Hi there,

Last year I visited a friend, Heather King, in Haiti. She was volunteering at a facility that provides accommodation and education to disabled children from the poorest communities. Towards the end of her time, she hand-biked a marathon to raise money. Never wanting to be outdone, I told her I'd run the San Francisco marathon...

In many developing countries, such as Haiti and South Sudan, disability is viewed as a curse. Special needs children are often hidden in their homes and left alone while their families go out to work and school. The other children refuse to play with them as they are told it could be contagious. These children are very vulnerable to abuse too. Some are abandoned completely and left in hospitals, in slums or rubbish dumps.

Hope Health Action builds and operates facilities to care for these children and give them a chance to develop. In Haiti, The Maison de Benediction, looks after twenty children aged 3-17. They sleep there during the week and go home at the weekend. Many of these children were orphaned before coming here and now being fostered. 

Please support this wonderful organization by donating. The money will go towards building a similar facility in South Sudan. In return, you can enjoy the prospect of me agonizingly dragging myself around San Francisco.

Cheers,

Stephen

Stories about the children in Haiti

One boy, Noah, has been enrolled in two different local schools. He can walk and talk but he has trouble staying balanced and his speech can be difficult to understand. Noah doesn’t have learning difficulties and he is 14. He is a determined, sociable and very bright young man. Twice he bought his uniform and turned up for his first day. On both occasions he was told he couldn’t stay because of his cerebral palsy. 

Another girl, Jessie, is back at the rest-bite centre after going missing for months. She has epilepsy and some learning difficulties. When she left, she was talking, playing with the other children and making great progress in her learning. She has returned with burn scars on her cheek, leg and arm. Her arm was so badly burnt that she lost her fingers. Now she is back with us but the incidents around her accident still aren’t clear and we are concerned about her safety. She is brought each week by her mother’s boyfriend.