Knights co-launch film on hope among Haiti's young amputees

August 29, 2014 1:02 AM
New Haven, Conn., Aug 29, 2014 / 12:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Knights of Columbus partnered with Connecticut-based EVTV to produce a documentary on hope and healing of Haitian children injured in the catastrophic 2010 earthquake that rocked the country.
The film, “Unbreakable: A Story of Hope and Healing in Haiti,” will be featured at the Portland Film Festival on Saturday, Aug. 30.
In January 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake killed over 100,000 people, injured thousands and left around 1.5 million homeless. The documentary tells the story of an often overlooked group affected by the earthquake – thousands of children who received emergency amputations in order to survive the injuries they sustained.
“This film shows that when there is the will do so – both in terms of those providing aid and those receiving it – lives can be saved and transformed by a program that is truly sustainable,” said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson, executive producer of the documentary. “The work of the dedicated medical staff and the unbreakable spirit of these Haitian young people – in circumstances most of us can’t imagine – are truly inspiring.”
After the disaster, the Healing Haiti’s Children initiative offered free prosthetics and rehabilitation to every injured child that needed the care. The program, a result of a partnership of the Knights of Columbus and the University of Miami’s Project Medishare for Haiti, has helped more than 1,000 children received medical care.
Another result of the program also featured in the film was a soccer team comprised of many children who endured amputations. They named their team Zaryen, after a tarantula known for being able to survive and thrive even after losing a limb. In a country where disability is often seen as a sign of divinely appointed punishment, the soccer team’s story is helping to change that perception.
“In Haiti, there has long been a stigma about disabled people,” explained Dr. Robert Gailey, rehabilitation coordinator for Project Medishare in Port-au-Prince. “The traditional thinking was that disability somehow reflected a negative supernatural judgment on the person. This rehab program, and the soccer team, has really changed that way of thinking.”
The healthcare initiative now has a permanent rehabilitation clinic in Haiti that is increasingly staffed by locals in order to maintain a sustainable program that continues helping children.
“We're still here…one of the few prosthetic facilities that are still going,” says prosthetist Adam Finnieston in the documentary. “That was our mission goal from the beginning, to build a sustainable facility…training locals.”
So far the Knights of Columbus have provided more than $1.5 million in funding for the prosthetics program. One of the most active charitable organizations in the United States, the Knights of Columbus last year donated more than $170 million and 70 million hours of service.
The film will be shown at the Portland film festival on Sat., Aug. 30 at 2:30 p.m. at Cinema 21.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/catholicnews/2014/08/knights-co-launch-film-on-hope-among-haitis-young-amputees/

The Knights Of Columbus Convene In Denver, Bring Haitian Amputee Soccer Team To Tour The U.S.

One of the largest Catholic organizations in the world, the Knights of Columbus, is holding its 129th international convention in Denver and announcing the U.S. tour of its sponsored Haitian amputee soccer team. It is the third time in the organization's nearly 130-year history that the annual convention has been held in Denver.

"The Knights of Columbus bring an extraordinary energy to the re-evangelization of the Catholic Church," Archbishop Charles Chaput said at a news conference introducing the 1.8 million-member organization yesterday. Today through Thursday, Denver's downtown Sheraton Hotel is hosting 85 bishops and cardinals in meetings that are each translated into four languages, in one of the largest gatherings in the U.S. outside the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Denver became the first location west of the Mississippi that hosted the Knights of Columbus with the establishment of a council in 1900. The charter grand knight, John H. Reddin, also established the first councils in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. Today Colorado has 16,000 Knights of Columbus members in 142 councils.

Since last year's magnitude 7.0 Haitian earthquake in Port-au-Prince, the Knights of Columbus have raised over $1 million, 70 million volunteer hours and 1,000 wheelchairs for the "Healing Haiti's Children" program which makes makes rehabilitation and prosthetic care available to every child injured in the quake. The program is partnered with Project Mediashare, which runs a hospital in Haiti and a rehabilitation program called "Return to Sport".

Last March the Knights of Columbus purchased a state-of-the-art Ossur International Prosthetics and Orthotics Laboratory through funding of the "Healing Haiti's Children" program. Ossur's founder, Ossur Kristinsson, himself an amputee, also presented over 600 modular prosthetic systems to Project Medishare and the new lab during its ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said in a statement then:

We are pleased to be able to help to heal those children injured in the devastating earthquake and to give them renewed hope in the possibility of living life with regained mobility. Providing the limbs, therapy and support to these children is truly a life changing gift, and one that we are very pleased to be able to give in partnership with Medishare and with the help of Challenged Athletes Foundation and Ossur.

The Haitian amputee soccer team, Team Zaryen, coach children in the sport and help them resume their lives despite loss of limbs in the earthquake that the Haitian government says killed over 300,000 and injured another 300,000.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/02/the-knights-of-columbus-c_n_916125.html