Home »

CNN Heroes: Child of privilege helps Haiti's orphans

* Story Highlights

* Florida man helping to deworm thousands of children in Haiti

* He also helps run four orphanages and medical centers in Haiti

* Estimated half of Haiti's 8 million residents live with internal parasites

* In some areas, worms infect more than 40 percent of the children, officials say

(CNN) -- Aaron Jackson grew up in Destin, Florida, a self-proclaimed child of privilege with golf and sunshine filling most of his days.

In his early 20s he decided to travel, and the experience changed his life. "It really opened my eyes to what the world was really like," he says.

As a result of witnessing extreme poverty abroad, Jackson quit college and eventually headed to Haiti to help children.

In 2004, with money he had earned as a caddie on the golf course, Jackson began setting up orphanages with the help of the Homeless Voice newspaper in Florida.

When he learned that the often-swollen bellies of the children he met were the result of worms, he made it his personal crusade to combat Haiti's infestation with education and deworming medicine. VideoWatch Jackson talk about his mission to help the children of Haiti »

According to the U.N. World Food Program, an estimated half of Haiti's 8 million residents live with internal parasites. The Haitian Ministry of Health estimates that in some areas of the country, worms infect more than 40 percent of the children.

"The worms eat up to about 20 percent of a child's nutritional intake each day," Jackson said. "This is the difference between life and death in a lot of situations."

It only takes $20 to cure a child, Jackson said. Since starting his project in Haiti, he has helped raise about $200,000 to support his work. The money flow is spotty at times, but he said he always gets funds when he needs them.

"If the money runs down, I always look in my mailbox and find a check. ... I don't know how they hear about me, but people do, and the money is there."

He helps run four orphanages, an intestinal parasite program and some medical centers in Haiti. He's handed out about 20,000 deworming pills in Haiti and educated Haitians about ways to prevent getting the disease, such as washing their vegetables, cooking meat a little longer and wearing shoes outdoors.

By the end of the year, Jackson's organization, Planting Peace, said it will have helped deworm an estimated 1.7 million people worldwide.

"When we first go into an orphanage, the children look very zombie-like. And it's a scary thing," Jackson said. But the deworming pills have a positive effect in only weeks. "They come back to life. ... You can see that they're playing again and smiling."

At the orphanages he helps support, Jackson is known as "Papa Jackson." Watch Jackson discuss his orphanage effortVideo

To make ends meet, he usually sleeps in a homeless shelter when back in Florida. He takes no pay for his work, but Jackson said he can't imagine doing anything else with his time and effort.

"We've become like family. ... These kids are my kids."

Link CNN video Clip ... Aaron Jackson speaks of his work in Haiti