Rendez-vous in Haiti in August

“Boy-what can I say?  What an incredible week that was.  It may sound odd, but I am back in NY feeling like something is missing.  I can't get the kids out of my head.  I am already setting up a Kayak (airfare website) alert praying that there is cheap airfare in the coming months, so that I can return..."  Cecilia Dowd, LUM class of 2003

Cecilia and Keith Orpheus from News 12 Long Island spent a week filming and interviewing the children and Maud at the Foyer Notre Dame de Lourdes. I can’t wait to see the documentary they are putting together. Having professional tell this story is a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness and support.

Thank you both.

In addition to helping with significant financial contributions the three volunteers present during that same week, continued projects of craft development to stimulate creativity, taught English to a select group, played football, and painted murals designed by LUM students from Janet Maher's class. They also gave unconditional love to all that sought it.:)

Meg Young & Marie-Andree putting final touch

Tracy Sanna admires work by Samuel while holding Wawa

Meg & Tracy teaching English

Thomas Robinson teaches Morvens

Angelo & Samuel's paintings were displayed
during inauguration party

Adeline enjoys
making bracelets

Thomas helping little ones with
beading

LUM student design is now
on the wall of new classroom

Latest painting by Samuel

25 beds still need mattresses

Responsible Rosena is in charge of printer

All set for power point

Thanks to generous donations by many friends fifteen mattresses were purchased ( 25 mattresses are still needed so that each child can have his own bed), Technical Services at LUM donated projector, DVD, and instant printer which not only give a lot of pleasure to kids seeing their picture in print but will be a source of revenue as neighborhood children register to come to school at the new Foyer site. 
The soccer balls donated by LUM Recreation department were a big hit.  More Zanmi bracelets were produced and it was fun to see the red hens happy in their coop.
During a grand celebration, Bishop Delmas came to say Mass and inaugurate the dorms.

Boys making Zanmi bracelets

Mattresses, pillows, sheets...wow!

Little ones napping

Bishop Delmas inaugurates
the dorms

Red hens happy on their perch

Sorting through donations that can be a problem.
Not all are useful and there is no storage space

New soccer balls are a big hit.

Getting ready for movie night

Popular plastic gimp bracelets are traded
by the older children

Meg's initiative: a world map.

Alice, Clara & Meg got lots of help to
finish this project before departure

Watch the little gentleman in action!

What a laptop can do

When Jean-Willy invited me to visit and see his new baby and their new home, I wasn’t sure what I would find, how long I would be gone or when I would return. He came at the given time in a borrowed car; driving ever cautiously as it was obviously a rare opportunity. After being served a coconut and admiring their beautiful seven month old, I was prompted to check what he had accomplished with the laptop he had gotten from me over a year and a half ago. The laptop he brought out didn’t have a speck of dust or finger print on it. It had obviously been revered. He has taught himself computer literacy and created a website for a steel frame construction company. Just recently he was able to get a job because of this website and also recently with a few friends, he has created a non-profit organization to find sponsors for children in need.

The document they created to form the non-profit explains how providing an education to the young will curb violence, child prostitution and delinquency.  It is then that it hit me: the laptop has been a tool for empowerment, it has helped him discover new options and he is using it to do good. He explained that RT1 had been a key influence, that Ray had “made a man out of him”, and that the laptop helped him realize his goals.  I left our meeting thinking, this is what this is all about and how I like to empower those in need in Haiti. 

A short service immersion trip is a step forward.

When volunteers come to stay and contribute to the life of the Foyer Notre Dame de Lourdes, their accomplishments are usually visible: a shelf is built, a storage room tidied, a craft produced, cake decorating learned, a computer lab set up. Less tangible but more important benefits happen within each person involved.

Volunteers many times discover a harsh reality – the challenging daily lives and limited futures of children in Haiti – but their hearts melt at the spontaneous curiosity, outreach, and affection the children are so quick to shower upon them. Volunteers often leave full of emotion, feeling they have contributed little but lived intensely with all their senses during those few days.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day”; we have to keep this in mind when planning a short service immersion trip. Goals have to be realistic, expectations of project progress defined within the context of local reality, and gains measured within the scope of long term involvement, which is a defining goal of Rendez-vous Haiti.

 More importantly, for the children on site, their encounter with a total stranger brings another dimension of care, a few more skills acquired, a door opened to a brighter future as the children discover yet another ability they have within which might lead to a new prospect, a brighter tomorrow. Drawing, painting, computer savvy, cooking, baking, handiwork – these are steps in their development, growth (and isn’t that what youth is about?). One step at a time.

PAP and then Rio

$67 + frequent flyer miles and I get to see my oldest daughter again!  How magic is that?  A year after their wedding and with one more year of research to go, both she and her husband are quite settled in a "favella" ( slum)  in Rio de Janeiro; both are fluent in Portuguese, both have made lots of friends while advancing in their individual research for their PhDs.
As we visit Rio, I am struck with not so much the differences but the similarities between Brasil and Haiti. Yes, of course Brasil is a much much larger country, has a booming economy and Rio is blessed with the most amazing setting and gorgeous beaches.  So what is it that is similar? Is it the tropical vegetation, fruits or food (rice and beans are a main staple in both countries). May be....  but last night I witnessed a woman hoisting her baby in what can only be called a box fitted to the vending stand where she and her husband sell coconut juices and cheap beer off the famous beach of Copacabana across from the great buildings and fancy hotels. Poverty is very present and that is where the similarities strike. Brasil is a BRIC country and Haiti is among the poorest, yet poverty looks the same. Houses in Haiti are shabbily constructed of cement blocks and here it is 2x6 red bricks that are stacked one on top of the other to make the wall of a house in the same precarious way. In the favella where Stephanie and Peter live, there is open sewer, trash, children running barefeet but here in broad daylight,  a drug dealer with a pistol in his right hand is swaying with the loud rap music while waiting for customers. Poverty has no color, no latitude and the constrasts are shocking.
What is edifying and heart warming is that in both countries I have the incredible priviledge of benefitting from the kindness, generosity, delicate attention and warmth of the "poor"!

RVH May trip

Plan “C “is in place, the water filtration system will be installed after we leave but Maud is anxious to create a space for volunteers to be housed; a constant stream seems to have come all through this year and their help can be invaluable.  For instance, Bérengère, a French communication specialist is at the Foyer for three weeks and we have been revising documents to facilitate the effectiveness and happy adjustment of future volunteers who so far have come from France, Canada and the US.  This trip Jason from the US built new partitions and roosts in the coop along with Nathalie, who also ran group therapy sessions with some of the teenage girls.

Rendez-vous: Haiti is collaborating financially and in planning with Maud to build three volunteer rooms at the new location.  Construction has started.

We are also focusing on making a more efficient chicken coop since the meat chickens and laying hens need to be separated and cardboard boxes have been used to roost.  Yesterday the last of the meat chickens were sold.   A nice accomplishment!  Those are the original chicks that have grown to full potential and needed to go to market if we want to generate revenue. The start is promising but profit on 50 birds was only $ 83.

As for the egg business?  We have found that feed is expensive: it will take 43 hens to lay 300 eggs a week to simply pay for their feed. To make a long story short, it means that profit will only be generated if we expand the production.  The incubator we just contributed will serve that purpose and with good planning and a little help from above, every 3 weeks or so it can produce 48 chicks. Now, we are looking for a strong healthy rooster of the same breed!!

Maud and Edouardson’s challenges will also be to develop a steady market. Currently friends and workers are purchasing the eggs and the chickens for meat.  Did you know that white chickens just eat, get fat and sit there all day whereas the brown laying hens are curious, constantly on the move and investigate any pair of legs that walk into their coop?

Jude, Mano, Pouchon , Wondlet and Jonkher produced more Zanmi bands and we have an order for fifteen from a Loyola alumn in Long Island who will sell them to her friends. Thanks Cecilia  :)

Another nice happening: Samuel is discovering aquarelle painting and made a lovely scene of women seeking water from the river. ( see picture below)

Samuel, 14 , first attempt at aquarelle painting!

Maud & Catherine in front of new boys 'dorms.
 Funded  by Food for the Poor and  friends of  FNDL

Curious red hens investigating  intruder !

Finding eggs is such fun!

Nathalie & Jason building roost

Meat hens just sit there!  Do they know ?

Nathalie & Kiraya

Jude & Angelo making more Zanmi bands.  
First batch sold out!

New volunteer rooms will be on top of " the fortress"
named so because of its solid construction.

Berengere came on her own from France
& gives  great academic support to the adolescents

Mother's day at the Foyer NDL

Sunday wasn't Mother's day here in Haiti, but mothering is very much part of the menu of day for volunteers at the Foyer.

When there are 97 ( yes , one more child has joined the group, severally abused by her brother in law while living under her sister's care) , there is hardly anytime when one doesn't mother. Be it the little one who needs her calcium supplement for rickets, the twin who are constantly asking for attention with their request for things to do, or one of the youngest, born in the streets of Port au Prince, who reluctantly wakes up from a long nap on the floor next to the other twenty five little ones. May be for those who come stay at the Foyer, Mother's day is every day: the children have so much love to give.

Where there is hope.

Some of the men ,trained by Ray and RT1 ,who have worked off and on (when the funds are there) to build the three now finished buildings, came to understand that they needed to develop other sources of income.

We encouraged them to think about starting their own businesses and Louis Jackson has; his purified water shop is looking well , he has started repaying his loan and his wife is the proud manager while he pursues his other job as a tailor. He had asked me for wedding clothes catalogues to be able to produce more contemporary dresses that would boost his production.

Others have also started thinking along those lines: Andy has developed his knowledge of computers and started a computer “ fix it” business and wants to expand to sell software and accessories. We exchange emails about how to develop his business and expand his customer base.

Gilbert, after we sat down to do the math, gave up his idea to purchase large quantities of water bottle caps from the Dominican Republic and retailing 25 cents caps from his cell phone. We are now discussing a car washing business. He is researching location and tools, and today he emailed that he has found the perfect location. He is negotiating with the property owner.. Little by little…