Beating the Odds: Baby Sancara's Story

At Children of the Promise our Christ-centered mission is to provide excellent physical, spiritual, emotional, educational and economic care for at-risk children and families in Haiti, empowering the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.  Caring for these kids can often be complicated and messy.  Some kids come with more physical needs and some with more emotional needs.  It’s often hard to know what challenges will present when kids come to live us at COTP.  They come to us from tough situations or broken places, and we humbly do our best to care for and to love on these kids that God has entrusted to us.

Baby Sancara came to live with us in December.  At six-weeks-old she was small and fragile.  She had a hard time drinking from a bottle and wasn’t in great health.  She had a lot of medical issues during her first month with us.  She would seem a little better and then get sick again.  She spent several weeks in the local hospital, but when she came back to COTP it was obvious that she was still very sick.  It was during that time that we learned that Sancara had tuberculosis.  We got her started on medication, supported her nutrition with tube feedings, and had her on oxygen to help her breathing.  But it wasn’t enough.  Sancara was struggling and wasn’t turning the corner.

It was becoming obvious that Sancara wasn’t going to be able to keep breathing the way she was, and that she was soon going to tire out.  With limited resources to support a baby like Sancara in northern Haiti, the decision was made to bring her to Port Au Prince.  After a seven hour drive over the mountains, we got Sancara to Bernard Mevs Hospital.  With the ability to put babies like Sancara on a ventilator (something that isn’t available in Cap Haitien), we hoped this hospital would give Sancara the help she needed to beat her infection. 

As expected, within a few days Sancara’s breathing had deteriorated to the point that she needed to be placed on the ventilator.  She spent the next three weeks on and off the ventilator.  The machine breathed for her when she was unable to.  Her little body was working hard to fight the tuberculosis. There were many times when it seemed like the odds were just not in Sancara’s favor.  Many times when it seemed she wouldn’t be able to fight any longer.  Many times I heard “I don’t know if she’s going to make it through the night” or “we’re doing everything we can, but…”

The odds were certainly not in Sancara’s favor, but despite everything stacked against her she continued to fight. She has now been off the ventilator for over a week and is breathing on her own.  She’s drinking bottles again and hardly using her feeding tube.  She’s shocking everyone who meets her with how much of a fighter she is.  She is one feisty little girl!  If all continues to go well, she could be ready to be discharged as soon as this week.  We’re ecstatic that we’ll soon be able to bring her back to COTP.  We look forward to continuing to care for her and assisting her on her road to recovery.

As we prepare to bring Sancara home, we humbly ask if you would consider supporting the medical expenses that we have in providing care for Sancara.  We need approximately $2500 to cover Sancara’s past month of care.  When compared to the cost of a month long hospitalization in a PICU in the States, $2500 is a minuscule amount.  However, it does present a large expense to us.  If you’d like to donate to help cover Sancara’s medical bills you can do so at http://childrenofthepromise.org/donate/ and you can type “Sancara Medical Fund” in the designation box.  God has provided for Sancara in so many ways.  We are confident that He will provide for this need as well.  If funds above and beyond Sancara’s needs are donated, they will be directed to the medical care of other children at COTP.  

Thank you for considering this request and for partnering with us to serve kids like Sancara.  So many people who haven’t even met this little girl have loved and prayed for her.  We feel pretty blessed to get to love on Sancara and to see God’s plan unfold in her life.



Children of the Promise has given permission for the posting of the photos on this site.  Photos taken of  the children in the care of Children of the Promise are not to be posted publicly without explicit permission given by Children of the Promise.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

If you know my family, you know that we LOVE Saint Patrick's Day.  So of course I had to bring the celebration to the kids at Children of the Promise.  We had a bit of fun :)  Happy Saint Patrick's Day from Lagossette, Haiti!!

Children of the Promise has given permission for the posting of the photos on this site.  Photos taken of  the children in the care of Children of the Promise are not to be posted publicly without explicit permission given by Children of the Promise.

Cara and B

Before I moved to COTP, I had gone on about a dozen short term trips to Haiti over the course of about five years.  Those trips were to volunteer at a hospital in Port Au Prince, Hospital Bernard Mevs.  I met so many amazing people during that time.  Compassionate, generous, servant hearted individuals with a passion for Haiti and the underserved.  Some of those people are now some of my nearest and dearest friends.  One of those individuals is my friend, Cara.

Cara made her first trip to Haiti in the summer of 2013.  A non-medical volunteer, Cara was willing to help out in whatever way was needed.  Where she ended up being needed was in the pediatric ward. A little boy, B, with some special medical needs had been abandoned.  Cara fell in love with B and spent much of the week loving on this special little guy.  Once B completed his treatment at the hospital, he went to live at an orphanage in northern Haiti.  But that wasn't the end of Cara and B's story.

Cara returned to Haiti the next spring, and that was when we first met.  I heard all about her little buddy B.  She cared for B so much that, she made the trek from Port Au Prince to Cap Haitien, just to be able to visit him for the day at his new home.  When she got back to the hospital she told me more about B and where he now lived, Children of the Promise.

A few more months passed and in the summer of 2014 I was preparing for another trip to Haiti.  I was going to be volunteering at Bernard Mevs again, but wanted to also visit somewhere else after my time at the hospital. I started looking into some different organizations.  That's when Cara suggested that I should check out COTP.  After reading more about them on their webpage, I thought it sounded like a pretty amazing ministry.  So during my next trip to Haiti, I ended up visiting COTP for two days.

I spent less than 48 hours at COTP that weekend.  But by the end of it, I was pretty sure that God was calling me to move there.  I had felt a calling to Haiti for many years, and I had finally found the right organization to partner with.  After a few months of prayer and another visit to Haiti, I announced to my family and friends that I was moving to Haiti.  For the majority of them it came as no surprise. God had been growing my heart for Haiti and for orphan care for many years, and now it was time to follow His call to serve in Haiti full time.

This February, was Cara's first time back to Haiti since I moved here.  It was pretty neat to get to have her visit COTP again, now that I live here.  So, Cara I just wanted to thank you.  Thank you for caring for a little boy when he was all alone in the hospital.  Thank you for loving him and caring about him not just during that week, but even after you returned home.  Because of your love for B, I found my way to my new home in the little village of Lagossette with a ministry called Children of the Promise.  B and I have both been blessed by your friendship.  I look forward to many more visits with you in the future!

Children of the Promise has given permission for the posting of the photos on this site.  Photos taken of  the children in the care of Children of the Promise are not to be posted publicly without explicit permission given by Children of the Promise.

Beach Day with the Hope House

The Hope House was gifted with a trip to the beach as a Christmas gift from one of their supporting churches.  I got to tag along as an extra set of hands for the kiddos.  This was probably one of my favorite days in Haiti so far.  It was SO much fun to see all the kids experience the beach for the first time.  There are are a lot of beach babies in their crew.  M & J loved the water and didn't mind the waves at all.  The big guys loved playing in the sand too.  Such a fun day!  Thanks for inviting me on such a fun trip, Roni and Steph!

M, ready for the beach thanks to his new attire from Mindy :)

Discovering the sand

J loves the sand

Steph and baby M

I tried to convince A it was naptime in the hammock

It didn't work!

B, looking like a total beach bum

F exploring the waves with Roni

This guy is a total beach baby!

Such a fun crew!

The end of a great day, two sleepy boys on my lap on the way home

Children of the Promise has given permission for the posting of the photos on this site.  Photos taken of  the children in the care of Children of the Promise are not to be posted publicly without explicit permission given by Children of the Promise.

Beating the Odds: F's Story

The statistics on childhood morbidity and mortality in Haiti are staggering.  One in every eleven kids born in Haiti won’t make it to their fifth birthday.  One in five children are malnourished.  Sixty three percent of kids under the age of five are anemic.  Many Haitian children have no access to basic healthcare services at all.  In urban and rural areas alike, cost and distance are barriers to care.  The leading causes of death for kids in Haiti are malnutrition, diarrhea, and respiratory illnesses.  I think that’s something that people in developed countries can hardly wrap their minds around.  But in Haiti, kids are literally dying from a lack of food, IV fluids, or antibiotics.  That’s the reality that’s just outside our gates and the reality that families in Haiti face each day.  I can only imagine how easy it would be for families to feel hopeless against those statistics.

But you know what’s great? God doesn’t care about statistics, and neither do we.  We care about God’s command to care for the orphan, the poor, and the least among us.  We believe that these kids can overcome the odds stacked against them.  We fight alongside these families because we have a hope that their children can live a healthy life.

COTP has known F and her family for a long time.  She has been a part of our formula and Mamba programs, to help assist with her nutrition.  Yet, despite this, F has always struggled a lot.  F has some special medical needs, which make her care especially challenging in such a resource poor setting.  She’s been admitted to the hospital countless times, many of which it didn’t seem that she was likely to survive.  F’s mom was doing her best to care for her, but I can only imagine how desperate and hopeless she must have felt, watching her daughter struggle.

F came back into our care over the summer.  At two-and-a-half-years-old, she weighed just 8.8 pounds, one of the most severe cases of malnutrition I’ve ever seen.  She was admitted into our care, so we could help to get her healthier.  Her progress has been slow, but steady.  When F first came in she was so tiny, she didn’t even fall on any of the growth charts.  She had so much spasticity in her muscles that she cried out constantly.  She was running fevers, had diarrhea, and a cough.  She was in rough shape, to say the least.  But F has worked hard over these past couple months.  We celebrated with each pound that she gained and now she is up to 15 pounds!  She laughs and smiles, showing off the dimples in her now chubby cheeks.  Several times, someone who hasn’t seen F in a long time, has looked at her and asked, “Who is that new baby?”, only to be surprised that this is the same malnourished toddler that came to us several months ago.

Now, when F’s mom comes to visit, she also has a big smile on her face.  She tells everyone, “Have you seen F? Do you see how good she looks?”  F has not become another statistic in Haiti.  We are still working on a long term plan for her, but seeing the joy in F and her mother’s eyes fills us with so much hope for her future, for her health, and for her years to come.  We have hope that F and all of the kiddos in our care can have a healthy future.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." -Romans 15:13

Children of the Promise has given permission for the posting of the photos on this site.  Photos taken of  the children in the care of Children of the Promise are not to be posted publicly without explicit permission given by Children of the Promise.

Happy Birthday Jess!

I'm grateful for the time that I've been able to spend in Haiti for many reasons.  One of those is, undoubtedly, that it's enabled me to become friends with some pretty incredible people.  I've met so many awesome people during my time here...Haitian friends, short term volunteers, adoptive parents.  My life has been so blessed and enriched by these relationships.

One that I'm particularly grateful for is my friend, Jess.  We first met at Hospital Bernard Mevs in November 2013, when we were both volunteering for the week.  Since that time, she's become one of my closest and dearest friends.  It's crazy to me that we've only been friends for two years, yet have had so many adventures together.  Working night shifts together in a Haitian hospital, flying a toddler to his new home at an orphanage, running 5Ks in the mountains of Colorado, hanging on a beach in the Caribbean, and ice skating in Minnesota, are just a few of the memories we've shared.

She was with me when I made my first trip to COTP.  After two days here, I told her that I thought God was calling me to move here and she didn't think I was crazy, but she was excited for me.  She was also there when I made my second trip to COTP.  On the airplane ride back to the States, she was the first person that I told.  It was official.  I was coming to Haiti.  Since that time, she has been one of my greatest supporters and encouragers.  One of the first ones to sign up as an official supporter.  The one to give me a Creole bible.  The first one to visit me at my new home.  The one who has truly been my go to person when the days down here get tough.  She "gets it" in a way that few others could.

Jess, I am so very thankful for your friendship.  I'm so thankful that, through Haiti, God allowed our paths to cross.  I am blessed to call you my friend and my sister in Christ.  I hope you have the happiest of birthdays.  I wish I could be there to celebrate it with you.  But I know that you, of all people, understand why I'm here instead.  Happy Birthday!  Bon fet!

Children of the Promise has given permission for the posting of the photos on this site.  Photos taken of  the children in the care of Children of the Promise are not to be posted publicly without explicit permission given by Children of the Promise.