This is the fifth in a series of updates from Lamp for Haiti on the current crisis in Haiti and how it is affecting Lamp and the people we serve. To view earlier updates, please go to our web site – www.lampforhaiti.org – and scroll down to the Blog. Here’s hoping that the crisis will be over soon, but the pace of change is not fast. We will update you every two weeks, going forward! I had a lengthy conversation with Lamp manager Benoit Florestal yesterday on the situation in Port-au-Prince and prospects for the future. The following update reflects his opinion on these things.  ..read more

Dear Reader, This is the third in a series of updates from Lamp for Haiti. The situation remains tense in Port-au-Prince.  A partner in a major hospital in the capital wrote yesterday that each week is worse than the last.  Schools and most institutions, including many banks, are closed.  Everyone, including our staff, is hunkered down and hoping for relief.  Lamp manager Benoit Florestal went to the office last week but said he was very nervous on the drive.  Streets are empty, there are very few private vehicles on the roads, so that he felt exposed and vulnerable.&n ..read more

Dear Lamp supporters, This is the second in a series of updates on the crisis in Haiti. Unfortunately, the security situation in Port-au-Prince continues to deteriorate.  Gang activities have greatly increased in the wealthier area of the city, known as Petionville.  There is a strong police presence at the international airport but gangs have not withdrawn and continue to surround the area.  Areas close to Lamp’s service centers are becoming the targets of more activity.   Unfortunately the rest of the country is also facing a crisis, namely a food security crisis.&nb ..read more

Dear Lamp supporters, It is clear that Haiti is in serious crisis.  Current media reports on Haiti are frightening and bewildering.  Many of you have asked how Lamp is faring in the midst of this upheaval.  As supporters of Lamp’s mission to provide care for the vulnerable, you have shown your concern, in a very concrete way, for those who bear the brunt of each crisis as it arrives.  You have been a positive part of Haiti’s recent history and we want to keep you abreast of Lamp’s efforts.  We would like, therefore, to initiate a weekly “news” post while this crisis pe ..read more

Dear friends-   You have no doubt heard the news coming out of Haiti in this past week about the greatly heightened level of insecurity especially in and around the capital of Port-au-Prince.   Airports are closed, the main shipping port is closed, and the country is in a state of emergency for another month. The Haitian Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, is reported to be unable to return safely to the country as local gangs coalesce in calling for his resignation.   Locally, even very basic movement around the capital is risky. Up until 2 days ago ..read more

It was another proud day for our Lamp community.   Yesterday I worked with our medical staff in Port-au-Prince at our newly refurbished, freshly painted, ancillary health center in a zone just outside Cité Soleil, an area called Klèsin (CLARE-seen).   On our way to clinic, the normally ebullient and cheerful commute with our Lamp staff, a commute that often finds me laughing after just a few short blocks, one marked by nurses ribbing doctors for this or that, people scrunching together to see the latest Tik-Tok video, or bragging about their children and sharing photos ..read more

Dear Friends – I’m writing our Annual Spring Appeal letter from Port au Prince, Haiti, a place of 3 million people, most of whom are quite poor by any international standard.  In Cité Soleil, where Lamp for Haiti has its health center, a sprawling and dangerous ghetto, absent reliable clean water or electricity, the situation is even more stressed. Consider some of these staggering facts: In the arena of healthcare, Haiti spends about 57 dollars per capita annually. In all the Americas the next lowest spending country, Nicaragua, commits over three times that amount per person, while the ..read more

This year, we continue to reflect on the importance of Lamp for Haiti’s tagline: Healthcare, Partnership, Community. Last month we offered a perspective on Lamp’s delivery of Healthcare, viewed through the lens of Martin Luther King’s lasting impact on our world. One striking lesson the pandemic has taught us is that going it alone leads to more of the same – going it alone. In other words, connections make us stronger. Connections help as confidante and counselor when we come to life’s crossroads. Connections encourage us to model right behavior, and follow the straight path as we w ..read more

Health, Partnership and Community A Message from Dr. James Morgan It seems appropriate to send this first message of the year on this January day, a day that we mark the birth of surely one of the world’s most influential figures of the past century, Martin Luther King, Jr.. King didn’t start wars, or invent any new technology. Instead he responded to an age old yet still burning issue of his day, inequality, and that response continues to resonate. King asked difficult questions to colleagues and friends, politicians and ordinary people. He organized, he marched, he stuck ..read more

2022 was a difficult year in Haiti.  The government was unable to restrain the activities and conflicts of various gangs so that security issues became paramount for ordinary citizens, especially in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, where the Lamp Health Center is located.  In September, gang control of the fuel supply, and their decision to cut off access to this fuel, caused a crisis across Haiti.  Transportation of goods ceased, electricity was unavailable, and economic activity of all sorts came to a standstill.  Happily enough, the situation was partially resolved in ..read more