NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Nashville man dedicated to helping children in Haiti said it is heartbreaking to see the chaos unfolding.
Haiti is under a state of emergency as violent gang attacks have paralyzed the capital of Port-au-Prince amid a fierce political battle for power.
“There’s dead bodies everywhere. It’s literally like a civil war and it’s just the gangs, and it’s gotten worse,” Jeff Ponchillia explained.
Ponchillia spends much of his time in Haiti. In fact, he was there just a couple of weeks ago.
“Those people that barely had enough money to survive as it was, now they have nothing,” he said.
According to Ponchillia, the attacks are having a ripple effect on a community that was already in need, with gangs controlling the streets.
“During all this, the children suffer because they’re not getting fed. The gangs have taken over housing areas, so the families are without home, without a way to get water, without a way to get food, and the kids are starving to death. There’re more than 3 million children right now that aren’t getting fed enough in Haiti,” he stated.
For more than a decade, Ponchillia and his family have dedicated their hearts to educate, feed, and nourish hundreds of children across the country.
“They’re like my children. I don’t see them as much, but they’re definitely like my kids,” he said, reflecting on relationships he’s built over the years.
Ponchillia has performed critical work through his foundation, Change the Stars, making an impact on a population torn apart by gangs and violence.
“It’s heartbreaking…When you go to the hospital and you see a kid that looks lifeless because they haven’t eaten, there’s nothing that rips at you more,” he described as he fought back tears.
Ponchillia hopes to change that picture as he takes on funding for yet another orphanage in the midst of the crisis.
“That’s where 63 kids use the bathroom,” he said as he pointed to an image of two concrete outhouses, adding that they don’t have running water or electricity.
Ponchillia showed News 2 pictures of the small building where more than 60 orphans stay, many of whom are left sleeping on the floor or outside. He said his hope is to rewrite the kids’ destinies by providing scholarships at universities around Haiti.
“Giving them hope; giving them the ability to dream that they can do something, anything that they want to do; and having the ability for them to go to a university or a trade school, and most people in Haiti don’t have that advantage, so for them, it’s giving them hope,” Ponchillia explained.
Awareness and fundraising are key in helping his efforts. For more information about Change the Stars, click here.
