2023 Annual Impact Report

Courage (noun):

Strength in the

face of trouble.

While the year brought many unique challenges, our staff and partners in Haiti continued to seek solutions for their villages through construction, agriculture, healthcare, and micro-business projects.

A message from our Executive Director

Haiti H2O’s Logistics Director, Jules, described circumstances in Haiti this way: “The gangs are spreading around, like butter on bread!”

Gang violence in 2023 caused critical food and fuel shortages, extreme inflation, as well as mass migration out of Port au Prince into the rural areas.

This is the difficult situation on the ground for our Haitian staff and partners.

And yet, they persist in moving projects forward! Hosting 12 Mobile Medical Clinics, rebuilding 2 homes, completing a bathroom facility for St. Martin’s school children, providing food relief in all 4 villages, and helping 10 farmers attend training in permaculture techniques to improve their harvests.

Your gifts empower our Haitian staff and partners to care for their communities!

—Rhonda N. Smith, Executive Director

Schools

Unlike the U.S., there are no widespread publicly funded schools in Haiti. Most schools collect tuition in order to operate. Over the years, Haiti H2O partnered with 3 of our communities, building schools to make education more available to their local children. Each school is set in the heart of the village, but children come from surrounding areas to attend classes in grades K-8.

Recent turmoil in Haiti has made it more challenging for parents to pay tuition. Yet, our community schools have been able to stay open. Often teachers continue to work even when there aren’t enough funds to pay their full salary. Extra funds from Haiti H2O and local micro-businesses are supplementing teachers’ pay.

Thank you for your gifts that empower local leaders and teachers in their commitment to education. You are impacting the lives of these students!

Area Schools

Haiti H2O provided scholarships to 7 students pursuing specific vocations. Out of this group, 6 students are training to become teachers and 1 is training to become a nurse. All scholarship recipients desire to use their knowledge in rural Haitian villages—some even want to help in our partner communities!

Thank you for investing in the education of these young people in Haiti!

Extended Education

Construction

The Many Hands Home Construction Project continues to make a big impact in St. Martin. 2023 saw the completion of 2 homes and the start of 2 more that will be completed in the coming year. Families who get help rebuilding their homes (destroyed in past hurricanes) are chosen from the local MHHC committee. The homeowner provides the land, while Haiti H2O funds the materials and labor that go into each house. Local contractors are employed through this program as they build sturdy homes that will better withstand the storms and earthquakes that frequent Haiti.

Madame Joseph (bottom) saw her house destroyed in the last hurricane. Her family was able to have their new home finished in 2023. Watch the video Madame Joseph sent to us just before her house was completed.

Thank you for helping families rebuild from natural disasters that destroyed their homes.

Many Hands Home Construction Project

Our partner community of St. Martin has long needed more bathrooms for their school. The Blok Sanitaire is unlike anything that Haiti H2O has helped out with before. With 10 toilets and multiple handwashing stations, this addition will improve sanitation for the school children, even slowing the potential spread of cholera.

Our Haitian staff worked diligently, coordinating with the leaders in St. Martin, purchasing local supplies, and hiring a structural engineer for the design. The final step is to complete the digging of a well to supply the bathrooms with water.

Thank you for investing in the sanitation needs of rural Haiti!

Blok Sanitaire in St. Martin

Mobile Medical Clinics

Haiti H2O saw a full year of mobile medical clinics roll out to 3 of our partner communities in 2023. These medical visits help treat sudden diseases and illnesses as well as provide year-round care and medication for long-term health needs, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

Dr. Sony and his team of Haitian nurses visited each partner community 4 times last year. They are dedicated to bringing healthcare to rural Haiti. The medical team and local community leaders work with Haiti H2O’s staff to care for every patient that comes. We hope to expand to our last community partner, Meloniere, soon.

Thank you for providing regular healthcare where there are no doctors!

Consistent Healthcare

Patients seen in 2023:

Total Patient Visits:
1,068

Food Security

Food shortages are plaguing all of Haiti, with nearly half the population at crisis levels of hunger and many facing serious malnutrition and famine. In 2023, Haiti H2O invested in farmer training to help the small-scale farmers in our partner villages increase their food production. This will help them feed their families and their communities.

Thank you for giving, so that 10 farmers could learn ways to improve their crops, feed their families, and care for the environment.

Farmer Training

Haiti H2O provided seed funding to purchase equipment for a start-up bakery in Plain Matin to improve access to bread locally. Local leaders requested help with this project because there are no bakeries in their town or close by. They saw the opportunity to not only provide bread, but also create more local jobs for those baking and selling the loaves.

Thank you for investing in micro-business opportunities in rural Haiti!

Bakery Micro-business

Because of the dire food shortages, Haiti H2O helped our four local church partners to supply food to their communities. The churches distributed staples, including rice, beans, corn, oil, and pasta, to more than 200 families.

Thank you for providing food at this time of extreme hunger!