Amer Haitian Bon Zami

Description

House of Hope Children's Home

House of Hope (HOH) is a children's home in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Tabarre as part of the work of Amer-Haitian Bon Zami (AHBZ), Inc. Formed in 1976 to help alleviate the suffering of children in Haiti, AHBZ is a cooperative work between the Haitian and U.S. staffs. "Bon Zami" means "good friends" in Haitian Creole.

The mission of AHBZ and HOH is to care for the orphaned and abandoned children of Haiti, preparing them to be well-rounded adults, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, who can provide for themselves and their impoverished nation and to establish a bond of friendship and understanding between Americans and Haitians.

Working toward these goals includes providing each child with food, shelter, clothing, medical care, education, and spiritual guidance so they may become productive members of Haitian society. Every effort is directed at making House of Hope a home and a family, rather than an institution. In Haiti, boys come first and girls second. Because of this, House of Hope is a home for girls. The spiritual life of the children is important to their growth. They attend worship services each week and participate in daily devotions.

Another part of AHBZ's work is Patti's School. Patti's School answers the urgent need for quality education in Haiti. This year, House of Hope has been able to accommodate 60 Patti's School children on the veranda, in the dining room and in the kitchen area. Next year, the new building will hold an additional 100 children. The new building will have space for a computer lab with internet access and a large area for group events.

Class sizes are kept small to allow more interaction with the students. Traditional Haitian classrooms, occupied by fifty or more students, make it difficult to do anything other than large-group memorization. Letting the children see the country first hand is an important part of their education. This fall, the children took a bus trip to Ft. Jacques. The fort was built in the late 1700's to protect Port-au-Prince and has some of the original guns from that period. Field trips are a rare learning experience for children of Haiti.

The outdoor space will allow more room for physical education classes and provide space for teaching about growing small gardens. One especially interesting project was proposed by our architect, Raphael. The previous owner attempted to kill a large mango tree by cutting off its branches. The tree refused to die and is growing new branches. Raphael is working with the Haitian Department of Agriculture to graft a variety of different types of mango branches to the tree to use as a teaching tool for the children. The outdoor space will provide a perfect opportunity for someone skilled in container gardening to come to Haiti to share their knowledge.

Medical care is an urgent need for children in Haiti. The mission of the new clinic will be to first care for the children attending Patti's School, and then their families. Diseases that we routinely treat with medication and diet in the U.S. can be life threatening in a country with almost no affordable health care available. The clinic will provide immunizations for childhood diseases that are not available to them now. Polio still exists in Haiti.

The first floor of the new clinic will contain a waiting area, prayer room, exam rooms, a pharmacy and work space. A separate area will be dedicated to food distribution to the most needy in the neighborhood. The food room will have separate access from the clinic space and will be used during hours when the clinic is not in operation. The second floor will be use for storage and future treatment space for the children and their families. The third floor will contain a small apartment for a visiting nurse or doctor, along with bunk space for medical teams.