Matènwa Community Learning Center

The irony of it all. The MCLC is a model community that encourages people to grow their own food and buy local food, avoiding imported rice. Yesterday, one of our staff brought back 8 large sacks of Haitian rice and some cooking oil from St Marc. The staff was content and I too was pleased to hear this. This can cover the school breakfast program for both Matènwa elementary schools for a month. What was distressing was that this is all he found in the large port town of St Marc on the mainland. There was no corn meal nor millet to buy. The depots on Lagonav did not have any sacks of food to buy either. There was more food in the market than last week, but still not enough given the amount of people. Benaja states, “Even though the eastern half of the island was hit harder by the quake than the western half in terms of physical damage, it is always the western half (referred to as “anba lagonav”) that suffers more in terms of food. They have manioc and sweet potatoes in the ground. That might last two weeks.” In the face of starvation, never say never. Continue reading →

The Matènwa Community Learning Center held preschool through ninth grade classes in the courtyards and around the outside of our round building this week. The central pillars of the round building are cracked so no one is taking the risk of holding classes inside. The Breakfast program is running smoothly and our community is organizing to receive food shipments as well as begin to harvest and sell local grains. There are over a hundred schools on the island of Lagonav. MCLC IS THE ONLY SCHOOL UP AND RUNNING ON LAGONAV. Our Local Arts Center is also functioning, holding weaving and embroidery classes, safely in my yard. We are encouraging other schools to also open their doors to start to bring education and hope back into to the lives of all of our children and families of Lagonav.

We thank you for your donations and hope that you will continue to send them so that our local initiatives can succeed in these hardest of times. Because of you, our partners, we can feel hopeful, because of you we are going to rebuild. Every voice makes a difference. Please keep Matènwa in your conversations circles.

Thank you

Chris

I just talked to Feronel who was crossing from St Marc with food. He said that there was no corn meal or millet to buy there, it was bought up on Friday but that he did get rice and cooking oil. People from the port town of Ansagale are coming to buy food from the market ladies in the mountains. They are in great fear that food is running out in Anse a galets.
The USS Bunker Hill went to Anse-a-Galets yesterday and did meet with a group which included several mayors in Anse a galets. They are seeking a needs assessment and people that they can partner with. MCLC is trying to connect them with key leaders on Lagonav including the Civil Protection Director, AAPLAG and Concern staff. MCLC wants aid to get to the people of Lagonav with the advice of local leaders on how to do it without starting fights. Apparently there was a food drop by helicopter on the other side of the island the day before that resulted in causing a large crowd to scramble and fight over what was dropped.

Dear Supporters,
More and more PAP refugees are coming to Lagonav everyday. Not only homeless family members but their homeless friends. We are working to reduce pressure on our families by keeping our school breakfast program running strong, presently feeding 241 children at our school and 150 children at a neighboring elementary school. As I write, a member of our staff, Feronel, and a member of Women Artists of Matènwa, Nini, are going in search of food on the mainland. Staff plan to go to St. Marc to buy more food. MCLC will buy as much food as they can from the mainland before turning to eat what is left in their gardens. If we have enough money to do so, MCLC will buy and resell food in the main open market at an affordable price in an effort to help our neighboring communities. We hope that this strategy will stretch our dwindling resources.

Thank you so much for your donations and all your moral support during these difficult times. Have have been touched by all your emails and offers to help us.

In solidarity,

Chris

Dear Supporters,
I share news that is making me anxious and ask that you continue to send all the money that you are willing to part with for our breakfast program. We will be needing to feed our community in the coming weeks and months, people are flooding into Lagonav.

A short update on what we’re hearing from Anse-a-Galets from Paul with Haiti Lumiere de Demain. January 21st

1. Huge influx of displaced people, many of them in need of medical care. We got an estimate of 40,000, but we’re trying to verify that now.
2. Still haven’t been able to get medical supplies for the hospital and the situation there is getting desperate. Trying to coordinate now with CRUDEM and the Coast Guard to see if we can get some of the most extreme cases evacuated by helicopter to their hospital in Milot. Nonetheless, we need at least a small amount of medical supplies to hold out until a better supply chain can be established.
3. Still trying to establish a link with AmeriCares, Red Cross, US Navy, State Department, or some other organization that can open a supply line to La Gonave. Like AmeriCares, we’ve gotten a few of them to acknowledge receipt of our information, but no offers of help yet. Continue reading →

Chris: Today I was reading through several disheartening emails from other Americans that work on or for the betterment of Lagonav. They were also predicting a severe food shortage in just a couple weeks. The little green Skype button for Benaja was illuminated. He was on his computer. I called him and found a group of the MCLC staff sitting in a circle in the MCLC yard meeting (Abner, Benaja, Feronel, Robert, Roseline, Tiga, Maga). They were planning who would go cross the channel to go to St Marc to try and find food for sale. They were still smiling while explaining how so many people, family and family friends were coming to Lagonav in droves for refuge. They were explaining how the small Wesleyan Hospital’s yard in the port town of Ansagale is filled with the sick and injured. The stories that I had just been reading were no longer making me anxious while I was meeting with my Haitian colleagues over Skype. They were smiling and discussing with me what they felt they could do. During this discussion, for 15 minutes I felt at peace, back at home, in the schoolyard, working out problems together, enjoying each other’s company, even sharing a chuckle or two. They did not appear panicked at all. They were helping me in their calm gracious way. There is something to be said for a people who live day to day. They continue to laugh and sing in the face of misery. They take the time to be present for it is relationships that are most important in their lives. They recognize the need and strength of a life of interdependence.