Help One Now Drouin Child Sponsorships
by Help One Now
The Spirit of Truth School is an orphan prevention initiative of Help One Now focused on education, proper nutrition and family empowerment, in ord...
The Spirit of Truth School is an orphan prevention initiative of Help One Now focused on education, proper nutrition and family empowerment, in order to alleviate the pressure of poverty, keep families together, and build opportunity for the future.
The hardest hit region was the Artibonite Valley, located near the center of the country. It is home to 90% of Haiti’s rice farms as well as the Artibonite river, believed to be the largest agent of cholera’s spread. The river acts as the main source of water for the residents of the valley and as the source of irrigation for the thousands of rice fields. The effects were devastating.
However, long before the earthquake and the spread of cholera, Haiti’s rice farmers had the deck stacked against them, due in large part to the flood of aid and subsidize rice from western countries. Thousands of tons of “Miami Rice”, or imported U.S. rice, are imported each year, continuing to drive down the market for the locally grown Haitian rice. This has left thousands of residents of the valley without a way to support their family, as it has become nearly impossible to compete with the steady flow of subsidized rice. Many families are forced to abandon or send away their children, in hopes that they may receive better care from someone else.