Haiti Trip - February 2013 - Economic Development

TRAVEL - The roads are becoming increasingly clogged with more vehicles and motorcycles, increasing the number of accidents.  In addition minor social disturbances are played out on the roadways by blocking traffic with manifestations, burning tires, etc.  The next group may want to consider traveling by air or at night.  We were taken to the airport by Jean Louis who lives in PAP and has a mini-van that would seat  six or seven people.  He drives and translates into English and charges $150/day for his vehicle, gas and translation services.  Tel (509) 3869-1164 or 4453-0802.

COMPUTER TRAINING - Our first day in Cavaillon was devoted to a computer training using the six computers provided us by Denny Baumann.  The trainers were Mario Calixte and his colleague, Fabrice; both of whom graduated from Virginia Tech with a Master’s in IT.  The training was held in the computer lab in the Cavaillon parish secondary school, Notre Dame.  We brought a router, scanner and camera to be used by all the school directors and KAMAK.  About twenty persons attended the morning and afternoon sessions and they all expressed the desire to have follow-up training using one of the local IT teachers. 

•   We recommend that the St. Charles committee appropriate $200 per month for the next six months so that our school directors and KAMAK are able to communicate with us regularly, send photos, and begin to use the computer in the administration of their schools.

KAMAK AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVE -

Administration - KAMAK has leased an office in Martino where the tractor is housed in a shed, and a three-room administrative building offering storage space for the nutrition program, limited storage for grain crops, and a meeting space.  When we visited the first time, cassava cakes that are distributed each Wednesday covered a large table where women bakers from the immediate area had stacked and covered them in anticipation of the next delivery.  We met with the Executive Committee to hear reports on their programs and requests for assistance in different areas. 

Separate accounts are maintained by KAMAK for each project.  The committee has already seen the impressive accounting for the nutrition program and we have requested an accounting of all the separate projects.

Office and telecommunication equipment is needed and will be detailed in a list of requests coming to St. Charles in a couple of weeks following the Kellogg Foundation’s visit to KAMAK the week immediately following ours.

Installation of solar panels on our remote schools will be studied by KAMAK to determine the feasibility of selling cell phone recharging to area residents to generate income for the schools.

Meeting with local planters brought forward a request for an agricultural bank. An agricultural bank is the major need of local planters.  Whereas micro-credit loans are repaid monthly, farmers need loans of three to six months, the time from initial costs associated with preparing the land and planting, to harvesting and sale of produce.  As much as $60,000 US may be needed to start a farmers‘ bank. 

•    We will research the international aid community to see if anyone has funding for such a bank.
•   A Bercy area cooperative - which was started in the 1990s is a member group of KAMAK and they requested that St. Charles help fund a replacement motor for their grain mill. 
•    We suggested that St. Charles could perhaps fund a part of the cost with the community borrowing the rest, to be paid back from proceeds of user fees.  We will also share this request with St. Thomas a-Beckett, along with a request to fund a nutrition program at the school. 
•   The local cooperative can be expected to contribute to the nutrition program as well as producing local crops that would be used.  Bercy has over  800 carreaux of land, of which 400 is irrigated. 

Cassaverie at Nan Kanpech - A new well and pump have been installed on the land purchased by KAMAK using St. Charles funds.  The Kellogg Foundation participation in this project is pending their visit the week following ours.  St. Charles has send to KAMAK a total of $10,000 US for this project.  We had originally intended to contribute an additional $3,500 US, but will withhold further action after we know what Kellogg offers.  KAMAK will perhaps use COFECA (women’s coop) or the LAMBI Fund as a pass-through for Kellogg funds, since Kellogg cannot fund a cooperative directly. 

•   We have suggested that the original proposal to fund the Nan Kanpech cassaverie be expanded to include a new motor at Roche Delmas. 

Cassaverie at Roche Delmas - We visited the cassaverie which is a solid masonry building housing the shredder that is powered by a motor, three screw presses to extract liquid from the pulp, and two grilling plates for baking cassava cakes.  Next we went to the Atelier of Camp Perrin where cassava equipment is manufactured.  We got bid proposals for both a motor for Roche Delmas, and a complete cassaverie at Nan Kanpech.  Jean Marc Louizaire of RECOCAS suggested that we consider a water-cooled motor (Lister) rather than the air-cooled motor, because less maintenance is required and the costs are similar.

Roche Delmas planters would also like to have a grain mill.  We explored using the same motor to power both a grain mill and the cassava shredder.  Again Jean Marc Louizaire, using his experience as participant in the milling cooperative in his home community of Maniche, advised against housing cassave operations in the same space as milling machines, because the dust from grain milling penetrates the cassava cakes, and turns away some buyers.  KAMAK will study these recommendations and make proposals to St. Charles and the Kellogg Foundation.

Animal Program - We held a meeting with about twenty people at Roche Delmas to explain the goat and chicken project to the future recipients of the funds we raised at the alternative gift fair.  Myriame and Joachim Emmanuel, another KAMAK board member and agronomist with experience working for Heifer International, described the project to the participants.  The farmers were obviously enthusiastic and appreciate the professional advice and assistance that KAMAK provides.  Funds are in hand and the animals will be bought in early March.  In future years we hope to create a new program in another of our communities where we have a school and a KAMAK group.

Nutrition Program - All of us saw the storage of food at KAMAK, transportation, cooking, and serving of food at the schools.  Bulk purchases and local food producers are used when possible.  Unfortunately the costs vary widely from week to week and KAMAK may have to purchase additional storage bins to be able to buy when prices are low, and then stock those foodstuffs.  Another problem is the continued subsidy of US rice farmers that results in locally produced rice being twice as costly as imported rice.  We encouraged KAMAK to substitute other locally grown crops for rice as much as possible.

•   The schools, teachers, and parents are very appreciative of the food but there is not yet a contribution of parents at all schools.  In addition more effort has to be made to promote the development of school gardens and student participation. School gardens may be a way to get more vegetables into the nutrition program.  Meals currently are rice and beans, rice and peas, or dumplings and peas or beans.  This is filling and nutritious, but more fruit and vegetables are needed.
•   We could hire one of our teachers or directors to develop a curriculum module on agriculture, including student  participation in gardening, for use in the primary grades. 
•   Another idea is to link our funding to the requirement that a school garden be maintained at each school.
•    There is ample land around each school that could be rented, if not purchased or already owned by the parish.
•   At Boileau we need to coordinate with the Texas twinning group that has had an agricultural project in place for several years.  They also have just initiated a chicken and egg producing project that may serve as a model for other schools.
•   The school directors continue to ask that cooks be paid by KAMAK but we told them that KAMAK is the food purveyor and that it is the responsibility of the schools to cook the food, using parent volunteers if possible, or contributions from parents, in kind or in cash.    

Tractor and Pump - The tractor is housed at the KAMAK office in Martino along with the rotovator and corn planter.  The three-blade moldboard plow is mounted on a bar and one of the blades was twisted.  Several attempts to find a replacement have proven futile to date, and KAMAK leaders continue to search for a solution.  Use of the tractor is essential as it will return revenues when rented, that KAMAK needs to finance the school at Carrefour Citron and other activities.

A diesel pump supplied by World Concern appears to be second-hand and now does not work.

•   Soul of Haiti has a tractor and plow on its farm in Christine Valley and KAMAK will ask if a similar plow can be imported by SOH in their next shipment.
•   We asked KAMAK to inform CRS of the problem with the plow and to ask for their help in finding a solution.
•   We visited with World Concern and the pump will be returned.

Soul of Haiti (SOH) - Damien Meaney met briefly with Richard and Father Lampy to describe his organization and activities.  SOH has a great “patron saint” in the person of Denis O’Brien, the owner of DIGICEL (one of two mobile phone operators in Haiti).  He is an Irish billionaire and a board member of SOH, an Irish non-profit.  Mr. O’Brien has build 85 schools in Haiti and has 32 more under construction; one in Cavaillon (College Nouvelle Vision) that was founded by young people in town.  We donated one of the computers that we took with us to the College because the Secretary of KAMAK is Markenley Rosier who is on the board of the College.  We asked that the computer be available for both KAMAK and the College.  Damien Meaney was instrumental in getting the funding for the school and he promises to continue working with KAMAK and other local groups.

Projects already begun by SOH in Haiti include:

•   Support for an orphanage on Ile a Vache.
•   Farms on Ile a Vache and in the Christine Valley, Cavaillon
•   Creation of a fishing cooperative in Abacou, supplying freezers that preserve fish and therefore give the fishermen a product to sell when the markets are open.

Projects under discussion include:

•   Greenhouses in Cavaillon managed by KAMAK and other coops.
•   Windmills for power generation in remote locations.  The first would be close to the cell towers of  DIGICEL and NATCOM, that presently have to use generators.
•   Assistance to entrepreneurs
•   Agricultural education to young school children living close to their model farms.  Father Lampy said he would help in recruiting children for visits to the farm in Cavaillon.  Myriame will also help with recruiting children, etc.

RECOCAS - We meet with Jean Marc Louizaire, President of this regional coffee cooperative that has eleven member groups; one being KAMAK, representing their growers in the Carrefour Citron community.

Trip report - Haiti, February 16, 24, 2013 Education (Caroline)

Angela Klosek, Elise Cleva and I spent most of our time in Haiti dealing with educational issues. We visited 5 schools sponsored by Saint Charles, as well as Bercy, sponsored by St Thomas a Becket in Reston.

Five of the six schools (Mission, Flamands, Sudre, Berrette and Roche Delmas, are located in extremely remote locations, accessible by rocky roads where the access depends on the season. Many children walk hours to get to school. On the first day we visited schools, there were lots of children absent from Mission and Berrette: some of the roads had been covered in mud because of the previous night's rains.

In general, we were impressed by the schools, which manage to educate children under very modest conditions, but have pretty good state results. Teachers speak good French for the most part. At the high school level, subjects such as English, Spanish, Latin, physics and chemistry, philosophy, history and geography are taught. Students are placed in classes that reflect their level of education, not their age, so we saw classes of Kindergarten which had children age 5 to 10, and classes of 5th graders with children age 11 to 18. Students take state exams at the end of the 6th grade and of the 9th grade (if they succeed, they can go to the lycee, and then on to university if the parents have the means to do so.) We were disappointed by the influence of French education (as done in the early 20th century) on today’s schools. Teachers emphasize perfection rather than creativity, and we found most students extremely shy and unwilling to talk to us in either French or English, for fear of making mistakes, we assume. We talked to directors and to Fr. Lampy about our Godparents’ program. They confirmed that students are accepted as Godchildren because they are poorer than most, either orphans, children in large families, or with extremely poor parents. They also confirmed that they stretch the money we send as widely as possible, so that it helps more than the sponsored children. Finally, they said that if they can’t make ends meet, teachers do not get paid, or get paid whenever money comes.

The requests for supplies to be sent in the Twinning Program container in April 2013 are shoes, backpacks, bolts of fabric for school uniforms, pens,

pencils, crayons, chalk, small individual blackboards, French and creole textbooks (we mentioned it might be difficult to find those, but we will try to contact the French Embassy or Alliance francaise in PAP).

Here is a resume of our visit to each school.

1- Berrette - A large school, run by Charlemagne Damis. We visited and were welcomed by children from Pre K 3 to AF 9 (Age 3 to Grade 9). All classes stood up and welcomed "Visiteurs etrangers". Some of them sang lovely welcome songs to us. Classes were in session, children studying grammar, in French and creole, or mathematics, mostly. In the small grades, mostly singing and repeating in choir, or hands-on activities such as coloring or writing on small blackboards. The older students spoke to us in French, but little. They seem to have a better control of written French. We visited the kitchen and saw the food supplies brought by Kamak. Lunch was served early (around 10:30) as teachers had told Charlemagne that they had witnessed children falling asleep in school for lack of food in the morning after their long walk. Because the PreK sessions only go to 12pm, most kids bring in snacks in their backpacks. If they aren't able to do so, teachers provide a "collation" or snack for them. All children get treated the same whether they can afford a snack or not. Snacks look like cookies, cereals, or dried fruit, in small packages.

Two of the classes (3rd and 4th graders) meet in the church, as there is no room for them in the school. Classes are moved around the church, depending

on the weather, because there is a big hole on two sides of the roof of the church, which makes mass difficult to hold on rainy day, and of course also affects the school days.

We had asked the Bishop of Arlington to give us some money to repair the roof in the Berrette church. He had told us the money collected in the Arlington parishes had been distributed through CRS.

WE PLAN TO VISIT CRS IN BALTIMORE, AS WELL AS THE CCBC, TO ASK WHY NONE OF THE MONEY RAISED IN THE CHURCH COLLECTIONS HAs BEEN DISTRIBUTED TO THE VICTIMS OF SANDY IN THE DIOCESE OF LES CAYES, AS CONFIRMED BY OUR VISIT WITH THE BISHOP OF LES CAYES.

We met with Charlemagne at the end of the school day. He told us about the requests from cooks that they be paid money from Kamak funds. Charlemagne asks the students to bring a small contribution (5 gourdes) per day for food, but he says that most students do not pay. This money was supposed to be used to pay the cooks and buy spices to add to the prepared supplies. (see Richard's report on Kamak).

We suggested that parents be asked to contribute either their work (cooking) or supplies themselves if they can't pay. Charlemagne was pretty negative about this suggestion, saying that most parents wouldn't. Students have to pay 450 gourdes (about $10) for exams after the 6th and the 9th grade, which is a strain for many.

He also thanked us for our Godparents’ contributions, but said that he needs more money to run the school. We assured him that we were sending ALL the money we were able to collect.

We talked about students' prospects after school. Berrette's successful 9th graders go to Immaculee Conception in Cavaillon (Father Lampy’s school). The others return home, work on gardens, but most do not find any meaningful or paid activities.

We asked about the CRS report which mentioned the fact that the Haitian Government paid schools fees ($90) for elementary schools. Charlemagne told us that his school receives nothing from the government, and he said no one can explain who receives subsidies and who doesn't.

We plan to visit the Haitian embassy to follow through on this problem, to see if there is anything any of our schools can do to receive the subsidy. Charlemagne was in the process of preparing the dossiers for this year, which he delivered to us in Cavaillon before we left the following Saturday. He gave us a USB key with pictures, which Angela promptly emailed to the "Facebook" page which she had created for us.

Mission

Mission is a Prek-4 school, even more remote than Berrette, in a rural area with few open spaces, mostly ragged woods. The director, Mr. Pierre Estinvil, and his wife, a second grade teacher, welcomed us. We visited the school, a four-room cinder-block building built by Build-On. Two of the six classes meet in the modest church, and the director's desk sits in the middle of the church during school days. Mr. Estinvil thanked the St Charles Godparents profusely for the help provided, and gave us the dossiers prepared for this year's Godchildren. He was in the process of taking pictures, and those were completed by Angela and her Haitian helper/ driver Jean Michel, when they visited Mission again on Friday. The children sang for us, told us about their prayers for us and all the Godparents. Some of the rooms were decorated with crepe paper, and some handmade posters. Students were learning, like in Berrette, grammar, math and some science, in both French and Creole. Most students in the Annees fondamentales (grade school) understood our French, as obvious by their reaction to our presentation, but didn’t speak much.

We were impressed by the professionalism of Mr. Estinvil and the positive atmosphere of the school and of the teaching staff. Mr. Estinvil thanked the St Charles community for the lunch program which has made a big difference in the children’s lives. We thanked him for last year’s work on the dossiers, which were complete and well organized.

Flamands

Flamands is a small fishing village at the end of a cove on the Caribbean sea, about 45 minutes from Cavaillon, on a dirt road, with no road maintenance. Many teachers come from Cavaillon or Les Cayes, as do the directors of the school, Antonine and Ronald Junius. We met with the directors, and with the new parish priest Pere Rozenka Leclerc. We thanked them for their work on our behalf, as last year’s dossiers were very well organized and complete. Fr. Leclerc is a personable priest, very open, who lives in a modest house in the village (his assistant lives in a tent in a wooden porch). The school is a modest but well-kept cinderblock building, the church next to it houses a couple of classes, and the clinic, built by Saint Charles, is also in the compound. Fr. Leclerc has been at Flamands for a month (his first parish) so he has a steep learning curve. We visited the school, the clinic, and had a meeting with the school directors and the pastor. The children were very lively, greeting us with “Bonjour, chers visiteurs” and with songs. The school has classes from level Pre-K to grade 6, and had a 100% success rate in the state exam in the 6th grade. Again, classes are mixed in age, because children are accepted where they are. During our meeting with Fr. Leclerc and Antonine, Angela entertained the children with “head, shoulder, knees and toes” which delighted them. Antonine talked to us about a Mormon school, which opened recently in the community, and pays families to send their children there. So there has been a diminution of enrollment at Flamands. Fr. Lampy confirmed that this was an attempt by the Mormon Church at evangelization, but at least children are educated.

Antonine and Ronald have the same accounting problems as other schools as few parents pay the full school fees, and few pay the 5 gourdes necessary for school lunch, so they have issues paying the cooks and buying spices. However, before we left for Miami, Ronald brought us a bag of local seafood, to thank the committee and the godparents for their help. They also gave us all the dossiers and pictures which Angela added to the Facebook page.

We discussed with Fr. Leclerc Saint Charles’ relationship with Flamands, and the possibility of a transition with the Saint Joseph parish in New York. We assured them that we wouldn’t abandon them until a solution is found with Saint Joseph or another sponsoring parish. We also discussed the help they received from NOVA, which held a day clinic at the clinic building in January 2013, for which they were very grateful.

Boileau 

Boileau is a “suburb” of Cavaillon, so travel that day was very easy. By the other schools standards, Boileau is wealthy. It is a large school, with students from Prek 3 to 10th grade. They intend to extend the school to Philo, which is Senior year in High School. The parish church looks brand new, it is not completely finished but seems in good shape. The parish priest house is also very fancy by Haitian standards, as is the clinic, which is sponsored by NOVA.(Nova’s medical staff held a week’s clinic in January 2013, and spent a day in the Flamands clinic as well. The Boileau clinic is run by permanent staff, every day during the week, except Wednesday (the day of our visit), so we didn’t see it in action, but Father Ingrid gave us a tour of the building. The parish and the school are also helped by St Philip of Texas, which gives funds and advice for gardens and animal programs.

Fr Ingrid is the new priest (since July). We told him and the school principal that we were disappointed by the few dossiers who had received last year from Boileau, as their school received the most support from us. He told us that it took him a while to get acquainted with the work, and promised to do better this year. He did deliver all the dossiers before we left, but pictures didn’t arrive in a correct format and we asked Jean Michel to send them to us, using the system devised by Angela.

Fr.Ingrid asked us to give more money, more supplies, a sound system, a basketball court. He told us he had the same money issues as the other schools, but bigger because he has a bigger school. Unfortunately, his plan to extend the school to include the two upper grades of high school will

make his problems bigger, because those levels are more expensive. Fr. Lampy told him that he should send his upper level students to his high school, Notre Dame,in Cavaillon in order to limit the costs.

We found the school to be well organized, but students were less engaging, and the relationship between them and the principal didn’t seem as warm.

We saw the nutrition program, supplies, the kitchen, children eating their lunch: the older children went to the kitchen to receive their plate and ate in a common room, the younger children were fed in their classrooms. Again, only children in Annees fondamentales receive a lunch plate. Younger children either bring a snack or are given one in mid-morning, as well as a drink, water or juice.

During a luncheon discussion with Fr. Ingrid, he mentioned that all sponsored students and their family had to attend mass, if not they would lose their scholarship. I asked them if all of them were Catholics, and he said they were not.

Sudre

The Sudre school and parish are located in a mountain area north of Cavaillon. The road is treacherous, especially since it is also curvy. The school has students from Pre-k to grade 9, but the new priest, Pere Innocent (new since January 2013) told us they plan to add the three upper levels soon.

The whole school gathered outside to greet us, then we went into each classroom. Classrooms varied from very full for the lowest grades (Pre-k) and the highest grades, but the elementary grades had very few students (4 or 5). I asked the principal and Fr. Innocent for a reason, and they told me that a public school had opened across the street, and that some students had left for schools closer to their house. They couldn’t give us exact numbers, but we heard that out of the 75 students that Saint Charles had sponsored, only 27 were left in school this year.

The upper levels, which are housed in a different building about 5 blocks away from the church and the elementary school, were very personable classes, students responded with ease, volunteered explanations, even joked with us. They spoke good French, some English, some Spanish, and studied Latin. Some of the students told us of their ambitions (becoming doctors, nurses, president...) One of the students asked us if we could help the school more so that teachers could be paid more regularly!

We met with Fr. Innocent to talk about the future of our relationship with Sudre. Fr Lampy and the Bishop of Les Cayes had confirmed that Sudre has remained in the Les Cayes diocese (having switched with a parish now led by Fr. Volcy which is in the Nippes diocese). We told Father Innocent we would discuss the issue with Fr. Tuck, and with the committee, and ask that we ease the transition until a new sponsoring parish could be found.

But we raised the question of why they wanted to add to their cost by adding high school classes, which are most costly. We didn’t receive an answer. We also asked them to find out what happened to all students who dropped out of the school, and they told us they would try.

Bercy

The Bercy and Roche Delmas schools are situated in small but spread out villages on the Western side of the Cavaillon river. To access them, we went along a canal built by Americans during their occupation of Haiti in the early 20th century. The canal is still in use, and the agriculture in that area seems much better than in other places we saw earlier.

Bercy is a school sponsored by Thomas a Becket in Reston. We first saw the church, where the Pre-K students were in class, 45 students in a group. With three teachers, they were happily singing and dancing when we got there, and greeted us with wide smiles. There was a new pump installed next to the church, for use by the community, but the roof of the church suffered damaged during Sandy and needs repair. The school, a mile or so down the road, was built by a Canadian organization, and is a 4 room cinderblock building. Workers are now in the process of adding 3 more rooms which should house the Pre-K children when they are finished.(We brought cement bought by Fr. Lampy for that purpose). We visited each room, briefly talked to the children, (1er AF to 3th AF).The 1st and 2nd grade classes were packed with over 30 students. The 3rd graders sang to us a lovely welcome song. I was sad that my camera wasn’t charged, so I wasn’t able to document that day in Bercy nor Roche-Delmas, with pictures.

We saw the kitchen staff preparing lunch outside (rice and beans). We didn’t see the children eat as we left early for Roche-Delmas. During recreation (break) children went outside to relieve themselves, as there are no toilets. Fr. Lampy told the principal to make sure children moved away from the building into the bushes, to avoid creating more unsanitary conditions. Mme Porfil, the principal, gave us the dossiers for the sponsored children, to deliver to Thomas-a-Becket, and told us that they would need shoes, backpacks, and supplies like chalk and crayons especially if the Twinning Program container came in the summer as it did last year.

Roche Delmas

Roche Delmas is located in a larger village, closer to Cavaillon, but with difficult access. The school teaches PreK to 4 AF. Two classes (3rd and 4th) are held in the church, as is Ms. Gerlie, the principal’s office. Others in a Build-On cinder-block building – modest, but very solid and well maintained. There are outside toilets for use of students and faculty. Students were very welcoming, sang and told us of their thanks, prayers and welcome to us, the visitors.“Merci,chers visiteurs”. We assured them of our prayers and thoughts, and told them that their best thanks would be prayers for us, and hard work in school.

I met with Ms Gerlie and her assistant director (her father) about the needs of the school. She gave me the dossiers that they had prepared, for the current students, and many more for possible students sponsorship. She confirmed their needs for the students: shoes, backpacks, chalk, crayons. Ms. Gerlie is a very personable and efficient director, as shown by the dossiers she prepared and our welcome. As we left, she told me that sponsored students had brought some fruit from home, to give the Godparents’ representatives, as a Thank you! I asked her to thank them for us, and assumed that the fruit would be left at the school to feed the children. But when I saw the kids loading the fruit in the back of the truck, I was amazed... Father Lampy told me that we needed to accept them. They would be put to good use in the rectory. Again, we were awed by the generosity of the people we met, even with their very limited means. A Haitian proverb says “when dinner is ready, all are welcome” (Quand la nourriture est prête, tout le monde est le bienvenu”. Our hosts showed us the truth of that statement during our whole week in Haiti.

After a busy week visiting all schools, we are very convinced that our mission is helpful. Children are educated and fed; our Godparents’ donations go where they do a lot of good. We still have questions about the future of many of the young people who leave our programs: We alone cannot change the culture of Haiti, so we, as a committee, need to decide if we want to continue our mission as is, or if we want to go in a different direction. We have already started, by using Kamak, to empower many people to raise their own standard of living. We will continue to demand accountability from those who receive our funds, but in no instance did we get the impression that funds were misappropriated.

During our week in Cavaillon, we stopped by Immaculee Conception School, a very modest school close to the rectory. Here students are taught in two sessions, morning or afternoon. Most of the afternoon students are Restaveks, which means they are children abandoned by their families, who are placed in service with others. They pay no tuition. Fr. Lampy uses some of the money he gets from running the grain mill to pay for the school. The grain mill which had been broken has now been fixed. Angela, Richard and Elise saw it in action. It is used by the whole Cavaillon community. Fr. Lampy had it fixed, with school funds and the money we had sent from our fall fundraiser. We asked why that school, which seems poor, isn’t sponsored. He told us that 20 of the Restavek students receive help from a SOS organization. Could we consider helping him out if we find other sponsors for Flamands, Sudre, or Boileau?

We also asked Fr. Lampy during some of our discussions why the Boileau school received more than its share of our donations, and he told me that was because it had been set up that way before he arrived. He told me he would change it, so schools received a monthly amount proportional to the number of their sponsored students. He sent me an email yesterday, where he told me how he had divided the money for February 2013. (We had sent $7,000, so he shared $6975, including a fee of $25 for Fonkoze) (Inequalities are due to the amounts already received from September 2012 to February 2013)

             Funds                            # Sponsored children (2011-12)
                                       We don’t yet have final totals for 2012-13

Boileau $1500            21.5%                     28%
Flamands $1500           21.5%                     24%
Sudre $500               7%                        11%
Berrette $1500           21.5%                     24%
Mission $975             14%                       6%
Roche Delmas $1000       14.5%                     7%
Total $6975              100%                      100%

Friday, Feb. 24, 2012 - Flamand -- Port-Au-Prince

Flamand School

Upon arriving at Flamand school we found many students absent, but teachers hard at work with their classes, two of which are held in the chapel.  Rumors that the President had announced holidays for both Thursday and Friday following closings the first three days of the week had resulted in poor attendance at all schools.

Antonine Jinius, director of Flamand, was not at our meeting Wednesday, nor at the school on Friday, but she showed up at the rectory upon our return.  Myriame also came by and the two sat down to discuss the possibility of local parents running the nutrition program in Flamand.  I have since heard that Myriame visited Flamand a couple of days later.

Flamand Clinic

The two government-paid nurses arrived at the clinic during our visit.  They complained that the lack of funding meant that the refrigerator had no gas.  There is no electricity in Flamand.  The nurses arrived on their motorbike (from Les Cayes) and  they had brought vaccines for babies in a cooler.  We saw the inoculation records they have maintained over the years on the children of the community.  As we drove away, women with babies in their arms were arriving.  This is a close-knit community, but a poor one; largely due to poor soil and the decline in fish stock due to over-fishing.  We were told that the fishermen were using nets with smaller openings in order to return home with something at the end of the day.  The result is depletion of the fish stock.  The dugout canoes and hand-made larger boats of Flamand cannot go far enough off-shore to sustain the fishing industry.

Immaculate Conception School

Before leaving for Port-au-Prince, we climbed up the hill to see the IC School that Fr. Lampy built after two floods of the town center prompted him to seek higher ground.  We had seen the new classrooms in the old IC compound earlier in the week when we visited the mill that is housed in the same courtyard.  We assumed that they were one part of the IC school with the rest on top of the hill beside the secondary school. 

When we got to the secondary school the only new construction was a cell phone tower...that we hope is providing income to the parish!  Father Lampy then told us that the replacement for IC was in fact the new classrooms in the old compound in the center of town. 

In June of 2010 we sent $31,500 to Fr. Lampy, of which $10,000 was for the rebuilding of IC up on the hill, $10,000 for KAMAK’s move to Berrette, $5,000 for solar panels on all the schools, $5,500 to replace the motor at the mill, and $1,000 for a micro-credit project for teenage mothers.  Fr. Lampy wrote us on Feb. 9, 2011 that he had used all the money for the rebuilding of the school, except for the $1,000 for the micro-credit project.  He asked for our understanding and continued support of his priorities.

Thursday, Feb. 22, 2012 - Les Cayes & Cavaillon

Chris and Henry were again with Father Dutel in Gros Marin, and they visited the parish school in Tete Source.  Peguy had arranged for a friend, Julio Forges, who speaks English, to spend all week with Chris and Henry.  He stayed with them at Gros Marin and was an excellent translator and companion for us all.

RECOCAS

Just on the outskirts of Cavaillon on the way to Les Cayes, a regional coffee cooperative organization is finishing a processing plant.  It is under roof and the mechanical equipment that will be used for the final washing and grading was in the building awaiting installation.  The mission is to reinvigorate coffee growers in the south by encouraging them to create cooperatives in their localities where the first steps in preparing the beans can take place.  Those beans will then be brought down from the mountains to this facility for final processing and shipment out of the country.  RECOCAS is looking for assistance in developing an international marketing strategy and program.  KAMAK is one of the eleven cooperatives making up the membership of RECOCAS.

COFIDES

We met with the administrative officers and workers of this economic cooperative that functions much like a credit union.  They have an office in Les Cayes and two others in other jurisdictions of the Southern Region.  They now have members in Cavaillon and three other jurisdictions.  Although this is a non-profit and the officers are volunteers, there is a paid director and commercial employees, yet their members are small business men and women who would not be big enough to borrow from the banks. The average loan is for three to five months at 2% interest on the outstanding capital.  Peguy’s brother, Paul Ju1010my Jacques is the legal council, as he is for KAMAK.  He is a volunteer on the COFIDES board.  KAMAK’s interest in working with COFIDES is to assist its members in procuring loans when needed.

WORLD CONCERN

Tractors for Haiti, a non-profit created by Roger Oakland of Ames, Iowa, has Chinese-built farm equipment available at very low costs at several locations in Haiti, including World Concern in Les Cayes.  We had included a tractor, plows, water pump, etc. in the CRS matching grant project that was successfully funded.  Our next stop in Les Cayes was, therefore, at World Concern, a Haitian non-profit that has an “American University” in the city and a farm station in nearby Torbuk.  World Concern Director, Pierre Duclona showed us three tractors that they had available.  Bob, who is a developer with experience in machinery, and Pat, who was raised on a farm, recommended that we purchase the larger of two sizes, a 35 HP tractor.  Although the CRS share of the matching grant was not available at that time, Pierre Duclona suggested we call Roger in Iowa and see if he would accept payment in two installments. 

We left Les Cayes for the agricultural station out of town to see where KAMAK’s equipment operators would be trained.  During that time I called Roger, who worked out an agreement for two payments.  We were very pleased in as much as the rainy season was due to begin and the best time to plow is February and March.  KAMAK is wiring $7,000 to Iowa this week with the rest to be paid upon release of the CRS match.  The larger tractor cost $13,600 rather than the $6,200 of the smaller one, but it has a front-end loader that Tractors for Haiti couldn’t sell separately.  We want to help KAMAK pay the difference and will advocate to St. Charles and others for the additional funds.

BUILD ON

On the outskirts of Les Cayes BUILD ON has its headquarters.  John Marek is the Country Director and he is assisted by Clerge Garry, a building engineer and school friend of Peguy.  KAMAK has assisted BUILD ON by doing community development with three communities in Cavaillon.  Three schools have been built or added to, including Citron (that we visited Tuesday), Roche Delmas, and Tete Source.  Berard is another community in Cavaillon that will probably participate in the program.  John says their mission is simply to find the “best communities with the worst schools.”  BUILD ON was founded and led by a retired GE executive who has brought on board celebrities such as Madonna and Justin Bieber.  There is plenty of money and the organization has projects around the world.  Each school costs about $20,000 for materials and a total of $32,000 if BUILD ON’s program costs are included.   At this time they only do schools and a follow-up alphabetization program for the parents.   It is a three-part program that does basic literacy for three months, followed by specialized training as requested by the parents.  Myriame and Peguy hope to include training for the coffee growers at Citron who will participate in the RECOCAS program.

Luncheon to thank Myriame and Peguy for their leadership

We invited Myriame, Peguy and his wife, and the Director of COFIDES to a nice hotel in Les Cayes for lunch.  The owner is the “Délégé de L’Executif”, or regional head of the Haitian government.  He stopped by and welcomed us to Les Cayes at the request of Peguy and Myriame.  This lunch in a beautiful garden of a luxury hotel showed us how the bourgeois live behind high walls in a world similar to the one we enjoy in Arlington.

Martino - Meeting with KAMAK Executive Committee

After a few days running from meeting to meeting with Peguy and Myriame, we ended up our visit to KAMAK and its partners by sitting down with the steering committee in an office shared with another organization, just north of Cavaillon in Martino.  We reviewed the projects that KAMAK has going, its alliances, and its aspirations.  One interesting product that KAMAK owns is 1/2 Cx of vétiver, an essential oils plant whose roots are used for making perfume and a high-grade aviation oil.  It is also an excellent plant for soil erosion control.  At Berette, KAMAK has over three Cx of land, most of which was made available by Fr. Lampy.  1/4 Cx of land was rented at Martino where the seedlings are growing for planting later at Berette.  Unfortunately, there is ample land to buy or sell as many families no longer use the land.

KAMAK has plans to generate the money it needs to finance its activities.  For example, if the use of the tractor is as profitable as planned, there will be enough revenue to pay the operator, upkeep, and replacement costs.  The goat program should be self-supporting and the vétiver production is an example of a profitable crop. 

We have requested from KAMAK a financial report and summary activities report, similar to the one we received in April of 2011. (see appendix).

The Executive committee is composed of:

Myriame Jean Louis - President - 3498 2250              myriame85@yahoo.fr

Jaques Peguy - Technical Director - 3822 2394          peguy1308@yahoo.fr

Myrlene Jacques - Member - 3651 8528                    myrlene15@yahoo.fr

Girodier Willard - Vice President - 3626 8016

Clement Clemilhomme - Oversight Committee Member - 3796 - 6071

Rozier Markenley - General Secretary - 3832 - 4423  bigkennycool@yahoo.fr

Jaccé Elittu - Member - 3664 8341                             jacceelettu@yahoo.fr

Dorsanvil Osnel - Asst. Secretary - 3370 2641

Joachim Emmanuel - Oversight Committee Secretary - 3718 9346  

Wednesday, Feb. 22 - Cavaillon Rectory & Gros Marin School

Meeting with School Directors

Chris and Henry visited all the classes at Gros Marin with Father Dutel, talking with student and teachers while we were in this meeting.  Father Kensy is the director of Boileau as Father Dutel is the director of Gros Marin.

In Cavaillon, Fathers Lampy and Kensy, Charlemagne, and the following directors met with us:

1.    Estinvil Pierre - Mission              Tel 2270 1637

2.    Laureine Porfil - Bercy                     3931 8099

3.    Ronald Jinius - Flamand                   3643 4036

4.    Rezio Alexis - Roche Delmas           3735 9563

5.    Ketia Augustin - Berette                   3720 8605

6.    Father Kinsey - Boileau                    

The Texans, Mike, Alix and Marie, were also with us (Pat, Bob, and Richard).  Marie played an active part in our discussion through her Creole translation. She lived in Port-au-Prince, and went to high school there before coming to the States for college and her career in health care.

We opened the meeting with the observation that funds for the Haiti program were stagnant or declining at St. Charles, St. Anthony and St. Thomas a Becket.  Charlemagne and the priests explained that they faced increased pressure to fund the schools because the parents were less and less able to pay the fees.  Last year was a poor crop year and more students were in need of assistance.  From the Texan group we learned that the number of students at Boileau had increased considerably.

We insisted that we understood the problems, but that today we wanted to hear what they were going to do with increasing demands in the face of declining revenues. 

There was never any real response to this question from any of the directors, Charlemagne, or the priests.

We asked each director about the school nutrition program, and to our surprise and  disappointment, we heard that none of the schools had a nutrition program this school year.  Father Lampy and Charlemagne said that after the teachers were paid there was no money left for feeding the children.  We asked if the children came to school hungry and the answer was yes.  The directors said they had children who arrived hungry and who had their heads on their desks by 10 am. 

Charlemagne explained that they had used commodity foods supplied by CRS during the previous school year(2010-2011), and through September 2011, before it was discontinued.  The lunch programs stopped at that time.  We are not sure if they even started in some schools.  Later Chris and Henry confirmed that there was a limited nutrition program at Gros Marin.  Boileau also had a limited program, but it was funded by both St. Charles and St. Philip (Texas) and so had more money.  We stated that the St. Charles Haiti Committee would be very disappointed to hear this news and would communicate its reaction once a meeting has been held in Arlington.

Next we discussed the possibility of improving the communication between our US parishes and the Cavaillon schools.  We told the directors that we thought that there should be direct communication with each school, that in the future reports should come from the school director, and that even the sending of pictures and letters of the children could easily be done by the internet.

Each director was asked if he/she used the internet, had an email address, and knew how to use a computer.  About half of the directors volunteered that they had email addresses.  We asked if training for all directors could be furnished by Charlemagne.  There was quick agreement to proceed with training and training dates were agreed upon on Sundays after mass. We asked the directors to send us a first email by May 1, 2012. 

When we visited the secondary school on top of the hill behind the rectory we found that the computer room had about twenty computers.  There is an IT teacher who comes to the school to conduct classes for advanced students. The Texas group has funded computers in Boileau that would also be available.  In any event, in each rectory (Cavaillon, Boileau, and Gros Marin) there is internet access and the priests have computers that capture the internet. 

On our last night in Haiti at the Hotel Oloffson, we met an American IT specialist who is helping establish the broadband system in Haiti.  He insisted that the 4G network in Haiti is better and more widespread than in the US.  We saw that Father Dutel had a  laptop in Gros Marin, using a Haitian internet provider called NATCOM.  The American  at Hotel Oloffson told us that NATCOM was a company belonging to the Vietnamese army (!) that had bypassed Viola and Digicel which were already established in Haiti, providing first cell phone and then internet service.

We also asked the directors to tell us what equipment and provider costs they would need to have an internet connection in each school.  In the interim Father Lampy assured them that they could use his equipment.

When we again asked for solutions to meet the increasing cost of schooling, we got no answers.  At that time we suggested that the best course was to increase the income of the parents, and that through economic development such as the projects of KAMAK, we were trying to do just that.  Everyone agreed that raising the standard of living was the best long-term solution.

Kim Lamberty of CRS

In the evening all of us, including the Texans invited Kim Lamberty to dinner in Les Cayes.  Kim is the CRS person responsible for the matching grants program that matched our $10,000 for a tractor, equipment, pump, and miscellaneous expenses for KAMAK.  She told us that their money would be released as soon as Peguy got a couple of remaining documents to them.  The latest word from Peguy upon our return to the States is that he had gathered those documents having to do with their incorporation and accountability and had scheduled a meeting with the Les Cayes CRS office.

Kim is very knowledgeable about Haiti and the Twinning Program because she was the social ministry employee of a parish in Silver Spring for six to eight years.  During that time they developed a coffee cooperative that is a model in that the members get additional benefits such as cash payments at the death of members and assistance with health expenses.  Due to her extensive experience in Haiti, she was hired by CRS when they beefed up their staffs in response to the earthquake.  She has a major role in the upcoming meeting in Washington in early June, at which time the Haitian bishops are coming to participate, express their objectives and requests from the US Catholic church and Twinning Program.  Every Catholic bishop working with Haiti and a layman representative will also be invited.

Next we talked about the fact that our nutrition monies had been spent for education, and that there never seemed to be enough funding from our parishes for their schools.  She said that we needed to sit down with each school and develop a plan for the school to become self-supporting.  There is always some subsidy for private schools in the US that use a combination of parish support, endowments and fund drives.  We need to expect the same of the Haitian schools.

We also discussed the fact that we had very little success in attracting and keeping Haitian-Americans in our group.  She replied that her parish in Maryland had worked for a long period to bring her parish together with one of the Haitian parishes in DC.  Kim lives on Capital Hill and she said she would be happy to meet with our committee in the future.