Thursday's Are For Follow-ups!

Hello friends!

You may be wondering how we decide what to share with you each week and if we’re being honest, 9 times out of 10, it’s the photos that call the shots!

Every week we see new photos—staff from various programs upload them to a google drive or drop them in to group chats.

We see photos of children making progress at the nutrition centers, women showing off the fresh foods they’ve grown in their gardens, and mother’s standing proudly beside their businesses.

Other days there will be photos of community members helping to install street lamps in their villages or piles of beans, plaintains, or sweet potatoes that were harvested from our own campus gardens.

We’re often overwhelmed by all that we could share with you, so we let the photos do the talking.

And this past week, photos from Thursday were speaking the loudest!

Thursday is “Follow-up” day at our Malnutrition Treatment Centers! Caregivers and children of all ages—graduates from our Malnutrition Treatments Centers from as near as last week and as far back as 2013—trickle in throughout the afternoon.

The vibe is immaculate—full of joy and brimming with gratitude and delight.

Caregivers that became friends during their time at the center are reunited once again. They use the nicknames they earned at the center and bring up the inside jokes that were a part of their shared experience.

Children are dressed to nines! Parents beam with pride as the Second Mile nurses and fellow parents lavish them with praise.

There is often a lively, verbal recounting of the child’s progress—a collective remembering of how sick and frail they were before and how miraculous it is to see them alive and well today.

Caregivers whose children are much older now, may have gone six months or more without reconnecting with our team. These parents make their rounds, at ease in this place that was their home away from home during a transformational time in their life.

They greet our team with kisses and giant smiles.

There are “We’ve missed you!”s  and “I’m happy to see you!”s bouncing off the walls of various spaces around the centers.

Likewise, children who were a bit older when they spent time at the center are happy to reconnect with the staff members they grew to love. Some smile shyly as their parents urge them to greet their elders in the culturally accepted way, a kiss on each cheek.

Others are uninhibited, running and jumping into the arms of the nurse or social worker who had become their confidant and ally.

In short, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of reuniting with someone who knew you at your most vulnerable, someone you think about often and love because of the love they showed for you.

That’s what happens when our team reunites with the families they cared for and when those families reunite with our team.

We’re thrilled that the new year has contained so many happy reunions. Your support makes this possible.

And if this year is anything like last year, we will see caregivers and their children at more than 1,500 follow-up visits this year.

We can’t wait!

Did you enjoy this week’s photos?

That was only half of them! Stayed tuned for more news like this.

Until next time,

❤️ from Haiti

Clean Drinking Water

Say hello to the residents of Bouyaha! 

Bouyaha is home to the Saint-Raphaël Family Center (and the Maternity and Malnutrition Centers within) that serve families in the greater Saint-Raphaël region which is home to more than 60,000 residents. 

Over 26% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to clean drinking water. That’s 1 in 4 people. 

In Bouyaha, access to safe drinking water has been a struggle for everyone for as long as they can remember. 

That is why we installed this water filtration system to provide free access to safe drinking water to more than 2,500 people. It uses reverse osmosis and UV light to make water safe to drink.  

Gladys—who has lived in Bouyaha since she was a girl—recalled the many times she’s had to drink untreated, river water over the years, calling it “the same water that the animals drink.”

She plans to avoid the river by stocking enough water for the week ahead.

We reminded her that she can come back daily, if she needs to.

When Angeline, a member of OFADIS, a local women’s group, got a behind-the-scenes look at the treatment system, she shook her head in disbelief.

“It’s over!” she said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “The cholera epidemic is over for us!”

The women beside her shook their heads and clicked their tongues in agreement—each one likely remembering the faces of those they’d lost to the disease. 

But it was the taste tests that generated the MOST excitement.

We’re happy to report that this water passed not only the “taste test”—and Gladys is a fierce judge—but all of the safety tests as well. 

We were thrilled to see community members enjoying the fresh taste of filtered, well water, but we’re even more excited about what proximity to clean water means for them—

More time, less illness, and fewer resources spent on something that should be readily available to all.

Best of all, parents can rest easy knowing that the water they offer to their

little ones is 💯 percent safe to drink.

Before Tuesday, there wasn’t anywhere within walking distance for people in Bouyaha to buy safe drinking water. Now they can access it for free, everyday from 10 AM to 2 PM.

Better get there early! These girls will likely be first in line.

Want to see more? You can. Watch the video below!

Stay hydrated friends! And please consider joining us for our annual Number Fundraiser happening August 5th.

Love from Haiti 🇭🇹

More Than Food

Hello and welcome to the first Sixty Seconds of 2023!

How are you? Are you enjoying a slow and easy start to the new year? It is our sincere hope that you are.

In some ways, our year in Haiti is off to a slow and easy start too. In other ways, not so much.

It’s only mid-way through January and already, 39 babies have been born between the two centers!

Our slow(er) start to the New Year happened over at the Malnutrition Centers.

Over the holidays, both Malnutrition Treatment Centers were closed for two weeks to give the team some much needed time-off.

Monday was everyone’s first day back on campus.

The team returned refreshed and excited to see the 41 families we had been supporting from afar during this break.

There was, however, one family who didn’t leave the center over the holidays.

One baby girl, 15-months-old, stayed behind with her mother for round-the-clock care.

When Rose Berline and her mother Vadeline first arrived at our Malnutrition Treatment Center in Saint-Raphaël—which opened in May 2022—the 15-month-old tipped the scale—just barely—at 12 lbs 2 oz.

There’s a misconception that malnutrition can be treated with food alone—

and that every child who appears undernourished, appears that way because they aren’t getting enough to eat.

If that’s what you thought too, you’re not alone.

Rose Berline had the classic look of any child in an ad about hunger. She had sunken eyes (from dehydration), thinning hair (from nutrient deficiency), toothpick-thin limbs, and a swollen belly.

When she arrived at our center, she had a fever, diarrhea, and no appetite—all common in a child with severe undernutrition.

But Rose Berline didn’t improve with calories, multivitamins, or a round of antibiotics.

During her first several weeks at our Center, Rose Berline and her mother made numerous trips to the region’s “reference” hospital—always accompanied by a nurse from our team.

The doctors there were able to rule out most of the basic illnesses commonly present with severe malnutrition: pneumonia, HIV, tuberculosis, ear infections, UTIs, heart defects, and infections of the GI tract…

She didn’t have any of these.

And so, she was referred for a CT scan.

We had to make some calls to find out which, if any, health centers in Haiti were currently able to perform a CT scan

Three centers. That’s what we learned. The first CT scanner was out of order. Getting to the second would have required traveling through a gang-controlled region.

And the third?

Mercifully, the third center was less than 30 minutes from us, right here in Northern Haiti!

It had only opened within the year.

We got the scan and took the results back to the pediatricians who had requested them.

What they saw furthered their suspicion that Rose Berline may be suffering from cancer.

Lymphoma.

This was a first. Previously, there simply weren’t enough testing options available in Haiti to get close to a pediatric cancer diagnosis.

Once again, we knew that only a handful of places in Haiti would be able to diagnose and care for a child with cancer. But then, we got in touch with C3G, a cancer clinic that had recently opened just a few miles away.

During the two-week holiday break, Rose Berline went to and from our campus, the Cancer Center, and various laboratories around town.

She had her blood tested.

She had her bone marrow tested.

She had her spinal fluid tested.

She had her lymphatic system evaluated.

At each appointment she was accompanied by her mother and Djena, a nurse from our center who helps parents navigate health centers.

To parents, she’s an angel.

And the cost?

The tests, the CT scan, the appointment fees, and an upcoming biopsy, cost a total of $680 USD.

Djena isn’t the only one working hard for Rose Berline to survive.

From their homes and offices, at least 10 Second Mile staff members are communicating about the logistics of her care—night and day.

She’s not the only child being discussed in those chats.

There are 41 children currently enrolled in one of our two Malnutrition Treatment Centers.

At least a quarter of these children have some underlying health condition. And before those 41 children, there were hundreds of others.

Today, we still see more than 850 former graduates.

They are healthy and thriving with their families.

We recognize that every child’s journey is not the same.

Sometimes the underlying cause of undernutrition is a lack of food. Sometimes—not always—this is related to barriers around income and education.

But other times, it’s actually a terrible cancer of the lymphatic system.

But always, it’s about more than just food.

On Monday, Rose Berline will have a biopsy.

We cannot stress enough what a big deal it is to be able to take these next steps. Especially when tests like these weren’t even available in our area just a few years ago.

Rose Berline’s prognosis may be unknown at this time, but if there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s this:

It means everything to her family to have you invested in her care.

Today, we have a need.

Can you join us in caring for Rose Berline and others like her?

If you already give monthly, thank you!

If you don’t,

would you consider starting a monthly donation today?

The cost for a family to stay at our Center, to receive medical care, education, and start a business is $1,608.

That’s 2 people giving $67/month.

4 people giving $33/month.

Or 1 person giving $134/month to meet one family’s needs—entirely.

It’s easy to set up a recurring donation using our secure donation page.

Simply click the link ,

add the amount you want to give,

and select the box marked “make this a monthly donation.”

Like a subscription, you don’t have to give it another thought!

Your monthly contributions will keep working on your behalf to save life after life, one child at a time.

As always, we are beyond grateful that you continue to read these letters and we are fiercely grateful to those of you who give monthly.

Rose Berline wouldn’t be getting this care if it wasn’t for you.

More news, next week.

Until then,

❤️ from Haiti

Blood Drive

Hello!

Happy holidays. We hope you are enjoying the season.

You may remember the story we shared a few weeks ago about 4 young children who needed blood transfusions to survive.

We shared about how there wasn’t any donated blood available for the babies in Northern Haiti. But that we were able to purchase blood that had come into Haiti from the Dominican Republic.

While we were happy these 4 littles ones got what they needed, we wanted to learn why blood was suddenly so difficult to find. We knew that other mothers wouldn’t be so lucky. We didn’t want the new normal to be purchasing blood every time a client from one of our Maternity Centers or one of the children at our Malnutrition Treatment Centers needed blood.

Along our quest for answers we learned that

1) blood donation centers in Northern Haiti couldn’t take blood donations because they did not have the supplies (pouches, tubes, etc.)

2) that the Red Cross no longer responsible for testing blood and the delivery of supplies

3) The Red Cross has not made the transition to partnering with the Ministry of Health.

As we learned about why blood wasn’t available and tried to figure out how we could change this, we met some really cool people.

We worked closely with a team of technicians at the blood donation office in the town of Ft. Liberté, to figure out what they would need to hold a blood drive.

Then, we worked tirelessly—visiting offices, sending emails, and calling high-ranking officials—until the necessary supplies had arrived safely to their office.

By promising to host and organize a blood drive with at least 40 donors, we were able to move the supplies that had been so illusive in the previous months.

Then came the big day!

Second Mile staff members donated 1/3 of the donations we hoped to receive during the campaign. When they finished, they went into the local community to find others who willing to donate.

12 students from a local nursing school jumped at the chance to contribute during the blood drive.

All in all, the two-day drive was a huge success.

And we are thrilled for the 40 adults, or as many as 160 infants, whose lives will be saved because of this effort.

After making our donations in the Ft. Liberté donation office, our team made it’s way down the street to the public hospital of Fort Liberte where we had a second project underway.

Last month, after being told time and again that the local hospitals did not have adequate supplies of oxygen, we sat down with the expert technician and the representative of the Haitian Ministry of Health in Fort Liberté who is responsible for supplying oxygen to hospitals in the North.

We learned that the oxygen supply issues were not related to a lack of diesel fuel as we had initially suspected.

The oxygen generator was simply overheating and could not be run more than two hours a day.

In an effort to make oxygen more widely available to the critically ill around Northern Haiti, we procured a specialized fan which instantly improved the function of the machine.

Next, we built an overhang to protect the container that holds the oxygen generator from weather and sun.

The machine now has the capacity to generate oxygen 12-14 hours per day.

Our team learned a few valuable lessons in our quest for blood and oxygen:

The problem isn’t always what it appears to be at the surface.

Persistence pays.

And being a part of something bigger than ourselves feels good, pretty much 100% of the time

As always, we thank you for being a part of something “bigger.”

We think of you every time we are able to tackle a problem that seems insurmountable.

You make the impossible possible.

And we couldn’t do it without you.

❤️ Courage from Haiti