Report of August 2019

by Catherine SavelL

What has been done:

• The boys of the Foyer Notre Dame de Lourdes are maturing as artists and craftsmen, producing beautiful paintings and coconut bark earrings. In addition, this summer, the girls learned to make “papier mâché” bowls and colorful tropical fish mobiles. 

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• I brought two more sewing machines to the Foyer just in time to prepare all the mandatory uniforms for the beginning of school. Also brought needed sandals and very appreciated cleats (Thank you St. Pius X church parishioners)
• In addition to last year’s sponsorship of 15 children, we offered school registration fees for 2 more children. 

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• Very happy to visit in person “Petit 2melé” (“little resourceful”), the convenience store/café started and managed by Edouardson. Brought up at the Foyer, now 25 years old, he is showing initiative, resourcefulness, grit and imagination. He fixed a nice little place not too far from the sea in a quiet country setting. Not only does he have a TV thanks to students of Loyola University but now he also has a solar panel, inverter and battery pack that enable him to have electricity.  With his new DVD player and some movies and he is planning weekend movie nights for his community. This should enable him to generate a better revenue sufficient to live independently and care for his sister who has recently joined him.

• Exciting also to see 9 of the older girls and 4 of the older boys settling in “Jo’s house”, the transition house we helped renovate. Not easy for them: they say the neighbors think they have been rejected by the Foyer and so look down on them! We worked on changing those perceptions and setting up a structure to make this space viable. The young adults came up with their own rules and everyone will chip in. The boys are all employed at the Foyer thanks to the generosity of Pauline, a Canadian volunteer and we are funding three salaries for six months for three girls that have important responsibilities in the kitchen and caring for the younger children.   The other 6 girls have formed three teams and are starting small businesses (cosmetics sales, bread sales, and undergarment & school supplies sales). This means that all the participants of the house will have some funds to contribute to the expenses of water and hopefully propane for cooking at least some of the meals.  We left funds for Jo to buy a water tank and she is hoping to get a hose long enough to get water from the Foyer. Right now, the transition house has no kitchen, no water and no electricity. I am anxious to see what the $1,300 raised by the RVH club and campus ministry mass donations at Loyola, that I gave to Tatie Jo, will accomplish

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• Finally, I met with Bully and Fredeline and refined the Robinson Project: a micro-credit endeavor. Named for the initiator and first funder, Andy Robinson in honor of his son, Thomas, class of 2014 at Loyola University, this venture is linking a current Loyola student, Evelis Casey (who volunteered twice at the Foyer) to the mentoring done by Bully and Fredeline in Haiti. Six women will get loans at 2% to create their own small business. Starting date? Week of August 21, 2019.

What’s next?

• Latest urgent issue: the neighbors of the Foyer have complained that teens from the Foyer go over the fence at night and into their yards! So, responding to Maud’s request, RVH will fund fence modifications in the amount of $2,000
• RVH seeks to fund the salaries for the mothers who are being hired by the Foyer to work there. This is part of the “family reunification” efforts promoted by organizations such as UNICEF and the social services of Haiti. Women are provided a rented house for one year, given a maximum of $ 500 and the children they had placed in homes, such as the Foyer are sent back to them, in one case familiar to me, as many as 5 children, all at once. These mothers are not prepared to manage and are unable to make this money generate the revenue they need and will need.  So, Maud is attempting to hire the mothers as laundress; the children can still attend school at the Foyer, all eat there but at the end of the day all go home with their mother. RVH has started paying the salary of one of these mothers, Mme François. 
• It was about 5 am on my last day at the Foyer when the fan stopped!!  This may not seem like a big deal, but in Haiti and at the Foyer, this means the mosquitoes and the flies make you their breakfast AND that the pump in the water well doesn’t work, therefore there is not enough water for everyone ( about 140 people ) to take their morning shower. This happened because the visiting dentist had plugged his sterilizer for one hour the night before!!!!  There is power from the city about 10 % of the time, the rest of the time, the Foyer relies on the solar panels to have done their job. It had been overcast and rained the day before, so the battery packs hadn’t had a chance to fill up. Power for lights, two refrigerators, a freezer, a coffee maker and a toaster used by volunteers are all the capacity of the current installation, anything else is an overload. 
• RVH is inviting our two representatives Bully and Fredeline to come to the US in the Fall (a first for both of them) This will be ten days of visits, roundtable discussions, idea exchanges and learning for all . The Loyola students will learn about the challenges of a developing economy and the Robinson micro-credit project.  Bully and Fredeline will learn about what is done along those lines downtown Baltimore and also have a chance to brainstorm with students and faculty from the Sellinger school to get ideas about how to grow the Robinson program and their own existing small shops. Bully has a small wholesale shop and Fredeline, a clothing stall.

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