Vicki in Haiti

My student Jhonny (yes Jh...) loves JFK and expecially loves the quote, "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country".  Well Jhonny, let me tell you...we promise we are going to do for your country!

On November 29, 2011 President Martelly and President Clinton were at the IDB Forum in Port au Prince.  I was fortunate enough to be at the same forum.  During this forum President Martelly announced, "Haiti is open for business."  Indeed it is!  In this picture President Clinton and I had just talked and he was signing some papers so I took the moment to take his picture. (It's kind of hard to take a picture of someone WHILE you are talking to them!) 

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I was also lucky enough to meet Vicente Fox the former President of Mexico. Mexico is supporting the growth of Haiti!  Thank you President Fox!

This is the reason Haiti is working so hard to invite investors-the children.  The kids in this picture are living next to the property where my team is hoping to build 204 houses.  During the site visit the kids were gathered around and I asked another team member (Ricardo) to take our picture.  In Haiti learning English is important.  If we are awarded the 204 house contract from USAID, I'll go to Haiti to teach English.  We plan to teach to build while learning English and.... we know it can be done!  The next picture is of my students who have learned English in less than a year, one hour a day via Skype with me.  These guys have changed my life!

They are the future leaders of Haiti!
 

This is Nadège Robertson Tippenhauer and Hans Tippenhauer. Nadège and I spent several hours chatting about all of the great things that women can do in Haiti. She's a really cool lady all on her own. Executive Director of http://foundationhopeforhaiti.org/ she's devoted to helping the kids of Haiti. She's my kind of woman! Her husband Hans is an advisor to President Martelly. Together they are going to do good things for Haiti and I love their energy and commmitment!

And last but not least, this is Annie getting a hug from President Clinton.  She's the team leader and I'm proud to be on her team!  Together two housewives from America are going to help change Haiti!  Please join us!  Send me an email at vickisvision@gmail.com and offer something... thoughts, suggestions, money, your time.... anything.  I promise that I will be able to use your skills to help Haiti rise from the dust!

Hurricane Irene

As hurricane Irene sets her site on my students in Port au Prince. These are the messages I recieve from my students.  There are an estimated 600,000 people still living in tents, some of them are my students.

Jhonny Lindor listen mom haiti is still in the bad situation don't you know you are our mom in haiti do not leave us alone mom please we need your help haiti mom all i know one day can help my self and others i love you mom

 

 

Please Jesus do something because "HAITI" is still under tents.

Jameson Ostine

Vicki's Vision is shared by Jurate

Thank you Jurate

for the

 wonderful party in

Delmas 33

My First Moments in Haiti - with new my students

There is very little to say, I believe after you watch this movie you will know there are no words that could ever describe how we are feeling.

Newsletters

The following (with a few parts removed)is a news letter from my friend in Haiti.
September 2008

Dear Friends and Supporters of Clean Water for Haiti:

For the first time ever, I went out to our beach this morning and found it littered with tree-sized driftwood. Hurricane Hanna was supposed to be a tropical storm that lightly brushed Haiti's north coast but Monday afternoon it moved south, and it's been hitting the country with rain and wind for the past 36 hours. Here in Pierre Payen we've had 12 inches so far. We drove around the local area early this morning to see some of what happened and both the Montrouis and Pierre Payen rivers went well above flood levels. In Pierre Payen a number of people had the river flowing through their homes and one house I saw had all four walls washed away.

The Montrouis river Tuesday morning.

The Pierre Payen river Tuesday morning.

A local home under water.

Clean Water for Haiti is fine, except for a few broken branches. One of our workers had a boulder smash through the side of his house while he was sleeping, but I'll get to that later. The real tragedy of this storm is probably Gonaives. I say probably because there's no information in the media about Gonaives yet. Word of mouth is that the water went up to 12 levels of blocks, or about 8 feet. Some of you may remember reading about Hurricane Jeanne in September 2004 which flooded Gonaives last time around. Never before in living memory had so much water come into the city. There are three rivers that merge in Gonaives before flowing into the sea, and all three watersheds received torrential rains, combining to wash away over 2900 people and flood the homes of over 100,000 people. Just south of Gonaives there is a lowland depression several kilometers across which was mostly scrub brush and tall cactuses. After the flood, it remained submerged for over a year. Clean Water for Haiti brought in over 3000 filters to Gonaives in the months following the flood which were for the most part well received. Gonaives is a city with no sewer system and every well and every latrine were filled up with floodwater and mud. Thinking of that disaster repeating itself a mere 4 years later makes me feel queasy.

Saint Marc was also flooded but I have not yet seen the damage. There is very little traffic on the national highway today, and the road to Port au Prince has some very muddy places. I don't know if Saint Marc is passable, and Gonaives may only be accessible by large trucks. In 2004 we were able to get there in our Daihatsu truck but my feet were underwater as we drove through the deep parts.

Biosand filters are poorly suited to disaster relief. The best potable water effort after Hurricane Jeanne was up and running in days, by Oxfam if I remember correctly. They had big, diesel powered reverse osmosis filters that provided enough drinking water for the whole city, free. Biosand filters weigh 160 pounds and go in people's homes. They are a development tool, not a disaster relief one. However, it is so hard to know about people suffering without doing something to help. If I can figure out a way to effectively help people in the flood affected zone, we'll do it. If any of you are working in an affected area and are able to coordinate getting filters to those who have no access to drinking water, please contact me. We have about 200 filters ready to go at the moment.

Michel, one of our newer workers, dropped by here this morning and I overheard him saying "Roche tombe su kay la, tet chage. M'pa ka fe anyen, map degage." literally translated, that's "A rock fell on my house. My head is loaded. I can't do anything about it but I'll make do." I asked Michel if I could survey the damage, and we took a look. Well, a rock didn't fall on his house, it was a BOULDER. The house is quite modest - a mud and rock affair perched on a hillside. Michel was dozing on the home's one bed with his child and the boulder rolled down the hill and smashed through the wall of his house, throwing him and the child off the bed. It seems Michel is a master of understatement, something I have solid respect for. Michel also impressed me Tuesday morning by being the only one of Clean Water for Haiti's workers to show up for work - sharp at 6am. I told him we were taking a hurricane break!


Outside Michel’s house – the boulder that hit his house is behind this second one.
The surf became really high yesterday. Our old boat (which now belongs to a friend of ours but is still moored in the same place) became swamped and sank. No waves came over the wall, but they continue to come right up to it.


The old mission boat bobbing in the waves before it went under.


What the water in front of the mission looked like at 10:30 am on Tuesday.

I mentioned about the driftwood - it's remarkable to have driftwood here because any unwanted wood is immediately cut up and processed into charcoal. I suspect that all the driftwood will be claimed within the next few days. As I watched the swollen Montrouis river this morning, large branches and even whole trees went rushing past every few seconds.

Debris on the beach.

Please pray for Haiti as the storm rages on, even if you don't normally do that. There's another storm, Ike, on the way and it's predicted to reach category 2 before it brushes Haiti as opposed to Hanna's 1. I can't imagine it being worse, but praying is still a good idea. We're thankful that all of our own people and equipment are okay, and especially for our new roof, which doesn't leak a drop.

LATE EDIT: On Wednesday evening the Montrouis bridge started to sink. The Montrouis bridge is the only connection for a good part of the country between the north and the south. If the bridge goes out we are essentially cut off from the capital where most supplies come from. Hanna has affected all of Haiti, not just a specific area. Please keep everyone here in your prayers.

On behalf of everyone at Clean Water for Haiti,

Chris & Leslie Rolling
Executive Directors

Contact Us In Haiti:
Chris – info@cleanwaterforhaiti.org
Leslie – office@cleanwaterforhaiti.org
Phone: (intn’l code)+ 509-547-3210
Donations can be sent to:
In Canada:
Clean Water for Haiti
c/o Vernon Alliance Church
2601 43rd Ave.
Vernon, BC V1T 3L1

In the US:
Clean Water for Haiti
4606 NW Grant Place
Vancouver, WA 98663

Contact our Fundraising Directors:
In Canada:
John Carruthers – John.Carruthers@enbridge.com
In the US:
Barb Jonusaitis – barbj@cleanwaterforhaiti.org

Water, water and none to drink

This is the second time I've written a blog about water, water and none to drink. Haiti is still flooded with people sitting on the rooftops waiting for help... which most likely not come. Please keep praying for Haiti.

Put your money where your mouth is!

I just joined Kiva and it was more fun than shopping on E-bay! First go to Kiva.org, at the top of the page you'll see register. Click on that. Sign up to become a member. Next - click on View all entrepreneurs.

Now, just take a look at the groups in front of you. There are groups from North America, South America, Central America, Africa, Asia, Middle East and Eastern Europe.

The groups or individuals are people - REAL PEOPLE who need loans. The reasons for the loans are many. Some are building their business, some are buying stock and inventory, some are wanting to buy an ox.


An ox? Yes, an ox. You know, the kind brown, four legs, moos, gives milk sometimes, carries heavy objects.

Every one on Kiva is a deserving individual who wants to borrow money. Scroll down the list and find someone you can lend money to.
Today, I loaned money to the Llegando Lejos (Going Far) Groups 1 & 3

Eugenia, the group leader, has five children, ages 2, 6, 7, 11 and 16. She lives in a batey (which is a very poor community) of Haitian families in El Seibo, Dominican Republic. Families that live in bateys have small houses generally made of scrap tin and wood; the best possible accommodation is a cement-block house. These ¨houses¨ consist of only one room where the whole family lives together. To provide for her family, Eugenia has a small business killing chickens and selling their meat in neighboring bateys. In order to travel between bateys, Eugenia pays a small fee to ride on the back of a motorcycle.
By receiving loans, she and the other members of the Bank of Hope are better able to survive the economic fluctuations and frequent sicknesses that make work hard and volatile. With this next loan, Eugenia hopes to further grow her business by buying more chickens and travelling to more bateys. Someday she dreams of owning her own house. Eugenia also wants to be able to provide the best for her children, including a good education, so that they will have a bright future.



Please become a loaner.

V