Children's Respite Home & Outreach Project, Haiti

Thanks for your continued support, allowing us to care for some of Haiti's most vulnerable children. 

Just today, we had one joyful guardian visit us.  Her child, Mary, used to be part of the project, coming to us as a very withdrawn, and troubled little girl.  This little one had lost her mum, and was distanced from her father who moved abroad.  Mary's troubled start to life, and developmental delay, caused serious concerns to her new guardian, who wondered whether she'd ever recover.  Thanks to the continuous love and therapy of our staff, slowly Mary completely transformed, as little by little a beautiful little smile blossomed.  Her guardian visited today sharing how Mary was now attending school, and doing brilliantly!  She's just one example of the many lives being transformed through this work!

In our last report we shared the difficult financial situation we were facing to continue running this service which cares for children like Mary, and we'd like to share a special thanks to all those who responded.  Thankfully, due to the generous support of our loyal supporters, we've been able to keep the Maison de Benediction running, which has been predominantly due to the kind support of our monthly donors who are part of the Beni Sponsorship Programme.

Beni means 'blessing' in creole, and that's exactly what our supporters are!  So far, we've had 56 people sign up to become a regular monthly donor of this project, and we now have a new challenge.  We're looking to find another 56 people who can help keep this respite home open.  If we succeed in our challenge, then the centre will have enough funds to continue running in the years to come, and what a blessing to children like Mary that would be!

If you've ever been inspired or encouraged by this work, please consider becoming a regular supporter.  Not only do you get to become an official Beni Sponsor, but you get the chance to receive personal updates on one specific child.  To find out more, please visit our web site today.  Equally, if you don't feel able to do this, please consider making another one off donation through GlobalGiving.  We want to keep helping other children like Mary, ensuring they have the future they deserve. Thanks for all your kind support.

Links:

• Find out more about Beni Sponsorship here

The ‘Maison de Benediction’ continues to provide respite care for disabled children, offering specialised education and medical care for the children, and the time to be able to work or attend education themselves for the families.  A Community outreach project was started two years ago, and continues to thrive. Team members go out into the communities, to locate children who would benefit from the services we offer, but also to meet with community and religious groups to advocate for the rights of disabled people, educating leaders and groups on disabilities and encouraging communities to accept and include disabled people into active community life as equals. In Haiti, this can be a paradigm-shifting message, where a common term for the disabled in the local language is ‘cocobai’, which literally translates as ‘worthless’. Disabilities are often viewed as a curse, and the families of disabled people can feel compelled to abandon or hide their disabled family members.

Funding has been difficult this year, with the loss of two partners through financial difficulties – which have, in turn, affected our financial capacity for this project. The number of days that the centre runs has been reduced to 4 days per week, and our community-based respite care has had to be put on hold – although our community outreach work continues, through the support of the Baptist Church. We have launched a child sponsorship programme called ‘Beni’ (Haitian creole for ‘blessing’), which invites you to be a blessing to an individual child by supporting the work of the centre. We ask for a regular commitment of £10, £15 or £20 per month – and you can find out more information from our website.

Links:

• Our website