Making a Healthplan for Life for Haitian Children

Dear Sustainable Healthcare for Haiti Donors & Friends, 

 
I hope this message finds you well! Today, I want to share astory that highlights how your generosity has helped provide relief to a young woman’s life, which has been filled with pain.
 

Meet Christa. 

Christa, now 21, is a remarkable young woman living at the Saint Dominique orphanage. Years ago, Christa was rescued from a life of hardship on the streets by Father Charles Moise (founder of the orphanage), where she begged daily for food and money just to survive.  Christa was born with a severe clubfoot condition.  She’s always had to fend for herself to survive in a country where people with deformities are often treated as outcasts – by other kids, adults, and even teachers.  Christa currently is at a 6th grade educational level despite her age.   

When a surgery in Haiti to correct her clubfootwent awry, her leg was amputated. A compassionate U.S. family stepped in, sponsoring her for a prosthesis and medical care in the states. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, Christa faced challenges in adjusting and accessing the consistent support she needed and returned to Haiti without the proper Physical therapy.   

Her struggles didn’t end there. Two years ago, Christa began experiencing rapid growth of large tumors in both breasts, leading to significant daily pain and emotional distress. Despite numerous obstacles with healthcare in Haiti, we worked with medical advisorsfrom the boardand others in the U.S.to ensure she received the necessary biopsies. After a six-month waiting period, just to get a simple biopsy back, we were relieved to learn the tumors were benign though extremely painful for Christa. 
 
With your support, Sustainable Healthcare for Haiti (SHH) arranged for Christa to undergo surgery to remove the large tumors in both breasts. Thanks to the care and coordination of Jodalienne, our dedicated nurse and medical student who also grew up in the orphanage, Christa successfully underwent surgery a few weeks ago. Today, she is smiling, healing well, and beginning to find renewed hope for her future. 
 
Christa’s journey has been one of resilience, courage, and determination. She still faces many challenges—educational gaps, self-confidence struggles, and the need for ongoing medical and emotional support—but your generosity gives her, and others like her, a chance for a brighter tomorrow. 

Our next steps in supporting Christa will focus on sourcing and securing a new prosthesis that fits her more comfortably. Her current prosthetic leg (see images) is causing significant pain and is making it difficult for her to walk. Unfortunately, high-quality prosthetics are hard to find and very expensive in Haiti, which presents a challenge.  

Key Next Steps: 

• Prayers and Encouragement for Christa: Please keep Christa in your thoughts and prayers as she recovers and navigates this new chapter of her life.
• Stay Updated: Look out for regular updates from the Sustainable Healthcare for Haiti team. 
• Spread the Word: Share our mission and Christa’s story with your network to inspire others to get connected. 
• Donate on GivingTuesday (December 3rd): Mark your calendars and visit our project page on GlobalGiving to make a matched donation that will directly support life-changing work like this. Matches only occur from donations given within the 24 hours of GivingTuesday on December 3rd.  Your generosity means more than you can imagine for these amazing kids and young adults!  

Your kindness and support fuel our ability to help young adults like Christa. On behalf of the entire Sustainable Healthcare for Haiti board, thank you for believing in our mission and being a part of this journey. 

 
With gratitude and blessings, 
 
Tommy Conner
 

Dear Donors, 

The security conditions in Haiti continue to improve, especially with the arrival of the Kenyan military in May, which has helped reduce gang violence in the capital. Banks and businesses have been reopening, and schools have been reopened since March 2024. Thankfully, this peaceful time extends to the orphanage and the children, and we even had six children graduate from kindergarten. 

Your donations have been helpful in supporting the children in the following ways: 

• Medical Care: We had two nurses, Joudeline and Jordalienne, begin internships in June. Medical assistance and clinical check-upswas provided to 30 children and 20 adolescents. Medical issues, such as abdominal pain, anemia, and scabies, were discovered and treatment has begun.  There is a mixture of severe cases that need to be addressed immediately as well as cases that have quick fixes.  A number of the children require specialists (dentists, orthopedic surgeons, cardiologists, dermatologists, etc.) to address some key illnesses discovered.  There also has been a request for a significant amount of medication to address the illnesses, of which we currently do not have.  Your continued support goes a long way to help address the existing and future medical problems for the children.  

• Life Skills / Professional Developpement: We are working with a key partner to provide workshops and 1-1 coaching across key areas such as life skills training, professional development, goal setting, CV creation, job search, etc.  Due to gang violence this program has been put on hold, but we are about to pick it up again now that a moment of peace has set within Port-au-Prince.  

As we look ahead, we are reorganizing and refocusing the efforts of Sustainable Healthcare for Haiti into three key pillars in which your donations will directly help in the following ways: 

1. Pillar #1 - Sustainable Healthcare Focus: We are working with the hired nurses at the Orphanage to manage and track progress, health, and medications of and for the kids. These nurses are our from our own orphanage and are in medical school currently.  They have done tremendous work over the past 2 months in helping to develop the required reporting that is needed to maintain a sustainable system.  Our board is also connecting ALOM’s network of doctors with our kids for tele-health needs, help with prescriptions, etc.  In parallel, we have a team continuing to work on the Digital Electronic Medical Record System for all orphans and staff. There are urgent needs for children suffering from undiagnosed symptoms such as chest pain, severe skin lesions, prosthesis pain, dermatological disorders, and much more and we need your constant support to help maintain the health of the children of the orphanage.  
2. Pillar #2 - Children & Young Adult Development: We are currently working with organizations such as Kids Connection Haiti to focus on identifying key gaps in our young adults and deploying workshops, individual coaching, therapy, etc. to help aid in preparing our young adults for living independently with success.  
3. Pillar #3 - Foundation Montesinos Improvements & Sustainment: We need to continue financially support the orphanage with housing (transitional and displacement), personnel (nurses & staff), and supplies.  We also are working to enhance the leadership team of the foundation and equip them with the necessary tools to run a sustainable organization.  

We are so grateful for your continued support, both in your prayers and your financial donations. We are optimistic about our refocused efforts, and we will bring you along on our journey ahead. 

Thank you! 

Marcos Zatkulak