

Give a little, help a lot
Thank you for your support during 2021. It has been a difficult year, corona virus continues to disrupt the best laid plans. Life for the people in Haiti has not got any easier. Gang warfare and political chaos has meant many disruptions including road blocks and riots. Food is ever more expensive and local currency becomes increasingly devalued against the US dollar. This makes your support even more important to families and communities on La Gonave island. The island is recognised by the World Health Organisation as one of the most deprived areas in the world.
Haiti Help works closely with 3 Haitian organisations to ensure that the money we raise is spent wisely and used for the greatest benefit in the community. We send approximately £2000 every quarter to each group.
The Wesleyan Hospital
The small hospital is the only medical facility on the island. Their main work is funded by the Wesleyan Foundation from USA but there is NEVER enough money to treat all of the people who require help. Haiti Help sends money to the hospital “indigent fund”. This allows many more local people to access essential or urgent medical care.
The OKIPE Children’s Village.
The Children’s Village can house up to 80 children and the school there provides education for over 200 more. The children are given a healthy meal during the school day. This encourages attendance and helps alleviate the common problem of malnutrition among the poorest families. OKIPE is an alliance of charities from US, Canada and Scotland who work together to help the Haitian director, Mme Solliette, offer the best care and education for the children. This year we sent £3000 extra to pay for cement floors in the school, the dust in the dry season was causing respiratory problems for some of the children.
ASHOG
ASHOG is a well established self help group operating on the island. It is organised by a local pastor who works tirelessly to improve things for his community. We fund a teacher in one of their schools, we provide financial support for 2 families, we contribute to the “Elderly and Disabled Food Programme”, and help finance the care of 4 orphaned children who live with the pastor’s family.
Following the earthquake in August 2021, we were able to send £2500 from our emergency fund to pay for antibiotics, painkillers and dressings to treat the injured.
The current political situation, as well as coronavirus make it impossible for us to travel to Haiti. We do remain in close contact with all 3 of our projects via the internet. All the funds we send go direct from the Bank of Scotland to the project bank accounts in Haiti so we are as certain as we can be that the money raised is used in the best possible way.
We can only work with the donations we receive from you, our supporters. The people of La Gonave are grateful and always ask us to pass on their thanks and best wishes to the people who provide help for them.
We have a good power point presentation and are always keen to talk to interested groups or individuals. Please contact our Secretary Lou with any enquiries, telephone 07732263467 or email admin@haitihelp.org.uk
Find out more on our website www.haitihelp.org.uk Donations are always welcome and can be made as one off or monthly on https://www.goldengiving.com/wall/haiti-help
January winner is number 36. Sadly this number has not been chosen 😥 so no one gets £50. There are still a few numbers available if you would like to take part. You can see the draws here https://www.facebook.com/haitihelp.org.uk
This month number 4 was drawn. Congratulations to Mike Gray from Kirkcaldy. £50 is on it’s way to you. Happy new year everyone, we hope 2021 is an improvement on 2020!
Here is how to take part, there are still numbers avaialable. https://www.facebook.com/haitihelp.org.uk/photos/a.294358280582156/4872301369454468/
Raffle was drawn today, 22nd Dec. Winner was Angie Shand. Congratulations Angie! Thanks to everyone who bought a ticket. £460 raised. Normally we have our Christms Fair in Lochgelly Town Hall in November, sadly impossible this year due to Covid! We are still holding holding the raffle online, you can buy tickets here.
As a charity we have a policy of not helping individuals, rather we donate to groups in La Gonave where the local people are able to use the money for the greatest benefit within their community. However, recently we were approached to help a man called Clotere.
He has a problem of swelling within his left testicle and as you can see from the picture that is quite an understatement. His problem requires surgery and is not straightforward. He needs to go to a hospital on the mainland for treatment. This is likely to be quite costly. Having seen the extent of his problem we felt we could not refuse to help. We hope you will want to help too! Problems on this scale are not uncommon in Haiti where many people have little or no access to medical advice. If you donate to our Kiltwalk appeal here
https://edinburghkiltwalk2020.everydayhero.com/uk/HelpClotere
we receive a 50% uplift from Tom Farmer on your donation. We hope this makes you just a wee bit more appreciative of a Scottish NHS which means problems for you will never get this big! If we raise more money than the cost of surgery for Clotere the excess will go to the hospital fund to help other people in similar circumstances.
Check out our new lottery page on facebook. If you would like to donate £5 monthly to us we will enter you in a prize draw. One of the 50 donors will win £50 every month! https://www.facebook.com/Haiti-Help-5050-105297124528428/?modal=admin_todo_tour