HFHF Hires an Executive Director

We just sent out our end-of-the-year Update from the Founder, and despite the extreme challenges in Haiti this year, including a cholera outbreak, a hurricane and, of course, the earthquake, we recognize that we've really been blessed this year. It's been our most successful year to date, the progress we've made in Haiti is unprecedented and the list of what we've accomplished is far too long to share here. When we have a chance to step back and look at what all has been done, we are even more amazed at what has been accomplished with no full-time U.S. staff.

For the last 10 years, thanks to Elade's vision and dedication and consistently committed volunteers, we are truly making a difference in Zorange and the surrounding areas. When you go to Haiti and see the tangible results of HFHF - a real bricks-and-morter school building, successful educated young people, a fully-stocked pharmacy, a tech-saavy computer lab - it really is hard to believe that it was all done without a penny ending up in the pocket of someone here in the United States (we do have about 60 full-time paid Haitian staff). If there's any question about the fact that average people can make a difference no matter where you are in life, HFHF is proof. (inspired yet? want to join us? let us know!). And the fact that none of us is paid is something we're kind of proud of - it means that the money generously donated goes straight to Haiti. It means more medical supplies, more grades added to the school, more jobs for Team Haiti (who are a huge part of the reason HFHF has been able to accomplish what we have!).

But with our entire U.S. staff, including our founder, working for the man full-time (call us selfish, but we like to eat), there are definitely limits to our ability to grow as an organization. There is so much we would love to do, so many big dreams we have, but we've got pretty full plates and can only make so many of those dreams a reality (I'm sure we've all given up sleep for this, and showering would be the next to go. Nobody wants that.).

That's why we're so excited to announce that we have just hired an Executive Director, our first full-time paid staff member in the United States! We have come to a place as an organization where not only is this possible, but it's necessary. With an Executive Director on board, we can focus on building high-level partnerships in the community and with corporations, securing grants and various other activities that really make or break whether a nonprofit remains a small grassroots organization or can grow in terms of recognition and financial strength. We are in a position to support an Executive Director's salary for several years, with the expectation that this person will grow HFHF enough to support the position and then some in the future.

We've spent the last few months accepting resumes and interviewing candidates, and are excited to finally be able to announce the creation of this position and the awesome person who will be filling it. So, ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce to you...

(if you just got "Senorita" by Justin Timberlake in your head, we are kindred spirits)

Lydia Dant! You may remember Lydia from her guest blog post last month or from some of our posts about our September Haiti trip and clean water initiatives. Lydia has a master's in public health from Boston University and has been working at ECHO, Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization, in Ft. Myers, Florida with her husband, Brian, for the last year. Lydia was instrumental in developing HFHF's medical projects, including the Community Health Workers program. She first got connected to HFHF as part of a research project for her master's degree, when she traveled through the nine sections of Bainet, surveying community members about their greatest medical needs. She's been very committed to HFHF ever since and recently was instrumental in securing water filters for the community in Zorange. We're confident that her public health experience and love for Haiti will be an asset in this role and that she'll do great things for HFHF! Lydia and Brian, are apartment hunting and will be moving up to North Carolina in time for her January 1 start date. We really look forward to having them here with us and to see the way the foundation will grow.

As we grow, our vision is to replicate the model we have created in Zorange and carry it out in key locations throughout the Sud-Est Department of Jacmel - while keeping our same commitment to equipping Haitians to change their country and make a difference in their communities, rather than just providing hand outs. We can't wait to see what happens next and look forward to an even stronger second decade. We'll be doing a more in-depth post with Lydia in January, but for now, please welcome her on board!

Gettin' Schooled in Haiti

No, we're not just talking about what would happen if I tried to play soccer against Haitian kids half my age and size. The 2010-2011 school year in Haiti started October 4, and while getting the HFHF school building back into pre-earthquake shape still requires continuous construction (kind of like life at UNC, the University of Never-ending Construction), class is back in session! We thought this would be a great opportunity to explain a little more about the state of education in Haiti and the HFHF school – plus, we’ve got a very exciting announcement at the end of this blog!

“School’s out forever…”

It's every kid's dream, the anthem of each summer and the subject of those clever Alice Cooper Staples commercials. But, unfortunately, it’s also the reality for many children in Haiti when they reach the end of their primary school education.

In Haiti, even before the earthquake, the enrollment rate for primary school was 67 percent, with less than 30 percent of elementary school students reaching 6th grade. In other words, out of every 100 children, fewer than 20 receive an education above an elementary school level, if they receive that at all. The rural population – like the people of Zorange - is underrepresented in the school system, making those statistics even more dramatic.

[Haitian school children]

Rural education

Enter the Hope for Haiti Foundation school. Founded as an elementary school in 2000, with the primary school opening in 2006, not only does it provide access to both primary and secondary education for children who might not otherwise receive it, but it offers LOCAL education. Before, if a child did have an opportunity to continue their education, they would have to move to the city. Now, they can stay home with their families and use their knowledge and education to build strong rural communities. We have added a grade each year since we have started the school, hoping that in the near future, a student will be able to attend the HFHF school for their entire education.

Marie Lucia Pierre understands the need for educational opportunities in the mountains and countryside of Haiti. Growing up in Zorange, where she now works, she faced the hard choice of moving away from home or dropping out school.

“When I finished sixth grade, I had to move to Port au Prince,” she said, when asked about how HFHF has changed the community in Zorange. “Today, I wouldn’t have to move to continue my education.”

"I hope that as [HFHF's work] continues, we will have an awesome community," she added.

[Marie, in the future cafeteria of the school]

Marie is the portrait of the way access to education can not only change a life, but change communities in rural Haiti. One of the major issues during the Duvalier dictatorship was a "brain drain", where many of the educated professionals in Haiti either fled the country or moved to the city to try to find opportunities. Providing education to children in the mountains and countryside of Haiti strengthens those areas as educated people stay and give back to their villages. Marie's schooling equipped her to go work for organizations like Compassion International, before being recruited by Elade to come support the HFHF school and afterschool programs.

Doin' it, doin' it, doin' it well

As one of the only schools offering higher level education in the region, we recognize our responsibility to create a strong program that focuses not just on academics, but on building character and creating opportunities for fun and personal growth.

Louis Adam, the head of education for HFHF, described his vision for students at HFHF’s school:
“A few years ago, we created the portrait of a graduate of our school. We determined the skills and knowledge beyond the academics that a graduate from our school should possess. With athletics, the library, the computer lab, the enriched curriculum, and the character counts program, I am happy to say that we are on our way in producing well-rounded, productive young Haitians from Zorange.”

Marie is one of the people who is instrumental in making sure students at our school get more than just reading, writing and arithmetic. As a leader of LIJAS, the academic and sports league, and the afterschool programs, Marie is responsible for overseeing the children’s club that meets on the weekends, the sports leagues and cultural activities, all of which create opportunities for students to grow into responsible, well-rounded adults – and have fun!

“We know it will help them grow, and the cultural aspect of the work helps them have fun,” she said.

We’ve got some academic rockstars at our school, too! Recent exam results reveal that we are doing well at the primary level. For three years straight, we have reached 90 percent passing rate, a rate much higher than the national average.

[Nancine, one of the little cuties benefiting from educational opportunities in Zorange]

Drum roll, please

Remember that announcement we promised? Well, one of the most exciting parts of the new school year is that, for the first time, those 9th graders from last year got to stick around for one more year. That's right - Hope for Haiti Foundation now offers 10th grade. Not only is this incredibly significant for this year's class of 10th graders who were able to continue their education, but it brings the HFHF school into Tier 3 education, a monumental step for rural education. Haiti’s educational system is based on the French system and is divided into three tiers: Pre-K to 6th grade, 7th to 9th grade and 10th grade to terminale. Essentially, our school is now a high school, in addition to an elementary and secondary school. Now, the Hope for Haiti Foundation school is the only one in the area, other than the school in the city of Bainet, that offers classes in the third tier of education. We’re so excited, we could do a High School Musical jump!

We plan to continue our trend of adding a new grade each year, and we can't wait to graduate a class of students who were able to start and finish school at the HFHF school, in their hometown.

Tomas Update

Hi everyone - we're sorry for the delayed update on Hurricane Tomas. This is one of those cases where no news is good news - or at least the best possible news all things considered. The effects of the storm were pretty typical for Bainet, Zorange and the rural areas we work. Bainet and the rivers around Zorange are flooded, and people are generally staying home until the water recedes. The communities face some hard days ahead, as the storm destroyed most of the crops. It's the norm when major storms come through, but it's still not easy to struggle with securing food and possible hunger in the meantime. However, we are grateful that the storm didn't turn out to be more serious, as so many people are still recovering from the earthquake.

From what we can tell by following the news and social media, it seems that other parts of Haiti fared as best as possible too. The greatest threat in the next few weeks will be the spread of cholera, as feared before the storm. There have been some confirmed cases in Port au Prince, and if the disease has a chance to get a hold in such a crowded city, the results could be disastrous. Please keep Haiti in your prayers as they try to hold off the disease.

Bracing for Tomas

We’ve been watching the Weather Channel with the meteorological dedication of Greg Fishel today – and it’s not because of the rainy morning here in Raleigh. As Tomas menacingly looms off the coast of Haiti, we’re bracing ourselves as we watch the effects of this storm – and only wish we could help the people of Haiti do more to prepare.

[tents in Port au Prince, not designed to withstand a storm like Tomas]

We’ve gotten reports saying that there are currently strong winds and rain in Zorange and in Port au Prince. School is closed throughout the country, the Port au Prince airport is closing this afternoon and the worst of Tomas is scheduled to hit Haiti late tonight into early Friday morning. The storm has fortunately weakened over this week, but projections say it could reach Category 1 hurricane status before passing over Haiti. Aid workers are scrambling to get people into emergency shelters, but very few exist – even the ones that the Clinton Foundation has built only house 80 people at a time. The government order to evacuate tent cities seems laughable to those living there; there’s no where to go. And people who have clung to their humble but familiar spots of land for nearly a year now are naturally reluctant to leave that behind. There’s nothing easy about this; there are a lot of very vulnerable people trapped in the path of a major storm.

In earthquake-ravaged Port au Prince, the obvious threat is to the 1.3 million people still crammed into tents throughout the crowded city. They have no basement to hide in, no place to ride out the storm. The tent cities are so vulnerable that when a strong storm system (not a hurricane or anything of the sort – just a strong storm) passed over Port au Prince on September 25, five people died from poles and trees falling on the camps. Flash floods are also a huge risk in the crowded city, once again, made more damaging by the lack of shelter. Haiti is extremely mountainous, and almost completely deforested, which means there’s very little to stop runoff into the lower-lying areas.

[Port au Prince from the air - you can see how it kind of sits in a bowl of mountains]

To make matters worse, Haiti is currently experiencing a rare cholera outbreak that has killed 442 people and infected almost 7,000 others. Because cholera is a waterborne illness, the flooding can cause it to spread quickly. Also, evacuees can bring the disease to areas not previously affected, and damaged infrastructure makes it harder for medical workers to get in with treatment and information about how to prevent the disease. Experts predict that the disease could spread aggressively on the heels of Tomas.

Not to be trite, but it truly is the perfect storm of potentially disastrous effects.

The world’s eyes will be on Port au Prince over the next few days, and rightfully so, but since Hope for Haiti Foundation primarily works in the countryside of Haiti, we wanted to share a little bit about the impact that hurricanes and other storms have where we work. While the storm can still cause significant damage and threaten people’s lives, the implications for rural Haiti are often most dramatic after the storm clears.

Economy

Bainet, the largest city in the area, with 100,000 people, temporarily shuts down. People of this city will not be able to transport their goods to Port-au-Prince, and no goods can come into the city because the buses and the trucks do not operate. The cascading effect is the lack of flour, rice and other goods that come from Port-au-Prince to be sold to the people in the country side. Anyone who does have stock of critical goods hikes their prices up because they can – you can’t escape supply & demand anywhere! Basically, people in rural Haiti can’t sell goods and make money after a hurricane, and they also lose their supply of critical goods from the city.

Medical Care

Medical care will be inaccessible in the event of a hurricane. Because of the flood risk, people will not walk or cross rivers to get to the clinic, even if they need medical treatment. Even on normal rainy days in Haiti, people are afraid they won’t be able to cross the river, or if they get across, that they won’t be able to get back.

School

Most schools will close. Luckily, the HFHF school is aware of which students must cross rivers to get to school. The group is the minority, and we offer excused absences to teachers and students who can’t get to school in the event of a flood. Hopefully we’ll be able to operate fairly normally after the storm.

Food Security

Interestingly, the day after the hurricane, there is plenty of food. Fruit trees shed their fruit in the high winds and rain, and coconuts and other fruits are all over the ground. Unfortunately, once off the tree, this fruit can only last a few days. Without any way to preserve it, the majority of the food supply runs out in a just a few days, and there isn’t any more fruit on the trees to pick. Animals, like goats, pigs and chickens, are often lost, scared off by the winds or washed off by the rain. Hunger can set in quickly after a major storm.

Environment

To a country that’s already struggling with deforestation and erosion, the environmental impact of a storm is huge. Trees are uprooted, often ending up in the ocean.

Elade, our founder, recounts riding out several of these storms while growing up in Haiti:

“I've experienced a few of these hurricanes and it is not fun. I remember my home was covered with grass, not tin. It was leaking and one time we were afraid that the house would collapse. I remember thinking of escape routes to take my cousins, away from tall trees, and hide in open fields just to get away from the danger. Now the homes are a little sturdier than before, and perhaps most of them will survive and not collapse, but the fear remains. Life as we know it in the countryside comes to a stop until the sky clears up."

[the house where Elade grew up, now with a sturdier tin roof ]

We're continuing to track the storm and will provide updates as we have them. Please keep everyone in Haiti in your prayers.