Helping Babies in Haiti

We've been providing diapers to the Rescue Center at Real Hope for Haiti for nearly six years now, and it's a joy to share with you children whose lives have been impacted by you. Here is Carla's story, as shared by Real Hope for Haiti. 

This lovely little lady became a part of RHFH in February 2016, when she was 18 months old.  She lived in the rescue center until April 2018.   She had recovered from malnutrition but was unable to return home to her family.  Last April, Carla was taken in by a foster family that is near and dear to our hearts.  We’d like to introduce you to them!

Pascal and Muralene Thelusma are Carla’s foster parents.  The couple met in 2009 when Muralene was attending school in her village. Pascal noticed her and wanted to meet her, so he waited for Muralene to get out of school and asked if he could walk her home.  He did this every day, walking her home and talking until they were in love and started a family together. 

Pascal and Muralene are both Christians and attend the Baptist church here in Cazale with their children.  Pascal began working for RHFH in 2015.  RHFH encouraged the couple to get married and Pascal says that he realized God wanted them to be married.  When he talked with his wife, she agreed but didn’t know how they could get married.  He told her that RHFH would help, and she was very happy. She is thankful and says that she feels a union with RHFH and prays that God will bless the mission. Pascal and Muralene were married in 2016.

Pascal and Muralene have two other daughters and are pregnant with another girl, due in April!  The girls are Atanaelle, 9 years old, and Angelica, 7 years old.  They both love Carla very much and are happy that she is their sister. 

Carla’s foster family wants you to know that she is very loving.  Whenever anyone leaves the house and returns, she often waits at the gate for them to return, and she always runs to great them.  She is confident and strong willed but listens to her dad!  She does very well in school and is very intelligent.  She has not begun to learn to read or write, but her favorite part of kindergarten is music.  She is constantly singing around the house and this makes the whole family happy. 

Carla lives in a four-room cement home with a tin roof.  They have a latrine and they bathe in the river, which is not far from the house.  They get their drinking water from a community faucet. 

Pascal and Muralene ask that you pray for Carla to grow and listen to the things that they teach her.  They pray that she will make good choices when she grows up, and that she will love God and want to stay in church. 

When a baby is born, we take particular care as we hold the small infant, supporting its neck as the young child is not strong enough yet to do so on its own. Generally, we know this will change over the first months of his or her life.

At 20 months old, however, this was something Chrislene struggled to do — her body devastated with severe dehydration and malnourishment.

The young girl was referred to Real Hope for Haiti’s inpatient malnutrition center at that time weighing only 15 pounds; the average weight of a 12-month-old is typically already 20 pounds. 

“When she first arrived she could not even hold her head up she was so weak”, Licia of Real Hope for Haiti said. “She was started in medications and an IV was placed for her. She remained weak for a few weeks and had to be fed through an NG tube. Once she began to feel better she began to eat and drink normally. She then was running all  over the center happy and content.”

Real Hope for Haiti is a Christian organization located in Cazale, Haiti, that serves through its medical clinic, cholera hospital, sponsorship programs, and an inpatient center to treat malnourished children. They are also one of Jake’s Diapers Diaper Drop partners.

“All of the children that are in the inpatient malnutrition program have been admitted by a family member,” Licia said.”We work with the family to help educate them on how to best care for their children. The goal is to keep the families together. Once the child has recovered and returned home they then return each month for a food box and a check-up.  We have cases where the parents have died or abandoned the child with other family members, we work with them to encourage them to care for the child as well. This could be an aunt, uncle grandma or grandpa.”

When it becomes obvious the family will not be caring for the child, he or she is placed in foster care. Real Hope for Haiti has 15 children that were abandoned at its gate or inside its yard currently placed in foster care.

Real Hope for Haiti relies on donations from Jake’s Diapers to support the children in these foster care programs.

“It has helped in our foster care program as special diapers were sent in for these kids,” Licia said. “It was hard for the moms to find large diapers for the special needs kids. This was a big blessing to them. It has also been helpful to the nannies in the inpatient care facility.  The color system has helped and the love that they do not have to find safety pins to secure the diapers. The love the snaps and that they can make the diaper fit to the child.”