For nearly 50 years, Compassion has been partnering with local churches in Haiti to lift children out of poverty in Jesus’ name. Today, more than 125,000 children are benefiting from Compassion’s support and care at 339 child development centers across the country. Every one of these children receives the nutrition, access to health care and educational support they need to beat poverty and grow into fulfilled, self-sufficient adults.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. More than half of its 10 million people live on less than $1 a day, and around 8 million live on less than $2 a day. Food insecurity is widespread, particularly in rural areas, and a quarter of all babies are born with a low birth weight. To help tackle this problem, every Compassion-assisted family receives a monthly food package containing rice, beans, sugar, milk, oil and other staples.
The devastating earthquake of 2010 claimed an estimated 160,000 lives and left a further 1.5 million people homeless. To this day, many Haitians are living in the temporary tent cities built in the aftermath, with no access to clean water or modern sanitation.
The Haitian economy has struggled to recover since the earthquake, which largely destroyed the capital, Port au Prince, where industry and commerce was concentrated. Unemployment stands at a staggering 40 percent, and many of those with work are subsistence farmers who struggle to feed and provide shelter for their families.
Education is highly prized among Haitians, who see it as a route out of poverty. Although primary and secondary school are nominally free, there is a lack public schools, and qualified teachers are scarce. Additionally, most Haitians cannot afford to pay for uniforms, textbooks or transport. Just 67 percent of children attend primary school, and only 21.5 percent progress to secondary school.
More than 800,000 children in Haiti are engaged in child labor. It is common for parents to send their children to live with another family to carry out domestic work in return for shelter and schooling. However, exploitation and abuse are common, and often children end up as little more than servants, working for no pay and isolated from their peers. Many become runaways and end up living on the streets, forced into begging, petty crime and prostitution.
Compassion is striving to create the conditions in which every child in Haiti has access to a good education, in which every child has enough to eat, and in which no child is forced to work for a living or sleep on the streets. Our child development centers provide an essential base for these efforts. They are staffed by workers who are dedicated to improving children’s lives in Jesus’ name and to reaching out to those most in need.
Quick Facts
- 80 percent of the population is living in poverty.
- 11 percent of children under 5 are underweight.
- More than 40 percent of the population has no access to an improved drinking water source.
- Nearly three-quarters of the population has no access to an improved sanitation facility.
- Just 60.7 percent of the population can read and write.
- Life expectancy in Haiti is just 63.8 years.
