Haiti is on everyone's mind, in their hearts and prayers these last days-it hardly seems possible that barely two weeks have gone by since the devastating earthquake shook this small nation, destroying lives, homes, roads, and damaging even more. Given that Partners has been working for quite some time in Haiti, we thought we'd like to share with you what we've been doing, what we are doing right now ("on the ground," so to speak, even though that ground has been shaken so severely) and what we hope to do in the future.

WHAT WE HAVE DONE
Partners has been working with two projects in Haiti, both of which involve education. Education is a crucial agent in rebuilding and charting a new course for Haiti; a unique opportunity to develop young people to meet their individual potential, become conscientious citizens and contribute actively to social progress, even in the face of current educational and environmental crises-certainly this becomes even more critical given Haiti's most recent crisis.

CAFT (The Centre for Learning and Transformation)
CAFT, founded in 1999 in Haiti, is a recognized Public Utility registered with the Ministry of Social Affairs. Its goal is to help improve the quality of life of Haitian women, men and children by developing capacities using a dialogue approach to education.

CAFT has collaborated with over 25 international and national institutions in Haiti, including PNUD/Ministry of the Interior. The impact of its participatory methods in the areas of formal education (improvement of classroom teaching and discipline methods) and non-formal education (early child care, participatory learning and action research -PLA, small project design) has been documented. CAFT manages a Quality Education training program for PLAN International, serving 60 underprivileged schools, 400 principals and educators, 2000 parents and reaching 13,000 learners. CAFT has established partnerships with local community-based institutions, introducing a junior youth leadership program to teachers and youth facilitators, in addition to the teacher training program.

CAFT has also provided training in a variety of non-formal thematic areas: principle-based leadership and governance, capacity building for grassroots community groups, character development for children, leadership skills and environmental awareness for youth, parental education, health awareness and HIV/AIDS prevention, participatory learning and action (PLA), early child care and stimulation, nutrition etc. CAFT has served as the official Haiti representative for Toronto-based Global Learning Partners, and has trained over 20 local and international organizations and government Ministries in Dialogue Education.

FREM Fondation Rural Mileau and Lekole Pa Nou Pichon (Our School) Pichon, Haiti
FREM, a non-profit organization, was formed to assist in rural development in Haiti. Pichon is a remote, isolated village in southeast Haiti. It has no electricity, telephones or health clinic, and has limited access to potable water. Lècóle Pa Nou (Creole for "Our School") was founded in January 2000 as a means to break the cycle of poverty. It began as a partnership among local villagers, a non-profit organization in Port-au-Prince and friends from Lansing, Michigan. It started with pre-school and kindergarten classes, adding one additional grade each year until sixth grade. Photos can be viewed at [http://homepage.mac.com/dlsmith19/PhotoAlbum1.html], including the first consultation between the Michigan friends and Pichon's villagers in August 1999. Visitors Pierre Balthazar and David Smith asked the villagers what assistance they wanted. They wanted a school for their children, and Lècóle Pa Nou was born.

Recent update from FREM
Wednesday, January 13, 2010 We received an email from Nadia Balthazar in Port-au-Prince: "Please, let everybody know that we are ok. all the phone are dead. we found a wireless internet connection in the neighborhood. and everyone is out on the street. we wont sleep tonight. people are scarred of replication of the earthquake."

Saturday, January 23, 2010 We received an email from Liné Balthazar in Port-au-Prince: "There is no damage in Belle-Anse. Lekol Pa Nou is safe."

Cindy Goren, an Education for Prosperity board member, and her 16 year old daughter Anna, were just at Lekol Pa Nou the week before Christmas. Her report on the school was most encouraging:

(a) There are currently 282 students enrolled, pre-school through sixth grade.
(b) The school has the reputation of being the best in the region.
(c) Of the three graduating classes so far, 100% of the students passed national exam, a measure of the quality of education there.

Barb, we see this success as the result of sustained collaboration among a whole network of organizations and individuals. Key among these has been the relationship between the Michigan-based NGO (non-governmental organization), Education for Prosperity and the Haiti-based NGO known as FREM (Fondation pour le Relevement du Milieu Rural.) 0I believe FREM should be mentioned in your stories. They are the ones that have organized the community in Pichon, hired and trained teachers, and have been planning for the use of Jatropha-based biofuel production as a means to stimulate the local economy. Their efforts have been supported in Haiti by CAFT, which has done virtues training for Lekol Pa Nou staff (with funds raised by Cowichan Valley students.)
All this work has been supported in North America by a wide range of organizations--Partners for Prosperity based in British Columbia; the Cooley Law School's Caribbean Law Students Association based in Lansing, Michigan; the Davisburg, Michigan Rotary Club and the Phinney Neighborhood Chorus based in Seattle, Washington, just to name a few. It has also received support from a number of Lansing, Michigan churches--St. John's Student Parish, the Metaphysical Church of Christ, and the Unitarian Universalist Church, among others.

WHAT WE ARE DOING RIGHT NOW
Partners is in touch with Linda Gershuny, director of CAFT.

From Linda Jan 14th: "Dear ones - at first acces to internet taking a quick moment inside the house (not recommended yet) to write you - thanks for messages, so good to know you are praying. am completely fine, Enold just brought more water and rice, we have 16 staying here at night in the yard (Karene's family and neighbours), and took some water and rice to courageous people helping victims farther down near where the school fell in last year. Many houses have collapsed with mortalities; people are reacting with their amazing courage and resilience. Pray that we can be of some help. Don't worry - my house has no concrete ceilings except front gallery and all walls still standing. Will be very careful and I'm glad I didn't buy the house!!!"

From Linda Jan 16th: "I'm preparing to camp out in the yard for the fourth night, just to make sure, along with 25 neighbors. The house is still standing but sure heaved and rolled a lot, leaving some fissures. This morning just as we were feeling reassured, there was a 4.5 tremor. Not quite sure what to do about living and work (our office is standing but on the 2nd floor.)

Please give warmest thanks to the friends for their concern and prayers. pray that as we see the old World Order so visibly rolling up, that we will learn how to contribute in some small way at least to the beginnings of the New as Haiti rebuilds."

Partners for Prosperity sent financial resources with a local Cowichan Valley resident who is leaving immediately for Haiti. We are working with Linda and CAFT, as well as ADRA Canada, an independent humanitarian agency established by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. ADRA is a leading non-governmental relief and development organization in the world, and was granted General Consultative Status by the United Nations in 1997.

Partners is also working with Médecins Sans Frontiéres and encourages those who wish to donate money to Haiti relief to consider doing so through this organization.

WHAT WE WANT TO DO
In keeping with our name, "Partners for Prosperity", we feel it is important to identify the various agencies working in Haiti-past and present-in order to harness the resources and energy of these organizations. Partners believes that we are more than the sum of our parts, and as such, would like to identify those agencies and organizations so we can establish lines of communication, cooperation and collaboration.

This, we foresee, will lead to consultation as we seek to establish a collective approach to working in Haiti as we continue and increase our various projects. If you know any person or organization working in Haiti, please let us know so that we can work together to assist our brothers and sisters in Haiti to transform their lives and their nation. You can contact us by email at partners@mgvinc.com or by phoning us at 250-743-1222

Ask for Barb or Mark