About Us

Eternal Hope in Haiti (EHIH) is a non-profit Georgia-based corporation created in 1993. The purpose is to provide basic health care and nutritional services to members of the poverty and disease-ridden communities of northern Haiti. EHIH also founded Hope Haven which is an orphanage for medically fragile and/or critically ill children.

History

In 1984, Twilla Haynes, Professor of Nursing, was invited to Cap Haitien, Haiti to assist in providing relief from an outbreak of measles and its complications. The devastating living conditions and generally poor health of the people of Cap Haitien had an indelible impact on Ms. Haynes.

Subsequently, Ms. Haynes established a public health nursing course for senior level nursing students, which incorporated trips to Haiti as part of a hands-on learning experience. In 1991, the embargo placed on Haiti exacerbated the poor living conditions; resulting in limited access to the basic needs of life such as food, clean drinking water and access to basic health care services. In 1993, Ms. Haynes and the other members formed EHIH in order to better meet these health care and nutritional needs of Haitian people.

In 1996 EHIH opened Hope Haven Orphanage following another period of political unrest. Many healthcare facilities and orphanages were forced to close due to the deteriorating living conditions. During a time of immediate crisis, with sick children and nowhere to place them, God provided everything needed to start the orphanage.

The miracles continue - for example, at Hope Haven children who arrive deathly ill heal and grow in a miraculous way. In addition, 40-50% of the children in the orphanage are in the top 10% of their classes despite their illnesses and lack of prior education.

The accomplishments over the past year in the areas of strengthening communities through healthcare, digging wells to provide safe access to safe water and providing life saving measures for fragile children at Hope Haven have been exceptional.

In the area of healthcare, we continue to make solid progress. According to the World Health Organization, Haiti ranks the worst in the world as far as access to safe water. Seventy to eighty percent of the population suffers from malnutrition. Success of the medical clinics can be attributed to access to critical medical resources and partnerships. Contributors and volunteers donated over 100,000 dollars worth of medicines and resources.

The programmatic goal for 2007 was to increase our service by 20%, which we accomplished. We were able to dig one well for one community. Our goal for 2008 is to continue these services and provide safe drinking water for another community.

We have also made significant progress in providing a stable home for the medically fragile orphans at Hope Haven. We have 50 children and a waiting list. Forty-eight of the children are enrolled in private Christian schools. The construction of the permanent site for Hope Haven is still underway and we pray that 2009 is the year when the children can move to their new home.