Letters 2015

I will  remember this week as a turning point - so many changes have begun. It will take a while to implement them, perhaps years to see them bloom, but just as everything was new and unknown on my first trip to Haiti in 1998, and again when I made the decision to rent a house and set down roots in Cap-Haitien in 2004, now more  changes and a new set of challenges. But without challenges, we don't know what can be accomplished.

Wednesday Auguste and I met with the Notary in Sen Rafayel and the owners of the properties adjacent to our drop in center which we were purchasing. The purchases had been negotiated by our Bus. Admin grad, Danius and funded by Jasmine Foundation. Danius acted as our 'temwen' (witness) and helped verify the funds as both were cash transactions in Haitian gourdes.

First property purchase, Danius, yours truly, owner, notary
The 2nd floor of our center was an ideal meeting place.

Notaire, our neighbor the second seller, Auguste
Everyone signed the big book - a solemn occasion.

While we were meeting upstairs, staff members downstairs were busy feeding kids, facilitating study groups  and meeting with young people who were dropping by in a steady stream to deliver request for admission letters - those  had been sitting out at least this school year, many longer. We accept letters from May 4 - 29. Between the 2 centers we have received about 200 letters with 2 weeks to go. There are also hundreds looking for entry who made it through the school year, but do not have the means to continue. Those letters we accept in July after year end results are posted, if is seems there will be funds available.

Inside, coordinator Edeline accepts letters and
gives a quick read for necessary information.

If necessary information is missing, staff member
Elanie will ask for it to be added or return letter
is there is too much missing.

Outside our walls, the hopefuls wait with letters
in hand.

Reading the letters is a labor of love - as the students have taken the time to write and in many cases pour out their fears, hopes and dreams, we owe them an attentive read. First read through is for the story of their lives. Second read through we look for and highlight the information we need to move onto the next stage, the interview. Students who receive an interview (and we try to fit in everyone who writes) must bring their papers to the meeting - birth certificate, last report card or receipt from the Ministry of Education with necessary information. 

Each year we have limited funds, so a limited number of places. After admitting those we consider in crisis,  we generate a waiting list. It has been consistently approximately 300 students each year for whom there are insufficient funds. I carry those kids on the waiting list with me - their names, their stories. Each one is memorable - asking for the gift of education when it should be a right. Then the next year arrives and a new group.  Sometimes they write again, risking being turned down again but with enough courage to try.  Often I will be told that someone on our waiting list has died. We try to begin with those that seem in situations that are life threatening, but everyone of these young people is in jeopardy so it presents a challenge. We are getting better at non verbal cues during interviews.

In Sen Rafayel at Lakay
Jasmine

I haven't started on the Cap-Haitien letters yet. I have just finished the second highlight read for the first 100 letters. Yes - the first 100. With funds for about 30 admissions. Next the staff will read for information I have missed and use a different highlighter or write questions they have in pencil. We then enter everyone into a notebook and sit down together to generate lists for immediate interviews and those we feel can wait. There are never many on the second list.

In Cap-Haitien at Lakay  Fondasyon

I have no pictures yet - I've only seen these young people in front of our privacy wall talking to staff. So I'll share some of their words. 

The first letter we received in Sen Rafayel was from Edisson . He is 15 and has been sitting out of school since 2013. He could enter Nouvo Secondaire I, the 4th year of high school if we can find the funds. His letter and circumstance are not remarkable - they are like the other 99 I have become acquainted with over the last 3 or 4 days. 

"Rezon ki fe mwen ekri w' se paske papa m mouri lontan. Yon matant ki t'ap ede m' li mouri tou nan lane 2013...mwen pa konn ki sa pou m'fe se ki fe mwen ekri w pou mande w' koman w ka ede m' nan sitiyason sa."

"The reason I am writing you is because my papa has been dead a longtime. An aunt helped me but she died also in 2013...I don't know what  you can do , that's why I'm writing to ask how you can help me in this situation."

17 yr old Yslande writes "Mwen rive nan classe 7eme mwen fe 2015 lan chita agoz mwen pa gen moun k'ap ede m. Mwen pa gen manman ni papa toulede moun sayo vin mouri malerezman. Mwen anvi ale lekol. Mwen pa gen moun ki pou voye. Fanmiy mwen gen 4 fi 1 gason."

"I passed into high school, gr. 7 but I spent this year sitting because I did not have anyone to help me. I have neither mother nor father, sadly both of them arrived at death. I crave to go to school. I have no one to send me. My family has 4 girls and 1 boy."

In the first 100 letters, there are 21 students with both parents dead, 6 with mother dead, 51 with father dead and 13 with another significant family member dead. Of the remaining 9 students not one had a healthy, working parent. Two live parents does not equate to support,  in most cases, more responsibility for the young person forced to leave school.

18 yr old Marie's  mother is crippled and father is ill and been told by a doctor he cannot work. An uncle who helped her just died. She has been sitting out since 2013. "Mwen santim pa ka rete pal lekol paske mwen vle itil parann yo demen en sosyete ."

"I feel I just can't remain not going to school because I want to be a useful mentor in tomorrow's society".

17 yr old Miliode has been sitting out for 2 years because her papa died in 2012. "Mwen renmen lekol anpil. Pou mwen se pigwo sakrifis mwen te ka plenn tet mwen avek edikasyon. Mwen gen rev pou m rive yon moun demen pou m ka ede tet mwen, fanmiy mwen ak sosyete a. Gade let sa se tankou w'ap gade ke'm ak nan men. Mesi davans."

"I love school so much. For me it is a big sacrifice to not fill my head with education. I have a dream that tomorrow I will become someone who is able to help my family and society.

Hold /look at this letter as though you are holding my heart in your hands. Thank you in advance."

By now you're probably saying "Enough already!"  Although I read every one, you don't have to.  If you want to hear more, get in touch and I'll send you translations and copies.

In closing, the entire letter of 12 yr old Daiska. She will be 13 on Aug. 18 and has already been sitting out a year. Computer fonts are fine for getting out information, but a hand written letter tells so much more about the author. There is information to be gleaned from  the writing and the paper as well as the writing instrument.  On the paper, you can smell the pain, fear, dirt, hope, hopelessness ...

Translation: Good morning, madam

Today it with a sad (heavy, tight) heart I write this little letter to ask for help with school. I find myself in a very grave situation. It is a cousin who paid for school for me. She says she cannot continue.
I have neither manman nor papa.I do not remember them, they died when I was 4 leaving just me..
Please give me the grace to live in the situation I'm in as I know you are a mother who helps the young who cannot go to school.

Thank you in advance madam.

The author of this letter is 12 years old, just starting - there are those up to and including their early 20's asking for a chance to complete high school -- just a chance.  Education should not be just for the privileged. Please help us give these kids "the grace to live in the situation"

Please help us do more than generate a waiting list of 300 this year. Help us make the waiting list  a thing of the past.

Mesi davans

Namaste
Sharon

PS Corresponding letters for above quotes

                                                       Edisson

                                                 Yslande

 
                                              Marie

                                                        Miliode

April

"April come she will... when streams are ripe and swelled with rain..."  so wrote musical genius Paul Simon a century ago. (It feels like a hundred years some times)

Wouldn't it be a treat if April showers really brought May flowers? But after a week of heavy rain which clogged our gutter, it brought the gift which keeps on giving --- mosquitos. It also gave way to summer temperatures around the 30 plus degree mark . July in April... too soon. 

April showers show off the newly whitewashed security wall (miray), 
a surprise by staff for our visitor.

Our gutter was clogged ...  a haven for mosquitos.

Lakay Jasmine in Sen Rafayel welcomed new staff member Elanie, a former student who will return to school in the fall to complete Philo. She fit in like an old pair of shoes - comfortable  and familiar.

Welcome Elanie, newest staff member. Here she prepares kasav, a flatbread.
We have it made in Cap-Haitien and truck it up weekly.

Our clinic, run by Nurse Gaby is open on Thursdays but Gaby is on site the rest of the week working with our senior students getting them ready to write State National exams in July. In addition to diagnosis and treatment, much of Gaby's job is education. The kids are comfortable with him and trust him.  I'll be looking for Malaria testing equipment in June. We don't need a full lab but that will help.

Gaby checks Furmancia's blood pressure.  
Tansyon is a problem for many ages.

If there is a medical emergency, Gaby is on site
5 days a week. Here some Gr 9 students prep for exams.

At Lakay Fondasyon in Cap-Haitien, similar activities. We are on the look out for another staff member as the staff are stretched very thin, especially when I am out of the country.

Coordinator Lusnot goes over a report card
with Stephen, setting up weekend study sessions.

Dieugrand works with high school students Celine and Melane on a
homework assignment. Computers are becominga must at all grade levels.

Lusnot works with 2nd year nursing student Myriame. 

The clinic in Sen Rafayel is proving to be an asset. With no nurse in Cap-Haitien, we deal with emergencies as best we can and staff are becoming adept at first aid. Fatia and 4 year old sister Maniella were injured when an allegedly drunken driver slammed his gravel truck into a taptap. We sent them to Milot hospital next day. All soft tissue damage. We had applied ice and Arnica cream and tablets. They are still stiff but getting there.

Ice and Arnica for accident victim Fatia.

Wednesday Inea came in for a dental referral - a filling had fallen out and she was in pain. We sent her to Dr. T. who works at Justinien as well as private practice. Instead of just replacing the filling, she noticed a cyst on the roof of Inea's mouth and proceeded to cut it out. Inea had no one with her and somehow made it to our door before collapsing. We kept her here for 2 nights. Her face was still very swollen . Joceline stayed over and to-gether we provided the care she needed. Yesterday Auguste and I delivered her to the tikay she lives in by herself. The next week she ended up in the hospital in Milot on IV. Thank goodness Gaby was available for a home visit. We agreed it was yet another reason multiple student housing is important. It would have provided her with the support she needed yet able to stay in her own bed. Fritzman has told us he found a house for rent with 4 bedrooms near the Semi-Lycee which 14 of our students attend. We checked it out and hope  that we can bring in some of our students who have a 5 mile trek to and from school each day as well as 2 of our boys who have recently lost their housing.

Inea would benefit as well as her place floods when it rains. When she is well enough, we will take her to see it. If she is ok with the move, we'll rent , clean and paint and move them in.

Joceline and Senkyeme look after Inea post dental surgery.

We are still a community of readers -- our new admissions read with as much thirst as do our seniors. 

Fritzman - new glasses, headaches gone

Travel up and down the mountain takes longer and longer for many reasons.  At Easter we were held up by a band of RARA musicians looking for money. It's not quite as aggressive as Kanaval but still demands one hand over money.

 
A RARA band stops traffic on the mountain
and demands money. It only happens at Easter.

This week it was another protest on the bridge. In  a previous blog, I wrote about the houses and businesses that were torn down along Airport Rd. in order that the 'tourists' could see the water when they drive in from the airport. This 'manifestation' was those displaced. Many came with their bedmats  strapped to their backs and laid down on the bridge.

 

 All one  can do is wait it out. Police presence means a lot as far as resolution of the protest. It doesn't provide solutions for those displaced but usually brings about an end to the activity.

A trip up or down the mountain used to take about 2 hours. With all the stops we now make, that has changed our schedules. Our trusty Nissan truck is now recognized on the mountainside and people stop us and ask for help with animals, schooling, food , free ride to the market - you name it. Sometimes we can accommodate.

 

One of these dogs had been severely cut by a machete, the other was blind.

We provided food and an antibacterial vet. spray to clean the wound. 

Natalie's big brother touched my sandals and said he liked them, he didn't have shoes.

We bought 10 pair in the market in Sen Rafayel but none fit Natalie or sister Esmonia.

So I traced feet.

Auguste helps passengers sit safely. They asked for a 'wou lib' (free ride)to Dondon.

 Unfortunately inside was full.

Auguste - first informal interview with potential admission to our program.

 Now that we are posting on Facebook several time a week, I had intended to try to write a monthly blog - several entries each week. You know about good intentions. It is now April 30, 1:17 pm. We have had electricity for an hour. I'm writing as fast as I can. A month goes by in the blink of an eye.

The shoes we purchase in the Cap market were a good fit. Dieugrand delivered them the next trip.

 

Dieugrand fitting Princess Natalie's first shoes.

 

Camiose (2nd yr Nursing) diagnosed with Typhoid.
We still deal with nasty illnesses.

Our 6  month old Shoset injured or was bitten on her

paw and still limps after more than 2 weeks.

 

This little one is still alive and getting stronger time we see him.

It is now 2:17 and the electricity has been gone for about 20 minutes. This battery isn't holding a good charge any more. Which brings me to the end of the month.

When I began to write, we had enjoyed (?) rain and temps had soared to the 30's. A month later, not a drop of precip and temps in the 40's every day. Summer in April. Heat exhaustion, dehydration, sunstroke are all making appearances along with the usual list of characters - Malaria, Typhoic, HPylori, Cholera, EColi ....

We've started making frozen water bottles to distribute and are giving out baseball caps and sunglasses to help. Fritzman, Fatia and Camiose display their caps and glasses.

I'm telling myself it can't get any hotter - but experience tells me I know it can.Talk to you in May when I will have some REALLY BIG NEWS!

Until the next

Be well, be safe, be happy

Sharon

Hurricane Kim

Hurricane Kim (the only preseason force of nature to be named) blew into Haiti with me for an all too brief visit. Although we set off in good health and high spirits, within 72 hours we had both been felled by a nasty chest infection - viral or bacterial unknown. Time line suggests it was something picked up on one of the airplanes. But being a force of nature, Kim shouldered on.

She embraced Haitian coffee...

the neighborhood dogs we feed...

our daily chores, and our incomparable staff.

Our days are busy, our nights are long when there is no electricity. We actually had a few hours of EDH every day that Kim was with us. Haiti put her best foot forward.

We visited Inea to make certain the rain water
had dried up. Although her tikay was neat as a pin,
mold and mildew were everywhere --vinegar!

You can take the boss out of the business but...
here she creates the very first Haitian Euphoria smoothie.
What was in it you ask?

Having electricity one day, Kim, always the creator, whipped up the first ever Haitian Smoothie - Euphoria style of course. As the owner and chief cook and bottle washer of Euphoria in Orangeville, I got to witness what makes her restaurant so successful -- creativity and confidence.That smoothie had everything under the sun in it including avocado, pineapple, coconut water, our very last apple , Chia seeds, grapefruit icecubes.......ad infinitum

Laundry - labor intensive and not fun.

Being a yogi and a dog lover, she put her passions together and trained at least one of the puppies (Shoset) to do a proper downward dog on a yoga mat. Na, she didn't this picture was an accident.

Shoset and the beginning of the end for my favorite
and irreplaceable sandals.

A week goes by in the blink of an eye and all too soon we're at the airport saying goodbye.  Having another set of hands and eyes as well as another heart provides perspective, easy to lose when on your own. 

Thanks to Kim and all the brave, courageous visitors who have taken the time and expended the energy - both physical and emotional - to share the journey.

Namaste
Sharon

In Kim's own words:

A couple of weeks ago I had the most amazing opportunity to accompany Sharon to Haiti. We divided our time between Cap-Haitian and San Raphael, a small rural village up Granjil Mountain. The distance of approximately 20 miles took well over 2 hours to drive....enduro bike racers may have loved the road but it was a tough one by truck! This was not a beach vacation, no running water or hydro for most of the week, I don't think there is ever a moment of quiet in Cap-Haitian, it was hot (really hot!) and up Granjil Mountain the wind never stopped blowing and every gust of wind carried handfuls of dust and dirt but despite all this I had one of the most inspiring experiences ever!! The students receiving support from Starthrower are tenacious, enthusiastic, hardworking and full of optimism, the world is made better by these young people! Thank you Sharon, August, Joclyn and the rest of the staff and students for welcoming me into your hearts and homes, I'll be back!! 

Thanks

Kim

 

Letting go

Travel  still amazes me. One day I'm battling disease bearing mosquitos, or being dive bombed by Fred the bat or finding a giant-to-me spider on the bedroom wall in Haiti and the next I am trying to restore my hearing after two international flights which deposit me in the land of ice and snow. Leaving Haiti means letting go of what happens - giving the outcome completely over to staff and the universe. Not an easy feat for a control freak ( so I have been labeled by family and friends)

Fred the bat in our Cap-Haitien car park



This unnamed exotic beauty filled the
gallery corner in Sen Rafayel



Letting go can only happen when trust and confidence are present - trust in the decisions the staff will make and the confidence to let go, knowing that I cannot be in two places at one time and for the time being I have to be here. Spring in Canada means income tax return preparation. Also a time for wellness visits - dentist, MRI, Naturopath, Chiropractor, RMT. And most important, catching up with friends. It is a busy time but a different busy from Haiti - no truck, no animals, no kids, no staff - just the silence of this small apartment.

Before I left, Starthrower received and accepted a letter from a student in Sen Rafayel. We accept letters for the upcoming year in May but there are always emergencies and exceptions. We try to be sensitive to each situation. Rose-Michelle's father had died before Christmas and her mother was not well. We heard from another student that the school had put her out and she just cried all the time. The staff and I discussed the letter and the situation. As the letter contained the required information, I left the country and the decision as to what follow through would happen to the staff.

Auguste discussed the letter with Cap-Haitien coordinator Lusnot, then travelled to Sen Rafayel for a few days with our newest staff member, RN Gaby. Upon arrival Auguste met with Lakay Jasmine coordinator Edeline and together they decided to give the candidate an appointment. "Bouche" is the most effective communication tool in Haiti. Just tell one person and they will know one person and next morning Rose-Michelle appeared at the appointed time with her birth certificate, last report card and payment card.



Rose-Michelle - candidate
for admission

Interviews are always difficult as there is a very real possibility we will say "Sorry, we are unable to help you." The reason may be financial, or perhaps it would be better academically for the student to sit out and start the year over with all text books etc.. Sometimes there is just no fit between student and foundation. We ask every student why they want to attend school. It is very telling. If it is a question they haven't asked themselves, we make a second appointment and give them a little time to reflect on the question. There is no right or wrong answer but it always provides us with information which helps us make the final decision.



Coordinator Edeline talks to the family during
home visit last week. Rose-Michelle is in the doorway with Manman.

Auguste and Edeline were in agreement with the paperwork and 'fit' for our program, so proceeded to the mandatory home visit as Auguste was on site. Edeline is well known in the village so did most of the talking. The house is one room, no kitchen, bathroom, running water, or electricity. A solar lamp will be a must for study purposes. We also plan to install solar panels, inverter and batteries when I return. We are going to light up Lakay Jasmine!



Rose-Michelle signs her student contract with the input
of coordinator Edeline (seated) and assistant Adelaine

Upon returning to the center, Rose-Michelle was offered our one year student contract. Although students do not have to rewrite their letter, they do have to renew their contract each year.

Staff are now searching the marketplace to purchase textbooks and school supplies Rose-Michelle has been doing without. Now that she can drop in to the center whenever she has time - to eat, drink safe water, receive basic meds and vitamins, tutoring - she has a very good chance of succeeding. In her mind she has already succeeded because she has been admitted to the foundation.

Rose-Michelle's journey with Starthrower is beginning. Others have spent many years with us and have moved on. When Alland, Brunie, Gaby and Wisly passed State National exams for Philo in 2009, everyone did the dance of joy. Then the four set off together in September that year for the university at Leogane. Each survived the earthquake and successfully completed their nursing degrees at the top of their respective classes. Alland ( married I am told) and Wisly are working for NGO's in Port-au-Prince in the area of community health and Brunie is preparing to return to university for a 2 year master's degree in Sante Publique (Public Health) specializing in Obstetrics. Gaby just returned from Leogane in January after working for 4 months at the hospital where he had done his student practicum.  He has opened our 'Klinik Premye Swen" (First Care Clinic) at Lakay Jasmine in Sen Rafayel.

Sept. 2009 - Alland,Brunie,Wisly
and Gaby set out for University in Leogane.

It is easy to lose sight of where these young people came from, when I see the confident young professional in front of me. But they do not forget their roots. They are all giving back, enriching their families and communities.

RN Gaby takes inventory in the clinic.

Gaby visits with his parents - the house where
he and brother Lusnot were born.

And the journey continues for dental student Rose-Guerlande. Last week we received  news  from Santiago, Dominican Republic.  Rose-Guerlande  was forced to drop out of school in January as the university increased fees significantly and we were unable to find the extra funds. As she is on a career track, she would normally have to sit out a year. However, due to the high number of students in the same financial situation, a make-up semester is being put in place for the April-July term.



Sept. 2006 Orphaned 15 yr old Rose-
Guerlande admitted

After the deaths of her mother and father, Rose-Guerlande's aunt brought her to our Cap center and asked if we could help her finish high school. Her siblings had been scattered throughout the country and the aunt was financially unable to cover school fees. Our new student was at the top of her class and received partial scholarships for the next 3 years - unheard of for the poor to receive assistance. Even then she told me she wanted to be a dentist. She had suffered dental pain herself and had seen many others suffer.



2010 - High School Grad heads to Port-au-
Prince for passport and student visa



Her focus has never wavered. The challenges of studying in another country and another language are many but she continues to rise above them. She used her semester off to study intensive Spanish.

Her program is five years, each day consists of half day clinic, half day classroom.



Rose-Guerlande at work in the clinic - Dec. 2014



A dentist for Haiti, the career of a lifetime
for Rose-Guerlande.

In addition to Gaby opening the clinic, Rose-Michelle being admitted and Rose-Guerlande preparing to return to classes, Starthrower staff looked after the other 154 students registered this year. And it happened without me. Letting go.

Animals know how to let go - from a very early age. And they never lose the ability. Another lesson I can learn from the animals. It must take a great deal of repetition for me to actually grasp a concept - why else would the universe have given us 10 dogs and a cat along with many wild and feral who come daily for food?

Alice and her buddy know what to do after a play
session - let go.

Namaste

Letting go

Sharon