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Hopegivers International Sends First-Ever Medical Team to Haiti

Hopegivers International, widely known for its work helping thousands of orphaned, abandoned and at-risk children, is sending its first-ever medical team to Haiti this Thanksgiving, Hopegivers' Rob Brumberg announced today.

Haiti, the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, has traditionally struggled politically and economically. Several decades of exploitative leadership and a basic lack of infrastructure have also hampered its development.

Now there's another dark cloud on the horizon -- HIV/AIDS, according to Brumberg.

"You've got a population of just more than eight million, and nearly 300,000 people have HIV in Haiti now," he said. "It's definitely getting worse - it's spreading. Yet we firmly believe education and the Gospel are the best ways to combat this terrible disease."

Hopegivers meets the needs of 18 children in its "Hope Home" here, but HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases are affecting the work. Two children at the home are HIV positive, and five suffer from tuberculosis.

Brumberg said the Hope Home's leader, Pastor Willio Joseph, and his wife Chrismene recently came across a young mother, "whose husband had left, and she was dying of AIDS. They saw her holding her 15-day-old baby. Their hearts were so touched by the mother's request to care for her child that they ended up taking the baby into their care that day."

Assisting with the HIV/AIDS problem is something that is on the hearts of the six-member Hopegivers team, which leaves Friday for Haiti to help with medical issues at the Hope Home, he said.

"We definitely have a big heart for the sick here at Hopegivers, and we want to see people come to know the Lord and realize that Jesus is the Great Healer and Comforter," Brumberg said.

"We're going to try and provide as many vaccines and other basic medical supplies as we can," Brumberg said. "Even things like band-aids, antiseptics, gauze and cold medicines can make a huge difference here."

According to Brumberg, this is just the beginning of the Hopegivers work in Haiti,"but it's totally dependent on God's blessing and the amount of support we receive for our children there."

Anyone interested in assisting Hopegivers' work in Haiti can go to www.hopegivers.org to learn more.

Hopegivers International is a faith-based, not-for-profit humanitarian agency based in Columbus, Georgia. Founded in 1978, Hopegivers exists to bring "help for today and hope for eternity" by rescuing homeless children, widows, the sick and needy, regardless of caste or creed.