The bullet removed from Sophia’s skull.
As violence in Haiti continues to escalate, it is only a matter of time before it strikes close to home.
Sophia is a 12 year old school girl who recently was caught in the crossfire of gang activity in Haiti. A bullet was lodged behind her eye socket and Sophia was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. A scan revealed that removing the bullet was a very risky operation and the doctor would not take that risk.
Through our connections in Haiti we were able to locate a hospital that was better equipped to deal with the tragedy and Sophia was moved to that hospital. The bullet was successfully removed and Sophia is recovering although we don’t know if there are any long term issues with her sight.
Sophia is not her real name. We can’t post a picture of her because of the threat that she might be kidnapped for ransom. We only know about Sophia because her mother is a friend of a friend. We can’t give you the friend’s name either because of security risks. What we can tell you is that we asked our friend to work with kids in her neighborhood to teach them to read and write.
She started out with three kids and it quickly grew to fifteen students. The students were eager learners but they came to their class very hungry. Helping Hands for Haiti started feeding the kids and soon her class swelled to thirty students, all of which were not going to a regular school. The teacher said she had to split the class, not because of the size, but because half of the kids had tuberculosis and she didn’t want to expose the other half!
These are the realities of life in Haiti.
We now have nearly 50 students. We feed them five days a week at a cost of $625 per week. We have funds to send nearly half of them to regular school at a cost of $300 per student per year thanks to someone who thinks that all children should have an opportunity for an education.
The stories out of Haiti remind us of a very powerful scripture: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21
We can’t post pictures of these heroic people. We can’t share their names or locations. But thanks to your generosity, we can make a difference.
Dave & Jerilyn Hansen - Helping Hands for Haiti
dave@helpinghandsforhaiti.com