Posts Tagged ‘Haiti’

4 Jun

Elevate Haiti–Summer Service Travel Opportunity

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in Uncategorized, Vacation Ideas, volunteer. Tagged: , , , , , , .

CIMG3411If you’ve lingered a bit around this blog, you know that I have had some earth-shifting service opportunities to travel and volunteer in Haiti. The organization with which I volunteered following the devastating 2010 earthquake, and then returned with last year as a group leader, is Elevate Destinations.

If you’ve ever had the itch to get to Haiti and get busy, they have a new trip going this summer, July 28-August 5 (If you are super dedicated, there is a potential extension for a second week of service work). “Elevate Haiti” puts a particular focus on sustainability and supporting local organizations on the ground–this way the mistake is never made (as too many voluntourism groups do) of providing “top down” charity. Nope, with Elevate, you are in service to the local partners–even when they do things in very different ways than you might. It is folly to try and impose our sensibilities–we actually don’t know better–and on this trip you are fully immersed, living and laughing and sweating (oh boy the sweating–you’ll love it. Your Bikram yoga class ain’t got nuthin’ on Haiti in July) with the local community. Your work will be largely youth-focused, working on education programs with the kids of the area (this year’s trip takes place on Ile-la-Vache, a small island off Haiti’s coast) and there is also a community-generated program, requested by the local community, that you will assist with (probably a construction or ecosystem project). There is plenty of downtime to see the slice of the world you are bettering, amazing Caribbean beaches being a highlight, and most importantly, bond with the Haitian kids and adults who are welcoming you. You start and finish your travels in Port-au-Prince, so you’ll get a tour and chance to see some of the capital as well. The earthquake was back in the beginning of 2010, and yet there are still so many displaced people living in tent villages–so much infrastructure has so far to go, but you’ll be overwhelmed with the inspiration you discover among your new friends.

Seriously–explore the website and try it on in your mind–see if it feels like a fit. If you have questions, don’t hesitate getting in touch with me directly, and reaching out to the folks at Elevate. They are Boston-based, so their time schedule likely aligns at least somewhat with yours for a call or call back. I had two great friends join me last year, plus all the friends I’ve made there (always a small group of a dozen or so, so you’ll get to know people and establish lifelong bonds with your fellow volunteers, too), and we can all tell you that you will not come home the same. That’s a promise. You want that change.

20 Jul

Haiti-bound

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , .

I am leaving in a couple of hours for Haiti, where I will be volunteering for the next 11 days. It looked like this the last time I was there–please let it be different, and please let us make a difference.

12 Sep

Images from Haiti

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in Inspiration, Vacation Ideas. Tagged: , , , , .

Haiti August 15-29, 2010

These are my pictures from Haiti (August 15-29) in both Port-au-Prince, where we spent the first and last nights of the trip, and the bulk from Jacmel. My volunteer work was manual labor at a construction site, helping build a computer lab and library for an orphanage with 28 boys ages 8-21. The orphanage, called Trinity House, also teaches classes for about 75 of the poorest kids in the area who have not had other opportunities for education, and additionally, on Saturdays, they teach Restavek kids (child slaves sold into servitude). Restavek kids don’t get access to education, so the ones that are allowed to attend a class on Saturdays are having a new, life-altering experience that was not going to happen without this program.

There are lots of photos of papier mache masks–a specialty for which the seaside town of Jacmel is known–making Carnival masks for the annual celebration (which was canceled last year due to the January 12 earthquake). The dancers you will see in photos are kids from the orphanage–amazing to watch–the Resurrection Dance Theater. Some of the dancers are currently on tour in North Carolina and Washington DC–Reginald, a boy with one arm, has been invited to the White House to dance for the Obamas. He is amazing to watch, and hug, and get to know, and it has nothing to do with how his body is made, and everything to do with how his heart is made…like every one of these kids I am honored to know.

9 Aug

My Trip to Haiti…and You

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in One click helping, Support. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

My apologies for being AWOL last week. I was sick as a dog. While everyone else on the East Coast (and much of America) was sweating through a heatwave, I was buried under mounds of covers with an electric blanket set on “7” and shivering because I still couldn’t get warm from a raging fever. I’m back in the saddle, but bummed I missed a bunch of blogging days.

Photo by Renee Dietrich

I leave for Haiti in less than a week (and hope to be able to blog from there, but may be inconsistent, as I’m told Internet…and electricity, are going to be inconsistent as well) and wanted to be sure folks know what I’m up to. I also wanted to create an opening for anyone who might be inspired, to support the work our little band of volunteers (myself, a 27-year-old woman from Florida, and a 45-year-old mom and her 15-year-old daughter) will be doing. Here is a link to a secure donations/fundraising page for my project (http://www.firstgiving.com/andrewmersmann). The organization is a 501(c)(3) charity, so donations are tax-deductible as charitable contributions.

My explanatory text from the First Giving web page:

The January 12, 2010 Earthquake shook the already frail country of Haiti mercilessly.  Around 230,000 deaths resulted as well as the displacement and destruction of legions of families and lives. Just over six months later, human resilience prevails as Haitians move to pick up the pieces, making a new life out of less than the little most people once had. The emergency stage is over, and now the long-term rebuilding begins. Volunteers who were not medical or engineering professionals were urged to stay away, as one in-country Doctors Without Borders physician told me “It [Haiti] is like an intensive care patient. It has healing to do before there can be visitors.”

Now there is a way for me to be useful. The hard work of locals is being supplemented by carefully curated volunteer projects. On August 15, I go to Haiti for 2 weeks to do a construction project, building a computer lab/classroom space for a school in Jacmel. (Jacmel is a town 2 1/2 hours from Port-au-Prince…70% of Jacmel’s buildings fell or were damaged, but like so many cities that are not the well known capital, they are getting far less foreign aid). Nearly every leader from within Haiti and of international aid programs and efforts agrees that education is at the top of the list of infrastructure that must be prioritized in a new Haiti. This school serves the poorest in the community who would otherwise be unable to access education, as well as the restavek population (“restavek” children are essentially modern day slaves, and this is the first outreach education to this alarmingly large population in Jacmel)

Elevate Destinations, Scopa Group, and Make a Difference Now are joining forces to support rebuilding efforts…and put me to work. I’ve paid for my trip, gotten my shots, bought my mosquito net, and am filling an extra suitcase with as many extra donated items as I can squeeze into American Airlines’ luggage rules. Now I want to ask your help, and just provide an opening for you to support the project. Money you donate will go directly toward paying the professional crews at the project (a huge consideration is that we NOT take paying jobs away from locals, but support them) and building materials. By the time we leave, the computer lab will be finished and ready to open doors, literally and figuratively/electronically, for the kids.

I hope you’ll find a way to pitch in. You’ll be in my heart and head while I’m there, it’d be cool if you were in the mortar and paint and plaster as well.

It wasn’t just rhetoric when everyone said rebuilding would take years. Join me and be a part of that. Thank you for standing by Haitians as they start anew. Please forward this to anyone who you think has been moved into solidarity and action by the tragic events of January 12th.

Thank you so much,

-Andrew

“We think that we’re not happy because of what we’re not getting, but really we’re not happy because of what we’re not giving.”
–Marianne Williamson

17 Jun

Change the World One Pair at a Time

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in Opportunities, Vacation Ideas, volunteer. Tagged: , , , , .

As I get closer to booking travel to Haiti to do a volunteer gig, I’m paying even more attention to other organizations that are on the ground there, starting the long hard efforts of recovery and rebuilding.

Soles 4 Souls is an organization that collects gently used as well as new shoes from distributors and private citizens, and distributes them in nations of need. Their work in Haiti since the January earthquakes has helped protect the feet of thousands of Haitians, as well as additional philanthropic work done by the organization, including a shelter for displaced residents built from discarded shipping containers. It is a definite step up from tents or tarps. The great thing about Soles 4 Souls is that you can travel with them, not just for shoes distribution, but for additional service project work as well. The trips that are open to international volunteers can be found here. There are several Haiti trips upcoming as well as Mexico and Honduras. SO think about getting out into the big ol world this summer or fall, and making a direct difference…one pair, one person, at a time.

20 Apr

Demi Moore, Haiti, and Child Slavery

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in Support. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

Demi Moore was recently in Haiti, and upon her return has redoubled her already significant efforts to end child slavery around the world. Her charity with husband, Ashton Kutcher, Demi & Ashton Foundation (DNA) has become painfully aware of the Restavek System in Haiti, where children, about 300,000 are forced into servitude and doing much of the work of rebuilding after the earthquake (and long before the earthquake, did massive amounts of manual labor). The kids sleep on the floor and in frightening numbers, the young girls are sexually exploited. Children are given, or sometimes sold, into this system that falsely promises a better life, in some ways intending/pretending to be like a foster care system.

Demi’s interview on Anderson Cooper 360/CNN begins to peel away some of the layers of deception surrounding child labor, indentured servitude, and sexual slavery…in Haiti, and sadly, around the world.

Find a way to be involved…to say it stops here.

22 Mar

World Water Day

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in Inspiration, Support. Tagged: , , , .

I’m in Boston for business this week, and today it has been drizzling rain all day. It’s wet, but not particularly cold as spring is knocking at the door. If I stand outside this great inn where I am staying, I could tip my head up to the sky and catch the light rain on my tongue. I’ve never wanted for clean drinking water—never been without. Never been sick and thirsty with the lack of water to drink.

But millions are. 890 million people don’t have access to clean drinking water. Today is World Water Day, but every day should be. Without water to drink, every other ill in the world, from hunger and disease to poverty and oppression, have to be second priority.

Won’t you join efforts with one of the global clean water charities that are doing everything possible to hydrate all? It is the ground level, the very base of progress…and without it we cannot grow.

Unshaken is a piece (clip below) from charity: water about the clean water crisis in Haiti since the earthquake. There is hope—and there is need, for you.

12 Feb

Long-Term Help in Haiti

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in Inspiration, One click helping, Support. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

On Wednesday, I listened in on a conference call for supporters of Doctors Without Borders to get an update on the situation in Haiti. Much of that information was fascinating, firsthand accounts from people who were in the country when the earthquake hit, and learning that there are currently 260 aid organizations and charities in Haiti. I have, like so many of us, been feeling like I should find some way to get there to help, but what is clear is that at this time, what they DON’T need, is more people. While entirely well-meaning and selfless, a majority of general (non-medically trained) volunteers are more in the way than helpful in the current situation. One of the doctors running programs there likened the nation to a patient in intensive care, remarking that when you are in the ICU, you cannot have visitors. We have to wait until the status gets downgraded from critical to stable before any of us can be of use. That, of course, is where the problem lies—many of the current organizations that rushed in to help will move away from the crisis at just the time when their work can actually be more effective than it is now. Funds will run out, other crises will arise (have you noticed that the terrible floods and mudslides in Peru near Machu Picchu have gone all but ignored in the press?), and volunteer exhaustion will come into play. Burnout is a very real problem in crisis management. Doctors Without Borders is in for the long haul (as are many, many others who understand the commitment)—they have been in Haiti for 19 years already and had a team of 700 in the country BEFORE the earthquake, and have added about 500 more team members since the catastrophe.

Understanding the long-haul nature of the problem is also the organization Artists for Peace and Justice, working with “an impressive roster of Hollywood celebrities who have pledged their long-term support to Haiti through annual donations. The stars are lending their financial support and influential voices to help rebuild Haiti by funding street schools for the children living in the slums and in the burgeoning camps around the city of Port-au-Prince. Getting children back to school – often the only place they receive clean drinking water, their only food for the day, medical attention, clothing and hope – has become a top priority. APJ remains committed to long term sustainability in the ravaged country.”

Some of the high-profile celebrities that are not only donating today, but have committed to annual donations of $50,000 each for the next five years, include Jackson Browne, Gerard Butler, Daniel Craig, Russell Crowe, Penelope Cruz, Clint Eastwood, Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, Sean Penn, and more.

“Emergency relief is still very important — with the help of Operation USA, last week we trucked in another $150,000 in food and supplies to sustain the St. Luke’s program and the children and families of the slums that rely upon its outreach programs,” says Paul Haggis, Founder of APJ. “Schools right now might not seem like the most important thing to reestablish but it just isn’t true. The children may not be in urgent need of an education, but they desperately need physical and psychological support. They need a daily meal and water and medical care that comes with our schools. These thousands of children need a safe place to gather, where they can find hope, and even joy and beauty. The issues on the rise right now are gangs, violent crime, prostitution and child slavery. Schools are more important now than ever.”

When built, the street schools will assist thousands of children living in the slums of Port-au-Prince. Prior to the earthquake, APJ had been committed to sponsoring a number of these schools in Haiti and supporting the work of Father Rick Frechette, a doctor and community organizer who works out of St. Damiens Pediatric Hospital in Port-au-Prince, the only free pediatric hospital in the country. Donors to APJ have an opportunity to contribute to long term sustainability in a country that so desperately needs it.

26 Jan

Ricky Martin & Habitat in Haiti

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in Inspiration, One click helping, Support. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

One of the elements of the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake is the still uncounted numbers of orphaned children. We understand all too clearly the hardship these kids do now and will face as the nation begins trying to move ahead. One of the side-effects we may not have thought of is just how vulnerable these kids are…to the forces of crime and injury and disease…but also to those who would prey on their innocence. Child sexual slavery is an international scourge and epidemic of proportions we rarely see or can even conceive. Ricky Martin has worked tirelessly with his Ricky Martin Foundation as an advocate for children and breaking the cycle of child enslavement that can and does see children of three and four years being sold into sexual slavery, and raped by dozens and dozens of men. It is unfathomable and yet happens every day. And it is not only overseas, but here in our own nation as well. It should make you sick to your stomach…if not, you didn’t read that correctly.

Martin recently went to Haiti alongside the CEO of Habitat for Humanity, Jonathan Reckford, to survey the devastation. Martin, who also traveled to the Boxing Day Tsunami region as soon as possible, said of the scene in Haiti, “Every family is a family in need.  I’m asking each of you to think about the future of the children.  What they will need to survive after they are properly fed and have received appropriate medical care is a safe and decent home.”

Habitat for Humanity has been at work in Haiti for 26 years and has provided more than 2,000 families with housing solutions through a variety of initiatives including new home construction, progressive building, home repairs and improvements. Habitat and The Ricky Martin Foundation (RMF) have joined to form the RMF/HFH Haiti Recovery Fund.  Both organizations are encouraging supporters to visit www.habitat.org/rmfhaiti to donate now for immediate and long-term efforts in Haiti.

Through his ongoing philanthropic endeavors in conjunction with the Ricky Martin Foundation, Martin continues to be one of Habitat for Humanity’s most visible supporters.  Martin’s relationship with the organization began in early 2005, when the Ricky Martin Foundation partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build 224 homes in Thailand in response to the Asian tsunami in Dec. 2004.  Martin personally assisted in the building of the homes and has said that handing over the keys to the homeowners was one of the most impactful moments of his life.

25 Jan

Teens for Jeans

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in Inspiration, Support. Tagged: , , , .

Getting kids motivated to reach out and be bigger than they are can be quite simple, and even financially rewarding. Doing good for others can be something more than selfless. The DO Something organization, in a win/win set up with teenagers, has created the “Teens for Jeans” program in partnership with Aéropostale stores. Teens donate their used jeans and other wearable clothing at Aéropostale shops, receive a 25% discount on new items in the store, and the store gets the used clothing to homeless teenagers all around the country. The jeans drive runs through Valentine’s Day, and the first 100,000 pairs of jeans are already earmarked for distribution to Haiti.

Easy. Win/Win. ‘Nuf said.

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