The Paul family has been with the school since its inception. Wisguens, a 6th grader this year, started with us when he was in kindergarten in 2010. He and his three sisters live with their mother and father in a one room corrugated metal shack about 2 
miles from the school. Every morning, Wisguens’ father will accompany the children to school, walking or carrying one child on his bike, and in the afternoon, his mother walks to pick them up. Neither of his parents completed elementary school, but they help their children with their studies and support the school as much as they can. Last school year, Wisguens received the best grades in his class for a marking period and his siblings all receive positive remarks from their teachers.
Their mother sells vegetables in the local market, and when
he can their father cuts wood to sell for lumber. In 2013, he developed an infection in his finger from a splinter. The family couldn’t afford medical care. By the time HEART learned of the injury, the infection had spread. HEART coordinated medical care and generous HEART supporters donated $300 so that a local hospital could treat him. Unfortunately, his finger had to be amputated, and he has not been able to regain the same strength or agility to cut lumber as he had before the injury.
When a hurricane like Matthew passes through Haiti, families like Wisguens’ face even more challenges
than they already face on an average day. Families may go without an income for days, since there are no open markets to sell produce and no dry wood to be cut to sell. Families may go hungry because they did not have the savings to stockpile food and clean water for the storm. Students miss days of school because schools close due to flooding and wind dangers, and excessive mud in the streets prevents safe transportation. Community members also go without being able to communicate with their loved ones by phone, because the electricity has been out since Sunday night and phones are not charged. Some community members lose their belongings and important documents in heavy rains because there are no safe places to put these items, and many have to spend time to try to rebuild makeshift homes and businesses that suffer damage from heavy wind and rains.
HEART expects to be contacted by parents and families who need help rebuilding and who need medical attention due to water borne illnesses and who need help getting new schoolbooks for their children.
Please consider making a donation to HEART Emergency Fund today. Our families depend on generous donors like you who provide hope for a brighter future for our students.
Emergency Relief Fund
