DIOCESE OF NORWICH OUTREACH TO HAITI
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Mission Statement
Helping Haitians help Haitians Diocese of Norwich Outreach to Haiti, a sponsored ministry of the Diocese of Norwich, is committed to serving the people of Haiti in the spirit and values of the Gospel. Providing sacramental and spiritual support, Diocese of Norwich Outreach to Haiti offers education, health care, parish twinning opportunities, and community development for Haitians in need and hospitality to international volunteers and visitors. Outreach to Haiti has been working in the Caribbean nation for nearly 40 years. Our Education Sponsorship Program provides scholarships to approximately 200 students to attend primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools (without our support they would not be receiving an education). Through our Ttwinning Program that encourages relationships between parishes, schools, and organizations in the United Sates with parishes, schools, and clinics in Haiti, we are able to educate more than 4,000 young people annually. We have 3 Medical Clinics: one in Christ Roi (Port-au-Prince) and two in parish communities within the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince. Our Christ Roi medical clinic is full service, and focuses especially on women and children, and includes a Food and Nutritional Supplements Program for malnourished infants, children, and expectant mothers.
About This Cause
Diocese of Norwich Outreach to Haiti We are physically located in the Christ Roi (Christ the King) neighborhood in Haiti's capital city, Port-au-Prince, and we also operate in approximately fourteen Parish Communities within the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince. Our administrative, professional, and support staff work from the Christ Roi location, which is the Center of Operations for Outreach to Haiti. All of our staff in Haiti are Haitian, and we have a Chaplain and Director of Parish Twinning who has lived for more than fourteen years in Haiti, but is currently in the U.S. Our Operations Center has a Medical Clinic, Health Care Programs, Dental Clinic, Food and Nutritional Supplement Programs, Emergency Food Support, an Educational Sponsorship Program, many other opportunities and is a communications and support hub for our Parish Twins. Education Sponsorship Program There is little free public education in Haiti. Less than 65% of school age children have the opportunity to attend school and, of this group, only 2% complete secondary school (high school). We provide scholarships to approximately 200 students from kindergarten through post- secondary including universities and vocational schools. We also provide medical and family support to help the students succeed. Our student retention rate is 95% annually. Our Post- Secondary Program supports students majoring in medicine, engineering, education and other programs critical to the future of Haiti. We also have a fledgling internship program that affords employment opportunities to our post- secondary students. A recent grant allowed us to reconfigure space to equip a modest computer labs to support students’ pursuit of learning after school and on the weekends. We offer many workshops and programs including English as a Third Language (ETL)--most Haitian speak Creole and French; a program to mentor girls so they will remain in school to earn their education, Trauma Care, and many other beneficial opportunities. The Haitian Parishes who are part of our Parish Twinning Program have started schools in villages where had been no schools. These efforts are supported by their US Twin Parishes who help to defray the cost of building schools and they pay for teacher salaries, school nurses, and help to provide daily lunch for the students and faculty. Medical, Healthcare, and Food and Nutritional Supplement Programs Access to medical care is extremely limited in Haiti. We offer medical aid to the 60,000 men, women, and children living in the neighborhood we serve and to countless other Haitian in surrounding neighborhoods. Our doctors annually see about 6,000 patients for medical issues and vaccinate between 7,500-10,000 patients against preventable and sometimes deadly diseases. The vaccination rate for our Christ Roi neighborhood is significantly higher than overall statistics for Haiti.. We offer an on-site Maternal and Child Health Care Program; and our 3 health agents provide in-home visits to identify medical needs and offer basic health-care education. The Haitian Ministry of Health announced plans to send prospective health agents to our clinic to be trained in addressing community health issues. The mortality rate for children under 5 in Haiti is the highest in the Western Hemisphere, and malnutrition is the leading cause of death for this age group. Our Food and Nutritional Supplement program annually helps 80-100 malnourished infants and children return to normal weight and height. For children, a key component of the program is Plumpy-nut, a ready to eat nutritional supplement that accelerates a return to health for children who are severely malnourished. In 2015 we began a nutrition program for expectant mothers to improve both their health and the health of their newborns. Our Twin Parishes support another two clinics to give aid to people living in Parish the neighborhoods to help those living there. We have an economic development program (FAK) that provides mothers--who support their families--with business basics, start-up resources, and training to better position them financially to care for their children. Parish Twinning and Partnership Programs Our Center of Operations is the hub of our Twinning Program. From there we manage and provide a meeting place for 14 Twinning partnerships between US parishes and schools and Haitian parishes and orphanages. Twinning encourages personal and spiritual relationships between the two partners but also provides financial support for education, medical care, nutrition and food, and economic development. Mission and Immersion Trips Immersion groups experience the culture and realities of Haitian life and visit sites of cultural and historical significance to the Haitian people. Participants typically volunteer at orphanages, feeding programs, hospitals, clinics, and so forth. We have offered and, hope to offer in the near future, trips to provide volunteer and cultural experiences for people and groups visiting Haiti. We have hosted numerous visitors to Haiti who come to serve, learn and stand in solidarity with the Haitian people. A dental group from Connecticut has conducted a clinic each year often working with Haitian dental professionals, which has led us to develop a dental clinic. We have Doctors and nurses from many organizations who support the work of mobile clinics and visit regularly to work with their Haitian counterparts. US parishes visit regularly to work hand-in-hand with Haitian parishes to support schools, clinics and economic development programs in urban and rural settings. Over the years, US engineers have assisted Haitian counterparts in construction and water projects. Art therapists and psychologists were present after the 2010 earthquake to help people cope with the trauma of loss. These guests are an integral part of our mission and work in Haiti.