Haitian Man turns Fishing Boat into a Lifeboat

Imagine this scenario – it’s the dead of night, you’re in a tiny fishing boat, your body is rebelling against you due to the symptoms of cholera, and your only chance for survival is a three-hour ride in the rough waters from a small island to the mainland.

This is what it was like for 42 men, women and children during the onset of the cholera outbreak in Haiti. The outbreak started last October in the Artibonite region, and when reports of cholera reached the international airwaves, fear of it spreading to the tent cities focused attention on the capital of Port-au-Prince. More than a million people left homeless by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake were now in the line of fire of this waterborne illness, which can kill a person within hours if left untreated.

However, it was the residents on the small island of Ile de la Gonâve, located in the waters in the cradle of Haiti, who were sick and suffering at the start of the outbreak. Because no medical treatment was available, and no one even knew the cholera had spread beyond the mainland, the situation on the island was beyond critical.

But out of the darkest tragedies, man-made or natural, stories of triumph sometimes come to light. One of those stories is that of Saul Ancelo, who was born and raised on Ile de la Gonâve in Chardonet, a dot of a town not that far from the tiny island of Petite Gonâve, which is between Ile de la Gonâve and Leogane on the mainland. Ancelo is 35, and still calls Chardonet home with his wife and two children. A fisherman by trade, he had no idea that he would literally become a fisher of men.

“So many people were getting sick, and so fast. Many didn’t know what was happening or even how to stop it. There were stories of those with cholera being abandoned by their families and left to die on Ile de la Gonâve because they were afraid of getting sick,” said Ancelo, through a translator.

Putting his livelihood and even his life on the line, Ancelo took it upon himself to use a yellow motorized fishing boat, donated to the fishing village La Gonâve on Petite Gonâve to rescue the cholera victims. There are currently 33 active fishing villages in cities and towns along the coastal regions of Haiti, including the one on the tiny island. These villages, funded through donations, and built by Food For The Poor, provide deep-sea fishing for food and income for fishermen like Ancelo and residents in neighboring communities.

Armed only with a fishing boat and sheer determination, Ancelo transported the sick and those on the edge of dying across the waters to Leogane. He made more than two dozen trips back and forth sometimes with several patients onboard the boat named “Edward.” He even made crossings at night in the rough waters, which was an extremely dangerous journey.

“This is not a man of means, the little money he had, he spent it all to buy fuel and the oil needed to power the motorboat to ferry people to and from mainland Haiti to get medical treatment,” said Robin Mahfood, CEO/President of Food For The Poor. “Saul is a real-life hero, he truly is. Because of his bravery lives were saved, and only God knows what would have happened to the population on Ile de la Gonâve if he didn’t act.”

Because this life threatening disease is no longer being captured by the cameras of the media doesn’t mean it’s gone away. To date, since the outbreak, more than 4,500 people have died, more than 230,000 have been reported sick, and according to the United Nations the death rate in rural areas remains alarmingly high.

With these statistics, one doesn’t have to be a medical expert to understand that a clean water source and a home with adequate sanitation are life-saving necessities. Since the cholera outbreak, Food For The Poor has installed 30 solar-powered water filtration units in the Artibonite region, with the help of Water Missions International. Since last year’s earthquake, the charity has built nearly 1,900 homes with sanitation units in Haiti, more than 300 of these since the new year.

“The best way to combat cholera or any form of pestilence is to get the people left homeless by that devastating quake out of the tents and into permanent houses,” said Mahfood. “Cholera is a terrible disease that causes its victims to have uncontrollable diarrhea, vomiting, and dehydration. It can be deadly, so we’re going to do all that we can to try to stop it.”

Ancelo’s acts of kindness didn’t end with the initial boat rides. Once the residents of Ile de la Gonâve received medical treatment and recovered from their bout with cholera, Ancelo ferried them back to their home on the island. Miraculously, all 42 survived, and after staring death in the face – they will live to tell the story of how a man on a fishing boat helped to give them a second chance at life.

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.foodforthepoor.org.

Contact:
Wanda Wright
Food For The Poor
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6079
wandaw@foodforthepoor.com

Charity Spends Tens of Millions in Relief for Haiti

Since the Jan. 12 earthquake left Haiti in dire straits, there have been many reports of what’s not being done to meet the country’s needs. News about the Caribbean nation slowed to a crawl soon after the quake and resurfaced only when the cholera outbreak and Hurricane Tomas threatened to take what little the Haitian people have left. According to the Associated Press, more than 1,300 people have died from cholera, and more than 23,000 are sick.

“Our generous donors allowed us to respond immediately and consistently with aid to Haiti,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “We stated from the outset that housing, clean water and sanitation would be priorities in helping the people. That was affirmed again when we learned of the cholera outbreak. We have delivered, with support from our donors and with God’s help we have delivered, and we will continue to walk with the Haitian people every step of the way.”

Food For The Poor’s relief efforts in Haiti have been substantial.

• As of mid-November, Food For The Poor has sent 1,287 containers valued at $175 million in relief to help the people in Haiti. These containers included food, water, and water filtration systems, medicines, building supplies, tools, boots and hygiene kits in response to the cholera.

• The $20.5 million Food For The Poor raised for Haiti emergency earthquake relief had been spent entirely on those efforts by the end of September. The funds were used for purchasing food and other critical items that were not donated, as well as for shipping containers of relief to the country. Some of the relief money went toward building emergency sanitation facilities as well as providing clean water sources.

Since the first days after the quake, Food For The Poor has worked to alleviate suffering and the rebuilding of the lives of the Haitian people.

• Nine months after the earthquake, Food For The Poor had sent more than $155 million worth of aid to Haiti. The charity accelerated homebuilding in the earthquake-ravaged country, and had built more than 1,500 permanent two-room homes outside of Port-au-Prince.

• Six months after the earthquake, Food For The Poor had sent more than $100 million worth of aid to Haiti. That aid was sent in many forms and has transitioned over the weeks and months from emergency relief to relief/rebuilding actions.

1. The charity shipped 845 tractor- trailer loads of goods, including:
-361 containers of food and water
-35 containers of medical supplies
-449 containers of various relief supplies

2. Completed 45 water projects.

• Three months after the earthquake, Food For The Poor delivered 530 tractor-trailer loads of food, medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, building materials and other goods. As of May 31, Food For The Poor had spent $10.7 million in cash outlays. As of June 24, 779 containers of goods were delivered to Haiti, valued at $120.5 million.

1. Food For The Poor provided millions of meals from the rice, beans, canned goods and water shipped into Haiti.
2. The agency installed latrines near tent cities where several thousand people were sharing fewer than a dozen portable toilets.
3. Food For The Poor installed solar lights near the latrines in tent cities and other communities to provide a higher level of safety for the people living nearby.

“There is a great deal of opinion and misinformation about how aid money is being spent – or not spent – in Haiti,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “While we cannot speak for other organizations, we can say with full transparency that if donors have entrusted Food For The Poor with money to be used in Haiti, it has gone to that country, and it has gone without delay. It is simply wrong to use outdated figures and lump all aid organizations into one pile, as some are doing, without the necessary research and reporting.”

The same rapid response Food For The Poor took during the earthquake crisis was activated when news of the cholera outbreak reached Food For The Poor.

Less than 48 hours after the first cholera cases began arriving at hospitals the week of Oct. 18, Food For The Poor deployed and installed five solar- powered water filtration units that each can purify up to 10,000 gallons of water a day. To date, Food For The Poor installed 30 water filtration units in the Artibonite region where the cholera outbreak started.

Critical items needed for cholera relief:

• Medicines, including antibiotics and oral rehydration salts.
• Hygiene kits with soap, toothpaste and other personal care items to help stop the spread of cholera. Approximately 31,000 personal care and hygiene kits were shipped.
• Blankets for more than 46,600 people.
• Powerade and Pedialyte.

To see video of Food For the Poor’s rapid response at the start of the cholera outbreak, visit YouTube.

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.

Cholera Deaths Double in Aftermath of Hurricane Tomas

Haitian and international health officials acknowledged today the cholera epidemic continues to grow at an alarming rate, and is now “a matter of national security.” Food For The Poor has shipped and airlifted containers of critically needed supplies such as desperately sought-after medicines, hygiene kits, fluids to rehydrate patients, and blankets. Rains and severe flooding associated with Hurricane Tomas facilitated the spread of the quick-killing disease.

With thousands infected, the situation continues to act as a reminder of the importance of access to clean water and to moving earthquake survivors into permanent housing. Food For The Poor remains committed to investing in sanitation and water projects throughout the country. Since the earthquake, Food For The Poor has shipped more than 1,250 containers of aid and has built more than 1,500 permanent, concrete block two-room homes with sanitation units.

Three weeks after cholera was confirmed in the Caribbean nation, the waterborne sickness has claimed at least 643 lives, mostly in the countryside, according to Associated Press reports from Haiti. The AP reported that approximately 10,000 people are infected and have been hospitalized for cholera throughout Haiti with symptoms including serious diarrhea, vomiting and fever. Consensus is that the deaths usually come from the extreme shock brought on by dehydration.

“Due to the lack of sanitary conditions for more than a million displaced earthquake survivors the threat of an epidemic has been a real possibility for months,” said Robin Mahfood, Food For The Poor President/CEO. “The painful reality is that death has become all too common for the people of Haiti. We have heard from the clinics that mothers continue to rock their sick children in their arms in hopes of keeping their babies’ hearts beating.”

“There are so many people who are suffering in Haiti. Their anguish truly hurts my heart,” said Mahfood, whose agency’s 24-year tenure in Haiti has aided the nonprofit’s quick response.

“Many [in Haiti] try to live without knowing really where to go,” said Rev. Duken Augustin, who partners with Food For The Poor in Cap-Haitien, Haiti. “However, as we visited the victims yesterday, I was reminded how much the people count on Food For The Poor. A lady who lost her small business in the waters told me with tears, ‘My situation has never been so difficult. I don’t know what I am going to do to feed my five children, but seeing you here today is comforting. I know that I am not alone.’”

“This is the kind of support that we are trying to bring, especially now that everything seems to go against the country,” said Augustin. “We know that we are not alone. Thank God and many blessings to all of you.”

Access to clean water is a matter of life and death for the people of Haiti. In Haiti, there are a lot of misconceptions about how cholera is spread. The people are afraid now about food and water supplies.

Food For The Poor has moved quickly to ship and install 30 solar-powered filtration units in Haiti’s affected Artibonite region since the cholera outbreak. Water Missions International, in partnership with Food For The Poor, has helped to install the water filtration units. The filtration systems each can treat up to 10,000 gallons of water per day and reduce waterborne diseases by removing suspended pathogens.

A Food For The Poor-Haiti employee recently spoke to a woman near one of the water filtration units in Petit Reviere, in Haiti’s affected Artibonite region. She had recently lost several friends to the cholera outbreak and was desperately trying to keep her family safe. She told the officer, “If it was not for Food For The Poor, I would be dead by now.”

"The epidemic of cholera, a highly contagious disease, is no longer a simple emergency, it's now a matter of national security,” said the director of Haiti’s health ministry, Gabriel Thimote, at a press conference on Nov. 9.

Right now, Food For The Poor is in a race against time to collect much-needed supplies: evaporated and condensed milk, canned mackerel, canned corn beef, canned chicken, sardines, Spam, and Vienna sausages with an expiration date six months or longer; Powerade, Gatorade, and Pedialyte; hygiene kits: with soap, toothpaste, feminine personal-care items, and diapers. Food For The Poor will not accept clothing, shoes, or water; we obtain trailer loads of these items from donors.

To learn how to help, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/emergency or make a $10 donation by texting “HAITI” to 25383.

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.

Food For The Poor Preparing Haiti for Hurricane Tomas

Ten months after the merciless Jan. 12 earthquake killed hundreds of thousands and left the core of the Caribbean nation in ruins, and three weeks after a deadly cholera outbreak killed several hundred and sickened thousands, Haiti is facing down another potential disaster – Hurricane Tomas.

Weather experts are forecasting Hurricane Tomas will reach Haiti sometime between Friday and Saturday. With more than 1 million people still living in tent cities in and around Port-au-Prince, Food For The Poor is working quickly to provide aid.

“Stop and think about this situation; you have more than 1 million men, women and children living under tents. They have no protection whatsoever from the wind, rain and potential mudslides this storm is expected to bring,” said Food For The Poor President/CEO Robin Mahfood. “A hurricane is the last thing Haiti needs right now, but we can’t give up on the country and its people. We will do our best to help them to recover from these back-to-back disasters.”

Because the organization has been working in Haiti for more than 24 years, it was well-prepared to respond to the cholera outbreak last month by sending dozens of pallets of personal hygiene kits, emergency water, rehydration salts, and blankets.

Since the earthquake, Food For The Poor has shipped 1,241 containers of goods valued at $168 million and has built more than 1,500 concrete block two-roomed homes with sanitation units.

Right now, Food For The Poor is in a race against time to collect much-needed supplies: evaporated and condensed milk, canned mackerel, canned corn beef, canned chicken, sardines, Spam and Vienna sausages with an expiration date six months or longer; Powerade, Gatorade and Pedialyte; hygiene kits with soap, toothpaste, feminine personal care items and diapers. Food For The Poor is not accepting clothing, shoes or water; the organization obtains trailer loads of these items from donors.

Please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/hurricane or make a $10 donation by texting “HAITI” to 25383.

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor.

For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.

Food For The Poor Installs Water Filtration Systems to Aid Prevention of Cholera

Food For The Poor’s 24-year tenure in Haiti has aided the nonprofit’s immediate response to the spread of cholera. As the threat of disease has loomed over Haiti’s recovery from January’s destructive earthquake, Food For The Poor remained committed to investing in sanitation and water projects throughout the country.

“Where Food For The Poor has installed water treatment systems prior to this crisis we have not heard of a single reported case of cholera,” said Daniel Rouzier, the Chairman of Food For The Poor-Haiti, who is coordinating Food For The Poor’s in country response.

The strategy of providing long-term solutions through water filtration systems and permanent housing has benefited regions where Food For The Poor works. The filtration systems each can treat up to 10,000 gallons of water per day and reduce waterborne diseases by removing suspended pathogens. Water filtration units are operational in Poirier, Desdunes (2), Dokozel, Villard, Petit Reviere, Poteneau, Descarreaux, Marchands Dessalines, and Gros Chaudière.

“We have mobilized a good number of doctors and nurses to visit vulnerable areas,” wrote Father Duken Augustin, who partners with Food For The Poor in Cap-Haiten, Haiti. “We continue to fight. Please keep us in your prayers.”

Infected persons, seeking medical help have traveled south to the capital and north to Cap-Haitien, creating the potential for countrywide contamination – to the point where the neighbor country, the Dominican Republic, has closed its border.

Access to clean water is a matter of life and death for the people of Haiti. Food For The Poor moved quickly to install 10 solar-powered filtration units in Haiti’s affected Artibonite region and mobilized the distribution of bottled water by the container. Water Missions International in partnership with Food For The Poor has helped to install the water filtration units. An additional 10 water filtration units will be air freighted and installed in the Artibonite region, for a total of 20 since the cholera outbreak.

“Cholera and malaria do not kill people in First World countries where there is access to medicine,” said Angel Aloma, Food For The Poor’s Executive Director. “In Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, destitute children are often emaciated and their immune systems are compromised. If the disease is not contained, the problem could expand well beyond its current bounds.”

Pit latrines and sanitation blocks that include both toilets and shower stalls are critically needed to prevent the spread of dysentery, cholera and malaria. Food For The Poor’s permanent homes are constructed to meet these standards.

“Water from the rivers, where the majority of the people find water to drink, bathe, cook and wash, is the same river where animals drink, bathe and defecate,” said Aloma.

Critical items being sent are:

• Medicines, including antibiotics and oral rehydration salts. These will be airlifted.
• Hygiene kits with soap, toothpaste and other personal care items to help prevent spread of disease. The distribution of prepositioned supplies in the Port-au-Prince distribution center has been initiated. Approximately 31,000 personal care and hygiene kits were shipped from the Coconut Creek distribution center on Friday.
• Blankets for more than 46,600 people. Shipment left Food For The Poor’s Coconut Creek distribution center today.
• Powerade and Pedialyte.

To learn how to help, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/emergency.

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.

Conditions in Haiti Worsen, CDC Investigates Spread of Disease

In response to reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating sudden multiple deaths in Haiti’s Artibonite region, Food For The Poor has started to secure and ship critically needed supplies.

Areas receiving immediate aid from Food For The Poor include, Poirier, Desdunes, Dokozel, Villard and Petit Reviere.

Critical items being sent are:
1) Medicines, including antibiotics and oral rehydration salts. Oral vaccinations may be necessary if the disease is identified as cholera.
2) Water filtration units that purify up to 10,000 gallons of clean water a day. Five units are being deployed from the Food For The Poor Port-au-Prince distribution center. Emergency water packets also will be shipped.
3) Hygiene kits with soap, toothpaste and other personal care items to help prevent spread of disease. Some supplies are prepositioned in the Port-au-Prince distribution center and an additional 57 pallets are ready to ship from the Coconut Creek distribution center starting Friday.
4) Blankets.
5) Gatorade and Pedialyte.

Due to the relatively quiet hurricane season in the Caribbean, Food For The Poor’s pre-positioned emergency relief items such as blankets and hygiene kits are ready to go. Food For The Poor plans to airfreight donations of antibiotics, oral rehydration salts, oral vaccinations, Gatorade and Pedialyte.

“January’s earthquake displaced more than one million people,” said Robin Mahfood, Food For The Poor’s President/CEO. “People in Haiti desperately need our help. Today in Haiti, destitute families have no option other than to live in garbage-filled swamps, and drink contaminated water – the same water they and the wild animals use to bathe. We have been afraid of this since the earthquake. We are praying for the people of Haiti, and we ask that everyone do the same.”

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor.

For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.