2023 in Review

Dear Friends,

2023 was a wild ride.

We came into 2023 ready to take on whatever came our way.

What came our way was several thousand mothers, aunts, and grandmothers, seeking support during a challenging time.

Here are just a few of the highlights.

At our Malnutrition Treatment Centers, we housed 611 caregivers and children during their recovery from Severe Acute Malnutrition.

These stays contributed to the health and well-being of 328 children with more than 250 children benefitting from medical care at the local hospital.

We feel proud of all the ways we supported mothers this year, through skill-building, psychological and emotional support.

And not just at our centers, but at home too!

We continued to support these caregivers after their children recovered by helping them launch businesses and start home gardens. 190 women started businesses and another 611 women started vegetable gardens at home.

992 babies have been born at our two birth centers since the beginning of 2023. That’s 307 more babies than last year!

In addition to these 992 Birth Center births, we labored with 81 women who ultimately needed a c-section or hospital birth. We got them to the hospital safely and followed-up with them after their recovery.

In May, you responded to our call to help us create more space at our flagship Maternity Center on our Cap Haitien Campus and we completed the 3-room addition in June.

In total, we cared for 2,979 women during 14,292 prenatal and postpartum visits and made family planning available to 1,409 individuals.

Our Communities really felt the love this year.

In February, we started a community trash pick-up in Jean Louis introducing colorful trash bins in the community.

In July, in Saint-Raphael, we opened a community water tap that provides water that is 100% safe to drink, bringing free, clean, drinking water to a community of more than 2,500 who didn’t have access to this resource before.

We continued installing solar streetlights—96 street lamps to be exact! The new street lamps extended the length of road now safely lit via solar light.

Our goal to connect 6 villages outside of our Cap Haitien Campus is nearly complete!

In May, we celebrated 10 years of operations in Haiti. It was a year to celebrate all the children and families who have benefitted from Second Mile Haiti’s support through the years.

In August, we held an eye and dental clinic for past graduates of our Malnutrition Program.

144 children had their vision tested and teeth cleaned. Several hundred cavities were filled and 14 children received eye-glasses!

We paid the tuition fees and purchased school books for 168 children who recovered from malnutrition at our centers in previous years. They started the new school year this October.

It was a fun year for connecting with many of you in person. We saw friends in Colorado, in Texas, and in Tennessee!

And finally, in November, we had the profound privilege of gathering with all of you virtually, with the In Her Shoes Global 5K + podcast.

It really was global with participants in Africa, Europe, Australia, and all over North America.

You helped us become more sustainable as an organization.

In our campus gardens, we grew over 2,100 lbs of produce. It was shared with families at our centers or passed to the kitchen for daily meals for these families and our staff.

In total, the cooks at our centers provided more than 93,548 warm meals to the staff and families of children recovering from Severe Acute Malnutrition.

We even celebrated becoming a Canadian Charity this year!

It’s hard to believe, but the first children admitted to our Malnutrition Treatment Center (10 years ago) are now pre-teens!

And the first babies born at Second Mile Haiti flagship Maternity Center turned 4-years-old in 2023. They are now in preschool.

You’re truly making a lasting impact.

Thank you for the role you play in the Second Mile Haiti family. We wouldn’t be able to do this without you.

There’s $16,214 left to raise in our year-end campaign.

Can you send us into 2024 with a year-end gift?

Sending you warm winter greetings and love from Haiti

❄️☃️🇭🇹

2022 Wrap

2022 started with a bang.

January held the opening of the birthing wing at our new maternity Center in Saint Raphael. The first baby arrived just a few days later.

We were expecting births to pick up slowly, but women arrived in labor much faster than we expected—

We continued with our gardening, community education, and “goat” programs this year. From our youngest group (age 10-14) to our oldest group (from 18 to 80), every participant received a goat. 141 goats in all.

In May and June—and again in September—we continued our efforts to illuminate the roads in the communities where we work. We continued from the 20 solar panels we installed in 2021, adding 20 new street lamps in Saint-Raphaël and another 40 additional street lamps in the community surrounding our Cap Haitian center. The solar-powered lamps cover 1.5 miles of road, illuminate the doorsteps of homes and businesses and making the area safer for all (especially women and girls).

Also in May, you helped us open the (second) Malnutrition Treatment Center on our Saint Raphael Campus. After several long months of building up to this day—preparing the campus, readying the rooms, painting and landscaping, you helped us build beds and purchased supplies from our WishList to fills the center with supplies.

With the opening of our 2nd Malnutrition Treatment Center, we now manage the care of up to 42 acutely malnourished children at a time, in two locations—while coordinating medical consultations and follow-up for the hundreds of children who have come before.

This kept our team busy all 52 weeks of the year.

We helped more mothers start businesses, visited more families at their homes, and saw more smiles like these.

In July, we started the process of sending children back-to-school for the 2022-2023 school year. Many of you gave monthly school sponsorship donations, making it possible for kids like Naomi and Wilkendy (center) to enroll in school this year.

Though the school-year was delayed due to the instability Haiti faced this year, we are pleased to say that all school is in session!

It was amazing to give so many kids that beat the odds the opportunity to excel in school. The program grew from covering books and tuition for 80 children in 2021 to 142 in 2022.

All 142 of the sponsored, school children recovered from Acute Malnutrition at one of our centers in the last 9 years.

We continued our malnutrition prevention efforts by making maternal and newborn health services available to women all year long.

With weekly prenatal education classes attended by 100+ women each week, bi-monthly childhood immunization days attended by 70 parents and their infants each week…

With just under 2,000 new prenatal care visits and 10,298 total visits for prenatal, postnatal, and family planning.

652 women had their family planning needs exclusively met at our Cap Haitian and Saint Raphael centers.

We can’t forget to mention the amazing care you made possible for women and their families during the joys and challenges of childbirth! Our midwives stood with 725 mothers and their support people through labor with 678 births taking places at one of our birth centers.

The fuel crisis worsened through the months of July, August, September, and October—and just when we thought it couldn’t get much work we learned that new cases of the deadly cholera bacteria had surfaced in southern Haiti.

We jumped at this news—providing water filters to 510 families and making another 90 water filters available to other organizations for distribution in other parts of Haiti.

Each of our campuses stayed open throughout the turmoil.

Our gardens supplied food for the centers week after week, with trees for parents to plant at home, and food to share.

December isn’t over yet, but already it’s been one of the more eventful months of the year. After learning that there was a blood (and oxygen) shortage, we facilitated a blood drive.

Then we made improvements to the oxygen facility that generates oxygen for hundreds of thousands of people in Northern Haiti—now they operate for longer hours each day.

We did the Number Fundraiser and the Black Friday fundraiser and You. SHOWED. UP.

Your comments, shares, and emails made our year that much more special.

Thank you.

We ended 2021 with 51 staff members and we are ending this year with 64. —Nurses and Midwives, Psychologists and Educators—and you.

Thank you for making all of this possible this year.

There’s $13,665 left to raise in our year-end campaign.

And just a few days left in 2022.

We came in with a bang.

Can you send us out with one?

❤️

from Haiti