Haiti
Compassion started working in Haiti in 1968. Today, there are over 117,000 children registered in our program centres at 330 church partners.
Where We Work
Snapshot of Haiti
54%
of people live below the poverty line
72%
of people lack access to proper sanitation
51%
of people can’t read and write
Haiti rose up against French colonial control in the early 19th century to become the first independent Caribbean state. But it has struggled with dictators, coups and corruption ever since. The current political situation is dire, with President Jovenel Moise scrambling to find another Prime Minister after Henry Ceant was fired in controversial circumstances.
The government is facing its biggest economic crisis since the 2008. Inflation is rampant and many citizens are fed up with perceived corruption and inaction. Their protests have been widespread and occasionally violent.
Added to this instability is the historical destruction caused by earthquakes, floods and cyclones that have swept the nation. Haiti’s infrastructure is unable to cope with devastating events like the Port-a-Prince earthquake in 2010—and the subsequent cholera epidemic that killed more than 7000 people—and Hurricane Mathew in 2016. Thousands have lost their lives and millions more have had their homes and livelihoods destroyed.
These regular events make it very difficult for the nation to build the infrastructure it needs—hospitals, roads, schools and so on—to bring its people out of poverty.
Over half the population lives in abject poverty, with 40 per cent unemployed. Almost one-quarter of infants have low birth weight, and most people living in rural areas lack access to basic needs such as clean water and sanitation facilities.
Haiti is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. Many of Haiti’s trafficking cases involve children recruited to live with families in other towns in the hope of going to school, but instead become domestic servants known as ‘restaveks’. Restaveks are made to work without pay, isolated from other children in the household, and seldom sent to school. Vulnerable to abuse, former restaveks make up a large proportion of Haiti’s street children, who are forced into prostitution, begging and street crime.
Letter from Compassion Haiti Director, Guilbaud Saint-Cyr
Dear Sponsor, My name is Guilbaud Saint-Cyr, and I have been serving as the Compassion Haiti Country Director for 14 years now. The ministry of Compassion began in Haiti in 1968. The Lord has currently blessed us with more than 108,000 registered children in partnership with about 300 local churches. We feel so grateful for the enthusiastic and generous contribution you have provided to your sponsored child!
open_in_new Read full letter
Letter from Compassion Haiti Director, Guilbaud Saint-Cyr
Dear Sponsor,
My name is Guilbaud Saint-Cyr, and I have been serving as the Compassion Haiti Country Director for 14 years now. The ministry of Compassion began in Haiti in 1968. The Lord has currently blessed us with more than 108,000 registered children in partnership with about 300 local churches.
We feel so grateful for the enthusiastic and generous contribution you have provided to your sponsored child!
Our committed sponsors enable children to have hope and a future, and to participate in effective programs designed to shape their lives so they can become responsible and fulfilled adults.
One vivid example is a young man who lived in the poverty of Solino, one of the largest and most dangerous slums in Haiti. One of five children in a family that struggled to meet their basic needs, he became a Compassion-sponsored child at an early age. Through the program, he had access to quality education, Bible training, medical and food support, and income-generating training. Eventually he attained a bachelor’s degree in administration at a prestigious university in Haiti and a master’s degree in discipleship from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Today, he is ministering to children in the community where he grew up, reaching out to gang members by modeling the way. He not only meets the needs of his nuclear family and extended family, but he also chose to sponsor two little boys through Compassion—one from his former child development centre and another from Colombia.
We have several priorities for the coming year. As a strong and growing ministry in Haiti, we plan to reinforce our partnerships by equipping our church partners with new technology for timely processing and delivery of child information to sponsors, and by helping them serve more children. We are also considering partnership with new denominations in the regions we already operate in, to serve the high volume of new children we foresee in the future.
We will continue to implement our WaSH (water, sanitation and hygiene) strategy, started a year ago, consisting of providing water, sanitation and hygiene services coupled with education and awareness training. We can save lives and enhance child development through WaSH initiatives. We are completing our pilot phase with 12 centres and can already see the great impact of the strategy. Our vision is to implement WaSH in all our centres throughout the country.
We are developing a new youth development strategy to enable all our eligible high-finishing students to fulfil their inner calling and potential through higher education, and transition the current Leadership Development Program model to a broader, integrated approach under the responsibility of churches.
We are fighting tirelessly to eradicate poverty, this evil that takes away our precious children’s hope, dignity, and joy of living. We firmly believe that what happens in the life of a child ripples throughout their environment, now and in the future. Each sponsor’s letter and word of encouragement has untold impact on a child and gives that child back hope, dignity and joy. Please write as often as you can.
Please pray that God’s wisdom will lead us to be more effective in carrying out this ministry of releasing one child at a time from poverty in Jesus’ name. Changed environments may help children, but transformed children will inevitably change their environments. Let us continue to band together to make this happen for the glory of God.
All these great accomplishments and initiatives have been made possible because of wonderful sponsors like you. Thank you again for your partnership and for your commitment to your sponsored child; this is a battle we can’t win without you.
In Jesus,
Guilbaud Saint-Cyr
Country Director Compassion Haiti
Safe water in Sarazin
Located in the Central Plateau region of Haiti, Sarazin is a poor neighbourhood with a population of about 24,000. People depend on agriculture to make a living and pay for their children’s school fees. But Sarazin struggled with one particular problem above the others—the lack of safe drinking water. And the community isn’t alone: around 42 per cent of Haitians don’t have a safe source of drinking water.
open_in_new Read moreSafe water in Sarazin
Located in the Central Plateau region of Haiti, Sarazin is a poor neighbourhood with a population of about 24,000. People depend on agriculture to make a living and pay for their children’s school fees. But Sarazin struggled with one particular problem above the others—the lack of safe drinking water. And the community isn’t alone: around 42 per cent of Haitians don’t have a safe source of drinking water.
“For the past 20 years, people in Sarazin walked at least a mile to collect water from a public water fountain that was always crowded with people, as it was the primary source of water for the entire population,” says Mrs. René Joseph, a local community leader.
In times of drought, the water issue got worse. The springs became dry, and the water fountain was sometimes closed. People had to wake up very early in the morning to gather as much water as they could for that day and the days ahead. Otherwise, they had no choice but to resort to the rivers, borehole wells, or even miserable hand-dug-wells to get their drinking water. These sources were contaminated and waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera were rife.
Initially, the project staff used iodine tablets or other purifying tablets provided by Compassion to purify the drinking water that the children consumed at the development centre, but children were still exposed to contaminated water at home. Then, in April 2016, a sustainable response was presented to this problem: local staff and Compassion Haiti decided to build a reverse-osmosis water fountain for the local church and an additional treated water fountain for the community, at a closer location than the old one.
“I love to drink water [at the centre], because it’s purified and I won’t get any diseases,” says eight-year-old Michel Magdala.
To make sure children consumed clean water at home as they did at the centre, program staff also distributed filters to the children to take home, so that they can treat water they collect from the rain and other unpurified sources.
“Making the decision to put these water fountains in the community was significant, because children can now drink clean water both at the centre and at home,” says Fritzner Prince, the Project Director. “They can learn how to practise hygiene principles, and the risk of contracting waterborne diseases is highly reduced. It’s a blessing for us!”
Prayer requests for Haiti
- Please pray for all of the children and their families who have been affected by the recent protests and rising costs of essential items. Please pray especially for the people in Grand Bois, who are in desperate need of safe drinking water. Pray they will receive the emergency aid they need.
- Pray for Rosselange and Berly, two Compassion assisted children, whose father recently died. Please pray for the family as they grieve; pray God will be near them and bring them comfort and strength. Pray that God will show them a way forward for their family in His time.
- Please pray for the family of one sponsored child in Port-au-Prince whose mother recently had both legs amputated below the knee, due to diabetes. Please pray for the mother to recover from surgery and find hope in a distressing time; pray for the family to be able to continue to meet their needs and support her well. Pray also for the local church as it uplifts her practically, emotionally and spiritually.
- Please pray for all of the Compassion Haiti staff, particularly the partnership facilitators who have recently participated in child protection training. Pray that God will give them wisdom and discernment as they train local child development centre tutors and staff, and protect more than 117,000 Compassion assisted children from abuse.
- Pray for Ricot and Wadler, two Compassion Haiti staff who have both recently lost an uncle; pray for their families as they grieve their loss. Pray they will receive good support from the team and that God will be their ever-present comfort.
- Pray for Haiti’s leadership and political direction. Pray that the Holy Spirit will bring peace and that the nation will find a way forward. Pray for protection and strength, particularly for the most vulnerable children and their families who are living in poverty.
Stories from Compassion in Haiti
Why Do the Poor Have Large Families?
Every child is a gift and a joy. But when income is scarce and a family is already struggling, why do parents expand their families? There are many social, cultural, religious and economic reasons why parents in the developing world have large families. Some might surprise you!
3 Children Share Why They Love Receiving Letters
Supakan’s home has only one piece of furniture: a cupboard made from cardboard and glass. It’s where her family keeps their favourite, most precious belongings—like Supakan’s letters from her sponsor. Why are letters so valuable to sponsored children? We asked three children from around the world to share why their sponsor’s letters mean so much.
It's Life and Death When Quadruplets Are Born Into Poverty
Jeancilia and Héribert were left alone in the hospital to worry. They were already struggling to raise their children with very little income. How could their precious baby boys survive such poverty?