I will never, ever forget the look in the eyes of this tiny skeleton of a 3-year old child. Staring intently, his eyes never wavered from the hardboiled egg I’d started peeling for him ‘Could this be for me?’ ‘Could this entire egg really be for me, only?’ he questioned with his eyes.
At my slight gesture to hand him the peeled egg, he quickly grabbed it from me, held it tightly in his tiny hands, took one big bite, held the rest in his two fists for a moment and then squished the remaining portion into his dirty pockets, not knowing if or when he would get a next meal.

Our first Children In Need  (CNIHP) medical outreach took place on October 24, 2008. Our school was transformed into a temporary health clinic.  We examined 126 patients over a two-day period, many of whom had not seen a doctor in years. Most of the adults we examined were severely anemic.  Many had critical hypertension with BP 200/100 and up. Yet, I believe the real reason we were there that day was to save the life of a three year old boy named Fednor.  He was in the end stages of starvation.

Fednor’s step-grandmother arrived to the clinic with two healthy-looking, seemingly well-cared-for children to be examined by the doctor. Anoise, the Community Leader, advised us that there was a third child at home. We pressed the woman as to why she had not brought the other child along, too. Uncomfortable with her response, we strongly urged her to bring him which she initially refused to do. Troubled by her reluctance, we declined to examine her two children until she brought Fednor.

We soon  learned why she was so reluctant to bring him.  Fednor was covered from head to toe with scabies, had sunken eyes, a  bloated belly, and ribs prominently protruding from his tiny, malnourished frame. He could only stand for a couple of minutes before needing to squat. According to Dr. Sanchez, who examined him, he would have died of severe malnutrition within days, had we not intervened.

From the beginning, Fednor had an extra special place in my heart. I could sense an intense spiritual struggle raging over the life of this little boy. Throughout Fednor’s life, his social situation was unstable and filled with horrific traumas. His father and mother were separated, each trying to survive by working in Port-Au-Prince. With both parents gone most of the time, Fednor had been left to the care of his paternal grandfather and step-grandmother who lived close to our school. Tragically, as often happens, Fednor was seriously neglected, almost to death.

We arranged for him to come to the school each day to eat lunch with our students until he was recovered enough to attend preschool. Once he began his education, the neurological damage caused by being malnourished for years became evident. He had difficulty concentrating and learning. Our Pre-school Director, Julia Jules, took him under her wing, as a surrogate mother, brought him breakfast and snacks plus vitamins and supplements each day and tailored the curriculum to optimize his learning potential.

Sadly, a year later, Fednor suffered another disruption in his young life. His father, a healthy 28 year-old, contracted a fever of unknown origin and died within a few days. This time Fednor’s paternal uncle took over caring for him and, thankfully, agreed to let him continue to attend our school and  learn of the love of Jesus.  But as soon as his mother thought she could care for him again, she would take him out of these loving and stable homes to live with her. As he got older he was a help to her at the market and, as a result, did not attend school. Fednor became street smart and as a young, vulnerable teenager got involved with the wrong people. Tragically, last summer, at the age of 16, Fednor was shot and killed on the streets of Port-au-Prince in an area known to be controlled by gangs. CINHP helped his family to bury him in the beautiful mountains of Lespinasse where he was born.

I tell you these details so you can better understand why we continue to fight for justice for the children of Haiti. Fednor was deeply loved by CINHP. Saving his life and providing a good future for him became an ardent pursuit for us throughout his short life. In so many ways Fednor embodies our work in Haiti.
Children In Need Haitian project exists to give the children in the community of Lespinasse a “future and a hope” as our guiding verse (Jer 29:11) states. To me, Fednor’s own death reflect the overall helplessness of precious children who grow up in toxic environments and tragic circumstances – where structural, social, and spiritual oppression run uninhibited with very few available interventions.

Sharon Cushing, Executive Coordinator for CINHP writes:

We believe that the best way to a better future for Haiti is to prepare today’s children to be the leaders of tomorrow – to identify and seize opportunities for themselves and become creators of opportunities for others.

Though Jeanette and I haven’t been to Haiti for nearly two years due to the civil unrest that continues to plague the country and now Covid-19, the work continues and is prospering! God is doing amazing work through our staff in Haiti, who, though a bit weary, are doggedly determined to serve the children of  Lespinasse. They even found a way to do a “school at home” program during the Covid-19 closure so that our students didn’t fall behind.
This year all 13 of our 9th-grade students passed the state exams and nine of them began attending high school. This is monumental. There was a time when this would have been unthinkable. It shows growth in the mindset of the community. It shows a developing though fragile hope for the future. The parents are beginning to move beyond surviving to planning, and that is encouraging.
A few items we’ve yet to accomplish include: build a new kitchen, install a pre-school playground and additional restrooms to accommodate our growing student population, provide health insurance for our staff, construct a public cistern for the community, and begin a literacy program for adults and others who are unable to attend school.          

Our gratitude goes out to our staff for their dedication and perseverance,  and to our faithful friends whose finances and prayer have enabled Children In Need to do: 

• Serve 200+ children and employ 26 full and part-time Haitian staff.
• Provide daily nutritious meals, mentoring, and basic healthcare for each of our student.student.
  
• Build a beautiful new school building with a play area.
  
• Deliver quality education that has earned us First Place in the region and enabled our older students to pass the state exams and qualify for high school, year after year.
  
• Provide emergency assistance to families, including a house for an elderly couple whose home was destroyed in a hurricane.
• This year we’ll enter into an agreement with Child Evangelism Fellowship to begin Youth clubs and summer camp for our students and other children in the area (implementation by summer 2021).
• We are also in early discussions with a partnering organization that may be able to help our graduating students with high school scholarships and vocational programs.
  

From R.K.’s Corner

In the July, 2013 issue of The Bridge Report, we featured for the first time Children in Need Haiti Project (CINHP) under the headline From New York City to the Mountains of Haiti (see https://www.bridgeinternational.org/the-bridge-report-july-2013-from-new-york-city-to-the-mountains-of-haiti/ on our website).  There, we introduced you to Jeanette Felix, the founder and visionary of the mission.  She and her Executive Coordinator, Sharon Cushing, are helping the children in a small mountain town Lespinasse, by removing them from a destiny of poverty and deprivation to a fulfilled and productive life, by the love of Jesus, education, and good health care.  In our October 2016 issue, we followed up with a story how CINHP assisted the town in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.

UNICEF reports that in the world today, 1 billion children live in poverty and neglect.  It is a dizzying statistic no one can relate to, but we all can relate to one person.  That’s why, in this update report from Haiti, we have chosen to report on the short life of one little boy, Fednor, who was rescued from that statistic by CINHP, then loved and cared for by the staff.  Here is also an uplifting progress report on their school, and their efforts to educate in the midst of Covid-19.

CINHP is a worthy ministry, please mark donations
8155 Children in Need Haiti!