5 year report for variety international 2010-2014

2010-2014 Summary of Activities

Thriving Villages International

Peste l , Hai t i

Variety International Children’s Fund

Thriv ing Vi l l ages Internat iona l

Letter from Dr. Ben Fredrick:

Dear Members of Variety International,

When I was approached in 2009 about a five-year collaboration with Variety International I was both excited, energized, and a bit nervous! Over these past five years I have tried to view Variety International’s gift as an investment in the rural, underserved region of Pestel, Haiti. Over these years I have been overwhelmed at the response of so many wonderful people who have become involved as a result of Variety’s generosity.

In this report I want to outline the unfolding of the past five years related to our work together. I trust that this report serves not only as a reasonable ‘activity report’ but also as a great encouragement to you for the amazing work that has been accomplished in your name. Many more people, both in the US as well as in Haiti, have become familiarized with your organization through my speaking engagements and in sharing the stories from Pestel, Haiti. While the work in Haiti has been done on my “free time”, I have had the pleasure of sharing about the work in a variety of venues through my official capacity as Director of Global Health at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine.

Soon after these projects in Pestel began in earnest in 2010 it became clear that I needed to develop a non-profit organization to help manage the funds, both from Variety International as well as other donors who came on-board as a result of Variety International’s gifts to Pestel. That is how Thriving Villages International was born. It is important to note that when we began work in Pestel there was no organization working in Pestel.. Also, the area is greatly impoverished without electricity, running water, paved roads, and only one Haitian physician for the population of 70,000. What you are about to read essentially had to be built from scratch in an austere environment. There have been a great many challenges, but also many important successes, both tangible and intangible.

I have been honored to work with Variety International over these past five years. I have been personally encouraged by your trust and support, by your willingness to bring to light the neglected people of Pestel, and to take a bold step by trusting me with this work over the past five years. The heart of Variety International has touched thousands of lives in Pestel!!

With great affection,

Dr. Ben

WWW.Thriv ingVi l lages .org

Background

A Note about Haiti

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Basic infrastruc-ture of the country is lacking, especially in the countryside. Haiti’s history is of an oppressed people who broke the chains of slavery, but have since faced suspicion and antagonism from without, and corruption and mismanagement from within. Despite this the people of Haiti are among the most resilient, joy-filled, and beautiful that you will find.

Notes about Pestel, Haiti

Pestel is among the poorest places in Haiti. (see arrow on map) This is a very rural re-gion that lacks running water, electricity, indoor plumbing and paved roads. The region lies eight hours drive from the capital of Port-au-Prince across mountain roads that eventually become little more than rocky riverbeds. Some 240 villages and 70,000 peo-ple live in Pestel’s six sections.

Project Goals

Our project aim was to improve the HEALTH of the children in Pestel. We accomplished this by

1. Developing community health outreach campaigns to reach the furthest kids in the most neglected villages

2. Providing clean, safe and reliable sources of water to reduce the #2 cause of child death: diarrhea

Pestel


MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS—OVERVIEW

Strategy.

Variety International’s funding was used to develop and maintain a team of field health workers that covered the entire mountainous (and sometimes treacherous) terrain of Pestel, Haiti.

Outcomes.

A number of different very important outcomes occurred, and the details will be included later in this report. Generally, the major outcomes of the funding include the following:

Improved child health. We eliminated Vitamin A Deficiency in 8000 children (ages 6 months to 5 years). We saved about 100 children per year from dying through the Vitamin A Campaigns, and eliminated blindness due to Vitamin A Deficiency. Our deworming campaigns were highly successful and praised by parents. Widespread vaccination efforts began for the first time in Pestel in 2013 with the workers covering both children as well as women of childbearing age. A large-scale household water filter project began in 2014 that will reach about 15,000 people.

Health infrastructure. The twenty field health workers contributed to the health efforts throughout Pestel, identifying about 240 villages (the government thought there were only 130 villages), identifying children in each of those villages and providing them medicines one-on-one, collected household data that was provided to the Haiti Ministry of Health as well as UNICEF. Furthermore, this network of field health workers (called APPAS) that was developed through Variety International funding assisted a number of other organizations who were attracted to Pestel as a direct result of Variety’s involvement and our ability to help support their work. This included Heifer International and Water Missions International. The APPAS field workers also assisted Dr. Seneque (Regional Health Director for Pestel) with early warning of approaching hurricanes to the villagers as well as health education on topics of nutrition and cholera.

Attracting individuals and organizations. One of the great (and difficult to quantify) benefits of these projects has been the participation of other organizations and individuals who are now involved in Pestel as a direct result of Variety International’s annual donation. These organizations have been involved in a number of important areas including primary education, community development, water projects, nutrition-related projects, and even planning for a new health clinic!


Technical Issues

No formal banking existed in Pestel, Haiti. A process to get funds out to rural Pestel had to be developed.

The 2010 Earthquake caused a large number of people to move into Pestel from Port-au-Prince. With more mouths to feed with such little food, more pressure was put on poor families.

Important Facts Vitamin A Deficiency is highly prevalent in Pestel and a major contributor to disease and death, including blindness. High-dose Vitamin A given twice a year to these children reduces child deaths by 20%.

2010 OVERVIEW

The Work Begins

—Vitamin A, Deworming —Household Survey

Important Findings in Pestel

70% of children expelled worms when given the Deworming pills. Parents were thrilled to see the improvements! These intestinal worms can consume up to 25% of a children’s nutrition.

~25% of children in Pestel were found to be malnourished.


Main Accomplishments in Pestel

20 individuals from regions throughout Pestel selected for the work.

Dr. Ben trained the workers on Vitamin A, Deworming, height/weight measurements, nutrition education, screening for malnutrition and anemia.

Donated medications were provided by Vitamin Angels to assist Health Campaigns.

~8,000 children (ages 6 months to 5 years) reached with Vitamin A and Deworming medications twice a year

2010 Household Survey completed to help guide future planning.

Important Notes

January 2010—Earthquake devastates Port-au-Prince Haiti

July 2010—Cholera inadvertently enters Haiti and spreads to Port-au-Prince

November 2010—Dr. Seneque reports first cases of cholera in Pestel with several deaths


Technical Issues

An Anemia Campaign was initiated in 2011 with UNICEF but stopped in 2012 due to many challenging technical issues.

Important Facts World Health Organization considers an area “water deprived” if the people have to walk more than 15 minutes one-way to get water.

2011 OVERVIEW

The Work Continues

—Vitamin A, Deworming —Anemia Campaign


50% of children have anemia.

Data analysis reveals that people walk, on average, about 2 hours to get water in Pestel.

There is virtually no way for most of them to get clean, safe water.

Section Average Hemoglo-bin (normal > 12)

1 11

2 11

3 11

4 11

5 11

6 8



Dr. Ben develops a Child Carried Medical Record for children in Pestel to document trends in growth, immunization record, and medication record.

Pictured below is a blank hand-carried record (one side) that was given to about 8000 children throughout Pestel, Haiti.

Important Notes

Heifer International provided 4 goats to 220 families throughout Pestel, worth an estimated >$120,000. Recipient families provide goats to their neighbors when kids are born, thus perpetuating the gift.


Technical Issues

The field health workers, on their own initiative, apply for and receive governmental recognition as an organization in Haiti. They call themselves APPAS (which stands for Association of Workers in Pestel Assisting Health).

Important Facts Map below shows villages in Pestel plotted throughout the mountainous region (red dots). The field workers reached children in these villages, some of which required a 4 hour walk one-way.

2012 OVERVIEW

The Work Continues

—Vitamin A, Deworming —Village identification



APPAS Field Workers identify 230 villages with GPS devices and these are plotted on a map

Each child receives her own hand-carried Medical Record

Heifer International finishes project in Pestel to build on our work

Important Notes

On a visit to a village in the poorest area of Pestel, I met one of the APPAS workers who proudly showed me the house he had built with the money he earned from his work with APPAS. This is a reminder that the benefits of this work include employment and improved livelihoods for the workers.


Technical Issues

APPAS Field workers provided essential information about potential villages as well-drilling candidates to the well-drilling organization.

Important Facts Dr. Seneque sees about a case a month of tetanus, often with fatal results. With the new vaccination efforts, there is hope of eliminating death and disease from illnesses like tetanus.

2013 OVERVIEW

The Work Expands

—Vitamin A, Deworming —Vaccinations


Finding water in Pestel remains a great challenge. It is estimated that a rig is needed that can drill twice a deep as any existing rig in Haiti can currently provide.



Well-drilling effort undertaken in Pestel but no water was found

The APPAS field workers are trained to provide injections and a region-wide vaccination effort begins

Planning begins for a new health clinic in the middle of Pestel where there is no access to healthcare.

Pictured to the Right: Representatives from Variety International (Julia Morley, Chairman VICF, and Jack Cannons) and Miss World Organization’s “Beauty with a Purpose” visit Pestel in March 2013.

Important Notes

Hurricane Sandy caused widespread devastation in Pestel. A relief fund was organized.

A guest house was completed in Pestel for visitors coming to Pestel to serve.

In January we purchased 6 motorcycles for the APPAS Field Workers which allowed them to see the same number of children in 4 months instead of 6 months. This also saved money on transportation-related expenses.


Technical Issues

The filters not only trap dirt and waste materials, but they actually kill bacteria and infectious agents because of their chemical construction.

Since these filters are produced by a factory in Haiti, the funding is going directly to Haitians providing jobs as well as clean water.

Important Facts Household ceramic water filters are bucket systems used in the house to filter out dirty water and purify it, making it very safe to drink.

Children can drink safe, clean water by opening the spigot.

The #2 cause of children dying in Pestel is Diarrhea. This important initiative will reduce child deaths by getting to the source of the problem—contaminated water.

2014 OVERVIEW

An important new phase begins

—Vitamin A, Deworming —Vaccinations



Working with a local group in Pestel, funds are being used to purchase household ceramic water filters (see below).

~3000 filters will be distributed which means that 18,000 people in Pestel will benefit. That is 25% of the entire population of Pestel!

Important Notes

$25,000 additional funds were donated to

Variety International and will provide an additional 500 household filters, reaching 3,000 people.

$100,000 donation for health center in Pestel to be released once the site is ready .


Technical Issues

Providing receipts in Haiti is truly a foreign concept, as is maintaining financial records. A system was developed for the workers in Pestel, and the results were mixed.

Overview Variety International agreed to provide $35,000 per year for five years. Because of a minimum wage increase in 2012, the funding was increased to $40,000 per year in order to keep the APPAS field workers employed full-time.

Additional donations to Variety International were made:

$100,000 which was provided to Water Missions International for a well-drilling effort as well as a water piping system in one area.

$25,000 to provide household ceramic water filters and the need for these funds will be forthcoming. I will coordinate this with the Chairman of the VICF Board, Julia Morley.

$100,000 to construct a health facility in Pestel. Planning has been underway and funds will be requested when site preparations are complete.

Financial Report 2010-2014



The work came in on-budget every year for 5 years.

The project did have all the necessary funds to implement and run the projects.

General Breakdown of how grant funds were spent:

APPAS Field Worker Payroll ($3000/month)

to pay 20 field workers

$250/month for transportation costs related to the projects

$270/month for supplies, training sessions

5 year report for variety international 2010-2014

Documents

haiti pestel

haiti haiti

people of haiti

heart of variety international

neglected people of

variety of venues

underserved region of

amazing work