric emergency over the two-year grant period. This simple, low-cost approach is scalable, and has the potential to significantly reduce maternal mortality in the region.
Melissa’s Hope Orphanage
Melissa’s Hope Orphanage has cared for hundreds of children since it was founded in 2003 as a home for special-needs children. After the earthquake, the small facility has became the site where families in the area to receive medical care, education, and food. Additionally, there are more children who need schooling than are currently can be accommodated. A separate school must be built apart from the orphanage to provide the children with a proper education.
With a $25,000 grant from Direct Relief, the orphanage will expand and revamp its operations so that it can provide not only care for special-needs orphans but also schooling, free medical care, and food distribution that this impoverished community outside Port-au-Prince desperately needs.
Mouvement Paysan de l’Acul du Nord (Movement of Peasasnts to Acul du Nord)
Despite the lack of earthquake damage in the northern departments of Haiti, many families are directly or indirectly facing serious consequences from this catastrophe. The migration of affected people from the devastated metropolitan area have begun to exert greater pressures on the social services that were already underfunded and unprepared to support more people. An investigation by the City Hall of Acul du North found that 18,000 migrants are now living in the municipality, in addition to the 70,000 residents who were already lacking adequate medical services.
The Peasant Movement of Acul du Nord (MPA) works to improve the lives of farmers in the north. Direct Relief is supporting MPA with a grant of $25,000 to provide much needed medical services in the area. The goal is to reduce the high prevalence of malaria and typhoid fever by improving sanitation; bringing awareness to the people through education campaigns; and establishing a medical clinic staffed by a doctor, nurse, and lab technician to help treat patients.
Solidarite Haitienne
Immediately after the earthquake, Solidarite Haitienne sent a team of four nurses and a doctor to the village of St. Rock in the mountains above Port-au-Prince, where 5,000 residents were not receiving any medical services. Based on the number of patients in the area, the team decided to send weekly mobile medical clinics to treat this underserved population.
Direct Relief is providing Solidarite Haitienne, a grassroots organization committed to healthcare, education, and economic development, with a grant of $20,000 to enable it to provide weekly mobile medical clinics in St. Rock for a year. It will treat 200 patients per week and implement a nurse training program so residents will continue to receive basic medical care when the clinic is not operating and into the future. During a Direct Relief site visit to the clinic nearly 500 people, mostly the elderly and children, were waiting to see the doctor; clearly, the need is great. The community’s water source is contaminated, and nearly every child had a cough and fever. Direct Relief will also support this clinic with an ongoing supply of medicines and supplies.
La Via Campesina
Close to 70 percent of Haiti’s workforce is in farming. The earthquake has complicated the farming situation throughout the country; the migration of a million people to rural towns and provinces is putting a strain on the local farmers. Donations of foreign food and seeds are affecting local production and long-term sustainability. Peasant families, demonstrating their hospitality, are feeding the refugees with the little grain reserves they possessed.
Direct Relief has granted $28,250 to La Via Campesina, a community organization dedicated to promoting food sovereignty in Haiti, to distribute seeds to 650 rural families around the country; build and maintain seed banks to ensure long-term food security; and fight the hunger of migrants. Within 45 days of the donation, families who planted spinach and okra seeds are expected to begin to harvest. Within 60 days, beans will be harvested. And within 75 days, corn seeds will begin to reap. This grant will not only provide short-term assistance but also ensure long-term food production in farming communities throughout Haiti.