A local couple will today leave the comfort of their Derry home to make a journey of over 4,000 miles to work in one of the world’s toughest climates to help some of the poorest people in the Western Hemisphere.
Warren and Kitty Kearns will be among 30 volunteers with the Irish charity, Haven Heroes, travelling to Haiti where they will spend 10 days in sweltering heat building three much-needed classrooms at an overcrowded school and carry out vital maintenance work at a foster home for children orphaned by the devastating earthquake of 2010.
The couple are no strangers to volunteering with the Haven as this is Warren’s fourth trip to Haiti and Kitty’s second.
They, and 28 other volunteers from all over Ireland, will travel to the small rural community of Fond-Parisien, located an hour outside the capital Port-au-Prince.
The main focus of the trip is a rural school which, with 500 children on its roll book, is the only one in the area to offer free education and a daily meal.
As well as building three new classrooms and repairing existing ones, the volunteers will also run a three day summer camp for all the children with sports and educational games as well as arts and crafts.
They will also carry out maintenance work on Hope House Haiti, a foster home for 32 children founded after the 12 January 2010 earthquake, with a 7.0 Magnitude, affected an around 3.5 million people with an estimated death toll of 220,000 and over 300,000 people injured.
Over 100,000 homes were destroyed and almost 190,000 houses were badly damaged, resulting in 1.5 million people left homeless.
Four thousand schools were destroyed or damaged.
Unrelated to the earthquake, an outbreak of chlorea in October 2010 resulted in the deaths of almost 6,000 people of the 216,000 infected.
Kitty said she was looking forward to the trip.
She said: “I am a long term volunteer with Haven and have seen first-hand the benefits of the work Haven carries out on the ground in Haiti.
“I think this trip will be very rewarding, and I look forward to building a place that the local community will benefit from for years to come.”
Leslie Buckley, founder and chairman of Haven Heroes said Derry should be proud of Warren and Kitty.
He said: “It is important that we acknowledge the great work carried out by Haven’s volunteers in Haiti.
“I have always had great admiration for the volunteers and their commitment to Haven and Haiti. For 30 people from every walk of life to give up their time to travel to Haiti and work in the sweltering heat for 10 days is something to be proud of.
“They are making a real and meaningful contribution to the lives of the children in the school and the far reaching communities. Each and every town in Ireland should be proud of the volunteers for their humanitarian efforts in Haiti.”
Photo shows Kitty on her previous visit to Haiti.
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