Community Support

Second Annual In Her Shoes 5k

Hi Second Mile Haiti Family,

How are things in Haiti?

This is a question we hear a lot. And maybe you do too, especially if your friends and loved ones know how much you care about what goes on here.

Today, due to the relative safety and security of this area of Haiti, we can thankfully say, "Things are okay!"

Things have changed some. The Haitian police force received support from more than 200 Kenyan soldiers who are assisting in an operation to eliminate the perpetrators of violence. The gangs responsible for the chaos and destruction have gone into hiding, and conditions are improving towards a new normal with reduced fear and increased freedom. There is an interim government taking steps towards a fair and free presidential election.

Despite these positive developments, travel warnings for Haiti still exist, and that means we haven’t hosted visitors on our campus for more than 2 years.

You may remember that last year, in response to this, we organized a virtual global 5K. We weren’t sure how it would be received, but the Second Mile Community showed up joining us from as far away as Ireland and Southern Africa and as near as Canada and the United States.

It was the most connected we’ve felt to our community of supporters and the most fun we had all year!

And that brings us to today’s announcement:

The In Her Shoes Global 5K is back! For this 2nd Annual event, ur goal is to have 250 participants, twice as many as last year.

That means we definitely want YOU, yes YOU! to sign up today and invite your friends and family along for the ride.

Here's what you need to know:

The podcast accompanying the 5K was a big hit last year! It will be back again this year. We'll introduce you to someone new, in another immersive and eye-opening experience. More details to come.

We hope you'll participate this year and show your support for women in Haiti.

Don’t wait. Register today to receive your In Her Shoes 5K T-shirt in time for the big 5K weekend. Kids and pets can participate too. 🤗

We can’t wait to connect with you and other, new Second Mile supporters in just 36 days!

Lets get moving!
Love from Haiti 🇭🇹

Securing the Basics

Hello again.


It’s been a week since we last wrote you.
And per the times, a lot has happened since then.
Let’s start on Friday...
 

Friday mornings at the Malnutrition Treatment Centers are typically busy and bright. Children have made progress through the week and everyone is excited to go home for the weekend. On most Fridays, the weekly routine ends with 40+ mothers loading duffle bags, fruit trees, and children into a Tap Tap to make their way back to their home communities. This Friday, the roads simply were not safe enough for families to leave the center.

Late Friday evening, some of our operations team (Herode, Joseph, Jos, and Jenn) huddled around four brand new batteries that we had managed to procure from a small business near our Saint Raphaël center. They were transported by motorcycle from 2 hours away with two drivers meeting halfway to make the exchange.

 

The late night delivery was a matter of special urgency. Both our Cap Haitien and our Saint Raphael campus are powered by solar power. When the sun is out, the solar panels charge batteries which keep the lights (and the internet) on through the night. Midwives catch babies and moms give their young children medicine by the light of the power we store each day.
 

The batteries in our Cap Haitien system were failing. In an ideal world, we would have simply replaced the batteries in our current system. But because of the fuel crisis, there are simply not enough batteries available from local distributors to fix our current system. That will have to wait.

In the meantime these four batteries will keep the lights on. 
 

This was an exciting delivery. But the most exciting delivery came on Saturday night.
 

150 bucket water filter systems arrived from Port-au-Prince by truck at 8:00 pm on Saturday night.

It was a site to behold.

 

Second Mile Haiti was the half-way stop on what would be a 24-hour journey for these delivery drivers. Normally it takes 4-hours to cover the 75-mile distance. In these circumstances, it had taken twelve.
 

“Would they sleep here in Cap Haitien?” We asked.


No— They had travelled with fuel and spare tires and everything they might need if they faced a road delay. They would do everything they needed to do to get back to their headquarters.

Back to safety.

Today, we were able to distribute the first 10 buckets to families nearby. The buckets filter cholera, typhoid, E. coli, giardia, and more.

We even tested the water at each house to make sure the families felt comfortable with the technology.

Some were hesitant. It seemed too good to be true— a bit too easy— to be able to draw water from the ground and drink it without fear.
 

It seems people have become unaccustomed to ease.

We have several organizations coming to pick up buckets to distribute in their communities as well.

 

About 3,700 people should have access to clean drinking water by the end of the week.

Water should be easy.
We hope these filters add a bit of ease and a bit of peace during these trying times. 

❤️ from Haiti

Getting Supplies to Saint-Raphaël

When we celebrated the grand opening of our second Malnutrition Treatment Center back in May, we predicted that it's 20-beds would fill slowly over time, as more children recovered and word spread.


December. That's when we thought the Saint-Raphaël center would be full.
Not before then. And definitely, not in September.

But here we are—in the midst of a brutally difficult time for the people of Haiti—with a center that is nearly full, worrying about how to build more beds before Monday. 

If you've seen the news, you know that much of Haiti is in lock-down. Unrelenting gas shortages and increasing instability have made basic activities like work, travel, buying food, and accessing health services more complicated by the hour. Businesses, government offices, and even many health facilities have shuttered their doors, unable to operate without fuel and bracing for another week of protests.

You may wonder how we're faring? We're okay.

Support from our ever-generous donors allows us to survive. In many ways we are still thriving. Our team continues to show up to work daily—ready to support the women, families, and children we serve. Our doors remain open--day and night--thanks to solar power and strong ties with the community keep us safe. 

Still, road closures and fuel shortages present challenges. The Saint Raphaël Family Center is a 90-minute drive from our first location in Cap Haitien and many of the supplies we need to function must be transported from one center to the next. So, how do we cope? 

Relationships with bus and Tap-Tap drivers who run the Cap-to-Saint-Raphaël route, are just one way we make it through proverbial—and actual—roadblocks.

Instead of driving one of the organization's vehicles, we can pay a small fee for the drivers to bring supplies from one door to the next.

Just last week, we had a Tap Tap transport a pile of mattresses from Cap to Saint-Raphaël Center, it's passengers shaded by the flapping mats. We made the trade on the main road near our Cap Haitien Center, and 90 minutes later the mattresses arrived in Saint-Raphaël, saving the organization money and time and reducing out impact on the environment.

The beds themselves were built by local, Saint-Raphaëlian carpenters. Even without fuel to run generators and power tools, the carpenters have been able to continue to earn a living by completing the job inside our solar-powered centers. ☀️

 

This upcoming weekend, 17 families will leave the Saint-Raphaël Malnutrition Treatment Center after what we hope is a productive week of learning, growth, rest, and recovery. They will be back on Monday to continue their recovery. Will they be met by 3 new faces? Three children who require immediate care for Severe Acute Malnutrition? It's very possible. 

But we'll be ready.

The beds are built and, mercifully, the supply shelves are full. 

Like what you see? Let us know!