Our Mission & Values
Haiti Stole My Heart Foundation® Mission is about empowering the people of Haiti to break the cycle of poverty. It will be done by providing access to clean water, quality food, housing, health, and education.
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Our vision is for the children of Haiti to grow up healthy and educated and with opportunities that their parents could only dream of.
Our aim is not to provide charity but give the Haitian people the tools necessary to live fulfilling lives. Lives that are free from poverty, with access to good food, education and health, so they can reach their potential and contribute back to Haitian society.
About Haiti and its challenges
Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is the Caribbean and shares an island with the Dominican Republic. It has a population of just over 10 million people.
Nearly 60% of Haitians live in poverty, with nearly 25% of this being extreme poverty. Because of this malnutrition is a major problem in Haiti. Around half of all Haitian children are undersized for their age. Less than 50% of the population have access to clean water. Access to health services is limited, particularly in rural areas where only 8% of the population have access to them.
The literacy rate in Haiti is just over 60%. This is well below the literacy rate of the rest of the Caribbean at 90%. Only 20% of children make it to secondary school.
Haiti is also prone to natural disasters. Some of these natural disasters have had a devastating impact on the country. On 12 January 2010, an earthquake of the magnitude of 7,3 hit Haiti killing between 46,000 and 315,000 people and leaving many others homeless.
More recently, Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti on 3 October 2016, causing catastrophic flooding and killing nearly 600 people.
In 2018, yet another earthquake of the magnitude of 5.9 hit Haiti on 6 October killing 12 people.
Our Story
After witnessing the poverty first hand in Haiti, and how the generous international donations where not reaching the ground, Julia and Nelson where so moved that they knew they had to do something about it.
After working on various projects using their own time and resources, they realized the problems in Haiti is so deep, more is needed to make a real difference, that is when they decided to set up the Haiti Stole My Heart Foundation®.
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Haiti Stole My Heart Foundation® is a registered Australian charity based in Australia with the aim of making a real grass roots difference in Haiti.