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The mission of the Haitian Health Foundation (HHF) is to improve the health and well-being of women, children, families and communities living in the greater Jeremie region through healthcare, education and community development.

The history of the Haitian Health Foundation began in 1982 with a trip to Port-au-Prince by Dr. Jeremiah J. Lowney, a Connecticut orthodontist who traveled to Haiti to provide free dental care.

In 1985, after working for three years in Port-au-Prince and other areas of Haiti with Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity, Mother Teresa requested that Dr. Lowney move his small outreach to the rural city of Jeremie. This southwestern area of Haiti suffers a dearth of health care.

HHF has established a stable and responsive preventive and curative health care system and development program in one of the poorest areas of Haiti. In addition to the city of Jeremie, HHF provides support to over 100 rural mountain villages in the Grand’Anse.

HHF is proud of an overhead of less than 9 cents for every dollar donated ~ over 91% of funds collected go directly to programs and services. These efforts have evolved over the last 30 years to create an organization that provides the following services:  a primary health care outpatient clinic serving over 100,000 patients per year, an outstanding community health promotion and outreach program to mountain and remote villages, the construction of houses and latrines for many poor families and the elderly, goat distribution, feeding facilities, funding for primary and secondary education, and many other programs. HHF brings healthcare services, education, and sustainable development to a population of over 225,000 people in over 100 rural mountain villages.  There is still so much to do, but HHF continues to change lives ~ one person at a time.

The Haitian Health Foundation and Tek4Kids share community knowledge and update each other on the status of the political environment, education and technology. They work together to provide a better outcome for the students and teachers that they serve.

Click here to visit website: http://www.haitianhealthfoundation.org

Project Istwa was founded in 2011 by Linda D. Thélémaque and Fiona Korwin-Pawlowski, who worked together in medical mission after the earthquake in Haiti 2010. The organization’s goal is to build stronger communities and empower the Haitian youth by using photography. Besides to experience community together, they are given the possibility to express what their world looks like in their eyes.

Having started in Cité Soleil, one of the absolutely poorest areas in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, the project quickly spread to other parts of Haiti. Project Istwa is not only offering workshops, they also keep in contact and support the communities they have worked in.

Tek4Kids partnered with Project Istwa on a photo workshop in January 2012. Children of the community in Jeremie were working on capturing what is important to them in photos. After six days of shooting on their own and various accompanying instruction meetings, a highly self-expressive, wonderful exhibition was opened at St. John Bosco School.

The 17 children participating in the Project Istwa Photo Workshop were chosen from the community based on what workshop they had an interest in, imagination and handwriting ability. I chose the St John Bosco Formation Center because of their open-mindedness and desire to work with Tek4Kids and Project Istwa.

Day 1: Met with kids and parents, introduced the project, filled out permission forms, answered questions. Distributed backpacks, notebooks and pens. Kids personalized their bags and we took individual and group photos.

Day 2: Showed kids various images, handed out cameras, explained all the buttons, settings, options, etc. Lunch. Kids and facilitators went on a photo walk to reiterate verbal consent before taking a photo.

Day 3: Handed out cameras, reminded kids of the week’s theme: Take pictures of anything that was important to them or that they wanted or they wanted to share. Each photo was to have a “story” to go with it. Lunch. Kids were asked to share about 1 picture that they had taken.

Day 4: Reminded kids that this was their chance to express how they feel, what’s important to them, what they see around them and what they think about. Kids had the whole day to shoot on their own.

Day 5: Kids started thinking and talking about which photos they would choose for the exhibit and captions to go with the pictures. Lunch. Went through photos, discussed in groups. Explained the exhibit (but not sure that the kids really “got it”), how cool it was really going to be!

Day 6: Handed out invitations (each child got to invite 3 people). Kids decorated invitations. Lunch. Planned the food for the reception. Kids filled out exit questionnaires.

Day 7: Prepared for exhibition. Set up. Exhibition was from 3-6 p.m. The theme was: “The Smaller, the Stronger: Photo’s and stories from the kids of Jeremie.” Students and parents came dressed in their Sunday best. Nearly the whole school was in attendance as well as others who were invited from the community, all coming to admire the students’ beautiful photographs and the reading the stories behind them. Children were gifted with their matted, enlarged photos (many 8 x 10s) and a small photo album of photos from the week, their photographer badges and backpacks. What a day! It was an incredible week and a huge success!

The Project Istwa exhibition was a huge success with over 200 people coming to admire the kids’ beautiful photographs and reading the stories behind them. Here is the proud team, the participants, and the decorated school yard. Thank you Jeremie, it was an incredible week!

Click here to visit Project Istwa’s website: www.projectistwa.org
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New Life International is a nonprofit organization which was founded by a family that was experiencing the health risks caused by contaminated water first hand in Ecuador.

It is based in Underwood, Indiana and was incorporated in 1998. The organization has developed a simple but effective water purifier to help provide safe drinking water around the world. It uses table salt and a battery to create chlorine, which is used to disinfect water in order to make it safe to drink.

Purifiers have been implemented in 78 countries around the world. New Life International is also offering training and hands-on experience in the water purification sector.

New Life International has offered various training programs to Tek4Kids members. We learned about optimization of water purification, and they have been helpful with questions regarding technical obstacles encountered in Haiti. Tek4Kids also purchased water purifiers and parts for our projects. Tek4Kids is excited to be working with such a great organization.

Click here to visit New Life International’s website.

The Cathedral of the Assumption looks back to a long history of faith formation in Louisville, Kentucky. Dedicated in 1852, it is the mother church of the diocese and plays an active role in the faith landscape of downtown Louisville as well as Southern Indiana.

With Rev. Michael T. Wimsatt as pastor, the Cathedral of the Assumption builds upon a broad outreach to religious and civic communities in Louisville. It serves 3,000 registered parishioners and is home to various social justice programs, such as a daily homeless lunch program, and a Parish Twinning Partnership with the Cathédrale St. Louis in Jeremie.

Since 2000, the Cathedral of the Assumption has supported its sister parish with church pews, lunch for the students at St. Therese Montessori School, school supplies and electrical infrastructure as well as many other projects.

The Cathedral of the Assumption and Tek4Kids are connected through a long and close partnership. Tek4Kids’ founders were previously members of the Parish and found their love for Haiti on the Cathedral’s mission trips to Haiti. Several Tek4Kids volunteers belong to the Cathedral and have taken many trips to Haiti with the organization. Tek4Kids works in partnership with the Cathedral on various projects at St. Therese Montessori School, including water purification and technology.

Click here to read more about the Cathedral of the Assumption.