Run a Maternity and Neonatal Unit in Haiti

Over the last 6 months I've had the privilege to witness firsthand the exciting work achieved by the generosity of our supporters through living in Haiti. Over the last month the roof to our Surgical Department has been completed, and the roof to our Paediatric and Delivery Ward started. It should be completed within the next few weeks!

The work of the Haiti Hospital Appeal continues to grow in Haiti. Along with the building of our new Hospital facility which you've generously supported, our new 4x4 ambulance service which started at the beginning of this year continues to serve some of Haiti's poorest and most desperate. Our clinic is expanding its services to now include a Gynaecologist and Dentist, and our new Children's Home for Special Needs children and children with HIV/AID's is growing week by week.

Yet, as well as seeing the incredible difference you've helped to make, we also witness firsthand the daily injustice and struggle of life here in the poorest country of the Western hemisphere. The particular challenge to us has been witnessing so many children in our Children's Home who have been left disabled, simply through a lack of appropriate health care at birth. 75% of births still take place at home in Haiti without any medical support, and one in 5 children still die before the age of 5. We've picked up mothers and children in our ambulance forced to give birth in horrendous conditions, proving life threatening to both mother and child. The need for our Paediatric and Maternity Ward continues to remain urgent. Each day we meet children whose lives could have been so different had they been born with the support they needed.

Each month we get a step closer to completing this dream, and offering thousands of mothers and children the care they deserve. However, we still have more to do and further to go before this work is fulfilled. Even in the current economic situation the world faces, I would urge you all to remember those people in countries like Haiti who are truly suffering at this time. Even the smallest donation can make such a huge difference, and without you or work would be impossible. Please take a look at the pictures attached of our building work so far, and a copy of our most recent newsletter which will explain more fully about what you've helped to support in the last year or so.

Many thanks for your continued support and generosity! Please continue to remember us, as we certainly remember you.

Links:

• Haiti Hospital Appeal Web-site

• HHA April 09 Newsletter (PDF)
  

We’d like to say a huge thank you to all those who have generously supported us. Many of you specifically helped us through the Global Giving Challenge at the end of 2008. Thanks to your kind support we raised over $5,000US which secured the project a prize of $2,500US. This support really will make the world of difference to us in Haiti, and we can’t possibly thank you all enough! Six weeks ago two UK Haiti Hospital Appeal workers moved to Haiti for the next year, and have already been encouraged to see firsthand the difference our supporters have helped make. Along with the encouragement of the work that has progressed, they’ve also been touched afresh with the reality of life in Haiti. A few weeks ago they had the opportunity with the Haiti Hospital Appeal’s new Ambulance to take a seriously sick boy called Mitch from the only existing Government run hospital in North Haiti to the Dominican Republic for some urgent care. Unfortunately the care Mitch needed could not be found in Haiti, and so we had to take him on a ten hour drive to a more suitable hospital. Had he not been able to receive this support he would have probably died. Tragically across Haiti many children are left to die due to inadequate medical support. 1 in 5 children don’t make it to their fifth birthday, and 75% of births still take place at home without any medical supervision. Mitch was fortunate enough to have the chance to go to the Dominican, but most don’t. The need for this new Paediatric and Maternity Unit is still urgent, and once completed will literally help save the lives of thousands of women and children. Thanks to your help we’ve progressed well with the building work in the last few months, but there’s still a long way to go. Please continue to support us in this urgent work. We pray and hope you may be encouraged by the difference you’ve already helped to make in Haiti, and inspired to continue helping many other children like Mitch in the future. Many thanks, the Haiti Hospital Appeal Team.