Following the Haiti Earthquake of 2010, an estimate of 1.5 million people were left homeless. Habitat for Humanity has been working ever since to mitigate the issue of homelessness in Haiti. Today 155 families in Léogâne, Haiti will move into their new Habitat homes!
Photo Credit: Habitat for Humanity Haiti
Check out the HFH-Haiti website and Facebook page to learn more about their Haiti initiatives and How YOU can get involved!
Photo Credit: Habitat for Humanity Haiti
This Fashion Week stop by Urban Zen for an exhibition and a look at Donna Karan work with Heart for Haiti.
Artist Phillipe Dodard (Photo Credit: Urban Zen)
The exhibition features the collaborative works of Haitian artist Philippe Dodard, Russell James and Nomad Two Worlds, David Belle and Cine Institute.
Two years ago today, the earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince also catalyzed an outpouring of attention on reducing Haiti’s poverty and fostering its economic growth. As part of this ongoing effort, the USAID Mission in Haiti has partnered with Development Innovation Ventures to launch the DIV Haiti initiative.
The DIV Haiti initiative will invest in solutions that target the four focus areas of the U.S. Government strategy for rebuilding Haiti: infrastructure and energy; food and economic security; health and other basic services; and governance and rule of law. DIV and USAID/Haiti will rigorously test the projects we fund, and help scale those that are proven successful.
Through the DIV Haiti initiative, entrepreneurs, innovators, businesses, academics, NGOs and others from across the world can apply for grants to develop, test and scale up innovative ideas and cost-saving development solutions to the U.S. Government’s four focus areas in Haiti. Proposals will be carefully vetted to ensure that they are tailored to the Haitian context and their impact rigorously measured.
“Through this partnership with DIV, we seek to attract game-changing ideas that can have countrywide impact and secure a brighter future for the people of Haiti,” said USAID/Haiti Mission Director Carleene H. Dei.
The DIV Haiti initiative seeks applications through DIV’s Annual Program Statement (APS). Review the APS addendum specific to the DIV Haiti initiative here (pdf). Deadlines for selection rounds close on January 16th and April 16th, 2012 at 11:59pm EST.
As 04:53:10 pm on the 2nd year anniversary of the Earthquake in Haiti approaches, we all REMEMBER that day and appreciate life more as a result of it. To see a city…a nation reduced to rubble in 35 seconds was beyond humbling; it felt as if the world stood still. For a moment in time, the world stopped and noticed the little island 600 miles off coast Florida and watched as the horror developed.
Men, woman and children called out in agony while trapped beneath piles of concrete and steel. Newborn lives cut short, children left without parents and parents left without children. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost that day and millions were forever changed. Just imagine losing your entire family and everything you own in the same day; everything you have ever loved and worked for gone, just like that.
Credit: Sara Heinrichs (All Rights Reserved)
Today we remember Haiti and we pray for her on behalf of all those that truly BELIEVE in “A Brighter Future for Haiti”.
We pray that the hundreds of thousands of people who lost their lives have found peace, and that their families are healing from the pain of losing a loved one.
We ask that God watch over the abandoned children, protect the vulnerable and heal the sick.
We pray for all those who continue to live in temporary shelters and makeshift tents, even more so for the parents that are raising children in the IDP tent camps and the elderly in need of care.
Source: flickriver.com by lucastheexperience
On January 12, 2010 at 04:53:10 pm the lives of the Haitian people were forever changed. Today, January 12, 2012 at 04:53:10 pm [EST] we call on all supporters of Haiti to observe a Moment of Silence in honor of the earthquake victims, their families and those who continue to struggle. Let us come together and reflect on where Haiti was 2 years ago while recognizing some of the positive progress that has been made in the country so far.
There is strength in unity and promise for our people. Let us keep Haiti in our hearts and continue to lift her up through our actions.
L’Union fait la force!
The graphic below highlights the work done by the Red Cross in Haiti, post the Earthquake of Jan 12, 2010.
Infographic by: Chris Spurlock / Source Credit: The Huffington Post
Sources: UNDP.org, MiamiHerald.com, HaitiLibre.com, HumanitarianResponse.info, USAID.gov, Redcross.org
Full Article:
Haiti Earthquake Recovery: Where Did All The Money Go? (INFOGRAPHIC)
Related Article:
American Red Cross Helping Haiti Recover and Rebuild at Two-Year Anniversary of Earthquake
Photo Credit: Nygel Williams
Photo Credit: Grodysh Pour Haiti (Claude Reginald Jean and Leslie Hobbs with the children of the orphanage)
DUNEDIN – Kids are problematic in Haiti. And plentiful. Girls have children very young, but many cannot afford to raise their children, so many are just left at the hospital.
Other mothers keep them around for a little while. As babies, kids add a sympathy bonus, making it easier for their mothers to beg for money and food. But then they get older. Around age 4, the kids become a burden and have lost the begging edge.
“Whatever she gets, she has to spend the money to share with the kid,” said Claude “Reggie” Jean, in his thick French accent. “So what she does is when they sleep at a public park, she wakes up at 2 or 3 a.m. and leaves the area so the kid finds himself alone at the age of 4 and has to survive. Has to beg like his mother used to. And the chances to survive are very small. But if they happen to survive, they get in a bad way. Criminals. You have to be tough to survive on the street.”
In Haiti, the average lifespan is 43, and 50 percent of the population is under 18 years old. There are 4 million children. Even before the 2010 earthquake, one in 10 children there were either abandoned or orphaned. That number only increased significantly after the earthquake. Only 1 in 3 children in Haiti go to school because the cost is more than most people make in a year. The country and schools have become corrupt, Jean said.
Haiti’s children are in trouble. And Reggie Jean’s mission is to help.
Reggie’s family has a history of philanthropy, and he and his two brothers, Harry and Lyonel, have taken up the cause. Over the years, the Jean brothers have helped about 100,000 people, both children and adults. Reggie has a special passion for the children.
Reggie is from Port Au Prince, Haiti, though he now lives in Dunedin with his three children. His parents are from a mountain village in Jacamel called Blockhauss. Reggie was an engineer and a schoolteacher. As a teacher in Haiti, he saw bright, promising students suddenly disappear. Very early in his career he set out to investigate why one exceptional boy stopped coming to school. He found out that the boy wanted to come to school, but his parents could no longer afford the tuition, so the school kicked him out. Reggie was upset. A boy that talented needed a proper education so he could ultimately give back to and benefit their country. So Reggie dug into his teacher’s salary to cover the boy’s tuition. Thus began his habit of supporting promising young students through school. He has done so for about 1,000 kids over the years “so they could have a life,” he said.
Back in November we did a spotlight (post) on the Yele Vert Program, since then we have kept up with the effort to plant “virtual” trees online to help support this program. We just want to take this moment to thank our online supports and commend all those who have taken the time to join and contribute towards this effort.
Deforestation is still a pressing issue in Haiti. Although is only an online effort, no act of kindness is too small to influence change. To date M&L has helped plant 81 REAL trees in Haiti via the Timberland Earth-keepers Virual Forest, and 4 Real trees via Social Vibe.com: all together that is 85 trees!
Note: This number does not included all of our FB friends that may have been influenced by awareness efforts to support this program as well. (Feel free to email mangoeslemonade@gmail.com) if you would like us to add your #of trees raised to our total tally. And 4 of the trees that we counted from SocialVibe can be seen on the left hand side of this page.
A Ganar is a job training project use to support the under privilege children of Haiti. A program that takes the fundamentals of playing sports and ties it in with similar fundamentals required to obtain and keep a job. A Ganar is supported the MIF (Multilateral Fund).
“Through a partnership of the Americas, USAID and IBD, and Foundation Espoirt LADH program in Haiti. The program was launched in January 2011, and will serve 400 youths from 16-24 years old. It will teach confidence, vocational and entrepreneur skills as well as respect. This program which has been established for five years in other Latin American countries uses the cornerstone of sports to teach life and work skills to the youth.”
Robert "Boby" Duval, the founder of L’Athlétique d’Haïti (Photo credit: CNN)
L’Athletique d’Haiti Documentary (Working Title): Preview
The program targets youth from ages 16-24 and helps them develop the Continue reading
