Even bigger steps
Despite political unrest and lockdowns, we’ve been making progress, while still finding time to celebrate our accomplishments.
Our medical outreach, prevention and advocacy services continue to play a pivotal role.
February was a busy month for LFBS, despite most of the country being in lockdown due to political unrest. In addition to the usual volume of medical evaluations and accompaniments that we provide, we handled several urgent and critical cases.
In late February, a surgeon at a local hospital contacted our staff regarding a girl with disabilities who had fallen and broken her leg. The surgeon was willing to operate on the girl’s leg pro-bono but needed funds for the surgical materials, which her family did not have. Thanks to our incredible supporters, we were able to intervene and provide financial assistance for her surgery. Our staff took the girl and her mother home following the surgery, and we have been following up with nutritional support, aftercare, as well as assessing and developing a plan to address the family’s overall state of vulnerability.
Early in the month, Haitian social services (IBESR) contacted us about six children that had endured severe burns from a gas lamp explosion. A nearby hospital was able to treat four of the children, but two were turned away because their burns were too severe for that hospital’s capacity for treatment. Through our network, and in collaboration with IBESR and CFRAPS (Centre de Formation et de Recherches en Appui Psychosocial), we were able to arrange for one of the critical burn victims to be transferred via helicopter to a hospital in another part of the country. Unfortunately, that hospital only had space for one patient and it took an additional day before we could find a hospital for the second child, who very sadly passed away. This highlights the urgency of our medical interventions, as so many hospitals in Haiti are struggling with resources and space and it can be very difficult to access medical care. We are relieved to report that the child who was transferred first is recovering well, and is receiving ongoing care.
Our Child Protection Agent identified four children abandoned in the local public hospital of Les Cayes. Sadly, one of those children passed away. Our team has been providing meals for the remaining three abandoned children every day, while advocating with local social services to seek a more permanent placement for these children so that they can be transferred out of the hospital and somewhere with the better care that they deserve. Please consider helping support us in providing meals and care for these little ones.
Celebrating success, hard work, and dedication
Daniel* and Evens* hesitantly joined a LFBS mentorship and personal development youth group in 2019. Working for odd jobs and begging on the streets, neither young man had completed primary school and both of them had lost their parents. They had been in conflict with the law, and both had become teen parents. We enrolled Daniel and Evens in a construction apprenticeship and paid a local construction site manager to train them. In December 2020, we had a celebration for these young men as they completed their apprenticeship and congratulated them on some great news: the construction site manager who trained the boys had decided to keep them on staff – as workers now, no longer as apprentices! With the income from their new jobs, Daniel and Evens are now able to support themselves and their families, and are excited for their futures.
*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of our beneficiaries
During the two weeks before Christmas, LFBS staff were able to reunite two children with their families. One of these cases required staff to travel to another department several times within the two week period to do family tracing and mediation, sometimes working 14 hour days. We are so grateful for our dedicated staff and are proud to have a team that made it their mission to reunite these children with their families before Christmas!
Fransnel is a former LFBS beneficiary who we assisted in undertaking an apprenticeship with a photographer in 2019. We were so impressed with the talent and skills Fransnel obtained during his apprenticeship that we hired him to take pictures for LFBS.
In fact, all of the photos you see in this update are taken by Fransnel!
Stories like these show us that our hard work results in impactful, sustainable change. Thank you for supporting us to make this happen!
Empowering families & communities through nutrition
Poverty and health are intricately linked. One of the most vital parts of self-sufficiency is stable access to fresh, healthy, nutritious food. Our agriculture and livestock farming initiatives encourage not only food security, but income opportunities. In our November update, we told you about the crops planted on LFBS land that offer a more sustainable way for us to provide food security to the children passing through our safehouses and to vulnerable families.
Between December 2020 and February 2021 we harvested and produced a number of crops from LFBS land: Maniok (yaka root), Pitimi (millet), Cornmeal (mayi), and Peanut Butter (manba). Much of the harvest was more than could be consumed in our safehouses so we distributed a portion to the families in our outreach programs, and sold a portion at the local market as well.
We are also providing small amounts of employment to local community members by hiring them to manage our crops and plant new ones, including new crops of yaka root and sweet potato!
Our holistic approach
In February, LFBS staff were approached by a single mother who couldn't afford school fees for her two children. The annual school fees for these children was less than CAD$60 each. Not only did LFBS respond to ensure these children had access to an education, but we also entered their mother in our business start up program to empower her to be able to provide for her children without our help in the future. Additionally, our nurse identified that one of the children was unwell, and accompanied her to the hospital where she was treated for typhoid fever. The child has received treatment and is recovering, and both children are now in school while their mother develops her business.
Protecting vulnerable children means empowering families and communities to take care of each other. This is just one example of the ways in which our outreach program helps Haitian families with the training and resources they need to preserve the family unit and pursue self-sufficiency. Thank you for being a partner in this work!
You, our visionary supporters and donors, are a catalyst for change in Haiti.
Your interest, caring, and support makes a difference every day in the lives of our beneficiaries. Because of you, we have touched the lives of thousands of people in Haiti. We now work in 45 communities throughout 9 departments, and continue to grow every day. Thanks to you, we are empowering children, families, and communities to take even bigger steps!
Thank you for your shared commitment to Little Footprints Big Steps’ mission and vision and for supporting us in our belief that every child deserves to grow up in a happy, loving, and secure family.
Please share our work with friends, family and colleagues, and remember that you can donate as a gift in honour of someone else as well!