In the past week, southern Haiti experienced extensive flooding, followed by a 4.9 magnitude earthquake, killing dozens of people and displacing thousands. Many of our friends and partners have asked if and how these events have affected Borgne—the area in northern Haiti where H.O.P.E. works. Fortunately, Borgne was not affected; H.O.P.E.’s hospital and programs continue to operate, and the team in Borgne continue to do good work. Haiti is an earthquake-prone country, and heavy rains fueled by tropical systems and hurricanes are common. Borgne is not isolated from such disasters, and lies wit ..read more

Haiti Outreach Pwoje Espwa works solely in the commune of Borgne, Haiti. Borgne is an agricultural and fishing community situated on Haiti's beautiful northern peninsula. For more than two decades, we have worked as part of a formal partnership with USAID and the Haitian Ministry of Health to provide health and dental care, community-based education programs, and economic vitality. Recently, team members Dr. Dan Lapp and Mike Shields visited Borgne for a “pulse check.” This trip highlighted the enormous challenges we are facing due to the runaway inflation in Haiti and the severely reduced fu ..read more

Prevention and education are core elements to Haiti Outreach Pwoje Espwa's Sante nan Lakou model, which seeks to identify and address the root causes of illness and disease. Recently, there was a need to address a potential outbreak of cholera. Cholera is a life-threatening and often fatal disease that is often transmitted through contaminated water. Our S.E.E. team, led by our medical director, Thony Voltaire, MD, identified some potentially contaminated water sources. Immediately, the team worked with the community leaders to first identify ways to protect the sources and secondly, when a w ..read more

May 5, 2023, World Health Organization declared, “with great hope,” the end of COVID-19 as a public health emergency. Like many places globally, coping with the COVID-19 epidemic was an uphill battle with substantial barriers to overcome - misinformation, lack of health literacy and general skepticism about vaccines and their potential effects. Through hard work and dedication, Haiti Outreach Pwoje Espwa has had one of the most successful COVID-19 vaccination programs in all of Haiti. We are proud to report that Borgne has seen relatively few cases of COVID, and zero deaths. By way of the com ..read more

A note from the Haiti Outreach-Pwoje Espwa Medical Director The Spring sun dawned a little earlier this morning. Early mornings are when I do my daily walk through the hospital, and always past the ASB delivery room. Today, my attention was particularly drawn to a harmonic cry, for me it was a golden moment of joy that is hard to describe. I couldn’t help but seek the origin of this new melody that landed so gently on my ears. For me, this was a majestic announcement…the arrival of a newborn baby in perfect health. It filled me with an immense contentment to look into those innocent eyes, alr ..read more

If there was ever a club to join in the Haitian commune of Borgne, it would be a H.O.P.E.'s Mothers Club. Annually, hundreds of women participate in these clubs from across the commune. While each can be unique, at their core, Mothers Clubs focus on providing education and peer support around the importance of prenatal and postnatal care for both the mother and child. Since the program’s inception close to twenty-seven years ago, Medical Director, Thony Voltaire, MD, recalls, “Maternal and infant mortality was very frequent. It was impossible to go a week without seeing one. Now, because of t ..read more

Friends, Borgne is a community where the sun rises every day and the rain falls benevolently to make life flourish in the fields and in the cottages. On the human side, everything is more fragile and even complicated to guarantee this life. The youngest, pregnant women, the oldest are the most at risk and this picture is darkened from time to time by outbreaks of disease. The problems are numerous and arise in all areas. Sante Nan Lakou remains the most effective approach to improving the health situation in difficult areas and the most vulnerable sections of society. To do so, community activ ..read more

Dear Mr. Ambassador and Embassy Staff, Thank you for opening your doors and allowing me to spend an evening in this beautiful and inspiring place. To all of you who have joined us to make this evening possible, I thank you for your support. Th is is an evening that I will never forget and I am grateful to be here with you all. Allow me to talk to you for a few momen ts about the wonderful country of Haiti that we all cherish, whether we are Haitians or not. For many, the glorious history of this country we call Haiti seems to have been extinguished forever. Today, whether inside the country o ..read more

The beauty of Borgne is matched only by the resilience of the people who call it home. Our hospital and health system remains one of a small group of facilities in the country that remains open and continues to serve people every day, 24 hours per day. To our knowledge, we are now the only fully functioning health facility in the north of Haiti. As a result, we are starting to see people from neighboring communes and from as far away as Cap Haitien seeking health care in Borgne. Cholera has returned in many areas across the country and will worsen with the rainy season. Inflation is eroding t ..read more

Rochester area musicians are coming together to bring you HOPE'S ALIVE '22–a concert to benefit Haiti Outreach Pwoje Espwa (H.O.P.E.)--on November 26, 2022 - 7-9 PM. Join us in person or via livesteam to hear music from Bill Welch Band, Bill Tiberio Band, Paul Boutte, Rev. Myra Brown, and Hayden Welch. The concert will be LIVE at Downtown United Presbyterian Church, 121 Fitzhugh St N, Rochester, NY and will be live-streaming for virtual viewers–everyone is welcome! No tickets are required to attend or view this concert, and there will be no charge at the door. In lieu of admission, we encoura ..read more