Author: Dr. Musa

Biology Professor, SUNY Broome Community College

Hopeful Harvest

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As people at home and across the world continue to deal with our new COVID reality, it is easy to lose sight of how the current challenges only added to an already dire situation in places like rural Haiti. Even prepandemic, data from organizations like the Global Hunger Index (GHI) identified Haiti as one of the hungriest countries in the entire world. GHI uses indicators such as child wasting, child stunting, and child mortality to assess malnourishment and hunger severity. The already dismal situation in Haiti was further exacerbated by civil unrest and the economic crisis (inflation and devaluation of the Haitian currency) that has gripped Haiti for more than a year. Add COVID and you have a recipe for disaster, with millions of Haitians facing severe food insecurity.

On the SUNY Broome side, Health for Haiti had to cancel our 2020 and 2021 classes, resulting in a significant loss in momentum for our student-led projects and fundraising initiatives. However, thanks to the foundation we built with the community in Grande Saline over the past several years, projects including the Health for Haiti Community Garden/School Lunch Program continue to move forward in Grande Saline. This particular project links local farmers with students and their families so that they can work together to grow rice, corn, and vegetables for their school lunch.

No one could have guessed that we would have to deal with a global pandemic, but it is fortunate that instead of trying to continually raise donations to buy food for over one hundred students and staff – we instead worked with the community to help them grow their own food. While still difficult, this has turned out to be a more sustainable and empowering way of battling food insecurity for our friends in Grande Saline.

Despite a recent flood in Grande Saline and the economic instability that continues to grip the country, today the community is welcoming another successful rice harvest. We are taking this moment to recognize and celebrate all of the hard work that began in the garden months ago.

The process of growing rice begins by planting rice seeds in a small section of land. While the rice seedlings begin to grow, the farmers prepare the large fields. These fields were last used to grow corn and vegetables and must be completely reconfigured for rice. The land has to be divided into separate beds and each bed must have a wall of earth constructed around it. The rice grows in water, so surrounding each bed with walls of earth allows the beds to be flooded. Water for the rice is pumped from the river using a gas generator. Once the rice seedlings are established they are transplanted to the beds in the big field. The rice plants are tended, protected, and fertilized by local farmers and members of the community. After the harvest, the rice must be dried and processed before it is stored. Of course the final step is cooking the rice and providing it to school children and staff for lunch.

While this is certainly not the first successful harvest from the Community Garden, given all that has occurred in Haiti and at home this year – it feels especially significant. We would like to extend a very special thank you to everyone who supports the Health for Haiti Community Garden project as well as the other projects that continue in Grande Saline. As we in the United States approach a Thanksgiving holiday that will most likely be very different from those we have enjoyed in the past, this rice harvest is definitely something we can look to as both a blessing for today and a symbol of hope (and lunch!) for tomorrow.

School is in Session!

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Greetings from Health for Haiti! School is once again in session at SUNY Broome and in Grande Saline. We are happy to see students and staff get back to work in Binghamton and in Haiti. We are also glad that everyone is taking steps to protect their health so we can all stay safe while learning.

In Grande Saline, students and teachers are wearing masks when they are in a group, practicing social distancing, and washing their hands frequently.

All of those lessons our SUNY Broome Health for Haiti students and staff delivered over the years about health hygiene, microscopy, germs, and microbes are surprisingly vital now in light of the global pandemic. And the Health for Haiti hand-washing station that was designed by the Health for Haiti engineering team and built by staff in Haiti is getting a lot of use.

The community recently planted rice in the school garden. A successful crop will be a tremendous addition to the school lunch program. Food insecurity and malnutrition continue to pose a serious threat to the health and well-being of families in Grande Saline, and this community garden is an important part of helping to feed local children.

Even though it is unlikely that we will be able to visit Haiti any time soon, we are proud to see that the foundation we built over the past years is supporting forward progress in Grande Saline. Given our limted resources, the community recently identified school/education, clean water, nutrition/garden, and computer/digital literacy classes as the priorties they want to focus on in the coming year. We are doing all we can to continue to partner with our friends in Haiti and support the great work that is going on there.

Usually around this time we are posting invitations to attend our fall fundraisers. Unfortunately, we had to cancel our 2020 Health for Haiti pancake breakfast and bowling event and it is not looking like it will be possible to offer a January 2021 class. This is very sad news for our program. We know it is a difficult time for everyone but we hope that those who are able to make a donation will share what they can to help support our ongoing efforts in Haiti. You can find out how to help by clicking on the “Support Health for Haiti” button above.

Your support benefits our friends in Grande Saline and our future SUNY Broome Health for Haiti students – who we hope to welcome to the team as soon as it is safe to travel. We recently received a letter from a former Health for Haiti student who thanked us for memories that would last a lifetime and for the opportunity “to do the most important work on the planet.” Thank you for being a part of Health for Haiti’s efforts to empower these amazing and promising students, both here and in Haiti.

Future Fruits

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Greetings from Health for Haiti. Over the past months we have received many questions about how our friends in Haiti are doing and how they are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Here in the United States we are all too familiar with news about rising infections (some of the highest rates in the world), widespread unemployment, and worries about whether and how our schools will open this fall. The community in Grande Saline is facing many of the same challenges that we are, but they have far less access to testing and medical care. Like us, they are doing their best to wash their hands, social distance, and cover their faces in public. I have received pictures from Grande Saline showing people spacing out while they wait in line for water and new hand-washing stations with messages to educate the community about how to stay safe and healthy.

Given the challenges and struggles that many of our supporters are facing at home, we at Health for Haiti narrowed our focus to the most critical of projects in Grande Saline: clean water from the water filtration system and nutritious food from our community gardens. Our water filtration system continues to provide safe drinking water to the entire community, but obtaining gas and keeping the generators running has been a challenge. We hope that when the situation is safer in Haiti, we can begin the final phase of the solar for water project (which will involve a lot of shopping for panels and parts). We had a very successful harvest of peppers and corn this summer. The peppers were sold at market and the money was used to purchase rice seeds for our next planting. The corn was harvested and is now being used to help feed the local children.

But the main topic of this update is another type of garden – as described in the following reflection and update from school principal, Pastor Berlando (translated by Lafaille Schneider).

“Hello to all of the Health for Haiti supporters. I want to share with you my thoughts about our school in Grande Saline. This image from 2016 and is the first sponsored group of the school. These children were not able to afford school before your help, but they were lucky to have the scholarship helping them to obtain and education.

At this time in 2016 all of our classes were combined in the church and I was not really happy with how we had to teach all of the kids of all ages and abilities crowded together.

In 2017 things started to change for the school. With your help we were able to build more classrooms and expand our classes and hire more teachers. Because of this we were able to serve many more kids from the community. We were all grateful and excited for the new kind of education that we were able to offer to the kids. We knew we were building a center for excellence.

Below are pictures from 2020. We feel that it is easy to observe that a great move forward has been made for our school during the last four years. We are seeing our dreams come true, but without the help of the donors we wouldn’t be able to offer the quality of education that we are giving the community.

We have come such a long way in just a few years. We started with 25 kids and 2 teachers in 2010. Now, because of your help, we have the biggest staff of teachers serving in the entire surrounding community. It is a blessing from God. I have realized that every single donor is a kind of water drop. And the drops of water nourish our seedlings. Each seedling is a child that will someday later give beautiful fruits. And these fruits are truly the harvest of the investment from our donors who cared enough to change our community.”

School is scheduled to open again in Haiti on August 17th. To protect students and teachers from COVID-19, Haitian health leaders have set some requirements for the schools that will open. The school will always keep water, chlorine, and soap available to allow students and staff to wash their hands when they arrive at school and before they leave. They will also rotate the break times so that there are fewer children in each class at one time. Also, there will be no vacation breaks so that students can work to catch up and keep working towards their education goals.

As we look forward to the school reopening, Health for Haiti is excited to start a new initiative, The Grande Saline School Based Goat Project. The purpose of the project is to introduce the children to the benefits, care, and maintenance of goats. Goats greatly stimulate interest, cooperation, and empathy in children. Goats can expand educational opportunities and bring about many positive effects on child development. The goats will be utilized in various school subjects and activities. 

From Health for Haiti and the community in Grande Saline, we say thank you to all of the Health for Haiti donors who have nurtured all of those promising “seedlings” in Grande Saline. Even in these difficult times, your investment continues to thrive and grow. It is with optimism and hope that we look forward to seeing their beautiful future fruits.

 

The Courage to Continue

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“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
― Winston S. Churchill

Anyone who follows the news in Haiti is all too familiar with ominous reports of corruption, civil unrest, protests, roadblocks, kidnapping, disruption of schools and businesses, open combat between police, soldiers and gang members, gas shortages, rising prices for basic necessities, and recent estimates of nearly 4 million people in need of emergency food assistance. Words like anguish, suffering, and crisis are common. Just yesterday the U.S. State Department warned Americans not to travel to Haiti, raising the warning to Level 4 – Do Not Travel.

However, in the midst of all of this overwhelmingly negative news, we at Health for Haiti are inspired by the courage and optimism that we continue to see in our friends in Grande Saline. Next week will mark the anniversary of five years of clean safe drinking water.  The smiles we see on the faces of the first class of kindergarten students are even sweeter when we realize that these are the first children at the school to have had access to clean water since their birth.  We see determination on the face of seventh graders who are excited about their school computer classes.  Merlande has a passion for computer science and shares her dreams of one day earning an advanced degree in computer systems. Jimmy is interested in hardware, and hopes to become a technician.  He tells us that he wants to come back and work in his community because he recognizes the absence of technical computer support in rural Haiti.

Kindergarten class in Grande Saline
Jimmy
Merlande

Where much of the country is locked down because of volatile conditions on the streets, we are watching construction of the new dedicated sewing workshop and seeing enthusiastic students advance in their ability to make clothing, a valuable skill that can help them to earn a living in the future.

Sewing Workshop
Learning to make patterns.
Sewing class in school.
Making clothes

We are also seeing the impact and influence of our past education programs.  Since January 2014, Health for Haiti students and staff have collaborated with the community in rural Grande Saline to improve health through education. Although unstable conditions in Haiti resulted in the disappointing but necessary cancellation of the January 2020 Health for Haiti class and trip, we are proud and excited to see that even though we could not be there this year, the community is taking their own steps to better health.

Dr. Gary teaches the community about COVID 19.

This week Dr. Gary, a Haitian doctor who has worked closely with Health for Haiti for several years, met with the community in Grande Saline to share information about how they could best protect themselves from COVID-19. Community leader and school principal, Pastor Dorcent Berlando, urged local families to attend the session. “We felt it was necessary to let the community know about the risks. We know that this community is very vulnerable in terms of sanitation and hygiene,” explained Pastor Berlando.

 

Many people attended the presentation.

The church was filled to capacity with community members who learned about the importance of hand washing and how to recognize and respond to symptoms of infection. This night time meeting, lit with lights powered by Health for Haiti-installed solar panels, showed that our collaboration is initiating a real change in the community. Over the years SUNY Broome Health for Haiti students have shared high quality education with the community in Grande Saline. While in Haiti, we delivered lessons on hygiene, infectious disease, microscopy, and health.

Hand washing with clean water.

Health for Haiti always leaves Haitian Creole versions of the lessons behind and local teachers use and share the lessons so that the entire community is better informed about how to stay healthy. In a community that already faces many challenges, high quality health and science education is unique and empowering. Pastor Berlando credits Health for Haiti with helping to transform health in the community. “Thank you because we learn so much from you. You give us a lot of motivation to be who we are today.”

Microscopy Lesson
Microscopic observation lesson.
Teaching about healthy bones.
Teaching about a healthy heart.
Hygiene instruction

Next week we will join (in spirit) our friends in Grande Saline to celebrate five years of clean drinking water, to focus on the positive, and to remain hopeful for a better future. Our friends in Haiti face so many seemingly impossible challenges with courage and optimism. We are grateful for this collaboration as we also learn a lot from them about how to best face our own challenges.

Raising the flag before school.
Rocking some new shorts.

 

Kalensky’s Story

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Greetings from Health for Haiti.  It was heartbreaking to miss our annual trip to Haiti this month, but we have been encouraged by the continued progress we are seeing in Grande Saline.  Our students and staff certainly lost a valuable opportunity to travel and serve in Haiti, but we are glad to see that in terms of forward progress in Grande Saline – our physical presence is not necessarily required.  Our goal has always been to create sustainable positive change, and maybe a silver lining to the interruption in our visits is having the opportunity to see the community continue to rise in our absence

Last year, Pastor Berlando thanked the entire Health for Haiti team for investing in the young people in his community.  We are now seeing some of those first “investments” beginning to show incredible returns.  One example of this is a bright and cheerful young student named Kalensky. We met Kalensky on our first Health for Haiti class trip in 2014, and he immediately stood out for his enthusiasm and curiosity.

Kalensky in 2014

Sadly, in September 2015, Kalensky had an accident and suffered an injury that resulted in a badly broken arm.  Kalensky, who was only 10 at the time of the accident, was in terrible pain and at risk for having permanent damage to his arm.

Kalensky’s family was desperate to help him and tried taking him to a clinic that was not too far away.  Unfortunately, there was nothing that the clinic staff could do for him and they sent him home.  After 24 hours with no help, not even so much as an aspirin, Kalensky’s teacher took him by motorcycle to a hospital in Port au Prince.  Kalensky, who had already suffered many hours of excruciating pain, had to endure a three hour bumpy motorcycle ride without his mother or father to comfort him. This trip was made possible by Health for Haiti donation funds, and Kalensky’s family says that without the assistance he may not have received any treatment for his injury.

Kalensky’s injury before treatment.

Once in Port au Prince, Kalensky was able to receive medical treatment for his broken arm.  The doctor who took care of him said that for Kalensky to heal properly he had to have something to eat each day, and that it had to contain protein and calcium. This reveals how difficult conditions were in Grande Saline at this time. Kalensky, like many of the children in Grande Saline, was malnourished and often went entire days without eating due to the widespread food insecurity in his community.  Again, using some donation money, we were able to help Kalensky stay in Port au Prince for awhile and have access to the nutrition and care he needed to get better.

Kalensky recovered and regained full use of his arm. Soon he was back in school, playing with his friends, and helping his mother with chores. Since his recovery, Kalensky has always been one of the first helpers we encounter when we are unloading equipment from our bus.

As the years have passed we have had the pleasure of seeing Kalensky continue to grow and to thrive. In 2018 Health for Haiti dental hygiene students placed sealants on 8 of his permanent teeth, protecting that beautiful smile that Kalensky is always quick to share. He has particated in many education programs, often being selected by his teachers as a top student in his class. And Kalensky’s life has changed in other ways as well. There is no doubt that continued access to clean, safe drinking water, regular school lunches provided by community gardens, and high quality educational opportunities (including computer classes), have had a positive impact on Kalensky’s health and life.

One of the biggest changes to the school this year was the addition of kindergarten and the first secondary school class, 7th grade.  Previously, after completing 6th grade, students like Kalensky had to leave the community and walk a long ways to access secondary education. Now, Kalensky is part of the very first seventh grade class at the school in Grande Saline. In fact, Kalensky and his classmates asked for the creation of the secondary class and were a big part of making the new 7th grade a reality. Kalensky recently took some time to talk about how much he appreciates the opportunity to continue his education in his own community.

Here is a translation (provided by Schneider) of what Kalensky is saying in the video:

“I love the way that my school is working and the good job that my teachers do.  I like the principles and discipline that are taught here.  I always enjoy being with my classmates.  I want to say thank you to the school, the principal, the teachers, and the donors for what they have done for us.  They have all worked to make our school better.  I would not want to leave my school and go somewhere else.  I hope we can find a way to have more secondary classes so that my classmates and I can continue our studies in this school that we love so much.  Thank you for everything and for your sacrifice.  May God bless you and your families.”

It is hard to believe that the scared, injured little boy from 2015 has developed into the poised and motivated young man speaking in the video. Kalensky works hard in school and sets an good example for the younger children.  He and his fellow classmates demonstrate a pride and appreciation for their school that sets the tone for all of the other students. This school is transforming into the community’s vision of a “Center for Excellence”.

After several years of investing in food, water, education, we can see that these improvements are helping Kalensky and other young people in Grande Saline to be healthier and stronger and well prepared for a successful life.  We are proud to share stories like Kalensky’s with our students, staff, and donors because we cannot imagine a better return on an investment than seeing a young person realizing his or her full potential as they work towards a brighter future for themselves, their family, and their community.

Thank you Health for Haiti supporters for your investment in this community, and we wish continued good luck to our friend, Kalensky!

“For our own success to be real, it must contribute to the success of others.”

                                                                             – Eleanor Roosevelt

Something to Celebrate

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Yesterday, November 18, was a day of holiday, celebration, and tremendous national pride in Haiti. The school in Grande Saline marked the occasion with a community-wide parade and party that included reenactments, music, and dancing.  At a time when most of the news from Haiti centers around unrest, turmoil, and suffering, yesterday’s news from the school in Grande Saline was all about celebrating some of the amazing and unique history that makes Haiti unlike any other place in the world.

Battle of Vertières. Image by Cap-Haitien

November 18 commemorates The Battle of Vertières is a much loved day of national pride throughout all of Haiti.  This holiday celebrates the November 18, 1803 decisive victory against the Napoleon’s army of French soldiers.

The Haitian battle for independence began in 1791 when Toussaint Louverture led the first successful uprising of slaves.  After several years of brutal conflicts, the Battle of Vertières was the last major battle of the revolution and marked the beginning of the end of French colonial rule and oppression.

The Nèg Mawon

By 1803, Louverture was dead and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, one of his lieutenants, led the final bloody battles of the revolution. The victory at the Battle of Vertières is credited with bringing about Haiti’s Declaration of Independence on January 1, 1804.  This revolution resulted in the creation of the first independent black nation and had major ramifications throughout the entire world. It played a critical role in the end of the transatlantic slave trade, and remains the only example in modern history where an uprising of an enslaved people led to the creation of an independent nation.

In the pictures and videos from the celebration in Grande Saline, you can see a depiction of another classic symbol of Haitian freedom. The Nèg Mawon (“The Unknown Slave”) is a bronze statue in Port-au-Prince, Haiti that depicts a runaway slave and commemorates the abolishment of slavery. Designed by Haitian sculptor and architect Albert Mangonès and completed in 1967, the sculpture serves a moving reminder of the call to rebellion against the slave-holding France in 1791. The striking sculpture show a man with one leg powerfully extended behind him, a broken shackle around his ankle.  In one hand he holds a machete, a sign of his willingness to fight. With the other hand he raises a conch shell to his lips, representing the traditional call to action. The Nèg Mawon survived the 2010 earthquake and has become the nation’s iconic symbol of freedom. In fact, the Nèg Mawon viewed across the world as a symbol for freedom.

We hope you will enjoy these images and short videos from yesterday in Grande Saline.  It was a wonderful day for the entire community.  One of the best things about this recent news from Grande Saline is that the tremendous national pride associated with celebrating Battle of Vertières and the birth of Haitian independence was matched and perhaps exceeded by the pride the community has for their thriving school and their enthusiastic children. “Our purpose is to create a true center of excellence here.  It takes a tremendous effort, because we are only beginning our work.  I thank you to all of the donors who have made sacrifices to help our community and school,” Pastor Berlando.

It is easy to focus on the negative in Haiti.  But even in times of trouble, we must not lose sight of the positive spirit of history, pride, perseverance, art, culture, faith, resilience, and hope that are inseparably intertwined with all of the other aspects of life in Haiti.

 

Full of Hope

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Hello, Health for Haiti friends.

We want to share a thoughtful and unflinching update about the current situation in Haiti that was written by the admirable Fr. Rick Frechette at Saint Luke Foundation in Port au Prince.  We at Health for Haiti are inspired by Fr. Rick’s tremendous commitment to the people of Haiti, through good times and bad, and we are proud to echo his statement:

“We have not given up on Haiti, or on our world. We are full of hope, and eager to keep the fire of hope kindling good and helpful action.”   -Fr. Rick Frechette, Port au Prince

Fr. Rick’s recent post can be found here:

http://www.stlukehaiti.org/blog/2019/11/12/a-floating-hospital-and-a-sinking-country-2

Thank you, Fr. Rick, for your example and your faith and your “revolution of caring people”.

We look forward to joining you by continuing our own small revolution of caring through our partnership with the people of Grande Saline, Haiti.  We appreciate all who joined our “Pancakes for Progress” event last weekend.  With your help and support we can continue to protect and strengthen “good and helpful action” and the positive progress that persists even in the face of country-wide turmoil and suffering.

We too are full of hope.

What kind of progress can you make with pancakes?

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Dear Health for Haiti Friends,

We need you! Please join us next Sunday, November 10th between 8am and 10am at Applebees on Front Street in Binghamton for our “Pancakes for Progress” fundraiser.  Come out and eat some pancakes for a good cause!  In case you don’t think that $7 and some of your time on a Sunday morning can make a big difference, here are some examples of how your participation will help our neighbors in Haiti.

By purchasing even one ticket for this event, you can:

  • Provide an entire family in rural Haiti with clean, safe drinking water for one month
  • Help to support a monthly medical clinic
  • Help to pay a teacher’s salary
  • Support our school lunch program by helping to fund the rice harvest in the community gardens
  • Help to fund computer and sewing classes for children and adults

Our breakfast will be staffed by Health for Haiti students and staff, and we are all hoping to serve a lot of pancakes!  Tickets can be purchased this week from Maureen Hankin (hankinmr@sunybroome.edu) or Jen Musa (musajm@sunybroome.edu).  Tickets will also be available at the door, but please let us know if you are coming so we can be sure to have enough pancakes.

Thank you for your support of Health for Haiti and we hope to see you next Sunday!

Pancakes for Progress: Please Join Us!

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Dear Health for Haiti Friends,

Although we are not able travel to Haiti this January, our students and staff are working to ensure that projects bringing positive change to the community in Grande Saline can continue to move forward.  We really need your support.  Please consider joining our efforts by attending the Health for Haiti “Pancakes for Progress” breakfast.

What: Pancakes for Progress Flapjack Fundraiser

When: Sunday, November 10, 2019 from 8 am to 10 am

Where: Applebees at 842 Upper Front Street in Binghamton

(across from SUNY Broome)

Breakfast tickets are only $7 and will be available at the door…but please let us know if you plan to attend so we can make sure to have plenty of pancakes!

For more information or to RSVP for our event, please contact:

Jen Musa (musajm@sunybroome.edu)

or

Maureen Hankin (hankinmr@sunybroome.edu)

This fundraiser will help us to continue to provide clean safe drinking water, community gardens, basic health services, education, and economic opportunities.  Below you can see examples of some recent progress in Grande Saline, such as pictures of all of the grade levels at the school (now including kindergarten AND seventh grade….our first secondary school class!!), rice growing in the community garden, our water filtration system with the new pavilion to support future solar panels, and this month’s medical clinic.

This is a tremendously difficult time for millions of people in Haiti, and the needs there are greater now than ever. We hope to show our friends in Grande Saline that Health for Haiti remains committed to our partnership, even if – for now – we can only help from home.

So please come and eat some pancakes for a good cause…and bring a friend!

Looking for Light

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“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that,”

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Greetings from Health for Haiti. There are many places across our planet where every day good people must face insecurity, instability and danger.  For us at Health for Haiti, it is so painful to see continued unrest and hardship for our friends and partners in Haiti.  We see people who already lack some of life’s most basic necessities, enduring even more hardship and misery.  A recent Washington Post article reported that almost half of the population in Haiti lives on less than $2.40 a month. Now those people are experiencing even greater shortages in food, water, and gas. Businesses are closed, prices are rising, and almost two million Haitian children have not been able to attend school in over a month.   And maybe the worst part is that there just does not seem to be any resolution in sight.  This is why we had no choice but to make the difficult decision to cancel our January 2020, Health for Haiti class.  For the twenty students who had signed up to join us and the dedicated Health for Haiti staff, it is a major disappointment.  And while it is even more disappointing for our friends and partners in Haiti, we have received nothing but responses filled with love, understanding, and faith in their knowledge that we will return as soon as it is safe for us to do so.

Grande Saline Children’s Choir

I was in Haiti last weekend and had the pleasure of visiting Grande Saline and seeing how the community continues to be transformed. Somehow on an already bright and sunny day, the light seemed even brighter in Grande Saline.  So rather than dwelling on the darkness, we are going to share some of that beautiful light with you.

Despite the recent flood, the rice in the community gardens is growing beautifully. And the water system is also working really well. Engineer Greg Cempa met with the operators and did some quick maintenance.  The pavilion to support the solar panels is nearly complete, the next step will be to complete the concrete floor.  After that, we are ready for solar panels and the other equipment needed to convert the system from gas to solar power. What a major step forward it will be to lose the reliance on gas (which is so expensive and hard to find), and harness the power of Haiti’s abundant sunshine.

The school is also blossoming.  The students and teachers continue to display their pride, enthusiasm and tremendous dedication.  The teachers tell us that they are hoping to inspire the future leaders of Haiti. One look into the bright eyes of these children makes it impossible to not feel optimistic for the future. There are now another two cheerful classrooms that are being used as the kindergarten.

Pastor Berlando says, “My dreams are coming true.  People in the community are beginning to witness how our school is transforming the children’s education. And while many places in the country are not open now, here our children are in school and learning.”

There is also a new hand washing station utilizing clean water from the water filtration system.  It is operated by foot pedals, and does not splash water on the teachers clothes or children’s uniforms. The waste water is diverted to the boy’s lavatory and helps to keep the floor clean.

Construction of the sewing workshop is also progressing.  The walls have been constructed and we are ready to raise money to complete the project. I met with the sewing teachers last weekend and they are so excited to have their own space to work.  The workshop will have two rooms, one for beginners and one for the more advanced students.

In Grande Saline, we see many shining signs that there are brighter days ahead for Haiti.  And even if we can be there in person in January, we continue to stand side by side with the community there, cheering them on and supporting them as they focus on the future.

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness,”

-Desmond Tutu

And this is where we need to call on our extended Health for Haiti family to join us in providing that support. Despite the cancellation of our class, we still plan to have our annual Health for Haiti pancake breakfast on Sunday, November 10th from 8am to 10am at Applebee’s on Front Street in Binghamton.  We will also have our annual 50/50 raffle.  We ask that you please consider buying or even selling breakfast ($7) or raffle ($5) tickets and attending our event. The people we serve in Haiti need assistance now more than ever, and we hope to show them that despite all of the dark news coming from their country our community is still there for them.

Thank you for your support and please contact Jen Musa (musajm@sunybroome.edu) or Maureen Hankin (hankinmr@sunybroome.edu) if you are able to assist or participate in our breakfast or raffle.