A Local Folkus » Haiti

Faces of Haiti, Through the Eyes of Children: A Unique Photo Exhibit, March 20-22, Casa Feliz

John — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:22:32 +0000

We have a really exciting photography exhibit coming up this month. One that is particularly near and dear to my heart. The photos in this unique exhibition were taken in 2009 by ten young middle-school children from St. Isidore that we work with in Haiti.

None of these uninhibited children had ever held a camera, nor had they ever had their own image captured through the eye of a lens. Yet, with only their natural eye and their pure imagination, they have magically captured the world around them as they know and see it.

The vibrant colors, the joy of childhood, the pain of poverty and the strength of Faith of the people of Haiti are all captured here in the faces of the photographers’ fellow school children, and families. Poor in possessions but rich in spirit, the people portrayed in this moving collection of images will speak to every viewer. Haiti as seen in these photos, through the eyes of its own children, speaks directly to our hearts.

For three days only, see Faces of Haiti, Through the Eyes of Children exclusively at Casa Feliz, 656 Park Avenue North, Winter Park, March 20-22. All photographs displayed are for sale, and all monies received—100% —will be given directly to the schools of St. Isidore Parish, Haiti through the outreach mission support of St Margaret Mary Catholic Church, Winter Park.

For more information hit me up on through the contact form.

100 Trucks for Haiti: Walker’s vision a reality!

John — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:04:28 +0000

During Eat Local Week Kam and I shared a meal with Walker and Emma Starling at Luma on Park Ave. The food was delicious and the conversation, as always, was rich and varied. We spent a fair amount of the time talking about my filming in Haiti and the work I’ve been involved with down there and what effects the earthquake is having on our villages. One of the chief problems our friends face is getting access to aid now that the roadways are not capable of supporting the heavy trucks that usually ship goods throughout the country. While light-weight trucks can make the trip, they are in too short of supply to handle the mountain of aid waiting to be distributed.

Walker mentioned that he was thinking of donating a light-weight truck from his dealership to help solve this bottleneck. He had been Inspired by the Twitter buzz following Bill Clinton’s call for Haiti aid at the World Economic Forum where he mentioned that they needed 100 light-weight trucks ASAP to distribute aid. Unfortunately Walker was finding it far more complicated to get a truck to Haiti then one might imagine.

And here is the reason I’m writing this post. Most people when faced with a similar situation would say “Well my intentions were good” would pat themselves on the back and say “I tried”. I think a lot of this mentality is what keeps people in our community from realizing their vision and expressing their creative ideas. At the Wendell Berry talk I attended he said that he didn’t see the change our country needed coming from the leadership at the top.

Rather, leadership is coming from the people at the bottom. It’s the folks who are organizing farmer’s markets and community supported agriculture farms, small local conservation efforts, those types of things, that’s the start. It’s going on with the consumers, with the urban agrarians, organizing to bring good, local food to city markets, those things are happening. They are going to be happening a long time before the leadership at the top even notices it. The people who are leading from the bottom are going forward without permission or grants or instruction from the top. They are just doing it. That’s what I’m putting my faith in.

This is a concept that really resonates with me. Julie Norris, of Dandelion Communitea Cafe, and I have often spoken about the need for more people to just “Do It” in our community. There are so many folks with outstanding ideas that are waiting for some kind of divine intervention before striking out and making their dream a reality. Those of us already out there developing community aren’t special, we’re no different from those who attend our events, the only difference is that we actively engage and participate and think “What the hell, let’s try it”.

That is what Walker did. He kept making phone calls to fellow dealers, to the NADA, to a Clinton Foundation representative, to anyone who would listen. He created a website to inform and rally the troops. Within two weeks he had commitments from General Motors, the NADA and car dealers throughout the South East for over 80 trucks. With the Clinton Foundation’s help those trucks are going to be in Haiti next week and Walker is confident that 100 or more trucks will be on the boat.

I love stories like this. It embodies the rock star lifestyle Greg Rollet espouses “The Quest to Surf on Tuesdays and Save the World on Fridays.” Our generation has access to unparalleled tools for communication in social media and the Internet. It is inspiring to see young people using them to change the world for the better. I can only hope that this post will inspire you to bring your creative ideas to life in our community, share your talent and let the obstacles be damned.

Our friends in Haiti survived!

John — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:59:55 +0000

We finally heard from our friends at the St. Isidore parish in Haiti. As many of you know I have been very involved with Saint Margaret Mary’s mission to Haiti this past year. I was there in August shooting video for a documentary about our work with these incredible people. Anyhow we had a team heading down Wednesday morning that were diverted due to the earthquake.

For the last few days we have been unable to get any calls through to Pere Elicio, St. Isidore’s the head priest, or Baba, the young man that runs the livestock and Peace Program. Well today, finally, Baba was able to get a short call into us and below are Ken’s notes on the call. I’ve also provided Beth’s photo-stream so you can see the faces of the wonderful people we work with down there and who we are so fervently praying for.

Click here to read the account from Haiti

I received a call from Baba at 10:45 this morning. He and Elmicia, his wife. and Cecilia, his baby, are fine.

Baba reported that at 4 pm Tuesday he was at Saint Benoit in the meeting room across from the old church working with Peace Program members. They were putting final touches on a presentation they were going to make to our group. All of a sudden they felt the building shaking. They ran outside. As with reports from so many others, Baba said that the shaking seemed to go on forever though it was just a matter of seconds. None of the buildings suffered damage. He immediately walked back to Saint Isidore. There he found Pere Elico, the principal of the school and other parish staff. The rectory, clinic and school buildings were okay; no damage. Baba said, “we all got together and began praying to the Lord. We prayed for a long time to thank Jesus that we were alive”. Tuesday night we slept outside because we were afraid to stay inside any building.

Early Wednesday morning Baba and a driver set off for the airport in Port-au-Prince. At that time I do not believe they had any sense of the damage. They did not want us to be at the airport alone. As they drove down the main highway they began to see more and more devastation. Here Baba mentioned the towns through which we pass. Each town was more and more devastated as they neared Port-au-Prince. “We saw more and more broken houses dead bodies along the road”, Baba commented. When we got to Port-au-Prince “I could not believe what I see; many building broken and bodies everywhere”. When we got to the airport we could see that there were not planes.

Baba continued, “on the way back I got off at the Texaco.(the way they describe the place where the road to Jacmel meets the highway) I took a motorcycle taxi take because the road was all broken. There were places where me and the driver had to carry the motorcycle”. I remember that the highway to Jacmel was the best in Haiti. Baba arrived in Jacmel at 4 pm. “When I got to Jacmel I found the situation terrible like Port-au-Prince”. The building were “broken” and “there were many many dead people on the streets”. “I was so worry. I kept praying Jesus my family okay.” He crossed the river and went up to his home in Basin Bleu. He found his wife and baby were okay. His house suffered no damage. “All of neighbors met and we prayed God’s blessing”.

Baba has not been able to contact Pere Elicio. I asked him to keep trying. Here is some general information Baba reported. He said that he will attempt to call tomorrow about this time. I tried to call him back immediately as a test but could not get through to him.

*The big problem for everybody is food. Food is expensive.
*”Big trucks on road can’t go”.
*He said that money coming in for all projects will “push things going”.
*He said a few times that we can get to Saint Isidore and “no problem”. I got the feeling that they would like to see the group that had planned to go this week. Maybe it is a morale issue; they may not feel alone.
*The trip from Saint Isidore by car is five hours. While the highway is bad, you can get through. Indecently, that is about the amount of time it took to travel that distance about 10 years ago.
*Baba said there is no trouble for them to get us at the airport. The roads around Saint Isidore are about the same as usual.
I will send you an update when or if I get another call from Baba or talk to Pere Elico.

You can stay in touch with the updates coming from our committee on the Saint Margaret Mary website here.