Our Location

Haiti

Located a mere 400 miles off the coast of Florida, Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. 8.5 million people eke out existence on just one-third of the island called Hispaniola. Once considered a jewel of the Caribbean, Haiti has suffered centuries of debilitating political upheaval and social chaos. Since the reinstatement of democracy in 1995, the Haitian government has been struggling to provide basic services to the Haitian people and, generally speaking, have failed due to the instability and mounting foreign debt. The lack of education and training in trades and business skills has resulted in the chronic cycle of despair. The country is desperate for skilled leaders to rise up and rectify the ramifications of extreme poverty:

• 70% of the population lives off less than $2 a day
• 85% of the population is un-employed
• 4 million are malnourished
• Chronic malnutrition kills 1 in 5 children under the age of five.
• only 35% of the adult population is illiterate
• One out of every ten children is a restavek. Restavek is a Creole term that means "to stay with" but this is, in reality, a child slave.

For more detailed statistical information on Haiti, visit CIA- The World Factbook.