As we walked there, a huge rainbow came out of the sky before us. It was so bright and beautiful, and the Biblical significance and impact could not be missed.  It left us both slightly overwhelmed, having honestly never seen a rainbow like that in Haiti before, and recognising that even amidst our pain, God was very much with us.  It was nothing short of a miraculous sign, and we remain incredibly humbled by this moment.  The actual service was very informal, but was lovely as was filled with all our family and friends.  In particular Doctor Touissant and his family were there to share in the occasion.

Monday morning was filled with the business of preparations for the actual funeral. As part of this we went with Nancie to the funeral home to dress Grace for the last time. Nancie had bought her the most beautiful white dress with gloves and a veil for her to meet Jesus.  As we arrived her little naked body was laying on the table.  Carwyn dressed her with her tights, dress and gloves.  How we wished she could have seen herself in such clothes – she looked like a beautiful princess.  We were all in tears as he placed her in the coffin ready to go to the church, and we said good bye with a little kiss upon her beautifully veiled head.

As we arrived at the church later that day all the childrens home staff were already there sitting in tears at the front of the church. The service was beautiful, with so many people who loved Gracie. There were two choirs, one with nearly 50 people in. Carwyn spoke beautifully about the impact of Graces little life, and challenged everyone to follow the incredible example set by Grace and Nancy in their relationship together.

After the service, the choirs and scouts made a procession with Carwyn, Jethor, Pastor Sadock and Pastor Philisten carrying Grace.  It was incredibly moving, with some of our rehab patients lined up before Carwyn, and a child we sponsor with Compassion following beside Carwyn on the long, sad journey.

The town stopped, and one of our favorite Haitian songs which we didn’t know was going to be sung rang out from Graces little royal procession.

We arrived at the cemetery and close friends and family gathered around Grace as she was placed in the grave. They cemented up the grave and with a stick wrote Graces name and date in the wet cement, with the verses from Isaiah 65: 17 – 25, Carwyn’s favorite Bible passage (which can be found below.)

A humble grave for a precious little girl. Throughout everything Nancie’s faith in God is what has pulled her through. When Grace was in resuscitation she was outside the ward just praying, and when I saw her yesterday she had been at church all day just praying. We must just use the example of little Grace who loved Jesus so much to live our lives for every moment in Gods presence.

New Heavens and a New Earth

¹⁷ “See, I will create 
new heavens and a new earth. 
The former things will not be remembered, 
nor will they come to mind. 
¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever 
in what I will create, 
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight 
and its people a joy. 
¹⁹ I will rejoice over Jerusalem 
and take delight in my people; 
the sound of weeping and of crying 
will be heard in it no more.

²⁰ “Never again will there be in it 
an infant who lives but a few days, 
or an old man who does not live out his years; 
the one who dies at a hundred 
will be thought a mere child; 
the one who fails to reach^[a] a hundred 
will be considered accursed. 
²¹ They will build houses and dwell in them; 
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 
²² No longer will they build houses and others live in them, 
or plant and others eat. 
For as the days of a tree, 
so will be the days of my people; 
my chosen ones will long enjoy 
the work of their hands. 
²³ They will not labor in vain, 
nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; 
for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, 
they and their descendants with them. 
²⁴ Before they call I will answer; 
while they are still speaking I will hear. 
²⁵ The wolf and the lamb will feed together, 
and the lion will eat straw like the ox, 
and dust will be the serpent’s food. 
They will neither harm nor destroy 
on all my holy mountain,” 
says the LORD.

Thursday was a busy day as we continued work on making the solar panels work and had a team from Hands up for Haiti who were coming to help set up our paedetric, neo-natal, public and private maternity wards. As I was showing the team of doctors and nurses around from Hands up for Haiti I asked the pediatric doctors to look at Grace. They said they would come back after the tour to look at her properly, but thought it may be a blocked shunt. As I continued setting everyone up, Nancie called me saying Reninca come quickly. I ran and found the paedetric US doctors and we went to Grace. She had a form of seizure and was all floppy. I however thought that she was fine.  I began to realize it was bad when they began to do chest compressions on her and asked me to get an ambu bag. The program our staff had been learning was on helping babies breath and I knew enough to understand this meant Grace was not breathing.

Nancie was outside just praying and other staff members were coming in and assisting. I just stood there watching it all unravel in front of me – helping where I could. There were four doctors working on her little body taking it in turns giving compressions and breaths. After 15 minutes they all agreed to stop trying. The US doctors said to me in English that she had died and they could not revive her. She was just lying there, her little body gone. I went and got Nancie, held her and told her that Gracie was dead. We went back into the room which erupted with crying and screaming. Gracie was loved by so many people. As I walked across the lane Lily who is Nancie’s sister came up to me and asked what room Grace was in. I had to tell her that Grace was dead – she began screaming and ran in and threw the sheet of Grace and kept trying to wake her up…..  This has to be one of the hardest things I have ever had to watch. I called Carwyn in the UK and he left straight away for the airport to come out and be with us all. The staff from Maison de Benediction were inconsolable as our little ray of sunshine has been taken away.

However in the midst of the darkness as Gracies light began to fade, Gods light continued to shine, as for the rest of the day we managed to get the solar panels working at the children’s home, volunteer village and main site. Also the team managed to set up the neo-natal intensive care unit and the public maternity ward.

In all of this I know God is faithful and God is good. I have been given some verses which have been of great comfort that remind us that God is in control. Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to God, there are some things that are difficult to understand but we shall understand later when we see him in heaven”. I believe this to be the case – that we do not always understand but God is in control and knows all things.

Also 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 “what happens to those already dead and buried ? We don’t want you in the dark any longer. First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word. Since Jesus died and broke loose from the grave, God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus.  And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence—we have the Master’s word on it—that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they’ll be ahead of us. The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise—they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.”

We take comfort in these words and know she is in heaven with her Jesus she loved so much. Grace could not say many words but she could say Alleluia (one of the hardest words to say) Jesus and God. She loved church and songs of praise to our mighty God, and is in heaven now with him, where she can continuously praise him. Grace will be having a service Sunday at 4.30 for close family and friends at the funeral home and then the actual service on Monday at 3pm. This will be at the same church to which she was dedicated in nearly two years ago.

Thank you everyone for your support and love. We really appreciate all the emails, texts and messages. Sorry we have not yet responded and ask for your prayers and patience to be with us at this time

If you would like to help support our work with The Dream, or children and adults with disabilities, please make a donation or simply text ‘HHAA99 £10′ to 70070.

If you would like to find out more about our work in Haiti please contact our UK office by phone on 020 8462 5256 or email

Thank you!

As I anticipated our arrival on the anniversary of the earthquake, I wondered how I’d feel.  Two years on, and it’s an event that has irrevocably changed and transformed my life and the work of HHA, both in good ways and bad.  It was no surprise as we sat on the runway at port au prince, that we could hear the sound of signing from a near by church, as services of remembrance scattered the country.  Arriving at the HHA site, our rehab patients and staff gathered, as the hospital paid its own tribute.  Whilst the service was in some ways understandably solemn,  the service was also filled with great hope, with Julien our administrator calling out repeatedly at the end – ‘Haiti can, everyone in Haiti can, people in wheelchairs can, people with or without disability can, Haiti can.’  He was speaking of the continued opportunity of change that Haiti can achieve.

Some days later we had the moving experience thanks to ITV to take Leon back to Port au Prince and re-unite with some of our old patients who we’d not seen in some cases for over 18 months.  It was incredibly moving seeing that room of people whom many once feared had no chance, having now achieved great feats –  a graduate in economics, a rehab nurse, a competitor in the parapan games, a carpenter, a truly beautiful mix of people.

Yet on this trip, it was to my suprise not the earthquake anniversary that most moved me…but a chance encounter with two families, physically completely unaffected by the earthquake.  Following the amazing work of our community rehabilitation team (CBR) who have been supported through CBM in the last year, we were taken a mile or so off the main road in Cap, to a collection of small, shabby huts surrounded by boggy marsh.  Cut off from all the others by dirty, stagnant water was one young family home, inhabited by two young parents and two children, including a small child with cerebral palsy.

Without too much thought, our CBR workers took their shoes and socks off and waded through the dirty waters (the only way to reach this family house), driven with a deep compassion to bring encouragement to this family.  Humbled by their sacrificial service and love for this family, after a few moments thoughts, I tentatively joined them.  Shamefully on my part, I soon found out that the water I  feared to dabble even my feet in, was the same water where this family bath their children.

After a short time of encouragement and prayer within the family home, we made our way back, greeted by another family who’d prepared a small bottle of clean water to help wash down our feet.  As we did so, a few meters further on, and another desperate family came to our attention.  A mother calling for our help, holding a child clearly malnourished and in desperate need of care.  After a short exchange it was felt best that we took this mother and baby in our ambulance to the hospital.  We later found out that the three year old child had the weight of an 8 month old, and was quickly hospitalised by Dr Toussaint.  Whilst this little life had been saved, we had to turn down many other cries of help in that community, with the ambulance being stopped several times on its way out by other families calling for assistance.  Sadly the ambulance was already full, and we made arrangement for the CBR team to return this week.

The desperate poverty of those two families broke my heart afresh by the desperate circumstances of Haiti.  Communities, completely unaffected by the earthquake and perhaps sadly overlooked, who have lived a life of disaster for more than two years.  Their suffering was founded way before January 12th 2010, and the injustice remains of not knowing how many more years such families will have to suffer in such poverty.

Never the less, in that brief moment of time, we had a small but privileged opportunity to help those two families.  Two families I’ll not forget easily.  I was filled with great pride by the work, compassion and love of our CBR team, who taught and challenged me a great deal on that trip.  They were willing to reach out in love regardless of any potential personal risk or discomfort, and in this first blog of 2012, I’d ask that you’d join with us in striving for a similar level of compassion this year.  One that’s driven by an intense love for others.

Needless to say, the ambulance was again key on that trip and in saving that little girl.  However, over this anniversary period we have been desperately seeking funds to repair our ambulance.  I’d ask, that for anyone who’s joined our stories over the years, that you’d consider making a donation today towards the continued work of HHA’s outreach ambulance service.  You can do so by donating on our donate page, or via our anniversary ambulance justgiving page, or simply by texting HHAA99 £10 to 70070.  Thank you all and God bless.

God has given us some amazing role models for our community and the wider community across Haiti.  The hope they embody challenges us to continue with this work which started with a ‘Yes’ and we ask you to join us in remembering the second anniversary, by once again saying ‘Yes’ to the work of HHA.  On Thursday 12th January we will mark the anniversary of the devastating earthquake which struck Haiti on January 12 2010, and we’d love you to join with us.

There are a number of ways you can join with us over the course of the next week:

1:  PRAY: Join in our evening of prayer and remembrance on 12th January with Reninca, one of our full time Haitian based team who’ll be sharing some updates and reflections.  Find out more information here. If you can’t attend our evening of remembrance, could you hold your own act of remembrance by taking some time out to pray, or organising an informal gathering at your church or house?

2:  SPEAK OUT: Many people have moved on from the tragic events of January 12th, perhaps not realising the continued urgent needs of support.  Use this week to encourage greater support for Haiti via twitter or facebook etc.  Share some of our encouraging stories, call out on behalf of the Haitian people, encourage other people to contribute towards our emergency ambulance appeal below.

3:  DONATE: Many of you will remember the incredible work our ambulance did during the earthquake.  Two years on and its still saving hundreds of lives.  With all its efforts though its in urgent need of repairs, costing £3,500.  We’ve launched a special anniversary appeal, to see our ambulance fixed so it’s road worthy for continued emergencies in 2012.  Please visit our Just Giving Appeal page, donate via our donate page or TXT:  HHAA99 £5 to 70070 – to donate £5.  If you’d like to donate a different amount, please replace ‘£5′ with £10 for example.

4: Fundraise: Many people used last years anniversary as an opportunity to help support our continued work.  Could you hold a collection at work, encourage your class to do a cake sale, or hold a church collection and share with your congregation, colleagues, friends or family, how we’re still supporting the reconstruction of Haiti.  Use our two films below to share our heart for 2012 and to encourage people to believe in the impossible.  Thanks for your continued support at this difficult and significant time:

2011 was an incredible year for HHA.  This time last year, I was in Haiti developing our Cholera strategy, right amidst the devastating months of unrest, which left Cap-Haitien feeling so oppressed and hopeless.  However, amidst the pain, privileged partnerships developed which we’ll never forget, as HHA, KS, MSF and MSPP joined forces to tackle some of the most urgent needs.  Perhaps one of the most memorable activities of 2011 was our widespread cholera prevention campaign, which lasted for 7 months.  In just three of those months we reached over 360,000 beneficiaries.  We also helped develope a Cholera Treatment Centre which is still running today, and is now the largest in Cap-Haitien.  Just in October 2011 alone, we had over 1,000 cholera inpatients.

Aside from the cholera work, our disability rehabilitation vision really got off the ground.  In collaboration with the UN, Swiss Paraplegic Foundation and others, our long awaited rehabilitation centre was completed and opened!  One of the first centres of its kind in Haiti offering specialist SCI care, which has now become a national referral centre.  More important than the bricks and mortar though are the lives this work has transformed.  Needless to say, one of my highlights was having the privilege to watch Leon, one of our worst affected earthquake victims compete in the 2011 Parapan Games as the first Haitian Handcyclist.  You can watch a short two minute film below about that!  A real testimony of what you’ve helped achieve.

The Maternity and Paediatric service also really started to take shape, and are now set for opening in the coming few months.  Buildings completed, equipment purchased, and training started, another amazing achievement thanks to your generous support. The hospital also received a huge make over thanks to USAID, creating disability path ways, upgrading the kids home, installing solar power to our hospital which can provide 80% of our electricity, and constructing a wall around the whole site…to name but a few interventions.

In a year which started so bleakly, we’ve again been amazed by Gods grace, and the work that’s been made possible through His provision and your compassion.  It’s exciting to think what this next year will bring!  There are already some incredibly exciting projects on the horizon, and with your help, no doubt this year will surpass the successes of the last.  We could write and write of our gratitude for 2011, and our hopes and dreams for 2012, but perhaps the easiest way to capture our heart this New Year is through the below video.  Please feel free to share around, and remember, its been your support that has made the impossible…possible.  Many thanks – Carwyn and all the team!

As we begin 2012 we have been reflecting on all that has been achieved in this year and how God has used so many wonderful, amazing people to help develop the work in Haiti. So many people work tirelessely to support HHA in so many ways. Carwyn and I are two of the lucky ones who get to be part of the excitement in Haiti everyday, seeing the real change and development. But this could not happen without the amazing volunteers we have in the UK and the brilliant UK staff who have supported us in our work this year: Geoffrey and Phil. The unimaginable has been achieved, but only through the dedication of those in the UK and all those who continue to give money to support the work in Haiti.

Thank you so much for your continued support, it is doing incredible things! In my penultimate day in Haiti I went out with some of our community based rehabilitation workers to visit some of the families that we work with through the Maison de Benediction. Sometimes in Haiti it is easy to forget how much has been achieved. We sit in our office with electricity, internet, fan and cleaners to keep the place mopped, clean and organized, whereas two minutes down the road people are living in absolute poverty.

We visited the first home, after the rains we had to climb through the mud to get there. They had 3 chairs which they gave us to sit on.  We had to literally climb through sewage and rubbish to get there. The local children were just playing in the dirt. As we walked through the community we came into contact with a young lad aged about 7 years with downsyndrome, who is on our program. The other children were just pushing him in the puddles and laughing. This young boy had nothing on but a shirt with no buttons. Our CBR workers went and spoke with the other children and in the end they took the boy away to play.  We continued on to meet his family, but it just gave a small glimpse as to what it is to live with a disability in Haiti

However, we are very excited with lots of changes that’ll be happening in the coming months.  Within a few months we hope to be opening our paedetric and maternity wards which will be an absolute dream come true. Our heart is to see Gods kingdom come and his will be done in Haiti this year.  A kingdom of justice, peace, equality, freedom, hope.  We just want to submit to his will and let our mighty God lead us on what is next to come.

This month Carwyn will be heading back to Haiti with ITV for five days and then I will be heading back at the end of January. Specifically we are looking for: welly boots, bike gloves, back packs, old blackberry mobile telephones, and raincoats if you have any of these items you would like to donate to HHA please email me at reninca@haitihospitalappeal.org. At the moment we do not have a container going so have no space for clothes, medical equipment or toys.

We pray God may continue to bless you in this upcoming year.

All the best, Reninca and Carwyn x x x

The hospital continues to be a place to give glory to God. We are having a security wall built around the site at the moment, and as it continues to grow, it is bringing a sense of security and peace. It is very exciting and you can see huge progress each day. There can be up to 60 men working at one time; just the employment this brings to local people makes the project worth it!

Last week we also received a container of new maternity equipment. It is now being arranged and distributed into the different rooms. This is a dream come true, the equipment is one of the final hurdles, it had been stuck in customs a short while but now we can look forward to the new year and the opening finally and officially of the service. Dr Adlin our Maternity Director is so excited and with Dr Touissant, they are spending many hours planning for the service to start.

With the amazing highs there has to be some lows. ‘Cheri’ was left abandoned in front of the rehabilitation center. She had been dropped off in the morning and was still there as some of the nurses planned to go home at the end of their shift in the afternoon. She is a teenager with learning disabilities who had just sat there all day. We bought her to the children’s home but it is not an appropriate place for her to be long-term. I went with Pastor Sadock to take her to the local government office for children. There I was so impressed with the love and care of the staff, in particular of the director who over the past 3 years has become a good supporter of our project. However they could not find any organization to take her and asked the Maison de Benediction to take her for 2 weeks. ‘Cheri’ has taught me so much about God, our mighty Father and the grace and provision he has for us. Her simple love of people and childlike simplicity to life has been a testimony to us all. Cheri has settled into life on site well – we just continue to pray for the right place for her or for her family to return for her.

On Sunday we went to our local church in Quartier-morin. I was not planning to go, due to the massive amount of reports, budgets and data needed to complete before I go home. However through a series of events I ended up at church for ‘Bible Sunday’. This was an amazing service filled with such heart felt praise and worship, Gods presence was truly there ministering to the people and me. As I looked around the church I felt so incredibly blessed to have the family God has given me in Haiti – there was Grace and her foster mum Nancie, Esther with her foster mum Milouse, Shanika and her foster mum and Louina. Other friends Jean Claude, Lily, Dadi, Simone, Jacqueline, his wife and boys, plus many, many more. All there raising their hands in praise to God.

We continue to praise God for all that has been achieved and thank him for his presence in this place. Please pray for the project during the Christmas period. Be very blessed!

Many of you will have read the recent blogs of HHA’s experience with Leon in Mexico, at the 2011 Parapan Games.  The weeks competition was quite incredible, and you can read more via the following link:  Leon’s trip Mexico.  You may have also caught up with the exciting visit from Able Flights, who took our SCI patients up in the sky for a birds eye view of Cap.  Find out more via:  Flying Planes and Mindsets changed.

Well, to top off those two great activities, this week we also held the formal inauguration of our Rehabilitation Centre.  Named after our Medical Directors daughter who tragically died last year, the ceremony was a moving reflection both on the tragedy of the last few years in Haiti, but also the hope, belief and reality of positive change.  Mr Nigel Fisher of the UN’s MINUSTAH mission, Dr Michael Baumberger of the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation, and Dr Jasmin of the Haitian Ministry of Health all spoke encouragingly of HHA’s work and response to the catastrophe of January 2010.

Mixed with some entertainment from one of our Spinal Cord Injury patients and a song from the staff and children of Maison de Benediction, the event marked a significant step forward to health care in Haiti.  Before the earthquake, people with Spinal Cord Injuries had little or no chance of survival.  However, this centre along with other partner NGO’s has dramatically changed that tragic reality, making ground breaking developments in rehabilitation over the last 18 months, and marking history as the first permanent unit of this kind in North Haiti.

Whilst preparations for the grand opening were underway, and as Leon travelled back from Mexico, Reninca and some of our HHA team headed to Haiti’s National Childrens Day, hosted by the UN.  In front of over 3000 children, the HHA team got to challenge a new generation on disability inclusion, and allow children the opportunity to talk with our team, and try out our hand bikes!

The momentum for our disability work really has progressed in an incredible way these last few weeks, and as we await the release of a number of containers from customs, we’re keen our maternity and paediatric service will follow soon with equally as exciting results!  However, whilst huge steps are made forward in Haiti, the financial pinch for charities like HHA in the UK continues.  If you’ve been at all inspired or touched by any of the above activities, we’d ask that you share these inspiring stories with your friends and families, and consider contributing towards the continued success today.  These life changing moments are only made possible through the inspirational help of our supporters outside of Haiti.  Donate today!