Haiti Rehabilitation Centre

Over 75% of the Haitian population does not have a fixed income. It is not hard to imagine that having a family member in rehabilitation, after sustaining a Spinal Cord Injury in an accident, finances for everyone become even more challenging. If the person was the breadwinner of the family, even worse. Imagine the difficulty for this person to find work after spending months in a rehabilitation centre.

Working is one of the ways to be included again by society and the community, but if a job is not found, people with disabilities in Haiti are usually left isolated in their homes. This can lead to various secondary health problems and with that, more medical treatments and costs at a hospital occur. It can be a vicious circle that is difficult to get out of.

With our partners from Switzerland, we want to give people with disabilities a chance to find employment. Over the past few months, a bakery and café have been built, close to the hospital we partner with. More than 50% of the employees working there will be people with a disability. We want to show that they can also be a part of the working society just like everyone else. The café and bakery is opening next month and will be open to the public, and our goal is to expand the business outside of the hospital’s walls. Delivery to restaurants and hotels in Cap-Haitien, and showing off a completely wheelchair accessible building, will help raise awareness and advocate for a great cause, while giving people jobs and income.

At the same time, it also lets us “expand” our vocational therapy for rehab in-patients. As they learn new skills and produce sandals and jewellery for example, they will be able to sell these goods in the shop included in the café. Before being discharged from the hospital, this already enables them to make some much needed money for themselves and their families.

Thank you so much for supporting this work and we look forward to showing you the completed bakery and cafe very soon.