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(Trip to Haiti: November 2011)

About 80% of the Haitian population is illiterate. Over 50% of school aged children, averaging well over 1.3 million, do not have access to an education and Haiti has the lowest enrollment rate for primary education in the Western Hemisphere. This means that a lot of children are being deprived of an education! How can a country be expected to lift themselves out of poverty and develop as a nation if the majority of their population does not have access to even a basic education?

Hope is Life Foundation has initiated several projects with local organizations in Haiti to rebuild and create vibrant communities where children can enjoy academic and moral education. Our aim is to empower local communities to participate in and sustain the development process.

Among these are training of teachers, repairing and building damaged schools and building community enrichment centers. One of the projects was to provide schooling for children in the community of Nerrette immediately after the earthquake. Hope is Life Foundation worked with a local organization called CAFT to provide education under a temporary tent for several months. Today, the children have moved into a new building.

Hope is Life Foundation and CAFT are proud to be a part of the new building and a dream come true for the children in this area. The school, Ecole Communautaire Lea Kokoye, is now managed by Madame Gertrude Sejour and provides education free of charge for nearly 100 children.

Students from two schools in Fairport, New York (Northside Elementary School and Martha Brown Middle School) and a youth group in Ithaca, New York wrote more than 200 letters to students in Haiti, connecting them to learn more about their culture, to bond in friendship, and experience the joy of helping others.

These letters were hand carried to Haiti by Hope is Life Foundation and reply letters and individual photos were brought back to the students in New York. Students and staff of Northside school under the supervision of Mrs. Carolyn Shea, Principal, initiated Hats and Hoodies for Haiti to raise money to help the children of Haiti.

Hope is Life Foundation is proud to be working with CAFT, a non-governmental organization in Haiti, in the field of training Haitian teachers. CAFT has been involved in developing unique and innovative training programs to community leaders and teachers in Haiti as part of transforming society, especially non-violent communications and discipline in classroom environments. Earlier, Hope is Life Foundation sponsored a training program on Healing Through Art for Haitian teachers.

(Trip to Haiti – June 29 trough July 9, 2010)

Visiting Haiti and meeting the local people was a heartfelt experience for us. From Thailand, we went directly to Haiti and have just returned to Fairport, New York. Our trip was very successful and the sun was shining all week except a few heavy rains in the evenings. Children played on the street. Mothers washed clothes and took bath in open-air tubs along the roads. Tents and tarps put up by foreign donors are seen everywhere, along roadsides and empty lots. Haitians have set up small businesses along the narrow streets selling food, bananas, shoes, charcoal and necessities.

We spent several days visting schools and talking to children, teachers, NGOs and government officials. We also visited one of the largest tent camps where nearly 20,000 people are temporarily housed in tents and more then 40,000 squatters waiting their turn. When the rains come, the ground turns to mud and life is miserable for them.

Exactly six months after the earthquake hit Haiti, the capital city, Port-au-Prince, is still in disarray. Getting from one point to another takes a good part of your day – many of the roads looked like they have been bombed. There is concrete rubble and broken down vehicles stripped of their tires dotted along the roads. We were told that only 4 percent of the rubble has been removed so far, which we could believe as we saw only a few people removing it by hand.

The people of Haiti are friendly and incredibly resourceful. They are aware that the attention of the world is on Haiti like it has never been. During our meeting with the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Education, he was genuinely touched by the presence of so many foreigners and NGOs and with our visit.

Nearly 45 percent of the population are children and are the most disoriented and vulnerable of the survivors of the earthquake. Many tens of thousands have lost their parents and their homes. Ninety percent of the schools in Port-au-Prince are damaged or destroyed. Reconstruction has not begun yet. All classes are conducted outside the damaged buildings under temporary shelters or trees.

Natascha visited several classrooms – on one day she gave talks to about ten classrooms – comforting them and inspiring them. She was also interviewed by a local radio station.

During our trip, we explored several possibilities for helping the children of Haiti. Our mission was to assist in their education. We looked into several options to rebuild educational institutions. We had meetings with school authorities and non-governmental agencies, including Architecture for Humanity, to build a structure to support education for children. We have identified a few options including repairing a school, providing it with a teacher training center and support in their development of a visual arts curriculum for the school.

During the next few weeks, we will continue to work with our friends in Haiti to finalize our construction plans. A need has been identified to start a teacher training institute as we feel that the training of teachers in effective moral education in addition to academic excellence is critical in the transformation of society and the sucess of the community.

As they move from relief aid stage to long-term reconstruction, the government, in partnership with foreign governments and NGOs, are making plans to rebuild the city. This will take years. Foreign governments have pledged nearly 11.4 billion dollars, but the people have not seen the money yet – at least we did not see any progress in cleaning up the city or visible signs of reconstruction.

We hope that the United Nations and the government of Haiti work hard to develop some sound economic policies that address extreme poverty and deep-rooted disparities of wealth, making sure every child receives an education, and to treat everyone as members of one family. We talked to several Haitians from all walks of life – and found that the average Haitian will trust a foreign NGO much more easily than they’ll trust their own government.

Once we begin the construction, we will keep you posted of our progress

• Charity Concert (PDF)
• Hope for Haiti (PDF)

Here are few Fund Raising Activities for Hope for Haiti Project

• Grade 8 students, ASSET Leadership program of Martha Brown Middle School, Fairport School District, New York, organized Hearts For Haiti
• Grade 4 students of Northside Elementary School of Fairport School District, New York, initiated Hats and Hoodies for Haiti
• Students of Ruamrudee International School in Bangkok organized several fundraising campaigns including a Book Sale and Jump Roping Contest
• Students of New International School of Thailand in Bangkok organized a Bake Sale
• The Garage Restaurant on Wireless Road in Bangkok, Thailand, hosted a charity event organized by students at Bangkok Pattana School
• Jungle Jim’s Restaurant in Moobarn Sammakorn in Bangkok, Thailand, hosted a charity concert organized by Natascha Yogachandra, Hope is Life Foundation

September 2010 Trip to Haiti : Update:

Hope is Life Foundation Sponsors Children’s Enrichment Center

Hope is Life Foundation is currently working with CAFT Foundation and the Artists’ Centre ELT (Edikasyon Lavi Timoun) in Port-Au-Prince to develop and grow a community-based school.  David Thebaud, the owner, holds free workshops for the children of the neighborhood every weekday afternoon from 1- 4 pm where they learn useful skills. On weekday mornings, the space will be occupied for the community school. CAFT Foundation, a locally-based NGO in Haiti, will hold Grades 1 and 2 classes in the mornings, using locally trained teachers.

Healing Through Art Curriculum

Hope is Life Foundation is funding the kickoff of an arts curriculum, Healing through Art, for elementary students in a local school, developed by a retired art teacher in the U.S.. The goal is to develop a Visual Arts Program with the hope of providing Haitian children and the community a spiritual and safe environment to emotionally grow. The need for such a program came from the local community and they are being provided with training and knowledge. This program can provide teachers insight, understanding, and skills to provide engaging and effective art and arts-integrated lessons across all areas of curriculum. The proposed curriculum will inspire students and spark creative interest in all subjects.

Basic art principles will be taught through creative lessons, allowing the children to have many expressive experiences using different art media. Art lessons will support and be integrated into basic subjects already taught so that many of these lessons will eventually become part of the basic curriculum and will not be taught as a separate subject.

Art can enhance their understanding of the world around them and their ability to explain their place in it. Expressing themselves through art can allow students another avenue to share their ideas and feelings. Initially, training will be offered for kindergarten through third grade teachers of a school in Port-au-Prince during November 15-20, 2010. Later the program will be evaluated and expand to other grades and to more schools in the community.

We are also exploring the possibility to build a Teacher Training Institute that can also be used as a Community Learning Center, with the help of Architecture for Humanity and CAFT Foundation.

November 13-20, 2010 Trip Report:

Healing Throught Arts Program for Haiti Children:

To rebuild and create a vibrant community where children can enjoy academic and moral education, where the community can enjoy material and spiritual prosperity, it is important that the local community be empowered to participate and sustain the development process. Whether to start a socioeconomic development project or to start a community school, Hope is Life Foundation’s goal is for the local community be endowed with an understanding of concepts, learning the skills, and acquiring the knowledge of the project.

As an initial step to help the children and teachers in Haiti, during November 13-20, Hope is Life Foundation facilitated an arts curriculum, Healing through Art, training program for the teachers in a local school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. This program was developed by a retired art teacher in Washington, USA, Ms. Judy Rector. The goal is to develop a Visual Arts Program with the hope of providing Haitian children and the community a spiritual and safe environment to emotionally grow. This program can provide teachers insight, understanding, and skills to provide engaging and effective art and artsintegrated lessons across all areas of curriculum. Expressing themselves through art can allow students another avenue to share their ideas and feelings.

The entire staff of Anis Zunuzi School in Port Au Prince, attended an introductory arts curriculum workshop. This pilot program was developed at the request of the Administrative Committee of the school, who recognized the need for visual arts program.

The first step was the introduction of “The Private Eye,” an integrated science/art/writing exploratory program. This program was shared as a way to demonstrate integration of curricular subjects. This project includes student jeweler’s loupes (small magnifying glasses), lanyards, a guide book and “The World in a Box,” which has sample items to explore like a seahorse, an urchin, insects, a butterfly, etc. From exploration, the teachers were guided to writing about what they saw and experienced, and then to drawing and painting enlarged versions of the items as well.

After the “Private Eye” experiences, all the teachers were introduced to the pilot visual arts program. The basics of teaching art and an introduction to the K-3 curriculum were then presented to all of the teachers. This was to insure understanding of what was being introduced at the primary level and what would be coming to the upper grades should the primary teachers approve the program.

The scope and sequence of lessons then proceed to ‘Art Tells a Story’, ‘Art Around the World’, ‘An Artist’s Vision’, ‘Perspective in Art’, and ‘Haitian Art’ by grade level. Basic art elements were introduced such as color, line, texture, shape, form and balance and reviewed at each level with more complex activities. Haitian artists were used as examples wherever possible to emphasize their rich artistic heritage. Teachers each created art tools and samples to help them teach in their own classes.

When we focused on learning how to draw facial features, we used Haitian artist Fritzner Alphonse as our example. He is well-known for his portraits of Haitian women and a great example to illustrate proportion. Each teacher was given laminated cards with step-by-step instructions as to how to create a balanced facial drawing. The results were amazing. For people who had never had artistic experience, they did an admirable job as students and seemed eager to take back these lessons to their classrooms.

The objectives of this program:

1) Introduce the entire staff to art concepts, the history of Haitian Arts and the importance for the growth of all students to have an integrating of arts into their curriculum (Done Nov 15, 2010)
2) Train the Elementary teachers K-3 with a focus in the basic elements of art (Done Nov. 16-18, 2010)
3) Demonstrate ways that ‘art’ can be integrated into other curricular areas such as writing, the social sciences, history, health and languages.
4) Receive short form email reports from teachers using the program lessons and evaluate them for change, material replacement needs and updates.
4) Consult in person with teachers after three months to see how much of the program is used, what materials are still needed and work in the classrooms with teachers and students.
5) Revisit progress of the students and staff, check on the consumable material needs again after six months. Work in the classrooms again.
6) Consult with the Administrative Committee and Primary teachers in March to see if they believe an expansion into three more grades is warranted.