Our staff - it's about Service

While leaving Haiti is necessary from the perspective of fundraising, medical and dental support and touching base with the amazing volunteers who keep everything going while I am here, bottom line - the most wrenching aspect of this journey is not the poverty, the dangers, the frustrations - it is the leaving.

But I leave everything in good hands. To whom do those good hands belong? Here is a celebration of and perhaps introduction to our Haitian staff. With the exception of Mme Joceline, they all come from the ranks of our students, graduates who have chosen to stay and pass on what they have learned.

Auguste is the person in charge of everything, the director of all programming. He looks after staff, supplies, deliveries, purchases, program content and delivery - you name it, he is in charge of it. Auguste had struggled since age 11 to put himself through high school (see web comic by Daniel Lafrance) when he arrived on our doorstep in the summer of 2005 seeking support to finish the final year of high school, and began as part time yard help. His many skills unfolded and he moved into the office within 3 months. He is now called the Director or Direk in Kreyol.

Sept 2005 - student and part time staff Auguste
gives computer lessons to Jhennie and Dieugrand.

Jan. 2015 - Director (Direk) Auguste explains student
contract to new admission Wanchine.

Everyone reports directly to Auguste, but part time student staff report to branch coordinators. Our Cap Haitian branch is managed by Lusnot, who came to us as a student in Gr. 9 along with brother Gaby.

Jan. 2006  Gr. 9 student Lusnot
reads in the library

Jan. 2015 - Cap-Haitien coordinator Lusnot
gives homework help to Building Engineer student Rosema.

Sen Rafayel coordinator Edeline had dreams of becoming a medical technician. Her parents were dead, she had no siblings but had an aunt in Cap who offered her floor space to sleep while she went to school. The year Edeline completed high school, her aunt contracted Cholera and died, along with Edeline's dreams of post secondary education.

2006 - orphaned high school student Edeline (Sen Rafayel)

Jan 2015 - (standing)  preparing and distributing kasav to students at
Lakay Jasmine in Sen Rafayel.

Operating 2 drop in centers means that security is a major job. Dieugrand has been our coordinator of security for both locations since finishing high school 2 years ago. Dieugrand was one of the first students I met in 1998 (he was in Primary then) and has been with the foundation ever since. Looking after security means he travels up Granjil mountain every week in an open tap tap. He works 2 nights and one day in the office while there. The other day is spent at the Cap Haitian office, working the grounds and office, as needed.

Dieugrand working in Cap, interviewing prospective
admission. Jan 2015

Jan 2015 Dieugrand cleaning out the garbage pit.

Mme Joceline came to us via our friend Sister Rosemary, who was operating a nutrition program for malnourished infants. Joceline was a widow with 7 children. She had never been to school, never worked. She began doing laundry for us in 2004. Our cook, Mme Carmene taught her a great deal and when she left after the death of her second son (Frandzy) Joceline took over.

Jan 2006 Joceline with our first cook Carmene

Jan 2015 Joceline now cooks and cleans
and keeps everyone in line, even the dogs.

Saint-Luc and Adelaine round out the full time staff in Sen Rafayel. Saint-Luc works security with Dieugrand and Adelaine does everything in the office with Edeline.

Adelaine and Edeline sort and prepare backpacks
for distribution - by school and grade.

Saint-Luc also helps students over their fear of dogs.
He sat with our beloved Tigger when he was dying.



Saint-Luc and Adelaine sort text books for distribution.
Sometime job descriptions have blurry lines. If one is available....

Part time student staff are necessary to keep both centers active 7 days a week. In Cap-Haitien, Rosema works weekend doing everything to keep the yard and the dogs in shape. He would make a great vet, although his heart is set on a career in the construction industry.



Because the Sen Rafayel center has no courtyard, we have student dog walkers who give us a half hour a day to exercise TiKe and Granjil.

Saint-Luc walks with the dogwalkers

Junior and Isaac - dog walkers extrordinaire

Angelene and Sabine work weekends and Furmancia steps in if someone is sick or writing exams. So I leave knowing everything is in experienced, caring hands.

 Sen Rafayel Staff - Jan.2015



Cap-Haitien Staff - Feb 2015

And this week the number of those caring hands grew again as we added a registered nurse to run our clinic in Sen Rafayel. Gaby D. who arrived on our doorstep from Sen Rafayel along with his brother Lusnot (Cap-Haitien coordinator) in late 2005. In 2009 Gaby entered the university in Leogane registered in the 5 year nursing program. He excelled and was first in his class every year. In late December he wrote State licensing exams (along with Brunie, Wisly and Alland) and will have results in March. We are so fortunate that he is going to spearhead our clinic. He began work Wednesday, preparing a dossier sheet and setting up a file system. Tomorrow as I fly out, he heads to Sen Rafayel with Auguste to do an inventory of supplies on hand/needed.

Gaby in scrubs - year 4

Gaby this week - Welcome back!

So you see the blessings -- talk to you from Canada.

Namaste

Sharon

A Rainy Week Tale

The hum of electricity is in the air - a welcome sound if only for a brief time. Roosters and voodoo drums compete for airspace. For the first time in 9 days and nights - no patter of raindrops singing harmony. Hopefully we can begin to dry out, clean up the mold and mildew growing everywhere and gather garbage tossed around by high winds. Nature gave us a swimming pool, but it's too cold to enjoy it.

Our swimming pool- note the mold on the 'miray' (privacy wall)

We are just a microcosm of the macrocosm. Outside our gates, misery magnified. We had just recovered from the November floods - replaced textbooks, eyeglasses, uniforms, shoes, stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs - you name it - lost because there was no place to put them. Yesterday Lusnot had revizyon and all but one cancelled due to flooding. Budget? An exercise in futility.

Petitans and Fosenmichel are both flooded again - we have more
than a dozen students in each area.

Watching the water level rise - waiting for the inevitable

Everyone who is able still has to make a living. Most take off
their shoes and keep on going.

People have to go places - even in the rain. Some tap-taps
cover up with a 'prela' (tarp).

Our young people in Cap-Haitien have the luxury of a tap-tap for 5 gourdes. When they drop in to the center or come for a study session, we give them travel money. Change very difficult to find and we are constantly looking for 'mone' (change).

Melane and Celine arrived in shower caps. School was cancelled .

3rd yr. nursing student Edwina huddles
over her computer . Small comfort from the damp.

Classes cancelled due to flooding for Brunel-
he huddled in the library

Classes cancelled for Paudeline. She checks out
her new solar lamp - which requires sunlight.

Most Lycees in the country remain closed and on strike. While my sympathy lies with the teachers who need to be paid for their services, I regret seeing our young people lose valuable class instruction. Here in Cap the hospital remains on strike as well and many private schools have closed due to flooding. Paudeline took advantage of the free time and again went to the hospital for test results after her beating and rape the first of December. They did release them this time, probably because of her persistence. Everything was negative but retesting suggested in 3 months. So those 3 months are almost up if they mean 3 months from the original test date. 

If you have a heavy sweater or hat, you cover up.
If you are eating, there will probably be a dog nearby.

The mountainside was awash with misery as well. There are no tap-taps to move people so everyone is on foot unless they can score a 'wulib' (free ride) with someone. The 2 boys helped us out covering the holes in the DonDon/SenRafayel bridge so we took theme home. They had been out gathering firewood for cooking.



Unfortunately the cab was full of perishables but
our passengers didn't mind. They weren't walking barefoot.

This barefoot gentleman and his 3 dogs had also been out
scouting firewood (machete under arm). We thanked him for his advice with a
large tin of dry dog food.

Everytime we caught a glimpse of the river it was swollen past its banks and there were waterfalls where no waterfall had been just a week before.

The river had crested at every turn, flooding gardens. Too much, too fast.

I counted at least 3 new fairly large waterfalls

No taps-taps on the mountainside

Sen Rafayel was facing the same challenges, but no schools were functioning. Auguste and Dieugrand went to the market and bought as many long sleeve jackets as they could find. Very few have cold weather clothes so we distribute. Nothing is new but nobody minds - its warm and dry. Orina made her way to the center after hours but I opened for her as she presented symptoms of mosquito borne Chikungunya. She is the first case since Christmas. This new rain will bring another round of mosquito borne ailments, all debilitating.
In addition to strikes, other forms of violence disrupt life. The convent in Sen Rafayel was broken into early Friday morning (2 am) and 3 elderly nuns were beaten as they had no cash on hand. These women are friends of mine, in their 70's and 80's. Incomprehensible. We paid a visit when we heard and all were coping. Village police refused to help -- fear is everywhere.


Students/dogwalkers Junior and Isaac try on jackets.
TiKe waits but its too muddy for a walk.

 

John-Steevenson, Dieuner, Sterlin and Gasnel share a meal.
We eat, read, study, converse, laugh, sometimes cry.

New stove delivered and set up, staff oriented to its workings, we head down the mountain late Sunday. We have several stops along the way to deliver dog food.  

On the mountainside: The dogs have to be faster than the chickens as
all are hungry.

Mountain families - hard working, resilient, courageous.

It is now 8:49 on Monday morning and a weak sun is mounting the horizon. I began to write at 5 am. Staff arrived at 8 and Fatia has arrived for breakfast because her school is flooded. But that's another blog.

Stay safe

Sharon

PS If anyone has connections with a pet food company, please let me know. Animal welfare is becoming a priority with us.



One Starfish, one family part 2

Today marks the 5th anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince and the South Ouest of Haiti on Jan 12, 2010.

On this day, we remember our Starfish Frandzy who died too young. He is our personal loss and a reminder of the magnitude of the losses suffered by the country and individual families. N'ap sonje - we remember.

Frandzy 26.01.86 - 12.01.10

The following year, many young people arrived on our doorstep, looking for support to resume 'normal' lives after surviving the trauma of the 'heartquake', as student Francois Marrion wrote in his letter - a tranbleman deke (heartquake) rather than a tranbleman dete (earthquake).

We admitted as many as funds would allow, knowing that it is a multi year commitment for each. Myriame was one of those who arrived shaken, introverted, afraid to go to sleep, speaking only in a whisper. We can never know the horrors she and every survivor witnessed.

Our kids did what they do best - welcomed the newcomers and the seniors who had suffered through the trauma while in universities in the Port-au-Prince/Leogane area and gave them support, friendship and space when needed.

Myriame has come a long way in 4 years, now a second year university (Nursing) student. When her mother died Nov. 19 2014 followed by baby brother Daniel. Dec. 6, it was Myriame who found the strength and courage to pull the family together, gathering 6 surviving siblings from relatives and friends and finding a relative who would give them space.

With limited funds and the assurance of the uncle in charge that if we finished the space for the kids they could live there rent free as long as they wanted, we contacted every mason/carpenter team we knew. Not many available to start a couple of days before Christmas. But we lucked in, and after meeting with the team and getting their list of materials needed and the cost of their labor (men dev) we headed for the hardware store as there are no deliveries. Needed: 160 concrete blocks, 30 bags of cement, one truck load of sand.

Everyone (here Marielle) helped unload the blocks -

the bags of cement we left to the guys.

A wall in a day  - 160 blocks



Then 'krepissaj' covering the blocks in order to
protect and allow us to paint.

I was just starting to think we could get it done when the Boss Mason called and asked to see us. It had rained the night before and the ceiling was leaking in several places. There goes the budget for materials and labor. So, more cement needed.

The Bos Mason points out the leaks.
Bos is a term of respect for an experienced tradesman.

We delivered more cement, doors and 2x4's, appointing
12 yr old Mikenzy in charge of the materials until the bosses arrived.

5 of the 7 together - and smiles!!!
Myriame,Mikenzy,Mildrede,Fatia and 4 yr old Maniella

The Bos Charpenter who made the door frames (chambrun) and installed the doors, did not do windows, so we had to find another tradesman who could step in.

Doors installed

Auguste checks --Leaky roof repaired

There are still 2 drop in centers to operate,  150 students and 20 staff in need of supplies so while windows were being made and installed, we loaded up the truck and headed to Sen Rafayel. As the grandmother lives in the village, we dropped the kids off for a visit and returned next day.

Then pick the kids up at Granma's and head down the mountain in the hopes of finishing the project.
Windows were almost finished when we arrived, so early start the next morning with everyone pitching in to paint. They had never mixed paint, held a paint brush etc... Auguste, Rosema and I had put the base coat on the walls before the windows were installed one day when everyone was out. We wanted to include them in as much as possible so the last 2 days were marathons.

Everyone took turns mixing the 'ble pal' (pale blue) colour
they had chosen.

We started with the gallery as the ceiling tapestry was
being hung inside. Everyone had a 'style', from 12 yr old Mikenzy
to 4 yr old Maniella.

22 yr old Myriame, 18 yr old Fatia - all business

We had enough paint for an interior wall, so headed back at noon truck loaded, to complete the decoration. The kids asked if they could paint half-way up. Seemed like a good idea - made the paint go farther - if we could just create a straight  line!

Maniella,Mildrede, Fatia - half way up!

Mikenzy finished the gallery and joined us inside

Rosema was finished with the ceiling so lent a
hand to finish off.

It's just one room - but it's a home. It will be different from anything they have known because they have beds. They have to share them, but it beats sleeping on concrete. Mikenzy posed on his roll away cot. We found sheets with soccer balls on them. And the best part - he doesn't have to share. We will partition off with curtains but one thing at a time.

Mikenzy posed on his  first ever bed

Maniella bounced.

 

Maniella, Mildrede, Fatia - first beds

In about 3 weeks time, we went from the original unfinished long cold room to a cozy, safe, inviting space for 6 kids. Geraldson will stay in Sen Rafayel with Grandma. But there will be room for him when he visits.

Although not completely finished, it is a space to call home. With 150 students registered, there are always projects like this. It takes a team, not just in Haiti but everywhere in the world our sponsors call home.

There is so much pain and sorrow on this planet. It is an absolute gift to me to be able to participate in such a joyful, positive project. One Starfish, one family.

 

Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible.

 

At this time of remembrance in Haiti, we hold all of those who have suffered loss in our thoughts.

Je suis Charlie

Sharon



Lakay Jasmine in Sen Rafayel - A full house and a New Year's greeting - from our house to yours. Chaos and laughter - the joy of community.