Current Strategy and Three Areas of Focus

The Soul of Haiti’s mission is to empower Haitian communities to create their own success through their relationship with a community of Irish entrepreneurs. The over-arching objective is to make a meaningful impact on the lives of the people in Haiti.

The Soul of Haiti Foundation illustrates the power of engagement of the Private Sector in development, how a business approach can be applied to project management and the sustainable benefits of economic development as a means of alleviating poverty.

Our Projects

(where the funding is going)

To date the Cycle4Haiti has raised over €160,000 for the Soul of Haiti Foundation and is the single largest fundraising event for the Foundation. Expenditure of these funds initially centred around our emergency response in Port au Prince funding medical equipment for hospitals in the capital. Fund are now mainly focused on our humanitarian projects in the South of Haiti, namely the orphanage on the island of Ile a Vache and the fishing village of Abacou.

Ile a Vache

Ile a Vache Orphanage is run by a French Franciscan Nun, Sr Flora and is home to over 70 children, a third of whom are disabled. Soul of Haiti has been working with the orphanage since 2007 to improve the living conditions for the children and the working conditions for the staff. With the money raised from the Cycle4Haiti, Soul of Haiti has been able to re-roof the entire orphanage and provide medical and other supplies to assist with the care of the children.

Soul of Haiti has also funded the fitting of a new kitchen and has extended the orphanage facilities so it is better able to care for all the children. The orphanage now has a bed for each child, running water and proper toilet facilities. Soul of Haiti has also built a playground for the kids.

Despite all of this, work in the orphanage is never ending and there are always opportunities to develop the facilities. Continuous funds are being used to improve medical care for the disabled children and continue the development of the orphanage. Soul of Haiti has put in place a structure for the administration and is funding two full time staff to organise the day to day running of the orphanage so that wages and bills are paid on time and both Sr Flora and her staff are happy.

Next year we also hope to extended our efforts on the island to the local village to build a soccer pitch for the local children and we will be involved in the rebuild of the local market place square.

Abacou

Soul of Haiti has also been active in the village of Abacou, along the south coast of Haiti. Abacou is a small fishing village that we have been supporting since 2007 by assisting the local fishermen to develop trade opportunities in the community. Soul of Haiti have provided the fishermen with new boats and safety equipment and have also built an enterprise centre for the village which included the installation of the solar powered refridgeration units to help improve enterprise in the area.

Funds from the Cycle4Haiti have been used to support the local school in Abacou and to buy school supplies and books for the children. Soul of Haiti will also be supporting the refurbishment of the school building including re-roofing, knocking and rebuilding a number of walls which are hazardous, building toilets and providing training courses for school leavers who want to learn a trade

Funds from the Cycle4Haiti are essential to assist with the continued work that the Foundation is undertaking in Haiti. With the funds from Cycle4Haiti 2012, the Soul of Haiti Foundation hopes to begin work in on a new orphanage in Haiti. We will also continue to support the existing humanitarian projects in the South of Haiti.