UPLIFT Haiti

Protecting People From a Mosquito Virus
September 30, 2014

Window screens and mosquito repellent would help protect Haitian vocational-school students and their families from a new mosquito-borne virus in Haiti.

UPLIFT Haiti seeks your support in assisting the Maxwell Vocational School in Baradères, Haiti. Please consider making a secure online donation.

The virus, chikungunya (chik-en-gun-ye), causes fever, joint pain, headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, or rash, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Native to Africa and South Asia, chikungunya first appeared in Haiti and other areas of the Caribbean in late 2013, says the CDC.

There is no cure or vaccine, but screens and mosquito repellent are key measures that would reduce the risk of bites by the Aedes mosquitoes that transmit the virus.

With your support, in October we will install dozens of window screens at the newly constructed home of the Fr. John Maxwell Vocational School in Baradères.

We will also distribute mosquito repellent to the school’s 70 students and staff. And we will conduct a workshop to educate students about these and other protective steps they can take to protect themselves and their families.

Begun in 2010, the Maxwell School is attracting more students each term to learn sewing, cooking, embroidery, and other skills. From October 1 to 23, UPLIFT Haiti volunteer Evelyn Brewer will be in Baradères to teach the students crocheting.

Student numbers at the Maxwell school have quadrupled in the past two years. UPLIFT Haiti’s support has focused on curriculum supplies and technical training, as well as workshops in financial literacy aimed at increasing the students’ entrepreneurial skills.

There is another easy way to support UPLIFT Haiti. Have you noticed that the logo for Amazon.com – the curved arrow – resembles a smile? If you can remember to smile, you can support UPLIFT Haiti. How? --Instead of shopping at Amazon.com, go to Smile.Amazon.com. There, name UPLIFT Haiti as beneficiary; Amazon will make a donation each time you purchase an eligible product. It costs you nothing, and Amazon’s charitable foundation will donate 0.5% of the value of your purchase to UPLIFT Haiti. For more information, visit smile.amazon.com/about.

This note is a long overdue update. We promise to do better and keep you abreast of current developments on a more regular basis.

UPLIFT Haiti is a registered U.S. public charity. The “UPLIFT” in our name stands for Uniting People to Learn, Inspire, and Form Together. Visit uplifthaiti.org for more information.

Aedes aegypti feeding on a person.
Female Aedes aegypti (above, feeding on a person) and other Aedes mosquitos transmit the chikungunya virus. [CDC photo]

Maxwell school - October 2013
Above and below: In October 2013, the Maxwell School's new building did not yet have a roof. Now it does, but windows lack screens to keep out mosquitoes.