We Are All Our Brothers’ & Sisters’ Keepers
The Center of Hope (Haiti), Inc. is an approved NGO in good standing in Haiti. We are celebrating our fifteenth anniversary in 2019. Our mission and our focus have always been on serving the poorest of poor children in the Hinche area of Haiti. Over the years we have developed an orphanage and a school for children who would not otherwise be able to go to school. Today, we have 115 children in grades one through eight with an average class size of 15 children. Our children have grown up together and formed a strong bond of determination to obtain an education in order to be household breadwinners and contributors to their community in Haiti. It is against this backdrop that our children are now being adversely impacted by the political and economic turmoil that has ground Haiti to a halt. The situation has rendered our children helpless to avoid a return to hopelessness.
After days of protests, both peaceful and violent, the majority of the people in Haiti are being rendered powerless to protect themselves and their families. Essential services are scarce or non-existent. The main roads are blocked by the government and by those who oppose the government. The people cannot go to work. Businesses and schools are closed. Food and clean water are hard to find. Our children, who rely on the school for 2 meals each day, are unable to come to school.The protests are reported to be aimed at crippling the government of President Jovenal Moise in order to force him to resign. The people are extremely poor and believe that corruption in the Haiti government has cost the country billions of dollars that could have been used to alleviate their dire situation. Inflation continues to be rampant with no end in sight. In a few short years, the exchange rate for the Haitian Gourde to the US dollar has dropped from 40htg to 82htg. We are glad that we decided some time ago to pay our Haitian staff in US dollars to remove the impact of inflation in Haiti on their wages.
We are appalled at the fact that the world media, with few exceptions, have avoided reporting on the situation in Haiti despite the fact that country is at a standstill amid the protests and the rapid deterioration of living conditions and civility. Foreign governments, including the United States, are warning their citizens to stay away from Haiti and those that already in the country are being told to leave.
From a global economic perspective, Haiti has no reason to exist among nations. However, from a humanitarian perspective, every life is worth saving and to turn your back on those that are helpless and hopeless is immoral. We are in Haiti to educate the future leaders - the children. We ask everyone to "speak for" the children of Haiti by writing your governmental representatives and imploring them to provide assistance to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Haiti.
