For the Girls

The Pinchinat Summer Arts and Recreation program, mentioned in my last post, has finally drawn to a close. Follow this link to check out an article about Pinchinat from last year. Though this article is dated, conditions in the camp remain quite bad, and the article still in many ways illuminates why I try to do what I do for the women and girls living in the camp, and many of the reasons that Kara Lightburn and The Haiti Initiative instituted this summer program (now in its second year).

A year and a half after the earthquake, numbers in the camp are petering down, as is available "permanent" housing (which is, in actuality, temporary at best), and the last 250 families have nowhere to go. There is yet no plan for their resettlement. A number of women to which I have been introduced through Charlotte Charles, former camp resident, camp president, and staunch human rights activist in Jacmel (read AAAMAZING woman), have turned to prostitution out of desperation after losing their homes and families in the earthquake, suffering abuses in the camp, and now needing to feed themselves and their children. In addition to building up opportunities for the women who already feel entrapped this lifestyle, but wish to get out, we hope that through supporting the teenagers and youth in the camp, we can play a small role in saving more from feeling forced to take the same measures.

Below, I have posted a few photos of the girl's soccer club, initiated under the gender empowerment objectives of the Pinchinat Summer Art Camp, and my primary responsibility for the program.

Following the end of the camp, the two Juniors (the other coaches, one a local volunteer and the other a resident of Pinchinat hired by THI) and I took the "best attenders"-- those who faithfully engaged and attended from beginning to end-- to the beach for a picnic, swim and final soccer practice. Now, after taking a short break for the remainder of the summer and early fall, I plan to continue working with this group of girls, ensuring that each is able to attend school and has a positive outlet on the weekends to keep them out of trouble, and to provide them with enriching opportunities to grow and learn in ways that will be of practical benefit to them in the future.

While my friend Hannah was here, she worked closely with the girls and grew to love and care for them. Now that she is back in the states, she will be responsible for partnering with me in fundraising to ensure that we are able to continue to assist these girls.

As for me, now that summer programs have wrapped up, I am currently spending the next few weeks in the Dominican Republic, researching the situation and work as pertaining to Haitian immigrants here, following which time I, too, will head back to the states for a short visit. More updates on these trips soon to come.

July/Aug Update

My latest update was sent out via email at the beginning of July. For those who did not recieve it, shoot me an email at mary.hooke@gmail.com and I will be happy to pass it along. Since that time, in additon to continuing work on other ongoing efforts, I have been helping to facilitate a number of individuals who have come into Jacmel for short term trips, seeking to assist them in making the greatest impact possible out of the short time that they had.

One couple from my home church, Brad and Beth, came into Jacmel for one week with the intention of providing a clean water system for a single school, impacting the health of and providing a life-line essential resource for hundreds of children. Great intentions and goal, and would in and of itself have been a huge impact for such a short term trip. By the time they left, however (and all of this on the same budget with which they came in, mind you), they had not only repaired the water system of one local school serving hundreds of children, but they also sponsored and built a water system that a local orphanage is using to provide CLEAN drinking water for literally thousands in their community-- a project that, without exageration, is preventing potentially hundreds of fatal cases of cholera and dysentery; and on top of that, they participated in the repair of a local school who will now finally fit the paramaters be able to qualify for World Food Program assistance, providing many of its students with is often their only filling meal each day. They also distributed three suitcases full of tarps and mosquito nets-- literal lifesavers during the Haitian rainy season-- to the neediest in Camp Pinchinat, one of the largest and most desperate IDP camps in Jacmel, and assisted in the sponsorship of a local family of 10, who recently, out of desperation approached an orgphanage to take in their youngest children. Because of Brad and Beth and others like them, this family will be able to stay together. Awesome!

The following week and a half I spent with Ashley and Alex, two fellow North Carolina friends. Ashley is a trained EMT currently in nursing school, and came to Haiti with medical supplies to provide assistance for IDP camp dwellers. We focused our efforts mainly in Pinchinat, who have not recieved any medical assistance for the past five months. I was present mainly as a logistics manager and translator, while Ashley conducted clinics, with follow up from a local doctor and nurse. We found, as expected, overwhelming need there, especially among youth and women, and I am still involved in following up with the most serious cases.

And currently, two former GVN friends working in and out of the states, Europe and Haiti, are staying in my home. These friends, Frank, a Belgian university student from North Carolina, and Olivia, a schoolteacher from England, operate an organization called EduHaitian, which connects foreign donors with local children for school sponsorship. Their work mainly focuses in Port-au-Prince. This trip to Jacmel, however, has been a particularly personal effort, as their goal has been to ensure that the children who were sponsored by GVN volunteers last year are still able to attend school, despite the fact that GVN is no longer operational in Haiti. When Olivia reached out to former volunteers, the response was overwhelming, with everyone eager to remain involved in the children's lives, even from afar. Its been wonderful to spend time with Frank and Olivia again, and to help out with keeping our old friends connected to the kids and families that they love and care for in Jacmel. Hard to believe that it has nearly been a year since we all ventured to Jacmel for the first time!

Finally, the Pinchinat summer youth arts and recreation program-- a collaborative effort of the Haiti Initiative and a collection of local artists and musicians promoting gender equality and social skill development while integrating food distribution and health services that the children could not otherwise access-- is finally underway, and going well. Though I assist with various areas of the camp, my main responsibilities are over the girl's soccer club and the provision of medical services. Photos to come soon!

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Special Request

In other news, cholera has been running rampant in the prisons for the past month or so, and it has unfortunately been impossible for myself or others to enter the prison to provide sanitation and nutritional supplies. The police have welcomed my friends' supply of doxy and other cholera prevention medicines, but will not allow us to distribute items ourselves, or to cook in the prisons until they deem that the epidemic has been sufficiently controlled. Please pray for the prisoners and protection against cholera, as well as favor for us to be able to gain entry as soon as possible! I have one friend in particular who was recently imprisoned and is awaiting judgement on his case, who I am very eager to visit.

HEF

Throwbackkkk-- HEFalump & Woozle, Spring Break '07 :)

One of my best and most precious friends, Miss Hannah Elizabeth Ferrell, is headed back to Jacmel with me this coming Wednesday! A Haiti first-timer, she has taken leave from her job and will be spending the next three months helping me jump start our new women and girls initiatives. I am beside myself with excitement about this! Hannah and I have been friends since high school, and she has walked me through a lot of ups and downs in life. Her presence has a calming effect on me.. it is going to be goooooood to have her around everyday. She has a very natural and infectious interest in and understanding for people from every walk of life, is a great soccer player (something that is bound to earn her brownie points in Haiti!), has amazing artistic talent, and is absolutely hilarious in a uniquely immature and somehow still brilliantly understated way. She has a lot to offer, and I am really looking forward to having her as my partner!

Beginning this past January, I have been serving as Deputy Director for a start-up nonprofit in Jacmel called The Haiti Initiative (THI). Founded in response to January's earthquake and operational since March 2010, The Haiti Initiative, formalized under the name 'Social Tap,' is a voluntary relief project undertaking an asset-based approach to evaluate community needs and provide lifeline resources to disaster victims. THI secures resources and distributes aid in collaboration with established Haitian NGOs, identified local community leaders, and skilled professional volunteers, in an effort to empower the local community and promote sustainable development. (THI's website, http://www.socialtap.org/, is currently under contruction and anticipated to launch this in the coming week. If interested in learning more, please check back soon.)

My involvement with THI over the course of the past four months has taught me a great deal about the challenges and rewards, the costs and benefits, and the barriers and opportunities that make up the messy, often difficult and unrelenting, day-in and day-out of relief and development work. There are certain things that a person, no matter how much they prepare, cannot know and understand until experiencing them for themselves-- and for me, this Haiti experience has been one of them. I am, with each day that passes and in ways that I could never have forseen, growing in my depth of love, passion and knowledge of the needs of Haiti and her people, as well as for the field of development work. I am also growing in knowledge of myself: learning my limits- whether internally or externally imposed- while at the same time growing in confidence and wisdom when it comes to the approaches and methods by which I am able to best utilize the skills, gifts and interests that God has given me to most effectively impact the environment in which I currently live and work.

Many of you will know that my heart and passion have long been to serve as an advocate for and minister to the needs of women and children-- particularly girls-- to whom the world and society have largely turned a blind eye, or, in more cruel instances, a purposefully opressive hand. In Haiti, women and girls have long been living in a state of emergency: In a nation where 80% of the population is unemployed and 76% live on less than $2 per day, 1 in 90 women die in childbirth, and 7 of 10 women report being victims of domestic and sexual violence. In the wake of the 2010 earthquake such previously existing problems have been compounded, resulting in already vulnerable populations being put at even greater risk. Single mothers, homeless or displaced women and girls, domestic and sexual violence survivors, former sex workers and prostituted women, and female ex-offenders are populations in particular need of support.

Knowing this, my next year of work in Haiti (I am committed to staying at this time until atleast May 2012) will focus primarily on assisting, largely as an independent agent, in the development of THI's "Core Areas" of Human Rights and Domestic Violence. In collaboration with this organization and with the support of other like-minded agencies and individuals, I will be be working to develop and expand the following projects: Girl's Empowerment through Sports and Art in camps for displaced persons; local outreach through Hospitality and Community Building; Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Survior Support; creating Opportunities for Economic Empowerment through trade education, business planning training, and the creation of Cash for Work and microenterprise options; and finally, a Women's Prison nutrition, sanitation and medical outreach.

Currently, I am in the States, seeking partners who are willing to join me either in prayer or financial partnership as I move forward into this next phase of work in Haiti. While I have been recieving a small stipend for time spent assiting with volunteer hosting at THI, currently, the organization as a whole is operated on a voluntary basis so as to be able to commit as much funding as possible to ground initiatives rather than to operational costs. For this reason, it is necessary for me to secure my own personal funding for housing, travel, and monthly expenses for the coming year.

During the course of the last nine months, I have been blessed to be surrounded with a community of supporters, friends and partners from countries all around the world whom I have had the opportunity to witness again and again make the choice to believe in and invest thier own money, prayers, and other resources into the work that is happening in Haiti. God has used the generosity and displays of compassionate love demonstrated by my friends, family, and even complete strangers-- some of whom have now become cherished friends-- in incrediby powerful ways to keep me encouraged and teach me perserverence by keeping ever before me the knowledge of His perfect timing and provision when things have gotten difficult. If you are able and feel led to do so, I invite you to join in partnership with me. To be added to my list of prayer partners, to find out how you can become a monthly financial partner, or to get more detailed information and updates on the projects that I am working on and other ways that you can become involved, please email me at mary.hooke@gmail.com or call US (919) 360-3899. For one time gifts, click on the paypal button immediately below.

If you are interested in setting up a meeting or a speaking engagement with your church, classroom community or other small group, I would love to have the opportunity to come speak with you as well. Just shoot me an email or give me a call!

Thank you for your consideration and for your interest in partnering with me to support the people and nation of Haiti!

GVN: Short Reflection on my first 3 months in Haiti

Last week I realized that, as of the beginning of March, I have officially been living and working in Haiti for SIX MONTHS. WHOA! I also realized (*look of shame*) that my commitment to updating friends and family via blog during my time here has been an epic fail, and I haven't done much better in fulfilling my promise to post and send photos, either.

Knowing that it is looonnggg overdue, I've spent the past couple hours attempting to upload a few snapshots from my first three months in the country during which I served as a volunteer through the Global Volunteer Network. Unfortunately, the internet connection here doesn't want to cooperate. I will try again soon when I have another bit of free time and a stronger connection.

In going through all of the photos in search of ones to post, though, I began reflecting on the beginning of my time here, smiling to realize how much has changed between now and then. Since completing my time with GVN, I have in so many ways grown much deeper in knowledge and care for this community and its needs, but it was my involvement in various community projects under the guardianship of that organization that initially served as the launching pad for the rest of the process.

I also smile to think of a number of friends who have come and gone through that organization, leaving their mark on Haiti and my heart. So many fantastic and lovely volunteers from so many countries and backgrounds came through GVN over the course of my first three months in Haiti. It was an inspiration and blessing to have the opportunity to get to know them and to learn from their generosity, talents and stories. My experience as a volunteer alongside these people opened up my heart to this beautiful country and gave me opportunities to learn and to become a part of the community here.

Though my experience with the organization wasn't perfect-- nothing ever is-- it opened doors that have allowed me to continue to be a part of work that is being done here, and that is something for which I am incredibly grateful and that I would not have given up for the world.

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In the one month following my time with GVN (December), Cholera hit Jacmel in full force and I was consumed with the emergency launch of the Jacmel Cholera initiative with Junior and Ashley-- to which many of you responded with incredible generosity. Following a brief trip home for Christmas, I returned to Haiti on January 1st and I have since been working for an organization called The Haiti Initiative (THI), Social Tap in Cyvadier, just outside the main city of Jacmel.

Stay tuned for updates on my more recent work and experiences of this truly amazing place...