Members of the Columbia community gathered Saturday at the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center for the introduction of Children for a New Haiti.
Wissel Joseph, a native of the island country, founded the non-profit organization. It serves to provide education, health care and nutrition to impoverished children in Haiti.
“We are dedicated to the empowering and bettering of Haitian children by providing a Christian environment,” Wissel said.
Haiti is the third largest country in the Caribbean. Wissel said 80 percent of the population is below the poverty line, living off of less than $2 per day.
Children For a New Haiti is giving the opportunity to young individuals to attend school in the country, where 65 percent of the population is illiterate.
The organization is currently offering its services in three small villages in Haiti. In the village of Dos Palais, 19 children are being given the chance to learn and grow.
“There is no infrastructure, no electricity, no clean water, no transportation,” Wissel said. “There are three elementary schools and a total of 800 children.”
With Columbia as its home base, Children for a New Haiti hopes to increase the support and quality of life for the Haitian children through sponsorship.
Accessing medical and educational facilities can be difficult for Haitians because of few transportation options, according to the organization.
For $35 a month, the cost of tuition, school supplies, dental/health care and nutrition, a child can attend school and help feed his/her family. It would cost about $1,000 to fund a doctor at a clinic in Dos Palais.
In addition to helping children through school, the organization is also working on improving the children’s nutrition.
Nutrition Program coordinator Pat Parmele talked about the difficulties many families face when it comes to getting a meal.
“Cornmeal costs $2.44 here and in Haiti it costs $8.75 (USD),” she said. “The food is unaffordable.”
Thirty percent of Haitian children suffer from malnutrition, and most do not get breakfast or lunch, according to the organization.
“We need to have money for food for these kids,” Parmele said. “Help us make them healthy people so they can learn in school and be better people.”
Sandra Beldor, a Haitian native and the group’s fundraising coordinator, explained the money raised would not be a wasted effort.
“LifeStraw is a water filtration system that costs $55,” Beldor said. “With just one, a family of five can have clean water to drink.”
She said clean water, an education and food on the table are the simple essentials that children in Haiti need right now to grow and learn.
“We know we cannot correct everything that is wrong in Haiti,” Beldor said. “But we can make a difference in one child’s life.”
