PROJECTS
Waste Management and Recycling Project
left to right: Austria Consulate General, Permanent Mission to the UN, Marie Anne Joseph, Azouke Sanon, Jody Rael, Carline Seide-Murphy and Austria Deputy Trade Commissioner Mr. Haas.
ENERGY GLOBE AWARD
HCDP & Sundog Solar received the Haiti Energy Globe Award for our work in shipping and setting up a solar-powered resource center in the town of Merger. On May 9, 2012 the award was presented by the Austrian Trade Commission.
HAITIAN COMMUNITY RADIO
HCDP Exectuive Director Carline Murphy introduced Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman at the November 4 WGXC event.The Haitian community in Columbia and Greene Counties, NY has a weekly program coming up on community radio station WGXC 90.7 FM and online. To support this effort with your donation and to check the schedule for listening time, please visit http://WGXC.org.
RECYCLING PROGRAM IN HAITI Update After Earthquake
In an effort to join the world in combating global warming, HCDP's environmental leadership employs a multidimensional approach that is innovative and creative in its implementation. It goes beyond simple waste reduction because it includes a comprehensive educational and outreach component that will influence and encourage the population to adopt a new mindset that incorporates recycling and broader environmental issues. In a country where collectors and redeemers of recyclables are stigmatized, judged and labeled as "poorest of the poor," or "bottom feeders," instituting a successful recycling program requires a strong, well supported outreach that includes students, teachers and parents. HCDP in partnership with Ecole Mixte Volonte de Dieu (School Will of God) or COMIVOD has established an intermediary level recycling program in the school based on Waste Wise guidelines and methods for separating plastic, glass, paper and cans.
HCDP has also added a program for used cell phones and ink cartridges to be exchanged for a refund. These guidelines has been translated and posted in HCDP's website to facilitate training and understanding of the step by step process of recycling. In collaboration with Planet Green Recycle Company - based in Chatsworth, California - HCDP has initially redeemed, for a limited amount, a small quantity of cell phones and ink cartridges the students in Haiti have collected and given to HCDP during a summer 2008 visit there, in addition to other collections from bins placed in arts organizations, churches and businesses here in the US. Through research HCDP has located Tropical Recycling in the country that offers a refund of less than 3 gourdes. The students are then instructed to bring their collection of plastic to the site and HCDP will match their refund dollar for dollar. This program is at school that serves the underprivileged in the capital where a number of students have dropped out for financial reasons.This effort not only encourages more collection, but also it will reduce the amount of throw away water bottles and soft drink containers into the environment. Moreover, money raised through this effort will be mostly allocated to cover tuition fees and school supplies for these students. This is a program with a positive influence on the suppliers as well as it supports their efforts to recover and recycle their products into new products for the market. Tropical Recycling informs HCDP when the school has collected a large quantity of plastic bottles, the company will send a truck to pick up the collection and refund the school for the redeeming value of the collection.
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BRITA PROGRAM
While a few groups are advocating Haiti's right for clean drinking water, as Tom Spoth wrote in his article for Partners in Health "The failure to address Haiti's crippling public-health problems is the latest in a long line of oppressive policies toward the country. " After reading this report and taking into consideration the unreliability of electricity in the country, our members asked themselves what can HCDP do to help. HCDP is helping the people one family at a time accessing clean drinking water by treating their water themselves with a Brita water dispenser.
According to the report "Public water systems are rarely available throughout the year and close to 70 percent of the population lacks direct access to potable water at all times .The percentage of the population without access to safe drinking water has increased by at least seven percent from 1990 to 2005. Infectious diarrhea was the second leading cause of death in Haiti in 1999, and gastrointestinal infection was the leading cause of mortality for young children. These preventable diseases result primarily from unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation."
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SPORTS
Marie Jamie points out "I couldn't believe how these young kids hang out the school's ground even during the summer." While most students in the States will travel, work or do activities away from the school ground, in Haiti it seems for most students the school is the place where the action is." This summer of 2009 the students have expectations. Great expectations.
A visitor to HCDP's website who read the report with the picture last year of the soccer team will no doubt see a very enthusiastic and eager group of children standing proudly with their soccer ball. That is the group an HCDP volunteer puts together to play ball, but he made a promise to return. Returned, he did this summer of 2009. Raising his own funds to cover his airfare and sport equipment for his team, He returned to Haiti with soccer jerseys, shorts, cleats and other necessary soccer equipment to dress up his team. For three (3) weeks, he took his team to the field to practice and exercise.The team is now inspired. They are having a summer again this year at COMIVOD.
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ARTS IN EDUCATION AT COMIVOD
When John Farrell, a teaching artist from Hillsdale, NY and I met to discuss his Arts in Education projects that have been in place in different countries in Europe, Africa and in the US and the goals of Bridges of Peace & Hope, right away it comes to me that this is a project that will greatly benefit the students at COMIVOD. Most people may have already known that Haitians have been recycling before the term "recycling" was even invented, for others, especially the new generation that is growing up in an age of "ready made object" and 'import," using recycled object may have to be
Haitians still recycle carnation milk cans into kerosene lamps (which is still in used in the countryside to this day), other cans into funnels, spatulas, graters, car bumpers into charcoal stoves, tires into soles for sandals, and so on. That's the practical side of recycling in addition to the piece of art Haitian artists have made out of leather, metal drums, wood carving and other attractive pieces of artwork sold to visitors.
The goals of Bridges of Peace & Hope are to enable young people and teachers to make connections with others around the world in ways that will allow them to:
- Expand their awareness and understanding of each other.
- Express their thoughts and feelings through writing and other forms of creative artistic expression.
- Participate in projects that will include cultural exchanges, build relationships, and provide assistance to individuals and groups in need.