Help Haitian Children Stay Healthy

Help provide healthcare and health education to students in Haiti.

All too often in Haiti, educational underachievement is an effect of poverty. Malnourished, sick children simply cannot learn. The people of a poor rural village like Matènwa do not have access to decent, affordable healthcare, and the lack of early intervention against curable, preventable diseases can lead to a lifetime of health issues.

The closest hospital for the people of Matènwa is an hour and a half drive away, inaccessible to the many who do not own cars and cannot afford transportation. Even when medical attention is given, the price of medications leaves many uncured and spiraling in health

Through a previous grant, Friends of Matènwa was able to prove the efficacy of having a small health center on school grounds by hiring a nurse to provide critical care and medication to students in need. In particular, she has identified, addressed, and cured anemia and various other deficiencies, malnutrition, and common infections, leaving a strong and positive impact on student engagement, performance, and overall well-being.

To continue to offer these services to their students, Friends of Matènwa now needs your help. Your donation will help to provide these basic necessities to Haitian students by funding a school nurse, allowing Friends of Matènwa to make significant strides in removing simple, curable illnesses as a barrier to education.

You can help.Your gift will provide onsite health education and care to over 350 children and their extended families.

Testimonies from Matènwa Community Learning Center Patients

"Nurse Duna has been so helpful, especially when I suffered from severe anemia. I became weak and was unable to work. The nurse gave me medication to help give me strength and it worked. With medication and information about the importance of iron-intake, I gained enough energy to return to work. If I had not received the care I needed so soon, I would've had to permanently leave work due to my illness. I'm very grateful for the support I found at the school clinic as it allowed me to return to work in no time. I told Nurse Duna that I used the iron fish she recommended. Almost everyday I boiled it in water with a little lime juice and drank the water. I began to feel stronger after just a few days."

"[My son] fell while playing soccer, so he has a big cut on his leg. If Nurse Duna was not here I would have been uneasy, because I always consult her first. If she wasn't here, I would have to travel to Nan Kafe or Ansagalè. Going to Ansagalè would cost me 1000 gourdes (about $16). It would also take a whole day of traveling. [My son] also said he was happy, because if he had to go any further, the pain would have been unbearable."

The mission of Friends of Matènwa is to be a democratic model of hands on education that reflects the learning and growing possible in one's local environment. MCLC uses methodologies that have been tailored to their culture through experimentation, evaluation, and modifications, resulting in the present implementation of highly successful practices.

Friends of Matènwa seeks to empower the local community in their ability to reflect and determine their own solutions, thus creating a healthy interdependent relationship when seeking resources, financial or material, from AID agencies.