Cange, Haiti
The Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina has a 40-year relationship with the people of Cange, Haiti, and the surrounding area Haiti's Central Plateau. Click here to download the book Partnership Haiti: 40 Years of Mission and Ministry in Cange.
In 1979 Father Fritz Lafontant met and formed a partnership with the Rt. Rev. William A. Beckham, sixth bishop of Upper South Carolina. That same year a church, L'Église Bon Sauveur, was erected at Cange on a dry and grassy hilltop.
In 1981 our diocese made the first of many medical trips to Cange, and since then, much has been accomplished. An engineering project brought running water to the village in the mid-1980s. Construction projects have included a medical clinic, eye clinic, dental clinic, and hospital, as well as a sewing center that provides employment for local women. Under the auspices of our diocesan "Adopt-a-Village" project, more than 15 schools have been built in the area.
Our work in Haiti has been greatly helped by our friendship and alliance with Dr. Paul Farmer, who was a Harvard physician and founder of Partners in Health. Dr. Farmer began a healing ministry in Haiti's central plateau more than two decades ago as a young medical student. His dream and hard work blossomed into the worldwide charitable mission known as Partners in Health.
The mission and ministry of our diocese in areas of health, education, agriculture, and clean water for the people of Haiti has been intertwined with Partners in Health for many years. Moreover, Dr. Farmer has been a friend of many Upper South Carolina missionaries who have transformed thousands of lives for the better through our collective work.
In his remarkable career, Dr. Farmer was able to mentor and inspire a large number of global health professionals who share his passion and will continue his crusade for social justice and health equity.
Much of our work in Haiti now supports Zanmilasante (the Haitian branch of Partners in Health).
Other partner organizations we support include:
Clemson Engineers in Developing Countries
Zanmi Lasante Project History
1956 - Haiti's largest river, the Artibonite, is dammed as part of an international development project, causing area farmers to lose their land, livelihoods, and homes and to move further up the mountain.
1960 – Young Priest Father Fritz Lafontant (b. 1925) is assigned to Mirabalais near Cange.
1962 - Father Fritz Lafontant and his wife Yolande start working in the village of Cange to address community health needs and to provide schooling for the children of displaced peasants.
1970 – Medical missionary trips to Haiti by Darrel Jervey and Don Bessenger.
1979 – Bishop William Beckham meets Father Lafontant in Pot-au-Prince and travels with him to Mirabalais. Siste Diocese relationship formed.
1980-1981 – Diocesan medical work trips started to Mirabalais and Cange to include Watt McCain and Reg Brooker. At Cange patients were seen in the church of Good Savior with the pharmacy on the altar. Friendships established with Father Lafontant and Father Fritz Valdema (Father Val).
1981 - The Lafontants establish a primary grade school in the area, Ecole Bon Sauveur.
1983 - A group of community activists, including Paul Farmer and Ophelia Dahl, mobilize around health issues in the Central Plateau of Haiti and form a group called Zanmi Lasante ("Partners In Health" in Haitian Kreyol).
EDUSC built a new school at Cange to replace one made from bamboo and banana leaves.
At Cange water for drinking, cooking, and bathing was obtained from a river 1,000 feet below. Attempts to drill wells had proven futile, and cisterns dug at the church to collect rainwater were ineffective. There was, however, thanks be to God, a large, permanent spring flowing out of the base of the mountain on which Cange was situated. Rev. Dennis Maynard led a team to study a large spring flowing out of a hillside near Cange that might serve a a source of water for Cange. What Providence!
The engineering team led by Pierce Williams surveyed and measure the flow of the spring’s water and concluded that the water could be pumped up to the Cange village. The call went out through our diocese – “Water Cange!” Donations rolled in – the necessary $130,000 quickly – for water is life, and we knew it.
1985 – In 1985 the water system was completed – a mechanical marvel. The turbine cranked up as the water flowed from the spring down to the turbine and pump, and the rose hundreds of feet above to three village fountains and then on to the mission. People were ecstatic – all with smiles. And Cange was changed forever – from a dry, dusty, dirty squatters settlement to an oasis with running water. Running water was a catalyst to change lives. People were empowered to achieve better sanitation, health, and nutrition. Fr. Lafontant and his family moved to Cange, and Cange began to expand, to change, and to develop toward what it is today.
The Clinique Bon Sauveur is founded by Zanmi Lasante, with generous and unwavering support from Thomas J. White, the wealthy owner of a Boston construction company. It becomes the departmental hospital for Haiti's Central Department (population 500,000) and the hub of ZL's expanding activities, providing outreach through bimonthly mobile clinics and a cadre of 200 health care workers who perform health promotion and disease prevention activities. ZL constructs a major hydraulic system to bring clean water to the village of Cange, eliminating child deaths caused by diarrhea in the village.
1986 – Jackie Williams establishes a sewing / artisan center with employment for women.
1986 – Zanmi Lasante documents the first known case of AIDS in Haiti’s Central Plateau. Voluntary counseling and testing is offered free of charge as ZL focuses its efforts on HIV prevention and education during the early years of the epidemic.
1980’s-90’s – Many diocesan medical work trips made to Cange.
1987 – Partners In Health is established in Boston.
1989 - ZL initiates a community-based, directly observed therapy program for treating tuberculosis, which is the leading cause of death among HIV-positive people worldwide.
1990 - ZL launches a comprehensive women's health program, Proje Sante Fanm, to provide family planning, prenatal care, and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
1992 – ZL launches an AIDS education project called Une Chance à Prendre. Local patients and activists produce Chache Lavi, Detwi Lavi (Looking for Life, Destroying Life), the first candid film portrayal of AIDS in Haiti.
1993 – ZL opens its first inpatient facility. More than 40 percent of patients are found to be HIV-positive.
1995 – A two-year study reveals that more than half of HIV-positive patients at ZL also have active tuberculosis. ZL becomes Haiti’s first clinic to offer the antiretroviral drug zidovudine free of charge to all HIV-positive pregnant women to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus. The availability of treatment dramatically increases uptake of voluntary counseling and testing for HIV among pregnant women and lowers the rate of vertical transmission in the catchment area.
1996 - ZL begins using highly active antiretroviral drugs (HAART) in conjunction with directly observed therapy (the combined therapy was named DOT-HAART). Clinique Bon Sauveur opens its operating room and performs the Central Plateau's first surgical procedure.
1996 – Children’s Medical Pavilion opened.
1997 – Church Good Savior doubled in size – Bell hung.
1998 – Dedication of the hospital. Two surgical rooms added later.
1998 – ZL acquires small amounts of the three antiretrovirals needed to provide the drug cocktail known as "triple therapy" and begins a pilot program to treat 50 patients suffering from advanced AIDS.
1998 – 2004 – Father Dannals and Christ Church youth trips to Cange and to Father Val at La Gonave Island.
1999 - The Thomas J. White Center, a 30-bed infectious disease treatment center, is built and designated by the Haitian Ministry of Health as the primary MDR-TB referral site for the country.
2000 – Encouraged by the remarkable return to health of patients in the pilot AIDS treatment project, ZL launches the HIV Equity Initiative to expand treatment to as many patients as possible. Drawing on PIH’s experience treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Peru, the HIV Equity Initiative codifies clinical criteria for beginning AIDS therapy; trains community health workers to deliver antiretroviral drugs under the same model used to treat tuberculosis in Haiti and Peru; and negotiates for preferential pricing and generic medicines on the international market, thereby decreasing the average annual cost of treatment from over $10,000 to $325 per patient. An ophthalmic clinic is built in Cange.
2001 – On August 24, more than 2,000 healthcare providers, patients, and social justice activists who have gathered for the annual human rights symposium at our hospital in Cange issue The Cange Declaration on health and human rights. "We have a message for the people who are here and for those who are able to hear our plea," the Declaration states. "We are seeking your solidarity. The battle we are engaged in -- to find adequate care for those with AIDS, tuberculosis, and other illnesses -- is the same as the combat that has been waged by other victimized people over time so everyone can live as a human being." A group of about 60 patients living with HIV had met in the days prior to the symposium to prepare a declaration regarding the right of poor people with AIDS to modern, effective therapy.
2002 – In a strong endorsement of PIH's community-based approach, Haiti receives one of the first grants from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, thus enabling ZL to expand comprehensive medical services, including AIDS treatment, across the Central Plateau and revitalize the public health sector. New funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) supports further expansion of HIV treatment and prevention efforts.
2002 – Darrel Jervey established Eye Clinic. Each month Dr. Reginald sees several hundred patients and removes 20-30 cataracts.
2003 – PIH opens clinics in four new locations in the Central Plateau: Lascahobas, where we inaugurated rural Haiti’s second fully outfitted AIDS clinic; Boucan Carre, where we renovated and equipped an abandoned hospital; and Belladere and Thomonde, where we opened or refurbished clinics. ZL is selected as the site for the CDC’s new initiative to establish a Caribbean training center for AIDS care and treatment. By the end of 2003, ZL is monitoring more than 7,000 HIV-positive patients; of these, more than 700 receive supervised antiretroviral therapy.
2003 – Gillaine Warne successfully starts a pilot garden in Cange.
2004 – PIH/ZL’s first site in Cange now houses a sprawling sociomedical complex boasting a full-service hospital (Clinique Bon Sauveur) with 104 beds and two operating rooms, adult and pediatric inpatient wards; infectious disease, ophthalmology, and general medicine clinics; and a women’s health center. ZL records an average of 350 patient visits per day in Cange, where it also operates a dozen schools, a Red Cross blood bank and housing, social services, and community health programs. Growth continues at our satellite sites as well. Patient visits reach 150 per day In Belladère, after we refurbish a Ministry of Health hospital, build an operating room and establish mobile clinics to address the needs of the migrant population. Boucan Carré records another 250 patient visits per day, many of them at a new 12-bed public hospital constructed and inaugurated in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. Other new initiatives in Boucan Carré include construction of a 14-room staff dormitory and operating room and the launch of a nutrition program, a bakery and a reforestation project.
2004 – Gillaine successfully starts a 35 acre farm along the Artibonite River to provide food for hospital and schools. In 2006 this begins supplying a malnutrition program.
2005 – ZL continues its expansion across Haiti's Central Plateau and beyond. A new hospital opens in Cerca La Source, complete with two large wards, a pharmacy, a drug warehouse, a laboratory, X-ray equipment and offices. ZL enrolls its first patients for antiretroviral therapy at two clinics in the neighboring Artibonite region. The number of patient visits at all ZL clinics and hospitals increases to more than 1.1 million, not including an estimated 1.4 million home visits by accompagnateurs.
2006 – ZL expands the HIV Equity Initiative, launched in 2000, beyond the Central Plateau into two new sites in the Artibonite region. This expansion aids in scaling up the Artibonite clinics and increases access to the PIH model of comprehensive care for those living with HIV. In August, ZL and the Haitian Ministry of Health inaugurate a new medical center in the Central Plateau of Thomonde. ZL also officially opens a new clinic in Cerca La Cource, a new hospital wing in Hinche, and the Sante Fanm women’s health center in Cange. An extensive child nutrition program begins in the Central Plateau, providing daily school lunches for more than 9,000 children. Jean Gabriel Fils (Ti Jean), founder of ZL’s Program on Social and Economic Rights, passes away in the spring, but his vision of bringing new homes to the sick and destitute people of the Central Plateau continues to flourish; 70 new homes were built by the year’s end.
2006 -- Tim Wilson, Reg Brooker, and Jim Swink install a water filtration unit at the Cange church compound. A secondary school is added. The original water system is expanded. A new dental clinic is built with Tom Tillers assistance. Jayne Crisp creates a blog site for Cange (www. Missioncange.blogspot.com).
2007 – ZL project Zanmi Agrikol begins manufacturing its own locally-produced therapeutic foods for malnutrituion, a fortified peanut butter to treat severely malnourished children and a nutritious blend of grain and beans for older children. Production of these products provides jobs for 23 local people and guarantees a market for local farmers who grow peanuts, corn and beans. In Cange, PIH begins offering a rigorous 18-month anesthesiology training for Haitian nurses through a partnership with Doctors Without Borders and the Haitian Ministry of Health; ZL nurses also travel to Boston to receive advanced training in operating room nursing through a partnership with Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts.
2008 – ZL opens a new 54-bed Ministry of Health hospital in Lacolline, relieving the nearby Lascahobas clinic of overcrowding. The Lascahobas clinic is renovated to focus on women’s health and malnutrition. The Haitian government launches a national program for free obstetrical care in April, causing the number of women seeking Sante Fanm services to increase at all ZL sites, in some cases doubling; ZL takes this opportunity to provide badly needed family planning services, cervical cancer screening and testing for sexually transmitted infections. 240 families with malnourished children join ZL’s Family Assistance Program; each receives agricultural training, seeds, tools, fertilizer, a goat, and in many cases land to farm. Most importantly, ZL offers on-going support and home visits from agricultural technicians and community agriculture agents to ensure success.
ZL steps up immediately to help communities recover after disaster strikes in the form of four hurricanes, severe flooding, and tropical storms in August and September. ZL makes the theme of the year, “building back better” and works to provide shelter, food, clean water, and medical assistance for thousands of people who lose their homes in the disaster. After the flood waters recede, ZL continues to help families get back on their feet by distributing food support, building and repairing homes, assisting with school fees, providing tools, seeds, and training for farmers. ZL and the Ministry of Health accelerate the construction of a new hospital in Mirebalais to accommodate the great need. To improve capacity, ZL staff train new community health workers, purchase an ambulance, and work to strengthen other ZL hospitals. Despite the impact of the hurricanes, ZL also expands from Haiti’s Central Plateau across the lower Artibonite to the coast and makes continuing to strengthen public health infrastructure and expand comprehensive health care services a priority. (This expansion drives patient visits in the lower Artibonite region to 700,000. ZL now serves an overall population of 2.5 million as a whole.)
2009 – ZL continues to increase availability and diversity of specialty services offerings. The first neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Haiti’s Central Plateau opens in early 2009 as part of the pediatric ward in Cange, and a robust mental health program, including expansion of HIV support groups, augments ZL’s ongoing commitment to integrated psychosocial support services. Post-hurricane reconstruction and expansion continues; projects include a new imaging center at the St. Marc facility and a new operating room, X-ray facility, and malnutrition program at Petite Rivière. ZL also looks to the future by starting construction on a new pharmacy, as well as pediatric and men’s and women’s wards.
Bread and Water Campaign Started
2012 - CFFL & Water Project dedicated
2013 – PIH / ZL Financial constraints – School needs
2023 Partnership Haiti Symposium coming April 22
Join us for the 2023 Partnership Haiti Sympoisum, recognizing and honoring our 40-year partnership in the country.
Saturday, April 22, 2023 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Christ Church 10 N Church St. Greenville, SC 29601
Click here to registe...
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