To educate and empower Haitian youth to become confident leaders through education and civic responsibility, grounded in their history, pride, and purpose.
Every program we run is designed to address the root causes of poverty — and to empower local communities to lead the way forward.
Supporting access to basic care and health education for families in need...
WIA built a community clinic to expand access to basic care and health education in Qui-Croit. Although the clinic is currently closed because of gang control in the area and limited access to supplies, healthcare remains part of our long-term commitment to the community.
Helping children stay in school through tuition support, supplies, meals, and long-term encouragement...
Through education sponsorship, WIA helps children stay in school, receive daily meals, and continue learning despite displacement and hardship. Some former sponsored students have gone on to university and now return to support younger children.
Responding to community-identified needs with dignity, partnership, and long-term commitment...
WIA began building a local food project to help nourish children at school, including raising chickens for eggs and supporting agricultural work. The project is currently paused because the area remains under gang control, but the vision remains: helping Qui-Croit feed its children and build strength from within.
After recent gang violence in Qui-Croit, many children and parents were forced to flee their homes, leaving almost everything behind. Some children are now without a safe place to call home. Some have lost one or both parents.
Without support, many of these children may have no way to continue school. They could remain in the streets, facing hunger, isolation, and a greater risk of being recruited by gangs.
Sponsorship helps protect their path back to learning, care, and a future with purpose— beyond the crisis.
Because sponsorship does more than keep a child in school today. It helps raise the future leaders who will serve Qui-Croit and Haiti tomorrow.
Community-Led: We listen to the community’s identified needs and respond with long-term, practical support.
Long-Term Commitment: Since 2008, we have walked with children from school into adulthood, not just through one season of need.
Leadership That Returns: Some of the children supported through WIA have become nurses, educators, and agronomists — and now help guide and support the younger children.
Trusted Local Presence: Our work is rooted in relationships, accountability, and people who know the children and families by name.
Words in Action Haiti is not built around promises. It is built around presence. In Qui-Croit, that presence looks like children returning to school, families receiving support, meals being served, and a community continuing to rise despite violence, fear, instability, and uncertainty.
Behind every statistic is a person whose life has been transformed. Here are some of their stories.
“I want to stay in school”
At 17, Derickson should be thinking about graduation. Instead, he carries the weight of caring for his three younger siblings after gang violence forced them from their home and separated them from their parents.
Now in 9th grade at Words in Action Haiti’s school, Derickson is fighting to continue his education while doing small jobs whenever he can to provide for his siblings.
“I want to stay in school.”
At 17, Derickson should be thinking about graduation. Instead, he spends many days wondering how he will help feed his three younger siblings.
His mother went missing years ago. After gang violence forced families from Qui-Croit to flee their homes, Derickson escaped with his brother and sisters. Since then, there has been no news of their father. Today, the children have no permanent home and rely on distant relatives for shelter.
For several years, Derickson was unable to attend school because his family moved from place to place while his father searched for ways to provide for them. Now, with both parents absent, Derickson refuses to give up.
Now in 9th grade at the Words in Action Haiti school, Derickson dreams of finishing his education. His three younger siblings are also enrolled there, giving all four children a place to keep learning despite everything they have lost. Very often, Derickson misses class because he has to take small farming jobs, or anything he can find to provide for his siblings.
In his free time, Derickson paints. He says, “Art gives me hope and makes me believe that life can be more than survival.”
Derickson is not asking for an easy life. He is asking for a chance.
Words in Action Haiti is working toward creating a safe place for children like Derickson — young people who have been orphaned, displaced, or separated from their families by violence. A place they can call home. A place where they can live, learn, heal, and simply be children again.
Sponsorship helps lift that burden, giving children like Derickson a chance to stay in school while receiving the support every child deserves.