Serving the Poorest of Poor in Developing Countries
Partners in Development, Inc. (PID) strives to help the extreme poor attain independence and whole life improvement. PID combines a variety of programs to achieve community transformation in places where hope is often lost in the cycle of poverty. Through child sponsorships, small business loans, housing opportunities and medical care they aim to transform communities so they can be self-sufficient. Their work is currently focused in the neediest sections of the Caribbean and Central America.
Partners In Development, Inc. (PID) was founded in 1990 by James and Gale Hull of Ipswich, Massachusetts as a Christian service organization committed to the education and economic advancement of the developing world. PID works in direct partnership with those living in extreme poverty (those living on less than $1 per person per day) through their national overseas staff in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and Mazatenango, Guatemala. PID provides material, financial, and educational resources, which enables the poor to construct and implement their own programs for development.
- PID began its mission by offering a child sponsorship program. It has expanded from sponsoring a dozen children, when the program first began, to sending hundreds of children to school.
- Families who had children in the sponsorship program reported they needed help finding work. The result was their Small Business Loan Program, which lends participants capital to start or further develop a business. PID has provided over 450 Small Business Loans.
- Squalor living conditions prompted the beginning of the Housing Program. The Housing Program moves families from inadequate housing to sturdy homes with bathroom facilities, clean water and a yard.
- In an effort to provide whole life improvement a Medical Program was established in 2003 to provide basic medical treatment, preventive care, and health education services.
PID hosts work trips to Haiti and Guatemala throughout the year. Trip attendees can learn how to build a house by hand at building site and health professionals can volunteer their services to families in their programs.
Medical Program:
A productive community is a healthy one. Their medical program addresses the basic medical needs of the communities in which they serve. Their primary health care for program participants includes:
- Documentation of health
- Vaccinations
- Yearly physical exams
- Eye exams
- Dental checkups
- Dental treatments and sick visits
- Medications
- Training and proper use of medication
- Vitamin and nutritional therapy
- Physical therapy
(PID does not treat TB, AIDS, HIV or cancer.)
Some of the educational issues they address are pregnancy, nursing, child care, nutrition, family planning, AIDS prevention, high blood pressure and diabetes. They encourage all medical and dental professionals to share their skills and join PID on a work trip!
PID’s tentative 2010 trip schedule is as follows. Please visit their website for the latest information.
- February 11-18, Guatemala
- March – March 7-14, Guatemala (Governor’s Academy)
- March 20-27, Guatemala
- March 27-April 4, Haiti (Rhode Island School of Design)
- April 17-24, Haiti
- May 19-26, Guatemala
- June 14/15-22, Guatemala
- June 23-30, Haiti
- June 23-30, Guatemala
- Intern programs – July/August
- July 28-August 4, Guatemala
- November 4-11, Guatemala
- December 3-10, Haiti
All dates are subject to change depending on group requirements. Other dates can be arranged for groups of 10 or more people wishing to have their own team.
To learn more about PID, please visit their website. To read about PID’s response to the Haitian earthquake, please see this article.
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