Sponsor a Child in Haiti

A country marked by political instability and natural disasters

The Republic of Haiti has a total population of roughly 10 million, with roughly 900,000 living in the country's capital, Port-au-Prince. Its official languages are Creole and French.

In the year 1804, Haiti was the very first nation in the Americas to gain independence, ending slavery at the same time. With revolutionary leader Jean Jacques Dessalines assuming power, the country became the first black-led republic in the world.

However, the country has undergone decades of poverty, economic dependence, political instability and nearly 30 years of brutal dictatorship under Francois Duvalier (“Papa Doc”) and his son Jean-Claude (“Baby Doc”). It is now the poorest nation in the Americas.

In January 2010, a massive earthquake struck Haiti and caused the death of an estimated 220,000 people. Hundreds of thousands lost their homes and are now living in provisional shelters or on the streets, waiting to be resettled.

To make things worse, the earthquake was followed by a cholera epidemic, hurricane “Thomas”, and badly organised presidential elections that caused further chaos in the streets of Port-au-Prince.

The country's economy is in ruins and fully depends on international cooperation and aid. A drastic increase in migratory flows from Haiti to the Dominican Republic has been recorded since 2010.

Hundreds of thousands of children at risk

Children undoubtedly remain the most vulnerable section of Haiti's population after a disaster of such magnitude. They face trauma and severe psychological damage.

As a result of the earthquake, thousands of Haitian children were orphaned or abandoned by their parents. Before the catastrophe, an estimated 440,000 children had been growing up without parental care. Presumably, this number has now risen even further.

Haiti is marked by the highest rates of infant, under-five and maternal mortality in the Western hemisphere: nearly 72 children per 1,000 live births die before they reach the age of five. It is expected that this figure has now worsened due to precarious living conditions and the non-existent medical infrastructure in the country. Nearly all hospitals and schools were destroyed and despite international efforts to rebuild them, progress in Haiti has been slow.

According to the United Nations, roughly 300,000 children in Haiti work in conditions similar to slavery. Most of them work as domestics for wealthier families where they frequently experience physical abuse. It has been reported that many of these children are forced to sleep outside, on a piece of cardboard. Those who do not work as domestics usually shine shoes, sell merchandise at traffic lights or are involved in commercial sex work. Less than two per cent of Haitian children ever complete secondary school.

The aforementioned HIV/AIDS problem has a great impact on Haiti's youth: an estimated 156,000 pregnant women in Haiti tested positive for HIV in 2010. In 2009, the number was 132,000: an increase of nearly 25,000 within only one year. Consequently, around 100,000 Haitian children aged between 0-17 are orphaned as a result of AIDS: many of them contract the virus from their mothers.