Thriving Missions....mission statement

Happy Easter!!   

Or as my kids have been saying, "Resurrection Day"....which I prefer.  Today is a day for Rising Again.  For great hope and new ways of doing things.

Today is a new day for Jen and me.  We have decided to move forward with the non-profit and make it explicitly a faith-motivated organization (as opposed to keeping it 'secular' or stripped of language relating to Christianity).   

We would like to thank many people for their insights and suggestions as we've developed this:  

Thriving Villages is a Christian organization called to demonstrate God's goodness and compassion.  We will work collaboratively and holistically with individuals and organizations, utilizing our gifts and skills to address issues of health, poverty, and development in rural Pestel, Haiti and beyond.

We anticipate filling legally with the state very shortly in order to start the process for obtaining non-profit status.

Thanks

Ben

--
Haiti Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/

Some more data

Hi All,

Here is a short report of some of the data I've analyzed from the household survey.  Some pretty shocking statistics.

For those entering data, know that your work is very very important.   All the data you are entering is revealing these kinds of important needs.

Ben

--
Haiti Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/

Fwd: Some biometric data from Pestel

Some of you may be interested in seeing some analysis of the height & weight data from last year.   I finally figured out how to get some software to analyze it for me!!!   (Go me!!!)

The take-home messages are in the .doc   (the two curves ought to match up.   Pestel's curve falls well below where it ought to)

For those who like to see % etc, check out the .xls   (look at weight-for-age, for example.   The -3SD means the # (or %) of kids who fall WAY below normal weight for their age (like, in the bottom 5th percentile).

We can use this baseline data to show the levels of malnutrition before we started any of the efforts (i.e. deworming, Vitamin A, anemia campaign, Heifer International project, etc etc)

Ben

Iron therapy

Hi all,

So this is pretty cool:   I've been emailing with the head of UNICEF's nutrition program for Haiti.   I JUST got an email from him today that he is able to provide me with iron tablets and micronutrients for the upcoming anemia campaign in June!!!   

I asked for 160,000 doses   (gulp).  

His response:

"I have them in stock here in Port-au-Prince".   

:)

Now THAT'S really cool!   It's also really good that Pestel is now a bit on UNICEF's radar screen.  That might be very good news for the kids in Pestel!

Ben

--
Haiti Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/

Latest news

Hi all,

First, after months of discussion and prayer, and after meeting with a bunch of people, we've decided that we need to start up a non-profit group for the efforts in Haiti.  More information will be forthcoming as it develops, but we have decided on a name:

Thriving Villages Initiative  (TVI)

We've purchased ThrivingVillages.org  and ThrivingVillages.com     But they are not up-and-running yet.  I'll let you know when they 'go-live'.

The non-profit has grown out of necessity. We're thankful to finally land on a name.  This was harder than naming our kids!!!

We now need to apply for non-profit tax exempt status, and we've been looking into that process.  I'll keep you posted!!

Ben

--
Haiti Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/