Samaritan's Purse continues to provide medical care, maternal child health and nutrition training, and shoe box gifts nearly three years after Haiti's earthquake.
June, 2012—More than three years after an earthquake devastated Haiti, God continues to use Samaritan’s Purse to shine a light in the darkest parts of this impoverished Caribbean nation.
Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we are providing assistance to Haitians in many ways:
Medical care:
Up to 200 Haitians are being treated daily at the Samaritan’s Purse-funded clinic in the Cité Soleil district of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. It is the only free medical facility in the largest and most destitute slum in the Western Hemisphere.
Malaria, pneumonia, chronic high blood pressure, asthma, and acid reflux are among the most common ailments requiring treatment, says clinic director Linda Mobula. “The cholera outbreak is still ongoing, even though the numbers aren’t as high as before,” she added. “There are still communities having problems.”
Linda and her staff have the misfortune of seeing the darkest side of Cité Soleil: physical and sexual violence against women and children. This violence results in physical and emotional trauma, sexually transmitted diseases, and infections.
In response, our clinic is addressing not only patients’ physical needs, but also their spiritual and emotional needs. The impact? More than 8,000 Haitians have come to faith in Christ at the clinic, and a nearby church, on whose land the clinic is built, is discipling these new believers. We praise God for the opportunity to help point people to Christ.
Helping mothers and children
Since 2010, our Maternal Child Health and Nutrition program has helped thousands of pregnant women and mothers of young children since the earthquake. Through this program, community health workers have been trained to provide education in prenatal and postnatal care, nutrition, and Biblical parenting.
The program also includes providing care to pregnant women and immunizing children younger than five years old in three regions. In 2013, as many as 7,600 pregnant women and new mothers as well as 10,000 children will be included in the initiative.
Shoe box gifts and the Good News
Operation Christmas Child is bringing gift-filled shoe boxes—and opportunities to tell the Good News of Jesus Christ to impoverished Haitian children and their families. Many of the children receiving these boxes—often the first gifts they will have ever received—will participate in our discipleship program called The Greatest Journey. Since 2009, more than 160,000 shoe box gifts have been delivered to children in Haiti, and in the last two years alone, more than 30,000 Haitian children have made decisions for Christ after participating in The Greatest Journey.
