Haiti is one of the worst places in the world for a child to be raised. Home to more than 11 million people, 80% live on less than £2 a day. Reeling from earthquakes, political instability, a lack of infrastructure and high inflation, this troubled country seems to go from bad to worst. The recent assassination of the President has only led to more lawlessness and gang rule, especially in the cities.
Children are especially vulnerable with a staggering 1.2 million of them being orphans. Many live in abject slum conditions, with a lack of food, safe water and loving family care, negligible sanitation and no prospects of education or spiritual input (Haiti is a hotspot of voodoo and black magic).
A number of these kids are from the slums of Cap-Haitien in the north, where we have established programmes to serve 270 of the most vulnerable, as well as their families.
We use our remarkable Kids Alive School to provide an outstanding education to just about all of them in grades 1-9, including a Montesorri preschool. Our Children's Village is a residential programme for about 40 of the most vulnerable who have been abandoned, neglected, bereaved or lost, as we work to find and reintegrate them back into a safe and loving family.