Child of Haiti (established in 2011) is the brainchild of Joe Tierney, from Limerick, who, while visiting Haiti as a charity volunteer over the past number of years, saw the need to help provide education to needy Haitian children.

Since 2011, Child of Haiti (with the help of our volunteers) has undertaken a number of reconstruction projects on local schools and orphanages in Haiti. In 2016, Child of Haiti volunteers traveled to Haiti to undergo the kit out of building number 2 for the Sisters of St. Joseph and St. Damien’s Leprosy Clinic. Again in 2017,  volunteers helped to reconstruct a local national school and to install flushing toilets (This is now the first school with flushing toilets in Gonaives). We also run an education programme for poor and orphaned children in Haiti who would not be able to afford an education due to their personal circumstances. There are presently over 600 such children benefiting from the education programme that we operate. The education programme is to help young children from the very poor families. We encourage the Schools we work with to teach English so as to empower the youth of Haiti and to assist them in getting out of the poverty trap.​  To date our work has provided a better standard of education for thousands of Haitian children and we strive to continue on our mission. The provision of education to the most in need students will enable them to raise their standard of living. In the words of Allan Bloom:“Education is the movement from darkness into light”. Charitable contributions from people like you make it possible for us to support education in Haiti and to help secure a better future for the youth of Haiti.

We have no staff in Ireland or Haiti; no professional fund-raisers, ​no paid-for offices, no charity owned transport, we pay no​ expenses or bonuses to anyone.​ Only great Irish volunteers make it happen. For our capital building projects, our volunteers are mainly skilled workers from the construction industry and many more volunteers. They all pay their own way to and from Haiti and cover their own expenses. We are supported by many good Irish people who help our fellow​ volunteers to raise the money to spend on these vital capital​ projects in Haiti. Every cent goes to the end use!​

Please help our cause by donating today!

St. Damien Leprosy Clinic in Gonaives

Along with our education and school reconstruction programmes, we also help to support the Leprosy treatment programme for all of​ the northern half of Haiti. We are also working with Fr. John Henault, a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), who runs a Leprosy programme in the Gonaives area of Haiti.

Leprosy is a contagious disease prevalent in Haiti. It is transmitted through droplets from the nose and mouth during close and frequent contact. The symptoms are disfiguring skin sores, lumps and bumps, skin discolouration and nerve damage. If left untreated they will lead to amputations and even death.

Fr. John has identified a large number of people with leprosy in the Gonaives region in the North West region of Haiti. The World Health Organisation has classified the outbreak of Leprosy in this region as an epidemic.

For treatment patients have to travel to then only clinic in Haiti which is in Leogane in the south west of the country, a journey of approximately 8 hours by various bus journeys from Gonaives. This journey must be done monthly for medications.

Patients are no longer contagious after one month of treatment but it can take several months for the leprosy to be cured. The cost of travel is 15 US Dollars which is very costly for those people who have very little or no money. Due to the cost and time involved many patients do not continue with the full course of treatment and if they skip two consecutive months they have to start the treatment process all over again.

Fr. John Henault has also set up a clinic in the ground floor of this building in Gonaives so these patients no longer need to make the long arduous journey to southern Haiti for treatment. Leprosy today can be totally cured and most patients make a full recovery if treatment is administered correctly.

The Clinic has now been recognised by the Haiti Ministry of Health and the WHO.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition

We have been working in Haiti since 2011 and in 2015 we have linked up with a French Missionary Congregation, the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition. The congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition is a French Missionary Congregation, spread in 30 countries of the world with almost 1,000 members of 36 nationalities. It was founded by St. Emilie de Vialar in 1832. The ‘’Centre St. Joseph’’ was started by Sr. Anne Camille COYRET French missionary Sister of St. Joseph of the Apparition, in the year 1983 to help the most abandoned and poorest children in the diocese of Gonaives in Haiti. Being a nurse by profession she began to work with the handicapped children and also began a school for the poor children who could not go to school due to various difficult situations.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition in Gonaives have:

1. St. Joseph’s School: A regular free school for those who cannot pay for their education. Total strength of this school is 630 children at present.

2. St. Joseph Nutritional Centre for Mother and Child Care: which has 70 mothers and babies. They come for nutrition and formation every day from Monday to Friday.

3. St. Joseph’s Sewing Centre: Training young women to sew in order to earn a living for themselves and their families. This centre is presently being updated to include other crafts like basket making.

4. St. Joseph’s centre for the handicapped children: which treats over 294 children regularly besides many others who come for temporary treatment and walking aids.

Since November 2016 two of the nuns from the Sisters of St Joseph’s have moved into the second and third floor of the second building built by Joe Tierney in Gonaives. Here they live with a small group of local Haitian girls who are studying and considering to become nuns. They will live here with the Sisters for approx. a year while they consider if they will become nuns. From this centre the Sisters run a support group for local impoverished women. They are teaching the women new skills, sewing, crafts, and computer skills. ​​

Some of our significant milestones:

2011: Child of Haiti was founded to help to provide better standards of education for the children of Haiti.

2013: Joe Tierney founder COH constructed a building of 4000 square feet of floor space in Gonaives and provided it free of charge to Child of Haiti to support it’s activities.

2014: A Water Processing System was purchased in the U.S and provided free of charge to the Sisters of St. Joseph for their activities. This helps them to provide food for approximately 1,000 people per day.

2015/2016 : Joe Tierney constructed a second building of 8,000 square feet floor space next to the original building. This building was provided free of charge to the Sisters of St. Joseph and the St. Damien Leprosy Clinic to carry out their activities.

2016: The second building was kitted out by Child of Haiti volunteer’s for the Sister’s of St Joseph and the St. Damien Leprosy clinic.

2017: In October 2017, Child of Haiti volunteers undertook the reconstruction of a local national school.