On Tuesday January 12th, at 4.53 pm Haiti was hit by an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale. The tragic upheaval hit more than three million people who had already been in a condition of extreme and absolute poverty. It is impossible to quantify exactly the size of this catastrophe, an up-to-date estimate is of about 100,000 dead, with the number growing.

The community of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul has been tragically hit: Sister Brigitte Pierre, Daughter of Charity in Haiti was one of the victims of the earthquake. The provincial House of the 35 Saint Vincent Sisters working in Haiti was completely razed to the ground, together with the new orphanage which had just been inaugurated (November 2009).
The Saint Vincent Family created a web page to closely follow the situation: www.famvin.org and it is also possible to get updated on the evolving of the emergency on the website www.fdcsanvincenzo.it.

The only hospital at the moment working in Haiti, the children’s hospital "Saint Camille", has recently been literally besieged by parents asking to save their children.
Father Camilliano Gianfranco Lovera, its director, tells us what he sees:
"The situation is dramatic – he told the newspaper Cuneocronaca – the earthquake has been terrible. Even if the hospital had been built according to earthquake-proof standards, it was badly damaged, but not badly enough to stop the activity of our doctors and sisters. There are dozens of children to be cured in the rooms usually reserved to visits and confinements. We could host a maximum of 100 patients but tonight we’ll have at least 300 – 400. We need everything. We shall not forget that Haiti had been an extremely poor country even before the earthquake. We are now desperate.”

We beg you to help us in the charity raise for the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and all the children, boys and girls they take care of and help.

In this moment, more than ever, FOR A SMILE wants to take there WATER, FOOD, HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT with your help!

We are planning to consider processes of child sponsorship and adoptions in Italy with the local structures.
For donations:
Bank transfer: wire the desired contribution through your bank to For a Smile - ONG

Bank account:
IBAN code:
IT21 A 03211 01001 052876651990
Banca Patrimoni Sella & C. (Gruppo Banca Sella)

Bank cheque: send your order cheque to For a Smile - ONG
Postal account n. 72960131 - For a Smile - ONG

** The video with the images of the emergency in HAITI is from RAINEWS 24 (taken from youtube).