HEH Bridgeway 2008 Hurricane Relief Program Overview 

In the fall of 2008, four powerful hurricanes devastated the Caribbean island of Haiti.  Health Empowering Humanity, Inc., with its partner Bridgeway Charitable Foundation, developed a comprehensive and collaborative program that reached out to the hardest hit regions of the country.  The program was designed to support grassroots, community-inspired and community-led projects that lead to sustainable positive impact.

Gatineau Health Center, near Jeremie, Haiti 

In collaboration with Friends for Health in Haiti, $10,000 helped support multiple programs in the Gatineau Health Center.  A cooperative seed program empowered 20 local communities to initiate microlending programs that rebuilt the agricultural production lost in the flooding.  Additional funds were used to assist the most indigent patients with the cost of medications, emergency hospitalization, and nutritional support, and to repair destroyed homes and the only roads leading into and out of the region.

Gonaives, Haiti 

In collaboration with CARE Haiti, five Urban Horticulture Projects were initiated to help answer the pressing needs for food and economic security among the hardest hit communities in Gonaives, in northern Haiti’s Department of Artibonite.  With a grant of $10,000, these projects equipped communities with the skills to successfully cultivate a diverse set of crops (spinach, tomato, beetroot, bean, bell pepper, okra, hot pepper) for their own nutritional needs as well as for extra income.  A total of 228 planning and awareness meetings were held, culminating with a summit meeting in Gonaives.  Training workshops included 405 participants, and 192 monitoring and support visits were held to ensure progress.  The yield was enormously successful in terms of harvest value, but the gains from project activities clearly extend beyond mere food production.  By playing leading roles in relief efforts, community members gained the knowledge and capacity to continue building on their successes, the confidence and motivation to share their learning with others, a sense of pride in their accomplishments, and a new feeling of hope for the future. 

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

In collaboration with Hope for Haiti’s Children, HEH and Bridgeway helped provide hurricane relief in Cite Soleil, one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince.  Due to the lack of vegetation and trees, raging storm water rushed through the neighborhood, wreaking havoc the dilapidated shacks and everything in its path.  $5000 enabled this community to organize and participate in home rebuilding, food distribution, and feeding programs, illustrated by the accompanying photos.

Fond des Blancs, Haiti

In collaboration with St. Boniface Haiti Foundation, a community-initiated and community-led farm project was created by Rassamblemen Travaye Paysan (RATRAP, the Fond des Blancs peasant cooperative).  $5000 was used for tractor rental, gasoline, PVC irrigation piping, seeds, training sessions on organic farming techniques led by a local agronomist, and local labor.  As a result of the program, the use of superior quality seed, fertilizers, and an irrigation network dramatically increased crop yields, which provided food for 100 severely undernourished children in the outpatient nutrition ward at the local hospital, for 500 vulnerable children at the local school, and for many extremely impoverished and undernourished patients at the hospital.  In addition, RATRAP, responsible for daily oversight and direction, gained important administrative experience, and continues to lead relief projects throughout the catchment area.