Excitement Grows as Program Gets Underway

Just five weeks after returning from Haiti, David O'Connor and his son, Brian, got back on a plane with the village of Sous Savanne as their destination yet again. The brief in-between period on American soil was spent accumulating a rundown of what essential information would need to be gathered in order to get the Hope Force Child Sponsorship Program off the ground and fully operational.

Time would be of the essence, though. The O'Connor's had quite the list of tasks for their three full days in Sous Savanne, first and foremost of which was to interview families to see whether or not they would qualify for the program. Some interviews had already been conducted in the past by Joseph (Sous Savanne's renaissance man of sorts), necessitating the completion of matching up those families with past conversations and photos so as to construct a finished profile for them. The workload for this trip seemed daunting at first for the O'Connor's.

"Honestly, I was kind of nervous because compiling profiles for every family seemed like an unrealistic goal," said Brian, "but we ended up getting it done very quickly. Our aim was essentially to gather every citizen?s information to effectively launch the program."

The Child Sponsorship Program seeks to match families with small children to donors who will help provide for their needs, specifically through food distribution. Families are qualified if they have four to five children or if they have an infant or small child. Preliminary predictions indicate a possibility of as many as 70 families who will need sponsoring. The program has already provided anti-bacterial soap, a cholera awareness campaign and mosquito net distribution as the second major program component ? healthcare. Medical assessment teams are scheduled to be in Sous Savanne this month to scope future interventions.

The program is set up with a primary focus on the children, the concept being to help them and, through that, reach the entire family unit. While some aid groups focus on all of the sponsorship benefits going to one child, the Hope Force Program will have each family represented by one of their children, and therefore benefit the entire family and indirectly, the whole community. The response from the Sous Savanne community has, thus far, been encouraging.

"People were extremely welcoming [and] seem pretty excited about it. I think most of them realize what this will mean and how much it will help them," said Brian. Some Haitians were so eager, they did not wait for the O'Connor's to come to their house, but rather, met them ahead of time with their information in hand and their children in tow ready to take pictures.

"There's such a strong sense of community there," said Brian. "Some people were reaching out and taking us to other families, saying, 'Oh, you should talk to them.'"

Back stateside, the O?Connor?s gaze has now shifted to working out logistics. The most important hurdle to conquer is the issue of food distribution and, as a parallel focus, setting up sponsors for the families.

Obviously people like the O'Connor's can not be in Haiti 24/7, nor should they be if the Haitians are to eventually become empowered to take the reins themselves. Hope Force is always looking for ways in which Sous Savanne can take ownership of campaigns like the Child Sponsorship Program.

"We're trying to keep Joseph involved with the program since he knows Sous Savanne like nobody else," said Brian, while also acknowledging Joseph's already numerous hats to wear. "But he does teach, is in school himself, and has his own family, so we're trying to put as little responsibility on him as possible while still keeping him involved in the program."

While Joseph is the go-to guy for Hope Force's interaction with Sous Savanne, the O'Connor's met a man named Fritz during this trip to Haiti. They found him very helpful when Joseph was busy attending to many of his other responsibilities. Fritz made sure they visited every family?s tent and/or house, and the O'Connor's are hopeful about establishing a further relationship with him.

Until then, the Child Sponsorship Program continues to materialize, but that can not fully transpire without donors. If you or someone you know would be interested in being involved with the program --or if you have any questions-- you can find more information by visiting the program introduction page.