Donate to Orphans in Haiti
The impact Practical Compassion has made to support orphans in Haiti has only been possible because of the donations you give to the orphanages in Haiti. Without your generous gifts, we would not have the funds to buy food for children suffering from severe or acute malnutrition and anemia.
Empathy and compassion always need to be followed up with an action. This is what Practical Compassion is all about. Choosing to partner with our team is an investment in humanity and the future of God’s most vulnerable children.
A Place So Small Needs So Much
The country of Haiti is about the size of Maryland and has more than 760 orphanages. Prior to the 7.0 magnitude earthquake on January 12, 2010, there were an estimated 380,000 orphans in Haiti.
Today, it’s estimated there are 1,210,000 vulnerable children that include orphans, disabled children, street children, and restaveks. More than 25 percent of these vulnerable children are under 15 years old.
Restaveks are children working as servants and are usually treated as slaves. Parents place their children with other families as child laborers in hopes their child would be fed and cared for. The reality, however, is that most restavek situations only offer children a life of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, with no opportunity for an education.
Sometimes the street children and restavek children are rescued and taken to one of our orphanages, changing a bleak and hopeless existence into a bright future.
Haitian Orphans Quality of Life
These statistics are difficult to fathom. But the word orphan in the United States has an entirely different definition than it does in Haiti. If American children lose both parents, chances are that an extended family member would step up and care for them. In fact, parents probably have a formal document outlining multiple plans for the care of their children. It would be incredibly rare for children to be moved to an institutionalized facility that’s dependent on donations for survival.
The grim fact in Haiti is that most children living in orphanages still have one or both parents living. These children are known as “social orphans” or “poverty orphans,” because although their parents are alive and want their children, they have no means to provide for their most basic of needs. For many taking their children to an orphanage is a matter of survival.
Would you save a child’s life for a dollar a day? Donate now to provide these children with the chance to know God’s love for them, and to thrive and grow.