February Updates from Petit Trou de Nippes
Community Health
It's been just over a year since we inaugurated the new Community Hospital in Petit Trou de Nippes, and the impact has been remarkable. Over 28,000 total visits, including in-hospital and via mobile health clinics, have been undertaken by hospital staff - this including over 9,900 pediatric visits and over 7,700 vaccinations provided. Maternity staff has provided care through over 700 clinical visits on site.
We're also proud to be supporting mental health training for community health workers and hospital staff in partnership with the Haiti Health Network, and we've recently launched dedicated support groups for expectant mothers, led by Midwife Jennifer and our partners at ASFPN. We look forward to keeping you posted as these special programs grow and flourish.
In addition, we’ve just broken ground on a reverse osmosis potable water system on the hospital site that will provide clean drinking water for patients and the broader community. More on that soon!
Midwife Jennifer leads the “Mothers to Be Club” which provides direct support to expecting mothers and builds community around prenatal visits and care.
Dr. Stephanie is one of two medical residents currently spending their year of service in Petit Trou.
Nurse Anne leads a training during a health education day at the hospital.
Hospital staff here conduct a mobile health clinic at St. Joseph’s Church in Gran Ravine.
Agriculture
The hospital garden is thriving! In the past few months, we’ve planted cherry trees, lime trees, avocados, mangoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, and okra, as well as hosted education sessions for community health workers and local farmers. The hospital garden has also served as the practicum site for students at an agricultural technical school in the region. Off campus, support for beekeeping has continued and is thriving thanks to the leadership of local beekeeping expert, Jean Elie.
Education at St. Paul's School
St. Paul's School currently has 615 students enrolled. Two updates stand out this month.
First, construction on a new bathroom facility is nearly complete — a straightforward but essential investment as the student body grows and campus infrastructure stretches to keep pace.
Second, we've welcomed a new on-site agronomist, Venel Dea. Venel is a native of Chevalier and is deeply engaged at St. Paul’s. He’s looking forward to helping the garden program move forward.
Natalia Boyo who manages the Preschool and Kindergarten, shown with her class.
The new bathroom facility - built by our partner, BCP Construction. The estimated completion date is March 20.
St. Paul’s Staff Agronomist, Venel Dea.
Students in St. Paul’s Preschool Program celebrate Carnival!
Girls Empowerment
The Girls Empowerment program has continued to expand. Alongside the chess and soccer leagues already underway, we've launched a new initiative focused on community savings banks. Young women and their mothers will participate together in a model that combines financial literacy training with real access to savings and credit through an approach that builds skills and economic agency at the same time.
Students from chess clubs at St. Paul’s School and Gran Ravine face off in the year-end tournament.
