Earthquake Update, February 14, 2010
In memory of:
Nadia Raymond taught the morning kindergarten class and the afternoon class with the street kids. She is seen here as Santa Claus.
Shella Louis taught the kindergarten class in the morning and first grade in the afternoon.
These were dedicated teachers who strived to educate and empower their communities youth despite sometimes having to forgo what little pay they did receive. All of SOPUDEP's staff deserve our utmost respect and support!
We are deeply sorry for all the loss Haiti has endured!
We thank you for all your support to this point! Réa has been able to pay off her food credit and continues to expand SOPUDEP's aid distribution program. To date she has spent $17,300. In a months time they have rationed out 320 sacks of rice, 348 sacks of peas, caseloads of spaghetti and cooking oil out to many many people. They have sent over 25 people out to stay with family in the countryside and have distributed 20 25'x 10' tarps out to camps. Because Réa received money to buy a pick-up truck from some generous donors in California, they have broadened their reach to include the community of Carrefour. Being mobile will make their work all the more effective! They have done this on their own with very little supply contributions from the "big guys"!
There is pressure for the school to get up and running again. There are a number of problems standing in the way of this request. Among the biggest is the condition of their building and that not many people reside in that area anymore. With the help from individuals and groups over here, we are working as quickly as possible to get things moving for SOPUDEP again by utilizing their new property which resides in a populated area.
Réa has expressed, is that in order for the teachers to be able to go back to work they would most likely need (at the very least) temporary shelter. Many of the staff are sleeping in cars or on the street. We are asking the Interior Architecture group at Ryerson University in Toronto to see if they can also incorporate temporary shelter design in addition to the temporary classrooms for SOPUDEP's new property. We are also looking into getting French or Creole speaking psycologists to go out to help council SOPUDEP's students, their families and the staff.
At the same time, in preparation for the day when the staff can resume their teaching, we are resuming the search for North American teachers unions to partner up with SOPUDEP, to provide financial support for their comrades.
The work list gets longer and longer as the weeks go by. Now that the dust has settled we are just beginning to see the scope of work that needs to be done just to get to the point they were at before this tragedy. Hopefully over time, we might be able to bypass that old reality and help them create a new and better one that includes a country made for all Haitians and not just a select few.
I know I drill you every time I release an update, but I can't express the urgency of the situation. I remind you that this is a long term operation that can't be forgotten about. This is just the beginning! You will make all the difference to the effectiveness of SOPUDEP's reach into their community and its country.
Ryan Sawatzky