Helping Hands Program Brings Crucial Goods to Haiti and Guatemala

MADRE staff members and Executive Director Yifat Susskind recently went to visit our sister organizations in Haiti and Guatemala: KOFAVIV, the Barcenas Women’s Workers Committee and Muixil. We shared some of the updates from those trips on this blog. And thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we were able to bring donations to all three sister organizations through our Helping Hands program.

For our partners in Haiti, MADRE staff brought flashlights and whistles, two crucial tools for combating rape in the camps, where lighting and security is lacking. Blowing a whistle can deter a potential attacker, and flashlights make women less vulnerable to violence at night. We also sent children’s clothing, condoms and feminine hygiene products.

For our partners in Guatemala, we sent oral hygiene products, feminine hygiene products, a fantastic assortment of soaps and shower gels generously donated by LUSH and makeup products generously donated by L’Bel USA. The makeup was donated as part of our ‘Beauty Inside and Out Campaign,’ which allows Barcenas to distribute makeup as incentive to attend their health fairs, where they provide crucial reproductive health services to women and girls.

Thanks to all of you who donated to MADRE’s Helping Hands program!