Children's Respite Home & Outreach Project, Haiti

Oue respite home in Haiti has been running for 10 years now, and whilst other groups have thankfully responded by starting other vital projects to help children in need in Haiti, the Maison remains a pioneering project which focuses care on perhaps the most vulnerable group in Haitian society - children with disabilities from families in poverty.

The project has always been funded by a group of special people who sponsor the work with regular gifts. But 10 years on, we want to develop this project further adding more important services and more importantly reaching more people. So we have big plans for the future including these 3 goals:

1. Increase the number of places available from the current capacity of 25.

2. Develop more age specific programmes to better care for the older children who attend.

3. Employ a full-time physiotherapist to help every child’s physical development - a critical part of the work at the Maison.

So many more children need this support so we have re-launched our sponsorship programme this autumn - called Beni Sponsorship - to seek out additional regular donors to make these goals a reality. Follow the link below to find out more about this programme.

We have been lucky enough to have had 2 videographers head out to the Maison this year to capture some of this fantastic work so we will share the film with you when they are finished. We are also dedicating our November Gala Dinner to celebrating 10 years of the Maison and raise additional funds for this special project. 

Thank you for supporting this project so far and we hope you will stay with us for another 10 years of respite care in Haiti.

Links:

• HHA website

Lourdjina has been coming to the ‘Maison’ for the last eight years, ever since her mum died and her Grandma took over her care.

A neighbour of theirs had been taking her child to our hospital for physiotherapy at the Rehabilitation Centre and recommended it to Lourdjina's Grandma. She brought Lourdjina to the hospital where she was referred to the ‘Maison’ and has been coming ever since.

At the time, Lourdjina was only able to shuffle on her bottom and her hands were curled so she coudlnt hold a spoon. She has hearing and speech difficulties so communication was hard for her.

Now, through years of dedicated support and tailored care at the ‘Maison’ and at home, she is walking and can write her name, and even helps with the sweeping at home!

Her speech has also improved a huge amount. She now uses words when she can, and makes herself understood with gestures when she needs to. She can now count to 30 which is a great achievement.

Her Grandma attributes this success to the ‘Maison’ because she wouldn't have had access to the physical therapy necessary to help her gain these skills at home. She is grateful for the service the ‘Maison’ provides her family, and we are grateful to have had the chance to play our part in the lives of Lourdjina and her family.

Thank you for supporting for supporting Lourdjina and lots of other children like her.