Haitian Roots Newsletter July 2009

“Human history becomes more and more a race between education

and catastrophe." ~ H.G. Wells

Dear Supporters and Friends of Haitian Roots,

This is the time of year that most of us are turning our minds towards school. Whether we are going back ourselves, whether we are sending our kids back, or whether it is simply the unmistakable racks of backpacks and binders lining the store shelves in place of the summer merchandise, it is evident that it is “back to school” time! As a mother, I talk to my friends about our feelings about our kids returning to school—will their teachers be good? When is back-to-school night? Did you hear about that sale on notebooks? Is your son on the bus route? How will my daughter do going to school all-day? These are the questions that we discuss. One question that we never ask is, “Will my child be able to go to school this year?” Regrettably in Haiti, this is the question at the forefront of many, many parents minds right now. We want to THANK YOU for helping the children of Haitian Roots to be able to receive an education and answering the prayers of their parents!

What Is New?

• We are excited to provide an education for an additional 20 children this year (bringing our total up to 133). These children live mainly in the Port-au-Prince area and are in desperate need. To see a list of the children, please go to our website: www.haitianroots.com and look at them on our blog or under the “children” tab. It only costs $250/year or $22/month (we can have it deducted automatically from your bank account) to provide education for an entire year for one of these beautiful children!
• These new children will be overseen by a new in-country coordinator, Harry Mardy! We are so happy to have him join our team! Harry is well-known to the Haitian Roots team. He has been a close friend of Isson Joseph’s for over 15 years. The Cox family met Harry four years ago when he was helping to facilitate the adoption of their son from Haiti. Chareyl also became acquainted with Harry through his work with orphans in Haiti. We all love and admire him. Harry is a lifelong resident of Haiti. He lives in and works for an orphanage in Petion-ville. He is married and has two beautiful children. Having worked hard for many years into adulthood to gain his own schooling, Harry truly understands and places great value on education. He and his wife Pascale, have been very excited about Haitian Roots and have been very helpful to us in Haiti long before joining our team. Thanks for joining us, Harry!
• We have a new blog! It is integrated right into our website. You can view the most recent post on our home page www.haitianroots.com. Click on the blog link to read more. We hope this will fill the need for us to have better communication with our supporters. We will be featuring information about the children in Haitian Roots, any experiences we have had with them in Haiti, experiences our supporters have had on their trips to visit Haitian Roots children, and general Haiti information. We also will be featuring information about fundraisers to help give inspiration and ideas. If you have held a fundraiser for Haitian Roots and would be willing to share on our blog, please e-mail us at: info@haitianroots.com

Our Accomplishments and Goals

We are so grateful for the generous support that you have given to us over the past four years. We started with only 23 children in 2005. We now have 135 children in the program. We are so proud of them for working so hard even while in very difficult circumstances outside of the classroom. Our current goals are to find sponsors for all of the children currently in the program as well as raise funds for our first school. We are seeing the need to have a home-base office in Haiti become more and more apparent. There will be many advantages of having our own physical presence in Haiti and we are all excited about it! One major benefit will be that we will have a much better chance of partnering with other organizations to help our children with food and medical needs if we can show these organizations our offices and staff in a specific place in Haiti, whereas right now our children are spread out attending various schools all around Port-au-Prince. We already have the building that we will use but we need to remodel it to turn it into a school. Do you know of any individuals or businesses who are looking for a wonderful project to fund like this?

Reflections on Haiti: June 2009

Board Member Chareyl Moyes traveled to Haiti in June. Haitian Roots advocate and donor Kathy Junk went as well.

Kathy shared the following:

“I had the wonderful privilege of traveling to Haiti in June for a week. Besides being a happy sponsor of Haitian Roots, I also work for Wasatch adoptions in placing children from several orphanages in Haiti. I was able to visit and hold many of the beautiful children available for adoption and was also able to interact with families who were visiting the children they are going to adopt. While I am thrilled anytime a family wants to adopt a child from Haiti and know with complete certainty families are saving a life by adopting a Haitian child, I also came to see that adoption is just a tiny drop in the bucket in helping the children in Haiti. All the children of Haiti cannot be adopted nor should they be. I believe and have faith that one day day ALL the children of Haiti can have the chance for education.

While I knew in theory that education was surely important, it was not until I saw the desperate circumstances Haitians everywhere are facing that I came to realize that educating the children of Haiti is one of the very most important things we can help with. It is through education that these children can grow and become competent, caring leaders for their country.

During my visit to Haiti, I was able to meet the two children my neighborhood has been sponsoring for several years. They are darling children and are continuing to attend school thanks to the financial support of our neighborhood and the support of their parents. The parents of the two children were very respectful and thankful for what Haitian Roots is providing for their children.

Another exciting moment was when I was able to meet all but one of the 20 new children that Haitian Roots is going to be adding to their school program. My heart almost broke to see each child and parent dressed in surely what was their only "nice clothes". I could tell they very much wanted Harry, Chareyl Moyes and I to know that they were serious about their commitment to have their children attend school. They all had to travel some distance by "tap tap" to bring the children to the hotel for their photos and to complete the contracts with Haitian Roots. Each child received a school bag and a soccer ball or doll. You cannot even imagine the look on their faces as they peeked inside their school bag to see colored pencils, clean white notepaper and other school supplies. Each child clutched their school bag to them closely and solemnly nodded as the translator told them these were for school and to take care of them. I just cannot tell you enough about what an amazing experience this was. I actually saw hope in the eyes of parents and children compared to the abject despair I saw in the people living out on the streets.

I am so excited to be a tiny part of Haitian Roots through sponsorship and hope many more sponsors will come forward for this worthy cause.”

To read about Chareyl’s experiences and to learn more about our new coordinator, Harry, please visit our blog at www.haitianroots.com

How You Can Help!

• If you are sponsoring a child, are considering sponsoring a child or making a general donation, please do so TODAY! We still need to raise another $9,000 for our first payment by the end of the August. Mail us a check (609 W. 3850 S., Riverdale, UT 84405) or make a donation through PayPal here.
• Encourage your school to hold a fundraiser.
• Check out the blog on our website for fundraising ideas.
• Invite a member of Haitian Roots to speak to your school, youth group, church group, etc.
• Write about us on your blog and include a link to our website: www.haitianroots.com
• Talk to your place of business about making a charitable donation.
• Can’t make a large donation all at once? That is fine. Contact as at info@haitianroots.com about having a monthly sum of ANY amount deducted directly from your bank account.

You Are Appreciated

In quoting H.G. Wells again, he said, “Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” It often feels that we truly are in a race. When I feel discouraged, I like to remember these words of Abraham Lincoln: “I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.”

We may not save every child in Haiti, but with the light that we have, which shines brighter and brighter with each one of you, we can make a difference. We ARE making a difference. Thank you!

Sincerely,

The Haitian Roots Team

www.haitianroots.com