A letter from Haiti

Hoping for a happier 2011


The Caribbean country of Haiti suffered tragedy after tragedy in 2010 with earthquakes, floods and disease decimating one of the poorest countries in the world. Gena Heraty wrote to The Mayo News from her base in Haiti outlining the hardship of the people
but also the hope for 2011.



Dear Friends,

As 2010 comes towards its end I find myself wondering what 2011 will hold for us here in Haiti. For sure 2010 brought a lot of sadness and despair. The earthquake, heavy rains and Cholera – all major forces battering away at a people already in desperate situations.
Here in Kay Christine, where I live with the special needs kids, the Christmas mood starts to take hold as the kids count the days until the presents on the 25th. The staff are amazingly upbeat considering all that they have suffered this year and all that they fear for the next year. With the election results still steeped in fraud and corruption, they do not dare to hope for change in the coming news. I myself am well, though feeling a bit tired. Too many deaths this year. We said good-bye to too many people we loved and sometimes there seems to be no end to the death.
However we always look to the positive and to the light. The darkness will always be with us so we might as well accept it. The challenge is to be a light in the darkness and to seek other lights to help us see our way.
In this year 2010, so many of you have been a great light to the people of Haiti. As I write to all of you I am filled with a sense of overwhelming gratitude to all of you for your fantastic support during this year. Let me put things into perspective. Myself and my staff manage the programs for the special needs kids and each month we need $50,000US to keep our programs running.
Our programs consist of our home for the abandoned kids/young adults in Kay Christine and our big rehab centre. We have 100 staff involved in our programs, and the services we provide include the following - a special needs school catering for 110 kids, physical therapy, occupational therapy, a prosthetic work shop, a swimming pool, a horse-riding program, micro credit loans for the parents, a card making workshop, special interventions (eg rent a house for a year, pay for an operation, pay for a funeral, pay for medicines, pay for food etc) and monthly aid to particular families in need.
Your money is helping to keep all those activities going. Thanks to your help we can help. Often mothers come to us in tears because they have no money to pay the rent, to pay the doctor, to buy food etc etc. Really I doubt if you can imagine how hard it is. Let me give you a quick example. Recently I came across a mother and twin babies in our hospital (see pic 1). (I later found out they were triplets and the other was elsewhere). When I stopped to talk with her I discovered that her babies (six months old) had not eaten all day as she had no milk for them and all she had given them was a sweet fruit flavoured drink. We have taken her under our wing but really I don’t know if the babies will make it as they do not come to us each day as we asked. We have helped her with food and money – your money is supporting them. You can see from the picture that one baby is way bigger than the others. This is because he was staying somewhere else. Unfortunately he is not so big now as his mother took him back and he has become very thin. It is very hard for us to see cases like this and not be able to control all the factors. We can give money, give food and have them come regularly but if the mother does not come what can we do? If we give large quantities of food it will be stolen from her so we have her come regularly so we can give food to her regularly. Some days she comes and some days she does not. So time will tell what will happen with these little kids.
Now look at Richard and Richardson - on their third birthday (see pic 3). You have been supporting them for the past three years so you should feel happy that they are doing so well. I remember how tiny and sickly they were when they first came to us over two years ago! Now they are lively young men and their Mam, Nadege is so proud of them.
So you see we do make a difference - your money is what allows us to help such children and thus I am forever grateful to you for your support.
Life is definitely full of challenges and as the new year approaches I want to encourage you to continue your support for Haiti. I know times are hard over there but I know also that things are a lot harder here. Change is slow and effective change needs careful planning to ensure it is sustainable. The children we help will need help long after people have forgotten about Haiti so we have to be wise in our spending and investment of your money.
Here’s a picture of the nice Mayo Bus as I call it! (see pic 2). The money raised at home helped buy this bus which is used for transporting children to and from the centre. I could write a lot more but I think the pictures say it all. We are busy and we are doing a good job. We have a lot to do for the years to come and with your help we will keep going. From all of us here in Haiti, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a lot of good health and good wishes throughout 2011.

Love Gena