Post-Earthquake Update

VHP’s Program are back in full swing

School and Community Center

     Moderate earthquake damage and community impact caused the immediate closure of E’Cole Foyer d’Espoir, as was the case with virtually all Port au Prince schools last January.
     Over the following months, repairs were made, including the installation of new, secure structural beams.
     During the summer, community programs were run at the school, but the official school opening took place in October.  The first order of business was the taking of final exams for three class of 2010 students.  Members of VHP joined the graduating students in a celebration, and presented congratulatory gifts.
     For the 2011-2012 academic year, 203 students will be taught in five classrooms by six teachers, two of them new to the staff.

The Desab Medical Clinic

     While the mountain village of Desab was not greatly hit by the earthquake, peripheral damage was felt.  Many residents lost friends and family; the clinic dentist also perished in the disaster.
     The clinic continued to operate uninterrupted.  The dentist’s son assumed his father’s practice in Desab.

     The clinic has now been operating for two years, with approximately 2400 patients having been seen in 2010.  According to one clinic staff member “babies are now coming for regular check-ups; in the past, they only came when they were sick.”

     Fund raising is now under way for the coming year budget, which commences November 1.

Water Filtration

     A high percentage of homes containing the VHP-provided bio-sand water filters were destroyed in the earthquake.

     Over the past several months, The Vermont Haiti Project and it’s Haitian staff of four workers, have begun to make good on their promise that any filter damaged in the earthquake would be replaced, free of charge.

     As families are slowly moving back into their homes in Port au Prince, VHP has been there to repair or replace the filtration units. Additional interest from new families is resulting in the order and construction of new filters, and education programs run by the staff. 
     With the recent outbreak of Cholera in Haiti, the need for clean water and hygene education has never been greater.

Rural Vocational Center

     VHP will decide in early 2011 whether or not to commit to a new program of creating a vocational center in the village of Duchity, eight hours by car from Port au Prince.
     So far, all indications are positive for this speculative program.  Land has been purchased by interested local investors; it has subsequently been marked and surveyed with plans to start building. (photo, left:  Vermont Haiti Project members are given a tour of the land.)
    VHP representatives in Haiti, who have been in regular planning meetings, report that “the community has been very supportive of this.  There is nothing like this in our region; some people have to drive many hours just to get training to be a welder or mechanic.”

Tchaka Bags

     Although not an official Vermont Haiti Project Program, this private Haitian community business has taken of in Port au Prince... and beyond.

     Polene Felix (left) and staff have been busy creating hand bags, wallets and other accessories from mesh, food bags and other discarded material.
     While the program is not funded by VHP, the organization recently invited Ms. Felix to Vermont, where she showcased and sold many of her products, and generated interest for future orders.
 

    This example of sustainable small business success, as well as the progress of all of the programs outlined above, are exactly what Vermont Haiti Project and its supporters and donors are looking to achieve.

     Less than one year after the calamitous natural disaster, the people of Haiti are proving how resilient they are.

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