More Light, More Opportunities

Hey Friends,

Happy May!

We look forward to spending another month with you.

Allow us to share how Jenn, Herode, and other members of the Second Mile team collaborated with neighbors in Saint Raphaël to end the month of April with an illuminating salute.

Last Thursday, we made the bumpy trek to our Saint-Raphaël Family Center to install another round of solar-powered streetlamps!

By now we’ve developed a system that runs on plenty of pre-orchestrated teamwork.

Here’s how it works:

Second Mile Haiti provides the poles, the solar street lamps, and the tools  to assemble them. The community comes bearing water, rocks, concrete and helping hands.

Together, we were able to install 40 solar powered street lamps to light the way for birthing people to reach our center and improve the overall safety of families in this area.

Not only that, these street lamps offer extended business hours for many local families who sell food and other goods, day and night.

Consumers too, are no longer worried about running out of something important, or finding something to eat after daylight hours.

Everybody wins!

To date, we have installed 300 solar street lamps in 8 villages.

Want to know a bit more about the lamps?

They are durable!

Out of the 300 we have placed, only 2 have been damaged due to being hit by a big truck, and only one stopped working and needed to be replaced.

Not terrible odds, eh?

This vital work wouldn’t be possible without your support. We are grateful that women in labor will no longer have to travel in darkness to safely deliver their babies at Birth Center in Saint-Raphaël.

Thank you.

Before we let you go, we must enjoy a mini ‘Happy Agriculture and Labor Day’ celebration, together.

The holiday lands on May 1st and is significant to Haiti because of it’s rich history. Producing food is one of Haiti’s many strengths. It’s an exercise of independence, a song of freedom.

This photo from last Friday captures the joy that a fruit tree can bring to a family.

Families at our Malnutrition Centers get to welcome a new sapling to their home orchard each week. The variety ranges from mango and avocado to breadfruit and moringa! To date, we have been able to share 3,330 edible plants with the community.

Bon fet Agrikilti e Travay

Happy Agriculture and Labor Day!

❤️ from Haiti

The Possibilities of Light

There’s something special about light.

Most of us know the feeling of fumbling around in the dark until we manage to find a light switch or our cell phone. When we’re in total darkness, we can’t flip the switch fast enough.

Light gives us the freedom to tackle whatever problem had us running for that light switch in the first place.

That’s what I love about Second Mile Haiti’s solar street lamp installations.

As of Tuesday, Second Mile Haiti has installed 127 solar panel street lamps in the communities right outside of our Maternity and Malnutrition Centers.

They now touch 6 different communities and provide light for thousands of people!

Yesterday I saw two girls, maybe 10, skipping home hand in hand, their hair freshly braided for the school day ahead. It was 7:30 in the evening, with only a sliver of moonlight in the sky.

There would have been no way for them to skip so freely if the street lamps we’d installed earlier in the year weren’t casting a glow across their entire route.

I like to solve problems. But I really love to see girls skipping freely in a place where they should always feel safe.

~~~

This week’s solar panel installation was the easiest one yet!

Because of your donations, we are able to purchase the solar lamps, the metal posts and some wood to create a cement base, locally.

Normally, we would also provide the cement, while the community would come in with sand and water for mixing.

But this time, a few community members gifted bags of cement they’d purchased for their own home repairs.

All of the labor, cement mixing, hauling, was donated as well.

Pictured here are just 6 of the 100+ people who came out to help.

Including the local mayor—dressed for a day of hard work.

So much excitement in the air!

Local mayor, Patrick Guillome (second from left), stands with a group local residents

Two years ago, if you drove through this area after dark, you may have seen light from a single cell phone flash—bobbing in the distance as someone tried desperately to light their own way.

Now you see dozens of businesses attracting clusters of people beneath each lamp. There are hot dog stands and women sitting beside steaming pots of soup.

You hear music playing and kids are riding their bikes in and out of the fray.

Beneath some of the panels, people of all generations are playing cards, talking, and laughing. And beneath others, teens sit silently memorizing facts and figures for their upcoming school exams.

If you make regular contributions to Second Mile Haiti, thank you!

You made this possible.

To learn more about solar street lamp installations or to sponsor one in the future, send us a message. We’d love to chat.

Sending love (and light) from Haiti.

❤️🔦

Developments in Saint-Raphaël

Solar Street Lights in Saint-Raphaël

On May 14th, we partnered with community members in Saint Raphaël, Haiti, to install 20 solar street lamps, lighting the road just outside our Saint-Raphaël Family Center. The addition of night-time light has already begun to help laboring women and families find their way to the Maternity Center during the evening hours. 

The lights also aid students who want to study and entrepreneurs who want to launch evening business (such as selling food after the sun goes down). But most importantly, the street light help the children and families of the community feel safe. It doesn't get much better than that!

Saint-Raphaël Malnutrition Center in full swing

On May 23, we opened the Malnutrition Treatment Center at our Saint-Raphaël Family Center. That first night, our team welcomed a mother and her twins who transferred to the new center from our Cap Haitien campus -- a move which brought her much closer to home.

Now that local health centers and former program beneficiaries have begun referring families in need to the new center our beds are starting to fill. We are currently supporting 22 families in Cap Haitien and 8 families in Saint Raphael for in-patient malnutrition rehabilitation. 

In addition, fifty former graduates of the Cap Haitien Treatment Center are now coming to follow-up visits in Saint Raphael as the new campus is a shorter distance for them to travel. 

The first four families at the Saint-Raphaël Malnutrition Treatment Center pose for a group photo before heading back to their homes for the weekend. 

Kerline, the Project "Manman"

“Miss Kerline” has been the Malnutrition Program Manager since 2013. She was there the day the first family arrived at the center and she’s been there to welcome every single family since--more than 900 families since our opening! Because of her longstanding history with Second Mile Haiti, Kerline is affectionally referred to by her colleagues as the “Manman” (mother) of our Nutrition Center.

Kerline helps determine which children are admitted to the program and makes critical decisions about their care. She is instrumental in collaborating with other health centers and organizations working in the health sector. Kerline loves kids and kids love Kerline!

Kerline wears many hats and keeps busy throughout the year. But this month in particular, she’ll be following up with the children in our school sponsorship program as they finish their last few weeks of the school year AND supporting the team at our Saint-Raphaël Nutrition Center as they deal with inevitable growing pains and the variable “firsts” that come with starting a new program. We are so grateful to Miss Kerline, an integral part of the Second Mile Haiti family.

We've moved... well just our Mailbox. 

Attention! We are now receiving mail in a new location. If you are someone who prefers to donate by check, this message is for you! For some of you, this won’t be a new address, but for others who are in the habit of mailing checks to Oakland, CA please update your records and send any future contributions to the address below:

Second Mile Haiti
5251 W. Desert Falcon Ln.
Tucson, AZ 85742

Many thanks!