As our programs have succeeded in stabilizing over 240 children in the past 2 years post-quake, we've finally been able to turn our eyes toward the future here. World Orphans bases their orphan care on a holistic model, looking at every aspect of the situation at hand. It is a priority to seek to address the three C's - Church, Child, and Community in all of our projects and partnerships.
Here in Haiti with the home-based programs providing very effective care, Ted & Ron have begun to assist church partners in looking at some ideas for sustainability. One of the Haitian churches worked with their American partner to build a chicken house this summer. It will enable them to raise & sell chickens at market value, making a profit that will further the OVC (orphaned & vulnerable children) program that they are serving the community with. The first set of chicks will arrive shortly & be ready for market by the holidays!
Sustainability projects address one facet of orphan prevention. Poverty is a big one here, so we are continually working to research and develop appropriate ways to help the churches & caregiver families to find jobs and gain the skills needed to further stabilize and meet their spiritual, emotional & physical needs.
Last month, Jessica & I began the journey toward further orphan prevention from a medical standpoint. The first phase of our research & development is seeking practical ways to meet the great need for maternity & HIV care in these communities. Maternal & infant death rates are extremely high here and HIV is a silent killer that leaves orphaned and sometimes HIV+ children without families.
Putting our nursing insight to work, we held forums in 9 of our church communities. We sat down face-to-face with the women at each location to open up conversations, gather information, and answer questions regarding these two major topics. Our goal was to gain a better understanding of the needs and experiences of the women in regards to pregnancy, childbirth and HIV.
We were blessed by their openness to share personal stories with us and to speak about the struggles and the needs of women in their communities. The response that echoed on as we moved from church to church was "Maternity care is absolutely our GREATEST need for women right now." We listened intently and prayed with them over the situation, asking God to provide these resources, and as sisters in Christ, committed ourselves to seeking His guidance and being His servants.
Though I don't know exactly where our work in this area will lead quite yet, we were able to offer a very basic first step to each of these communities. At the end of this month, a midwife from Arizona is traveling down to provide Safe Birth training to 5 women in each church. While it will be more theory than hands on & entail no practical experience, it is a very important first step in providing related resources. Our hope it that it will allow and encourage the women with a vision for developing their own church-based maternity care programs. Please pray with us over the next two weeks leading up to it - that God will raise up godly women who are willing meet these needs in their community as His servants and that they will become tangible examples of Christ's love.