For HUFH staff, saving lives never takes a day off.

Meet Esteve Wooderly, one of the toddlers whose life was saved with your support. 

Esteve, born on March 1, 2020, was admitted to HUFH’s Malnutrition Program at the age of 2-1/2. Weighing only 11 pounds, he was so severely malnourished that he was unable to walk.  Now 20 pounds, healthy and thriving, he is a proud graduate of the Program. His mother sends sincere thanks to HUFH because Esteve is facing a much brighter future: nourished, walking and developing like a healthy toddler. 

What does it mean for children like Esteve when HUFH's staff says:
“When Hands Up for Haiti works, Everything works”

In the words of Miguel-Ange Michel, HUFH’s Administrative Supervisor of our Malnutrition and Mobile Santè Programs, and our staff psychologist:

“To all those with good will, to all the donors in the world, we say that the situation in Haiti is more serious than one might think. 

On a recent Wednesday  morning, I was working at the HUFH office site, which holds its clinical programs on Mondays – our programs work at other sites on the other days of the week. While I was there, I saw men and women who came to seek medical assistance. When they realized they came on a day the office clinic was not open, these poor people were forced to go home. 

You could see the desperation and disappointment on their faces. They don't know where else to go since they have no money. 

Hospitals are so rare and expensive that many children and adults are dying. We have an irresponsible Country which is unable to meet the health care needs of the poorest. 

Those who have money can travel and send their children abroad for treatment when they get sick. The newspapers don't say it, but many of the poorest children and elderly people die every day here because they don't have the necessary means to go to the hospital. 

This is what makes Hands Up for Haiti so important: 

HUFH continues to help the poorest for free, people who cannot easily find even 100 gourdes (65 cents) to go to the hospital.

When HUFH works, everything works, even for the poor; if HUFH cannot work, everything freezes for the poor.”

So how does Esteve's story relate to Miguel-Ange's words?

Esteve was originally enrolled in our Program in August 2022. He is the younger of 2 children in a family without any source of income for food or transportation. When the devastating unrest last year caused longstanding road blocks, his family  was unable to continue bringing him to clinic. 

After repeated attempts by HUFH to get him back into treatment, our skilled nursing director was ultimately able to help his mother get him re-enrolled in October, and arranged transportation so he could be seen every week. Esteve was examined and closely followed by Dr. Ortelus, our Program physician, and other staff members as his weight and health improved.

Today, Esteve Wooderly is just one success story in HUFH’s Malnutrition Program. 

With your help, imagine how many others can be saved tomorrow.
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For HUFH staff, saving lives never takes a day - or a month - off. Results matter.

This is how Haitian families benefited in the month of January 2023: 

• 110 children were treated in the program
• 31 malnourished children were identified and admitted to the program
• 33 children met their goal weight and graduated from the program
• 201 TSK (community health worker) home visits, to help those families who could not get to our program site, and ensure that they are following proper protocol

• 240 babies from newborn to one year old were treated in the program
• 31 babies born to women in HUFH's Prenatal Program were admitted into the program
• we partnered with HCBH to vaccinate 2 dozen children against polio at our site in Madeleine

Read more about Well-Baby care here.

• 209 women were enrolled in the Prenatal Program in January, with a total of 400 separate nursing, nutrition and education visits
• 74 women experienced safe deliveries
• 60 pregnant women were admitted to the program
• 88 women attended for Postnatal Care, with a total of 121 separate nursing, nutrition and education visits
• 30 women were vaccinated against tetanus, still a major problem in Haiti

Read more about our prenatal care program here.

• 1 new well dug in a dry area, bringing our total built to 16 throughout the area in which we work
• we educate our communities about hygiene and have NO cholera cases among the people we serve
• the new well was dug in a central and easy to access location which will service about 6000 residents
• we continue to maintain the other 15 water wells, as we work with the communities to form committees for the maintenance, protection and management of the pump

Read more about our community water project here. 

• we held general Mobile Santè health care clinics at 3 of our community program sites, and in one other community in need of medical care
• we treated a total of 129 patients not currently enrolled in our other programs, 75 adults and 54 children
• using HUFH's Emergency Care and Follow-Up fund, we are referring a baby with a facial tumor to a partner hospital for advanced care

• 240 patientscontinue to thrive as we treat them with a safe and simple protocol
• treating hypertension reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke, leading causes of premature death in the Haitian population

Read more about treating Hypertension here.

• the need in Haiti is soaring: according to the BTI Transformation Index, more than 70% of Haitians live below the poverty line, while approximately 50% live on less than $1.25 per day; at the same time, costs are soaring and the supply chain is disrupted
• collaborating with other NGOs, HUFH is delivering food packages to address food insecurity, the root cause of malnutrition and other illnesses
• to date, we have partnered with
  • Acceso to distribute 500 jars of nutritious peanut butter manufactured in Haiti to our families
  • Food for the Poor to distribute packages of nutritious food to our families

Over 100,000 of the most vulnerable children and adults in Haiti have been treated in our programs during the last 13 years.

Make more healthy, smiling faces your priority.
Help HUFH Build a Better future in Haiti.

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There are as many ways to honor those we love as there are loved ones to honor. Here are 4 tributes, just a few among many, that move and inspire us on an UPbeat note as our HUFH team faces down the challenges of life in Haiti and delivers our lifesaving programs. We hope you will feel inspired as well. 

We recently started a new program called Kairam Klinik Byen Bèbè, a well-baby preventative care clinic dedicated to the memory of our dear friend and Board member Dr. Hemant Kairam.

Each month in Kairam Klinik we see up to 200 babies for preventative care, something that is not the norm in Haiti, but through which we
can identify feeding and development problems and other diseases and help keep children out of our Malnutrition Program and the hospital. The clinic, intended to support the lifesaving programs for children that Dr. Kairam worked tirelessly to build and grow during his lifetime, was sponsored by his family: his wife Dr. Neeraja Kairam, children Arin, Devin and Elana, parents Raj and Bala Kairam, and brother Jay.  

We at Hands Up for Haiti continue to secure Dr. Kairam’s memory as a blessing to the children we help, and we thank the Kairam family, and many of you, for making this possible. 

Read more about Dr. Kairam and the programs for children he championed here.

The Kairam Klinik was built on the foundation of HUFH’s existing programs, programs boosted by the generosity of the family of Judy McAvoy in her memory. Judy was a founding member of HUFH who championed our maternal-child health care programs. 

 In the words of Judy's son, Brendan: 

My mom had always been one of those people who wanted to help others first. Her dream job growing up was to join the Peace Corps and she made a life of helping other people (specifically babies and their mothers) as a pediatric nurse.

The tragic earthquake that hit Haiti back in 2010 was a call to action for her to basically form her own type of "Peace Corps". When she and a few colleagues in the medical field saw how badly help was needed, they gathered a group of people with as many medical supplies as they could carry and traveled to Haiti to help in any way they could.

And so began Hands Up for Haiti.

Mom came back raving about the people and the country and since that first trip, it became her passion to help them receive the medical care they desperately need but don't have available to them.

She passed away way too early, but laid the groundwork for this great cause as a founding member…

She's definitely one of the ones who left her mark in her time here."

Judy's dedication and passion inspired Brendan to create an unusual fundraiser for HUFH: growing his hair for Haiti! You can read more about it here. Many thanks to Judy’s husband Jim and to Brendan and the rest of the McAvoy family and friends for keeping  Judy’s legacy alive, and her memory burning bright. 

Read more about Judy McAvoy and the maternal/child health care programs she championed here.

Thanks to the generosity of Christelle Dorcil, a Haitian-American attorney based in New York, we were able to build our 15th clean water well in a neighborhood of Madeleine, near our office clinic, that had no drinkable water. Christelle dedicated the well to honor her Haitian ancestry: to celebrate her mother’s birthday and in memory to her Haitian grandmother. Because clean water is key to good health, Christelle’s gift ensures a lasting legacy of better health to an entire community in need.

The plaque that sits on the well:
In honor of Mother Mirta Thomas (with Christelle on the left)
& My Grandmother Andrea Damezal (with Christelle as a child on the right)

Read more about our Community Clean Water Project here. 

Thank you to Matt and Amanda Friedman, who donated the funds to dig and maintain our 16th community clean water well in honor of the engagement of Melissa Buckley and Dr. Adam Handler. Dr. Handler is a HUFH Board member and program mentor and is passionate about the need for clean water to ensure good health. This beautiful tribute to Adam and Melissa's love will provide clean water to a community of nearly 4000 people. 

Read more about our Community Clean Water Project here. 

2021 was a year like no other in Haiti, a year filled with challenges and disasters that shook Haiti to its core: political unrest, natural disasters, massive fires, food and fuel shortages, gang warfare, and the Covid pandemic as the backdrop to it all. 

Our neighbors in Cap Haitien sustained another devastating blow shortly before the Christmas holidays: a gas truck exploded, leaving a scene of carnage. At least 75 people dead. Two neighborhoods engulfed in flames and decimated.

On New Year’s Eve, our team held a Mobile Santè Outreach Clinic in the affected area. Our doctors and nurses examined dozens of patients of all ages, distributed medications, and referred those in need of advanced care to our partner hospitals.

In addition to offering basic medical care, first aid, and a listening ear to those who needed to express their grief, we provided food and water kits to more than 100 families who lost their homes and possessions.

In a moving message to his fellow HUFH staff members, Miguel-Ange Michel, HUFH’s administrative coordinator of Mobile Santè, explained the importance of holding the clinic on New Year's Eve:

“We know that there are many people who cannot celebrate because of the catastrophic fires that have befallen them. In this sense, since Hands Up People are People of Love, we have decided to organize a Mobile Clinic for these people….This is a way for us to reserve a part of this December 31st holiday for those who have lost their families, children, mothers and fathers. They can't celebrate today, but if we bring a little something for them, a little bit of health, they will be relieved anyway.”

Reflecting afterwards on HUFH's efforts, Thermitus Jean, HUFH's in-country Executive Director, expressed his feelings about the day of service: 
 
"I feel touched to the bottom of my heart -- so proud of our staff as so many came to work at the Mobile Clinic on the holiday. They are so grateful to be able to help their own people in this time of great need. Patients are saying we're the only organization after the fire who came to assist them in the way that we are doing it - by providing food packages and medical care. I feel that this day of service was one of the big days among all big days for HUFH. Thanks to our staff and to all our supporters who work together to make it happen. We are very proud to continue to help in our way."

HUFH is working to alleviate the load on local hospitals. Our team on the ground is sourcing, donating and distributing supplies.

We are also working with the Afya Foundation, a New York based nonprofit that provides an environmentally responsible solution to dire shortages of healthcare supplies around the globe by facilitating customized shipments of rescued surplus medical supplies to regions in need, and with whom HUFH has collaborated in the past. Afya has prepared more than $23,000 worth of wound care supplies and PPE that will be delivered to Haiti and distributed by HUFH to local hospitals treating the wounded.

CLICK HERE to watch a video of our team in action last week, shown on Haitian TV news!

The extensive devastation caused by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the south of Haiti last week, compounded by extensive flooding from Tropical Storm Grace, has turned out to be much worse than originally feared. At least 2,200 people were killed and more than 12,000 injured in the quake, a number expected to rise as more communities are reached. In an area that is home to about 1.5 million people, nearly 53,000 houses have been reduced to rubble, roads are blocked or washed away, farmlands destroyed, and water sources are at high risk of contamination. Hospitals and clinics, which themselves sustained massive damage, are still receiving large numbers of injured. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced.

Thankful that our clinics and staff in the north were spared, HUFH’s response to the devastation caused to Haiti’s south by the quake is two-pronged and simple:
1. provide direct help to organizations in the affected areas in the south, and
2. prepare for increased need in the north where HUFH works.

Providing Direct Help to the South: Using funds raised through our emergency Disaster Relief Appeal, Hands Up for Haiti is providing direct financial aid to Second Mile Haiti and the Afya Foundation, and we continue to explore opportunities to support trusted partners in the south who share our mission and vision.

Second Mile Haiti, based in the north of Haiti, is an organization with whom we have worked for years to address childhood malnutrition. We are supporting Second Mile as they send thousands of dollars worth of desperately needed supplies and medical equipment to organizations based in the earthquake zone, all purchased in Haiti. 

Based in the US, AFYA is committed to supporting Haiti’s healthcare infrastructure and for over a decade has partnered with HUFH to secure medical supplies and help transport them to Haiti. Medical providers throughout the affected region sent AFYA their growing list of medical supply needs and they have responded with flights filled with everything from gloves and PPE to IV fluids and equipment.

Samson Desamour, one of HUFH’s original in-country leaders and an AFYA volunteer, picked up the shipment in Haiti and brought the supplies to Les Cayes, one of the most damaged cities, earlier this week. Samson remains there to help, because, as he says, “It’s hard to see my brothers and sisters are suffering. There are so many people that are helping on the ground, but the need is enormous.”

To view more on-the-ground reporting from Samson on TV news, click here.

Our in-country staff is also joining the relief effort. Fritznel Jean, HUFH’s in-country Assistant Executive Director, and a member of the Cap Haitien chapter of Rotary International, is working with the Rotary to coordinate direct relief to those suffering in the south. Fritznel explains: "The population of Les Cayes is in great difficulty. Hospitals are overflowing, many deaths not yet counted, dozens of houses completely collapsed. The survivors still roam the streets in fear of going back inside the houses that are still standing."

Next steps: As a member of the Haiti Health Network of medical organizations and hospitals, we are informed in real time where acute medical support is needed, and we will continue to choose as our partners those who are most experienced and best placed to make sure aid gets to the right places in the right way.

Fortifying our programs in the North: Disasters have as many aftershocks as an earthquake and this one is no different. Today, our team on the ground is beginning to see people arrive seeking shelter and help from family members. Our staff is prepared to expand our programs to meet those needs in the communities that we serve. We are also ready to help with our partner hospitals in the north.

The severe food shortage has worsened: According to UNICEF, severe acute childhood malnutrition in Haiti is expected to more than double this year from the already high rate of 1 in 5 children. There has been extensive loss of crops, supply chain disruptions, and difficulty transporting food. This is adding to the ongoing problem with food insecurity which is affecting every area of Haiti. Our team is prepared and our malnutrition program - for children and pregnant women - remains up and running despite all the recent challenges.

THANKS TO YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT, OUR WORK CONTINUES UNINTERRUPTED.

We will ensure that your donation dollars go directly to trusted partners to provide direct aid to victims of the earthquake and to our programs for those who are seeking our help in the north.

TO DONATE TO OUR DISASTER RELIEF FUND, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

For more information on what we do and how you can help, please visit our website at: www.handsupforhaiti.org

SAVE LIVES & DONATE HERE

This blog is written by Samson Desamour, who has been on the ground in Les Cayes, the epicenter of the 2021 earthquake, helping to deliver supplies since early last week. Samson is one of HUFH’s original in-country leaders and an Afya Foundation volunteer. The Afya Foundation is a New York based nonprofit that provides an environmentally responsible solution to dire shortages of healthcare supplies around the globe by facilitating customized shipments of rescued surplus medical supplies to regions in need. Samson is in Haiti to assist with deliveries of supplies throughout Les Cayes and surrounding areas. HUFH is providing direct financial aid to Afya’s efforts in Haiti. You can read more about the Afya Foundation here.

In Samson's words:
It is sad to say that while 11 years have passed, Haiti still hasn’t recovered from the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck the country in 2010 and killed approximatively 100,000 to 316,000 people. We can talk forever about how the government hasn’t done much to help the Haitian people to get out of such a dire situation although they have received a lot of money to do so. My point is the people of Haiti can’t take it anymore. As Haitian, I am tired…

I am tired of seeing my brothers and sisters suffering.

I am tired because we need a break.

I am tired because we don’t have a government that cares.

I am tired because living in fear is norm for us.

When political unrest is a natural disaster.

And so, when the latest earthquake struck, I knew I was going down there to help. A volunteer with Hands Up for Haiti, I volunteered with HUFH’s partner, AFYA Foundation, to help them bring tens of thousands of dollars of essential medical supplies from the US and deliver the supplies to the earthquake zone.

When I got off the plane from Port-au-Prince to Les Cayes I wasn’t ready for what I was about to see. Just to get out of the airport it was so emotional. There were a crowd of people waiting outside of the fence to see who brings humanitarian supplies to help them, whether food or medical supplies. I drove two hours the next day to get to Aquin, a town in Les Cayes where we were going to distribute some of the supplies we brought with us. By then it was already dark. Lewis, our driver, took me for a ride in Aquin. While on our drive I noticed a few cement blocks in the middle of the street and thought that was normal because of how the roads in Haiti usually are.  I asked Lewis, “What are those for?”  He replied, “Those mean it is bedtime, no more traffic on that road.” I was confused and asked him to tell me more. He said: “Everyone is very wary of sleeping inside. Almost every night there are multiple aftershocks and therefore they sleep in the street and 95% of them don’t even have a tent or a tarp.”

One night I camped out and listened to the aftershocks jangle to the building.

Being in Haiti at ground zero and helping distribute medical supplies is very important to me because no matter how bad the situation is, I will forever be Haitian and be able to give back the very little that can mean so much to me, and to the people I help.

It’s hard to see my brothers and sisters are suffering. There are so many people that are helping on the ground, but the need is still enormous.

To view more on-the-ground reporting from Samson on TV news, click here.

To help with relief efforts, please click here.