Crawley charity worker awarded MBE

‘There’s no greater joy than seeing a life transformed,’ says Carwyn Hill, who was recently made an MBE by the Prince of Wales in a ceremony at Windsor Castle.

And Carwyn should know. Thanks to Hope Health Action, the charity he co-founded, he has seen people overcome seemingly unsurmountable disabilities – like the patients leaving hospital with new-found hope and purpose after sustaining spinal injuries in the 2010 Haiti earthquake; or the disabled refugee in Uganda who is now earning respect as a farmer after years of being treated like an animal.

Carwyn, 40, who lives with his family in West Green, Crawley, set up the charity after a chance encounter at a Christian conference back in 2005. A pastor from Haiti needed somewhere to stay, and 21-year-old Carwyn, then a self-confessed scruffy drama student, offered to be his host. When the pastor expressed his disappointment at not having been given the opportunity to speak at the conference about the plight of the Haitian people, Carwyn decided to visit the Caribbean nation – one of the poorest in the Americas – and see for himself. Shocked by many of the things he witnessed there – in particular, the unnecessary death of 11-year-old Julia due to a lack of basic medical facilities – he came home knowing that he was being called to put his faith into action.

He set up the Haiti Hospital Appeal and began raising funds. In 2009, Carwyn and his wife Reninca moved to Haiti for five years to oversee the building of a new hospital. The earthquake the following year meant a rehabilitation unit suddenly became a priority. Today the 100-bed hospital treats over 35,000 patients a year, and boasts emergency and surgical units, maternity, neo natal and paediatric departments, as well as the specialist rehabilitation services.

In Haiti, disability is often seen as a stigma and the disabled are ostracised. One boy who was unable to walk or talk had spent most of his life in bed, behind closed doors – neighbours didn’t even know of his existence – before he was given a wheelchair. Now he can not only move around independently, he can see the world properly for the first time and is finding his own way to communicate.

In 2016, now rebranded as Hope Health Action, the charity expanded its remit to East Africa, helping refugees in Uganda displaced by the conflict in South Sudan with food aid, health care and training programmes. It recently opened its first health centre in South Sudan to serve the homecoming refugees.

‘We want to see a world free from injustice, in which the dignity and health of every person – including the most vulnerable – are valued,’ says Carwyn.

hopehealthaction.org