Archive for the ‘Haiti’ Category

« Older Entries

Iowa: Assessment Update

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

HODR is heading to Iowa to assess the areas affected by flooding due to heavy rainfall and rivers that topped their banks. An estimated 500 homes in Colfax, IA have been significantly impacted. In many of the affected locations water has surpassed records set in 1993.

We have spoken with other response organizations about the situation on the ground. The assessment will determine if our volunteer resources can assist in the aftermath of the flooding, and we will update the website as more information becomes available.

Tags:
Posted in Haiti, Projects, USA | No Comments »

Pakistan: Assessment Update

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

The Pakistan flooding situation is a natural disaster of epic proportions, with an estimated 900,000 homes damaged/destroyed and up to 20 million people affected.

The focus Of HODR is to aid in the recovery of a post natural disaster environment by empowering volunteers. In order to achieve that we must be able to provide a level of safety for those volunteers.

Thus, we have decided to NOT send a HODR assessment team to Pakistan, because we do not feel that we could provide sufficient security for a volunteer disaster
response effort.

We are fully engaged in Project Leogane, Haiti and it is placing strong demands on both our
management and financial resources.

David Campbell
Executive Director

Tags:
Posted in Assessments, Haiti, Projects | No Comments »

HAITI: If You Give a Town a School: What HODR is Doing for Education

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

Volunteers instruct teachers as part of HODR's Disaster Risk Reduction program

To rebuild a successful education system is to rebuild a successful Haiti. From creating space and structure for schools to training teachers, HODR volunteers are chipping away at a seemingly intractable problem, one piece at a time. HODR volunteers are involved in education projects including:

RUBBLE CLEARING. Nearly 4,000 Haitian schools were destroyed or badly damaged during January’s earthquake. Hundreds of those are now piles of rubble in Leogane.  While some of Leogane’s schools continue to function in tents, under trees, or wherever teachers and directors can cobble together protection from the sun and rain, hoisting a makeshift structure near a rubble site is not enough. Creating space for school structures helps return children to their normal educational routines, as a cleared slab gives school directors the room to rebuild.

Learn more about one school whose rubble HODR has cleared »

SCHOOL BUILDING. HODR is one of the only organizations in Leogane building schools so far this year, despite the need, due to many logistical roadblocks regarding permanent school structures. To skirt those obstacles and get as many children back in a functioning school as soon as possible, HODR will build a total of at least ten transitional schools in Leogane and surrounding communities over the next six months. Constructed with wood frames, wire mesh, and concrete masonry, the schools are hurricane and earthquake-safe, aesthetically pleasing, and give students a solid and safe space to learn in.

Read an update on HODR’s Transitional School Program »

TEACHER TRAINING. Many teachers in Leogane have never studied the science of natural disasters or practiced any safety protocol regarding disaster evacuation. Training teachers how to respond in the event of another earthquake or hurricane will help prevent future casualties in schools and communities. During the same daylong seminar, HODR volunteers also offer teachers ways to address trauma in children through creative art therapy. Both sections of the seminar have met with accolades from their audiences, who insist that they will use these techniques in their own classrooms.

Learn more about HODR’s Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) teacher training program »

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Haiti, Uncategorized | No Comments »

HAITI: Building Transitional Schools in Leogane, Part II

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

HODR Volunteers gather for the opening of Transitional School #2

For a video slide show of a school build, click here.

What was once a pilot project is now in full swing: Over the next six months, HODR’s Transitional School Program will construct ten school buildings for the community of Leogane. With two completed and a third nearing its finishing touches, HODR volunteers and project coordinators are happy to announce the project’s continued success!

Funding to build the first three schools was provided by donations to HODR, while the next five will be supported by the Join Together Society (JTS), a Seoul, South Korea-based NGO specializing in education, public health, and disaster relief. The last two, again, will be funded by HODR.

Volunteers work to assemble the framing of Transitional School #2

Volunteers work to assemble the framing of Transitional School #3

As building permanent schools in Haiti is extremely delayed due both to limited resources and government regulations, transitional schools — the kind of hardy, temporary structures HODR is building and planning — are vital to reconstructing Leogane. HODR has chosen ten earthquake-flattened primary school sites where school directors have managed to maintain operation, often in a tent or under a tree, with most teachers still working on a volunteer basis. With a sound structure, these directors can use any funding they receive in the coming school year through small fees from students’ families or foreign aid to the Haitian government to pay their teachers and buy necessary materials, rather than exhaust their resources on shelter.

Small improvements to the original shelter design HODR implemented in Sumatra, Indonesia make the whole process faster and more streamlined, from prefabbing the wood to adding ventilation strips. “By the time we get to number ten, we’ll have this amazing, instant school,” says Sinead Clear, project coordinator. And the design is, in many ways, more suited to its Haitian environment than any concrete-block “permanent” school buildings would be. “Even in the worst case senario — another strong earthquake — the worst that will happen is that the concrete wall will crack, and maybe bits will fall off,” says Clear. Because the schools are built with plaster masonry, however, rather than structural, “it’s not going to fall on anybody.”  Each school features colorful murals, too, meticulously painted by HODR volunteers.

Procuring materials can be difficult, of course. “At the beginning, we didn’t have galvanized nails,” says Clear, “and we didn’t have tin, and there are still no screws anywhere in Leogane.” Most materials need to be sourced from the United States. Still, volunteers are resourceful, and manage to make do with what they have, each adding fresh ideas and expertise to the project as they arrive.

HODR volunteers train local teachers as part of the Disaster Risk Reduction program

HODR volunteers train local teachers as part of the Disaster Risk Reduction program

The first two HODR-built schools, Insitution Frere Casimir and Institution Chretienne de Bellevue, are now finished and classes have officially launched. HODR held a Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) teacher training program inside the first school, Institution Frere Casimir. “I can only thank the HODR volunteers” for the school they’ve built, says the school’s director, Jasmin Casimir. “It’s excellent work. Excellent.”

The launch party of the second school, Institution Chretienne de Bellevue, featured music, dancing, and speeches — including shouted, impassioned gratitude from the school’s director — and was a resounding success. While the satellite project had its challenges, the eight memorable weeks that HODR volunteers lived in the community of Bellevue and worked side by side with Bellevue residents resulted in close-knit relationships that help spread the word of HODR’s work in Leogane.

The fourth school HODR builds will be right down the street from the volunteer base. “I think our greatest impact will be the school that we build on this street,” says Clear. “We’ve done a lot of rubble removal around here. We’re quite linked to the community that way.” But constructing a school just a seven-minute walk from the base, she says, will certainly enrich HODR’s connection with everyone in the area. “It’s going to be super exciting to get that started.”

To learn about the pilot phase of HODR’s Transitional Schools Program, click here.

Sara Bernard is a HODR volunteer writing on-location in Leogane, Haiti. Photos taken by HODR volunteers Harry Fellows and Sara Bernard.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Haiti, Projects, Uncategorized | No Comments »

HAITI: Local Volunteer Spotlight: Shooby

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

Shooby instructing local teachers as part of HODR's Disaster Risk Reduction program

Shooby Leroy Jean-Pierre is a HODR local volunteer. As a translator, educator, and general go-to guy, Shooby serves as a crucial liaison between the international volunteer team and the local community. He also represents another bridge between cultures: he lived in Miami for most of his life, returning to Haiti to a few years ago to take care of his family in Leogane. Here, he reflects on his experience with HODR and his life before and after the January 12 earthquake.

HODR: It’s pretty rare to see Haitians like you getting involved in volunteer organizations like this one. What attracted you to HODR?

Shooby: One of the things that I always kept in mind when I was growing up was not to have a closed perception or impression about life, or the way that you’re leading your own life. So I always try to keep an open mind about everything, just for me to be able to interact in different positions and with different people. So it’s another experience my life is going through, basically.

HODR Local Volunteer Shooby

HODR Local Volunteer Shooby

Tell us how you came back to Haiti.

When I was one I left Haiti. My auntie, she got me out of Haiti, and I grew up in the United States in Miami. I graduated high school in 2002 and my mom died in 2005, so I had to come back because I wanted to participate in her funeral, so I came back…. By me coming back, I eventually stayed, that’s about it…. My mother was taking care of my brother and one of my cousins, so when she died, I basically replaced her in some ways.

Do you feel like you’re more American or more Haitian?

Because of my personal background, I feel that I’m just me, going through life. Because this is not the first incident [of] someone to leave their home country and growing up somewhere else and coming back to their home country but with a different mind-state and a different mentality and a different view on life, so I’m still the same person if I grew up anywhere in the world. My view on life and the way that I try to make certain decisions, that comes from the way that I grew up, and the way that I just have my own personal view on life.

What have you found most rewarding about your work with HODR?

The most rewarding thing is that HODR is here. And that’s something that a lot of people are grateful for, because of so many different reasons. One of those reasons are: until HODR came to Haiti, where we were at in Leogane, we were just struggling. I was trying to find a job. A lot of my friends were trying to find a job, and we were basically unsuccessful in doing that because of the different criteria, different positions and just being able to get a job was kinda rough. So we was going through that for a while until we just touched down with HODR, just seeing how it is. Realizing that it’s a nonprofit organization, and just understanding why HODR is the way that it is, what benefits that it has, how can it help us in the future, how can it help us in the present time, how can they help us sort out any short-term or even long-term goals that we may have. HODR is basically what you’re hearing. It’s hands on. They’re giving us a hand, in any way that they can, to create possibilities for us in the future to have a better life.

What’s next for you?

Personally, I want to get into the fire academy in Canada, or I want to get a student grant anywhere so I could go back to school, and just see what’s out there. I want to keep my options open, to see what would be the best thing for me right now. And just to work on that to see if I’ll be able to achieve some of those goals that I have.

Do you think HODR has helped you find some of those opportunities to do things that are more international?

Yeah, I have a very good friend, TC, he always backs me up… He always try to give me a lot of confidence, try to give me a lot of push, try to sort things out between my situation and the way that that can work out so I can do better further down the line. So HODR actually creates a lot of advantages and gives you a lot of options, and you just have to be willing to go for it and try to make everything work out so you can be successful.

What do you hope to bring back to your community in Haiti? Do you see yourself coming back to Haiti someday?

It’s been an open option for a long time. I never thought about it. I see that Haiti is a lot of people enjoy, a lot of people would like to see it. Even though it may not come to something that they thought about in the past or even in the present time but for me personally, I would like to come back. And just be able to see what’s new, what’s changed, if there’s a particular position or something that needs an extra hand… I’m always willing to work with people to see what can I do, how can I participate, how can I put my hand in the pot, too? So what’s working can go on and, you know, get done.

How does HODR fit into your future and Haiti’s future?

Once we [the volunteers and staff] get together and sit down and we talk about the different situations that we’ve been going through and the problems that we have, HODR is here to give us a comfort, give us a safety blanket. And the Haitians need that, because Haiti is not done developing. There’s so much to be done in Haiti. The Haitians have so much to do, and HODR is one of the special kinds of organizations that gets personal with you, one on one… They find out what you can do, what you want to do… how you want to make certain things happen in your life. And they can either lead you in the right direction or they can prepare you for it. And it’s something that you don’t find every day in Haiti. So that’s why for me, it’s been real far out.

Are you hopeful for Haiti?

I’m very hopeful for Haiti, and I know that the population that’s in Haiti, too, they’re on hope and on like basically a new life, so a lot of people want a lot of things to change. A lot of people would like so many different options to open up for the people in Haiti. And we’ll just be waiting to see how that goes about.

Michelle Chen is a HODR alumni based in New York. This interview was conducted on-location in Leogane, Haiti.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Haiti, Uncategorized | No Comments »

HAITI: Rubble at Nicole Kindergarten

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

The children of Nicole Kindergarten

At a small school in Leogane, Hands On Disaster Response volunteers clear rubble while the school manages to stay in session.

Jackson Casimir and his wife, Nicole, have led Nicole Kindergarten, a small, private school for three to five-year-olds, for nearly ten years. Until January 12, 2010, it was a two-story concrete building with eight rooms, an average of 75 students, a library, a cafeteria, two computers, and four highly trained and salaried teachers. But when the earthquake struck — after school hours, fortunately, so no children were harmed — the building collapsed to a mountain of rubble mixed with toys, books, twisted rebar, and soggy, forgotten homework.

A dedicated crew of Hands On Disaster Response (HODR) volunteers at Project Leogane labored for three weeks with picks, shovels, sledges and wheelbarrows, hauling that rubble to the street to clear a space for the kindergarten to begin again. In the meantime, the Casimirs have been beside themselves to maintain some semblance of normality for their “small compatriots.” They’ve poured their own resources as well as donations from friends and family into squeezing as many children as possible under a makeshift tarp structure in front of the school — and, impressively, into offering free tuition and a hot meal every day until the end of the school year (August 2010).

“After the earthquake, there were so many children in the street, and so many who were not going to have the possibility of going to school,” says Casimir. “This is not only because the situation had become much more complicated for their parents, but also because of the number of schools that were destroyed” in the event. “I feel fortunate that I am able to offer something. Maybe it’s just a drop of water in the ocean, what we are doing here, but it’s better than nothing!”

Nicole Kindergarten students get ready for their midday meal.

Nicole Kindergarten students get ready for their midday meal.

For many students at Nicole Kindergarten, their daily lunch of rice and beans is the only complete meal they eat each day, and the school’s meager shelter is far more comfortable than the places that are serving as their temporary homes. In an effort to combat the dearth of operating schools of any kind in Leogane, Casimir hopes to reopen the school in October for first through third graders as well as kindergarteners (finances permitting, of course — and he is not at all sure about that. HODR project coordinators are working with UNICEF to help him acquire a sturdy temporary shelter to use in the near future). Still, Casimir says, he would never have been able to consider reopening the school at all in the long term without HODR’s help.

HODR volunteers shovel a mountain of rubble that was once the school.

HODR volunteers shovel a mountain of rubble that was once the school.

Volunteers may tire of shoveling rocks in the brutal Haitian sun, but clearing rubble sites like this one is an invaluable service — both to the proprietor and the community at large. An estimated 20 million cubic meters of rubble were created by January’s earthquake, debris that will likely take years to remove, even if every aid organization tripled its pace. And rubble removal from a local’s perspective is, in most cases, prohibitively expensive. Before HODR arrived on the scene, the cost of hiring a crew to clear just enough to hang a tarp and continue classes at Nicole Kindergarten was a whopping 20,000 Haitian gourdes, or about 800 U.S. dollars. (This may explain Casimir’s daily regaling of hungry, sweaty volunteers with mangoes, coconuts, and eager explanations to anyone with French proficiency of his heartfelt thanks.)

HODR volunteers worked alongside the tent every morning while the school was in session.

HODR volunteers worked alongside the tent every morning while the school was in session.

In the end, despite the incredible hardship that the earthquake has posed on his family, school, and country, Casimir remains optimistic. “The lesson that I’ve pulled from this,” he says, his eyes full of hope, his lips in a half-smile, “is that people are really good at heart. You have all left your homes and your families and your countries to help people you don’t even know. That sends a clear message to the Haitians: a message of love, brotherhood, and solidarity.”

Because of this, he insists, “You’re not only helping me” by clearing his school’s rubble. “You’re helping us all.”

Sara Bernard is a HODR volunteer writing on-location in Leogane, Haiti. Photos taken by HODR volunteers Rachel Shaver and Sara Bernard.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Featured, Haiti | No Comments »

HAITI: Joint Logistics Base Update

Thursday, July 8th, 2010
JLB Manager Michal Jeleniak in front of one of the installed workshops
JLB Manager Michal Jelinek in front of one of the
installed workshops, currently used by CHF

LEOGANE, HAITI – After months of preparation, large-scale construction on Hands On Disaster Response’s Joint Logistics Base has begun. The project, sponsored in a large part by the UN’s World Food Program, will ultimately result in the development of several acres of surfaced land and the construction of over 140,000 square feet of new multi-use workshops.

If you had walked behind the Hands On Disaster Response (HODR) base in Leogane three months ago, you’d have seen the same thing that Google’s satellite images currently show: a large open field with SOS spelled out in chunks of concrete. Today, however, walking through the steel gate behind HODR’s offices and sleeping quarters takes you into the network of industrial tents, heavy machinery and power tools comprising the HODR Joint Logistics Base (JLB).  This once-forgotten pasture has become a hotbed of fabrication and storage, currently providing roughly 130,000 square feet of working space to Habitat for Humanity, CHF, the Canadian Red Cross (CRC), and InterSOS.

Safe, clear space is extremely hard to come by in Haiti, and these organizations are utilizing HODRs infrastructure with some amazing results: the combined t-shelter output from the JLB could amount to approximately 15% of the transitional shelters scheduled for construction in the country.

Workers erect the steel frame for one of the JLB's new WIIKHALL structures
Workers erect the steel frame for one of the JLB’s
new WIIKHALL structures

Developing the site has been no small undertaking: HODR volunteers have worked with partner NGOs to build the smaller structures, and as the scale has increased, so has the need for manpower and equipment. For the past week UN-stenciled trucks, graders and rollers have prepared the ground, and now a multinational crew has stepped in to erect the structures.

“At first the Korean army and then MINUSTAH came to help build a pad for the tents because of the water and flooding,” explains Michal Jelinek, HODR’s JLB manager. “They came with heavy machinery and did very nice work. It was beautiful cooperation.”

Earlier this year the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) installed two large WIIKHALL workshops in the JLB, and construction of six more is now underway adding roughly 140,000 square feet of workshop and storage space. These additions are the result of three months of careful planning, supported by a large contribution on the WFP’s part. Once complete the space will be used to host additional NGOs working in Haiti; talks are progressing with Cordaid, GAIA, Worldwide Shelters and TearFund. Eager to monitor the progress, a delegation from the WFP along with EUAID, IrishAID and USAID toured the site earlier this week.

HODR's Marc Young leads a delegation from the WFP, EUAID, IrishAid and USAID
HODR’s Marc Young leads a delegation from the WFP,
EUAID, IrishAid and USAID

“We are happy to help facilitate such a large contingent of NGO’s interested in providing aid to the Leogane area,” explained HODR’s Director of International Operations, Marc Young. “The delegation visit was essential to visually demonstrate the current and future needs.”

In the coming weeks the JLB will expand as the workshops are completed; the scale of the site and cooperative effort are unlike anything HODR has delivered in the past, and the progress is recognizable from any number of perspectives. Benoit Mazy, Logistic Cluster Officer, travels routinely from Port au Prince by helicopter, and has let HODR know that on days when his flights set off towards Leogane, the JLB tents are instantly recognizable from the air as a white patch of industry set in a sea of green.

Young and Jelinek will be working to keep the surge of activity constant through HODR’s operations in Haiti, and with continued involvement from larger organizations like the WFP, wonderful things are expected.

“It’s interesting; exciting,” said Jelinek. “It’s a challenge.”

Tags:
Posted in Haiti | No Comments »

Bringing Composting Toilets to Haiti

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

LEOGANE, HAITI – Last week volunteers threw a slightly unusual party, to celebrate the grand opening of ‘The Gladiator’: Hands On Disaster Response’s (HODR’s) first composting toilet! A team of HODR volunteers designed and constructed two sustainable dry toilets with the goal of tackling poor sanitation education and provisions in schools and communities around Leogane.

As the team continues to dig out the city of Leogane, HODR has turned attention to a crucial problem in the city: a widespread lack of proper sanitation. With no municipal wastewater service and open defecation a common practice, HODR has the spent the past couple of months researching and evaluating sustainable sanitation solutions.

With valuable input from Sustainable Organic Integrated Living (SOIL, www.oursoil.org), an NGO working on sanitation in Port-au-Prince and through on the ground research, HODR’s Project Leogane team is moving forward with a dry sanitation toilet design. More commonly referred to as “composting toilets”, the dry toilet system converts waste into reusable resources, such as fertilizer, while preventing the spread of fecal-borne diseases through water contamination.

Critical to HODR’s efforts will be the education component for proper sanitation and hygiene practices.  This knowledge will be passed from our international and local volunteers into the community of Leogane along with every toilet installed.  The toilets can be easily managed by communities and school groups, so the benefits of HODR’s work can continue after Project Leogane closes.

The next two toilet units (each unit has 2 toilets and 1 urinal) are being constructed for the use of other NGO’s local employees who work daily in the HODR Joint Logistics Base. Each unit is made with materials that can be reused elsewhere once there is no longer a need for the toilet.

Despite the challenges of discussing one of the most culturally taboo issues in Haiti, both HODR’s local volunteers and  their neighbors have been very engaged in the program. HODR has high hopes that this program will continue to be embraced by other communities.

If you would like to support the composting toilet project and help HODR provide sustainable sanitation in schools in Leogane, please donate.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Haiti | No Comments »

HODR Volunteers Meet President Clinton in Haiti!

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010


On June 1, 2010 former US President Bill Clinton was in Leogane, Haiti to speak about reconstruction. During his trip, Clinton met with CHF and visited one of their shelters built on a slab cleared by HODR through our partnership with CHF.

The HODR crew got to shake hands with Clinton, give him a HODR t-shirt and take this photo!

Thank you President Clinton for coming to Leogane and taking the time to shake the hands of the volunteers who are giving all they can to help this area recover!

Tags:
Posted in Featured, Haiti | No Comments »

HAITI: DRR Training – Preparing Teachers for the Future

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Haiti is a country very much at risk from natural disasters. Its location in the Caribbean Sea directly over a fault line gives rise to the double threat of frequent hurricanes and, as demonstrated on January 12th, deadly earthquakes. In Haiti these dangers are compounded by a lack of public education on disaster preparation and safe practices. Following a natural disaster, the great loss and uncertain circumstances can often lead to serious psychological trauma, especially in children who require a sense of stability to flourish.

Before this past January Haiti hadn’t experienced a major earthquake in 150 years, so it wasn’t surprising that children here aren’t being taught about the science of earthquakes and safe procedures. What was surprising, however, is how little public education there is on how to prepare for and be safe during hurricanes and floods in a country so often ravaged by these catastrophes.

Building from our successful school safety training program in Sungai Gerringing, Indonesia (2009-2010), volunteers at Project Leogane have developed a disaster risk reduction (DRR) program to educate teachers on the science of natural disasters and how they can best prepare their students and classrooms for such an event. Responding to the needs of teachers, we also added a psychosocial component to the education program to help teachers learn to recognize trauma in their students and treat them through creative therapy techniques.

Creative therapy is based on the belief that the creative process involved in self-expression helps people to resolve conflicts and problems, manage behavior, reduce stress, and increase self-esteem and self-awareness. In adults as well as children this will include art-based activities such as song, dance, painting and drawing.

On the Road…
In late March, just before the schools were to officially reopen, we introduced our new materials for the first time in a half-day session with a group of teachers in Darbonne, a town neighboring Leogane. Over the next two weeks, HODR volunteers held teacher training sessions in the Leogane district Brache, as well as in Petionville, Port au Prince. All of these teacher groups were arranged with the help of our friend Johnny from Limye Lavi, a Haitian organization that specializes in child protection and education.

The feedback there allowed us to refine the session in advance of our most ambitious excursion yet – a three-day tour of communities in and around the coastal city of Jacmel. On April 20, a team of six HODR volunteers and two translators set off in a tap-tap crammed with supplies on the winding, mountainous road between Leogane and Jacmel. Three days and 15 hours of jarring tap-tap rides along questionable Haitian roads later, the team had presented our DRR and creative therapy training to 135 teachers in the remote communities of Macari and Beinet, and in the city of Jacmel.

The teachers that attended participated in the creative therapy activities with gusto and soaked up the DRR lessons, keeping our volunteers on their toes with tough questions that ranged from the practical – “If a goat dies in a flood, is it still safe to eat?” – to the perplexing – “What do I do if there’s a hurricane and an earthquake at the same time?”

Despite the challenges that come with new and different material and techniques, the groups were very responsive and the weekend was a great success. To date, HODR volunteers have reached 263 educators with our disaster risk reduction and creative therapy teacher training program. In all, these teachers are responsible for the education and daytime safety of about 8,000 Haitian children. In the coming months we will continue to bring our fun and informative training sessions to earthquake-affected communities around Leogane, helping teachers to educate and support their children now and in the future.

Chris Turner
Project Coordinator
Project Leogane

Tags:
Posted in Featured, Haiti, volunteer | No Comments »

« Older Entries