In 2010, Help One Now visited the community of Drouin for the first time. The effects of the outbreak could easily be seen all around, there was a dullness that sat in the air. We met with local leaders and heard their overwhelming stories of tragedy and loss, and we visited a school started by Help One Now local leader, Jean Alix Paul. During class, a little girl in the back fainted and fell to the floor. After talking with her, we discovered that her parents were only able to feed her and her siblings one meal every other day…just enough to keep them alive. She had also not been drinking enough water, out of fear of contracting cholera. She was so dehydrated and malnourished that her body could not even sit through a day at school. But she assured us that she had to continue, saying, “I have to go to school, it is my only hope.”

Hearing those words, we knew we had to do something. We met with Jean Alix and asked what we could do, he replied “we must sponsor these kids, they have nothing.” At the time, we only sponsored “true” orphans, and these kids had families. Jean Alix told us to come back in a year, and then they would be orphans. Extreme poverty was pushing these families to the brink of collapse. This completely shifted our thinking. We can’t simply care for the orphaned, we have to care for vulnerable children and families as well, so that they never become orphans.

This was the birth of our “orphan prevention” program. Each day, kids can now come to school, where they have access to clean water, a snack and a hot lunch. Our sponsorship program is community based, so no kids are left without care. All 300 of them are cared for at once, even those who do not yet have sponsors. Over time, sponsorship funds have helped to expand the school facilities and empower local rice farmers as well.