Cholera strikes Haiti - World Neighbors response
In an amazingly short amount of time, a cholera epidemic has torn through Haiti’s rural countryside, killing 38 people and causing hundreds more to fall ill in the farming villages where World Neighbors works.
As you read this message, World Neighbors staff and volunteers are mobilizing material and human resources to these already suffering communities including:
Health Consultants (The key to stopping this outbreak is to make sure people have the right information about cholera prevention.)
Oral Rehydration Salts (A quick treatment that can be delivered outside of a hospital setting and save lives.)
Hygiene and Sanitation Resources (Access to clean water and proper sanitation are essential in preventing Cholera.)
Transportation (Cholera can kill within hours if severely sick patients do not receive proper medical treatment and, with hospitals being miles away, reliable and fast transportation becomes key to their survival.)
World Neighbors has partnered with tens of thousands of rural Haitians in the last five decades to find long term solutions to hunger, poverty and disease. We have seen the amazing spirit of the Haitian people overcome drought, countless hurricanes and one of the most devastating earthquakes of modern time.
And our neighbors in Haiti will again overcome this tragedy with the help of World Neighbors and friends like you.
DONATE NOW to help World Neighbors end the cholera epidemic and continue our life-changing work in Haiti.
Haiti’s people and landscape have been forever changed after years of natural disasters striking the island nation.
The hurricane season of 2008 was extremely hard for Haiti. The country was hit with four hurricanes in just three weeks. It was the most catastrophic season for the last 50 years. Then, on January 12, 2010 at 4:53 p.m., the lives of millions of Haitians were forever changed again when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook Port-au-Prince, the capital city, for about 40 seconds causing devastating damage and fear.
World Neighbors has been on the ground in Haiti since 1966 and has been with our Haitian neighbors through these each one of these catastrophic events. We are currently working to address the needs of more than 10,000 people who have migrated into the rural communities located within our program areas, along with continuing to support the long-term plans within each community.
Refugee Stories
Moises Nelson, mother of 4, was in Port-au-Prince during the earthquake. “The earthquake destroyed everything. It’s terrible now,” she said. Fortunately all of her family survived and they moved into her father-in-law’s house. From the first day she and her family arrived in the village, they were given food and other things. Moises had a business in Port-au-Prince and would like to become involved with World Neighbors savings and credit program so she can start her business again.
Dany Nelson, a young mother of two, lost family members in the earthquake. Her life is drastically different now as she is living in a rural area while her husband is working in Port-au-Prince as a home builder. She does not intend to move back to the city after learning of World Neighbors savings and credit program that help her start up her business again.
Avrina Neston, is a 28-year old mother who lost everything in the earthquake. Now she lives in her family’s house and grows corn and cassava. “People in the village share everything with us - food and money,” she said.
Community Successes
Prospere Marie’s involvement with World Neighbors has changed her life socially and economically. She has been trained to treat ani mals and has learned about fruit transformation (converting juice and other crops into other products, such as avocado to hair gel; mangos to soap; oranges to perfume), in which she sells for income. Also, now, all three of her children go to school.
Being involved with World Neighbors, Gilles Edouard Paris has been trained as a health volunteer and in better agricultural practices. He knows now how to maintain his field and what kind of seeds to plant. “Now we have a good harvest, our families eat well because the organization gives us good seeds. We plant beans, corn, spinach, cassava,” Gilles said.
Benoit Nelson, a long-time World Neighbors volunteer took in 15 refugees from the capital city after the earthquake even when he was still struggling to rebuild his farm and feed his own family. In 2008, two hurricanes destroyed the five fields he used to grow corn, cassava and beans. “I feed the people day by day,” said Benoit. World Neighbors program provided Benoit with materials for temporary shelter, as well as emergency seed (corn and cassava) so that he could grow more food.
Hope for Haiti Video
To learn more about World Neighbors long term commitment to our neighbors in Haiti, please view World Neighbors new video, “Hope for Haiti” and then pass it on so others can understand what it will really take for Haiti to truly overcome this tragedy.
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World Neighbors communities were not adequately prepared to receive the more than 10,000 refugees out of Port-au-Prince. That amount of new inhabitants and surge of people created an obligation to address the immediate needs – “neighbors” sharing their supplies of food and clean water and offering health and sanitation services.
 World Neighbors, alongside our partners, have worked to ensure those needs are being met. More than 3,000 families have received health sanitation training and vitamins and iron for babies and pregnant women. More than 6,000 local farmers were provided seeds and planting materials such as cassava, yam, sweet potatoes and other indigenous vegetables to accommodate the increased demand for food in the communities. Thousands of earthquake victims now have access to latrines and water filters for water treatment, and three nurses have been hired for six months to organize trainings on basic hygiene and sanitation, improved nutrition practices, and reproductive health issues, all of which will decrease the spread of diseases. A social worker has also been hired for one year to lead some of this work in the affected communities.
These short-term immediate steps are designed in a way that seeks to return the communities as quickly as possible back toward our long-term development goals. World Neighbors has partnered with tens of thousands of rural Haitians in the last five decades to find long-term solutions to hunger, poverty and disease. We have no intention of leaving once the dust settles from the earthquake relief efforts. We are determined to help tens of thousands more survive the aftermath of the earthquake and to rebuild their lives … to help them discover that they can become self-reliant.
Donate to the Haiti Disaster Fund and start helping today.
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The Haitian people need World Neighbors and friends like you who will stand with them through the long process of recovery and support their path to a better future. Through the Haiti Fund, you can provide steady, dependable support for our neighbors in Haiti over the course of the year and for very little money each month you will have an amazing impact.
$5 a month could provide training in community health for 100 people.
$10 a month could supply the seeds for 200 family gardens.
$25 a month could supply 10 families with water filtration system.
$50 a month would provide a community latrine for more than 300 people.
Click here to become a Monthly Donor
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Located in the Caribbean, Haiti is slightly smaller than Maryland. Home to over 9 million people, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with over half of the population living below the poverty line of less than $1.25 a day.
World Neighbors has had programs in Haiti since 1966 centered on eliminating hunger, poverty and disease. This strategy addresses the inter-connected problems of declining food production, malnutrition, ill health and environmental degradation in underserved areas of Haiti. World Neighbors currently works with 11 program partners, and over 220 communities participate in World Neighbors people-centered programs, benefiting over 65,000 people.
World Neighbors 4,377 farmer volunteers have learned to diversify their fields which will allow them to harvest all the year, feeding their families during the food scarcity period. A vegetable garden can provide tomatoes, peppers, okra, sweet peppers, cabbage and carrots
 Over 4,700 people are participating in credit activities through World Neighbors. Those activities contribute to improving their wellbeing and their families by increasing their household income and protecting them against usury credit.
Access to clean water is a main priority for many communities. About 18 sources of water are being managed by local organizations and 156 new water filters finished. The number of cases of typhoid and diarrhea are much less among the participants who take part in the community health programs.
Basic education, or raising awareness, is the starting point for the improvement of the living conditions of this population. Once local leaders participate in the programs, they are proud to share their knowledge and leadership to their neighbors, further spreading World Neighbors successful programs.
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