Hi all – things in Fondwa are moving slowly.

APF partnered with the World Food Program to distribute food to more than 2,000 beneficiaries.

Tents arrived in Fondwa – both from donors and also President of UNIF Riche Zamor who visited Fondwa this past week. UNIF finished off the first semester 2 weeks ago. UNIF opened on March 10 for 3 weeks to finish two weeks of class and one week of exams. The majority of the students returned and stayed the three weeks in Fondwa, but fewer professors returned to teach courses. Nevertheless, some classes were still held and some professors still gave exams while others just awarded students the grade they had prior to the quake. All the students have returned to their homes and a couple students have found work with international organizations, including with Tearfund who is working in Fondwa.

Water filters from Safe Water were also distributed to students in the University of Fondwa.

Also, Gito, an agronomy technician for APF passed away last Wednesday as a result of a stomach problem. The community held several days of prayer that ended this past Sunday.

APF has placed its temporary office in the Solidarity House at Miso.

My apologies for taking such a large break from this blog.

Fondwa is starting to progress. The School of St. Antoine and the Univeristy of Fondwa have opened their doors again, but it is still a huge struggle. 75% of the UNIF students returned on March 15 to finish the three remaining weeks of their first semester. Some professors taught their courses, but there is a shortage of professors as some have left the country and others have found other jobs with international relief organizations. However, the students are dedicated and are staying in Fondwa until they have finished their final exams. As previously noted, CARE had donated 4 tents for the students to sleep in. Unfortunately, the tents are not waterproof and this will soon become a huge problem. However, thanks to donations from friends back home, we were able to purchase waterproof tents to house the students.

Safe Water Today donated 30 water filters. A good friend who is visiting, Meredith Pierce, and I trained the UNIF students to use the filters and will train others to also use the filters. We will be buying two buckets in the Wed market tomorrow to give each recipient. We will be tracking the usage of the filters to evaluate the success of filters in rural Haiti. The students are an integral piece in this project.

We hope to receive 100 solar lamps from Biogreen within the next two weeks. Shipping has been slow…as is expected.

The Radio is being set up! AMARC has been visiting to set up Radyo Zetwal Peyizan Fondwa. They came with all equipment and are setting it up with Radio personnel Enel and Francy in a temporary shelter. We are still looking into the possibility of purchasing ship containers to protect the equipment, as well as house other activities, as hurricane season will come.

Fondwa has set up a Cash-for-Work program that employs 50 daily labors to clean up the damage from the University, university dorms, and APF Guest Center. With two teams of 25, they have almost finished clearing the land.

Other projects in Fondwa are a temporary shelter project which includes the construction of plywood structures. This is serving as a temporary Guest House for visitors.

Tearfund, a Christian UK NGO, is setting up a base in Fondwa. Tearfund has committed to working in Fondwa for the next five years…both in the zones near APF as well as further areas such as Citronnier. They are looking to set up an office close to the APF site and have talked about working closely with APF.

Save the Children has a mobile clinic in the Citronnier zone and are also working with Foundation Feuilles d’Hier to finally set up the Child Friendly Space.

APF is also working on a seed and agricultural tool project. As the planting season approaches, it is now more important than ever that Fondwans receive the resources they need to grow food. Many, many marmites of beans have been purchased and distributed to the farmers.

APF also has established a partnership with the World Food Program and will be distributing TBA. This is a huge step up in rural attention during the quake.

However, as rainy season begins, there is a great possibility that the road to Jacmel from Port-au-Prince will become impassable. This will also block of FOndwa. The quake caused many points of the hillside hugging the road to Jacmel to fall and the hills are now partially in the road. When the rains fall, this could very well cause more landslides and block the roads to Jacmel off. This is going to create a huge problem for Fondwa, an area that was hardly a recepient to aid pre-rainy season. The base that Tearfund sets up will help in this regard and Save the Children is working to make the mobile clinic more permanent and to pre-stock it with medications, supplies, and human resources so that these areas are not left empty handed within the next few months.

Although activities are happening, the pain is still as pungent as ever. As the adrenaline from the earthquake fades, the perpetual pain still stings. The earthquake has exacerbated the pain that normally exists in Fondwa and reminds us that their “normal” lives were never “normal” or acceptable at all.

We have just announced a new partnership with “Innovation Park” at the University of Notre Dame. This is an exciting development for us, and for the prospects of the film overall. We would like to thank Innovation Park for their generosity and support as we continue to scale things up with distribution of The Road to Fondwa!

Press release below, also available here.

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Road to Fondwa, LLC Seeks to Optimize Film Distribution Efforts During Park Engagement

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (February 23, 2010) – Innovation Park at Notre Dame today announced the addition of a new client, Road to Fondwa, LLC. The company, which will reside in Innovation Park’s Greenhouse space, will work with the Park in the coming months to significantly increase the distribution, awareness and impact of the documentary “The Road to Fondwa,” filmed exclusively in Haiti.

Founded in 2009 by Notre Dame alumni Justin Brandon, Brian McElroy and Daniel Schnorr, Road to Fondwa, LLC, is seeking to utilize the documentary of the same name to help generate funding for organizations dedicated to providing relief to earthquake-stricken Haiti.

“The Road to Fondwa,” filmed in 2006, tells the powerful story of a rural Haitian community poised to change the future of Haiti. To date, the film has been screened at nine film festivals throughout the United States, receiving critical acclaim.

Following the devastating news of the earthquake in Haiti, Road to Fondwa, LLC, has implemented new plans to utilize the film as a tool to aid relief efforts. Most recently, the film has been showcased at screenings throughout the U.S. as a fund-raising tool for relief organizations. Currently, the company is contributing 100 percent of the proceeds from DVD sales to Haiti earthquake relief efforts in the area near Fondwa, Haiti, via organizations such as Partners in Health and Yele Haiti.

“Innovation Park wishes to help Road to Fondwa, LLC, find ways to market this powerful documentary as a tool to help raise additional funds for critical earthquake relief operations,” said David Brenner, President and CEO of Innovation Park. “The company’s dedication to sustainable, ’double bottom-line’ operations make it a timely venture supporting a worthy cause.”

“When we were looking for a place and partner to help us discern what we needed to do to take our efforts to the next level, Innovation Park seemed like a natural fit,” said Brandon. “Through our engagement at the Park, our company hopes to find ways to make a difference in the lives of countless Haitians via organizations that can make an immediate impact.”

The documentary will be screened Feb. 25 at the University of Notre Dame’s Eck Visitors’ Center. Doors open at 7 p.m. EST. The screening is free and open to the public; optional donations will benefit relief organizations. For more information, visit www.fondwa.org.

Innovation Park’s Greenhouse is a unique space designed to foster innovation and development for ventures in their earliest stages. Based on the principle that dynamic collaboration results in more commercially viable businesses, the Greenhouse provides space and technology for new ventures to brainstorm and collaborate with market experts on critical commercialization issues.

About Innovation Park at Notre Dame
Innovation Park at Notre Dame connects innovators, market experts and capital providers to help transform innovations into viable marketplace ventures. Located adjacent to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., the Park connects clients with key ingredients essential to commercial success. The 55,000 square-foot facility includes high-technology collaborative areas, fully-equipped conference rooms, build-to-suit office suites and dry and wet laboratory space. The Park is designed to serve a variety of businesses, including ventures with expected commercial applications from core Notre Dame research areas as well as ventures that can benefit from access to expertise and resources available through the Park. Innovation Park is a 501c3 organization wholly owned by Notre Dame. For more information, visit www.innovationparknd.com.

February 14 – 20

Haiti Update: February 12-14 were national days of mourning and prayer. This was the weekend that was to be Kanavel. February 14 saw some small ra-ra’s (street rallys) throughout Port-au-Prince and Leogane.

International Organization Update: Save the Children and Fondation Feuilles d’Hier visited Fondwa for the second time to plan the child-friendly space. They hopefully will be setting up the area with a tent and latrine and equip the kids with toys and water by next Thursday.

After making contact with CARE and requesting tents for 50 people (students and professors) to sleep in during three weeks of reopening so that UNIF can finish off the last three weeks of the previous semester. CARE came to assess and gave us tents for 20 people. It’s a start?

BRAC visited Fondwa to do an assessment.

Gabriel from Sonje Ayiti distributed medical supplies and other aid in Fondwa this week. Sonje Ayiti is a grassroots organization in O-Kap.

After students did local surveys to find out how many people were victim to the quake, we sent the information to the WFP who said they were able to increase the amount of food at existing distributing sites for the student’s zones. However, the students lived too far from the existing sites and their neighborhoods were not willing to travel to get the food, so they declined the offer. This is the ever frustrating aspect of aid…knowing that it is very difficult for families to travel to get food, but also seeing the complexity of logistics to distribute in so many places – and seeing the gap in understanding between the two groups….

UNIF International Meeting: UNIF had planned to host an international meeting on the topic of UNIF as a Working College. In the face of the earthquake, we still decided to hold the meeting. However, due to travel constraints through the DR, we did not have too many international visitors. Though, we were graced with the presence of Brian McElroy, the filmmaker of the Road to Fondwa, Professor Loretta from SUNY, Fr. Marc, and Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder and director of BRAC, along with his staff. Friday and Sunday included visits of Fondwa. Saturday took place at the Hotel Auberge du Quebec in Carrefour. We spent the day together discussing what happened to UNIF, how the working-college model can help the university in the crisis, identifying our needs, and each person making individual commitments to UNIF. Any universities interested in creating mutually beneficial partnerships (i.e. with research, internship, teaching-ship opportunities), let’s start talking. We want to rebuild UNIF in a way that brings respect and dignity to the students and professors and creates lasting sustainable bonds.

Emergency Committee: We stopped meeting this week, mainly because we have nothing to discuss/distribute.
Update on cleaning UNIF: we hired people to recover items in the building but still usable. We stored them in a container in Anba Tonel. We were able to save solar panels, batteries, books, invertor, and invertor control panel.

Current Needs: TENTS! Rainy season is coming! Contact me at aadepasquale@gmail.com if you want to donate a tent.

February 10, 2010
Hi, I’m Allison and I’ve been working in Fondwa since July. I was here during the quake and am going to post weekly updates about the situation in Fondwa.
International Aid: Up until now, Fondwa has been visited by Heart to Heart International who administered medical aid for a day and a group of Cuban doctors who also administered medical aid for one day. We have also received visits from UN OCHA, World Food Program, and Tear Fund who have done assessments. UN OCHA and WFP did rapid assessments (20 minutes) and Tear Fund stayed a week (currently still on the ground). Fondation Feuilles d’Hier, a local grassroots Haitian organization, visited this week to assess two sites to possibly put “child friendly spaces”. We have started clearing out these areas and hope to receive the group on Friday. They will hopefully bring tents, toys, and water for the kids. They will have a day formation for personnel who will work with the children. CARE will visit tomorrow to look at UNIF’s site. There is a possibility that they can provide UNIF with tents so that we can finish the first semester from March 8 – 26.
Grassroots Organizing: While we have yet to receive anything solid on the ground in Fondwa, we are organized to receive when the aid is ready. We have set up a Komite Ijans with 10 members of the community including the elected officials (Kasek), a women’s rep, a youth rep, a university rep, among others. The Komite has covered half of the nine habitations of Fondwa in a census and hopefully will finish the rest shortly.
Current Needs: We still need lots of tents. The first rain since the earthquake came last night and many people were not protected by their “sheet” makeshift homes. We also need to buy seeds. The planting season will approach and families will not have money to buy seeds…if we don’t get this, Fondwa is going to be hurting long term. UNIF is aiming to reopen in March, for the last three weeks of the semester. We need tents for 50 people to sleep in (if CARE can’t provide, these can be bought in PauP for $45 for a three person tent, a large tarp (size 74 x 34 feet), 36 chairs (money can be donated to employ a carpenter), and basic school supplies.
I will send weekly updates. Feel free to contact me at aadepasquale@gmail.com for info on donations,

While in Haiti shooting The Road to Fondwa we stayed at the Hospice St. Joseph, in Port-Au-Prince, for several nights. This building was a place that many ex-pats had stayed at throughout the years, and it was always a welcoming and safe community. This is where Dan Schnorr (director of The Road to Fondwa) stayed when he was sick with malaria for two weeks and recovering. We are all very sad that the era of Hospice St. Joseph in Port-Au-Prince appears to be over. See the before and after photos below:

Hospice St. Joseph BEFORE the Earthquake

Hospice St. Joseph AFTER the Earthquake

This is an e-mail we got today from our friend Dr. Rich Gosser, Executive Director or Partners in Progress – an American NGO partnered closely with the community of Fondwa.
———————
Friends,

After days filled with concern for the Sisters, children, and others in Fondwa and mounting frustration over the absence of relief coming to Fondwa there is some good news! Sr. Kay from Leavenworth was able to get through by telephone to Sr. Carmelle in Fonwa. The Sisters are OK, but feeling the stress of their circumstances. Sr. Kay reports “good news” though!

Earthquake Refugee Camp in Fondwa

Sr. Judy Dohner, HM (who before the earthquake lived with the Sisters in Fondwa and worked in the medical clinic there) was able to get to Fondwa with two tents (and a crew to set them up) that will provide temporary shelter for the Sisters! Sr. Judy is also arranging for additional, substantial relief to be delivered by helicopter tomorrow!! This is some of the best news we’ve had and all of us – who are friends of the Sisters and others in Fondwa – owe her a debt of gratitude. Mesi anpil, Se Judy. – Thank you VERY much, Sr. Judy.

We also heard from the good people at Heart to Heart International (KS) that they were attempting to deliver more food and water to the Sisters and others in Fondwa. Heart to Heart is the first (and so far only) relief agency that has been to Fondwa. I congratulate their “extreme team” and other staff on the ground in Haiti and at their home office in KS for getting to Fondwa and then returning. Thank you!

The good people at CRS are also aware of the needs in Fondwa thanks to the many people who contacted the Baltimore headquarters. They are also aware of similar needs in Trouin, a little town near Fondwa and will be making their way there or passing along the responsibility to the agency assigned to that sector. Friends, I think we can stop banging on the door of CRS – at least for now! Thank you, Fr. Chris Promis, for fielding our calls and feeling our concern on behalf of the Sisters, kids and others in Fondwa and thanks to the staff of CRS who are working so hard to do their job on the ground in Haiti.

Another photo from the camp where the sisters are currently living.

We expect additional news from Fondwa in the next day or so. The Sisters know that many people here are continuing to pray for them and that we love them. Let us continue to remember them and so many others in our prayers. Thank you all.

Rich

The NBC affiliate in San Diego did a segment on Fondwa this morning. Correspondent Jenn Van Grove interviewed Allison DePasquale who is a volunteer with the University of Fondwa. During the segment we also heard from a representative from the Peasant Association of Fondwa. Watch the embedded video below:

The album from the recent star-studded telethon for Haiti earthquake relief, Hope For Haiti Now, is now available on iTunes:

Find Hope For Haiti Now Here (opens in iTunes)

100% of proceeds from the sale of the album Hope For Haiti Now are being contributed to Haiti earthquake relief efforts.

Please note that international organizations are extremely slow to get to Fondwa due to its remote location, so please also check our other blog posts on how to help Fondwa directly.

Below is the verbatim letter I just received from Fr. Joseph Philippe about the immediate needs in Fondwa, Haiti. If you are able to help, please e-mail justin [at] fondwa.org and we will put you in touch with the right people to coordinate. Please help!
——
Some Immediate Needs In Fondwa ( First Draft)
January 21, 2010
10:30 a.m.

Support Plan For The Fondwa Community: 2,500 families of 5 people ( including the Orphanage children, The Sisters Of Fondwa, the members of the APF small working groups, the Fondwa population, the Church groups and our staff: APF, The Fondwa School and The University of Fondwa

Duration: 1- 2 months ( First Level: A)

Management: We have a Fondwa Emergency Relief Committee in place of 9 members made of: 2 Representatives from APF, 2 from UNIF, one from the women’s group, one from the Sisters’ Community, one from the youth groups and 2 from the Local Elected Officers ( Kazek and Azek):

Needs:
A: First Level
1) Water, food (rice, beans, catfish, oil, spaghetti, sugar) health care ( Ambulance Medical Car), mobile toilets, toilet articles, women and children sanitation, snickers, blankets, sheets, towels and clothes for children
2) Water tanks, empty 5 gallons of water, empty drums and buckets
3) Tents for groups of 50 and 100 people (large plastic cover)
4) Storage containers 3 or 4
5) Energy and wireless communication – help to rebuild our Broadcasting Radio Station and our internet service
6) Wireless emergency system.
7) Solar systems storage panels for emergency light
8.) Flash lights, Generator and gas / inverter and other alternative energy
9) Transportation means: 2-3 motorbikes, a Toyota pick-up
10) Light Equipments: pick axes, wheelbarrows, shovels, hoes,
11) Lift up the waste of the destroyed homes
12) An Architect- Engineer Firm to evaluate the remaining houses and our future
Construction sites – to make recommendation and designs “ blue-prints and market” for new homes / facilities
13) Temporary homes ( prefabricated in wood or concrete and furniture)

B: Level ( Human Resources / Equipments / Investment

1) Temporary homes ( prefabricated in wood or concrete and furniture)
2.1- In Fondwa
a. Residence for the Sisters ( 3 groups of 5 people)
b. The School ( 650 – 700 students)
c. The Clinic
d. The Orphanage ( 65 children)
e. The International Volunteers and the Guests
f. The Credit Union building
g. Meeting facility

2.2- Facilities for the University Of Fondwa ( 6 classrooms, dormitory for teachers and students ( between 100 and 150 people), Auditorium for 100 people, Laboratory and Library (a communications system; (internet, key or small PBX)
2.5- In Port-au-Prince:
a) Office space for 12-15 people
b) Living place for 2 -4 International Volunteers
c) Living place for 15-20 International Guests

2) Heavy Equipments: a small dump truck and a backhoe loader
3) A Manager and an Accountant in Fondwa to manage our small businesses
4) Start – up Capital to rebuild APF small businesses ($50,000.00US)

C. Level: Equipment to transform waste of destroyed houses
D- Level: Activities For Sustainable Development
a) Job creation opportunities and support to the local micro business individuals ($75,000.00 US)
b) Technical Assistance to improve agriculture and animal husbandry
c) Housing Project for the people with plumbing and electricity