Vassar Haiti Project

Below, an update from VHP president Tamsin Chen about our organization’s most recent trip to Haiti, undertaken by Andrew and Lily Meade.

“What a start to 2014!

In January, Vassar Haiti Project (VHP) Co-Chair Andrew Meade, and his daughter, Lily Meade, met with our partners in Haiti to continue to strengthen our relationship with the village of Chermaitre.

We’ve collaborated with the people of Chermaitre for about thirteen years now, but like all relationships, it is a collaboration that requires continuous attention and care. Andrew and Lily’s trip to Haiti illustrated this more clearly than ever: VHP’s priority this January was not to check off boxes or crunch numbers, but to go back to basics and nurture this relationship. “Tande pa di konprann pou sa” in Haitian Creole means “To listen is not to understand,” and the January trip certainly served to solidify our commitment to deeper mutual understanding.

At the same time, the trip also paved the way for our fourteen-strong team going to Haiti in about a month’s time!

The priest-in-charge, Pere Soner, and the school director of Ecole St. Paul de Chermaitre, Msye Clairvoix, confirmed that the nineteen water filters provided by Pure Water for the World are currently in use. Towards the end of 2013, Pure Water for the World conducted in-depth training with heads of households and teachers from Chermaitre, and we are all hopeful this will translate to cleaner water for roughly 500 members of the village! In March, we intend to run some water tests to measure the efficacy of the filters.

The lunch program is still going strong, providing hot meals to the 304 students at Ecole St. Paul. In addition, we are conducting a survey with the schoolteachers to better understand their teaching practices and find out how best to support them so they can reach their fullest potential as educations.

Andrew and Lily also had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to celebrate a whopping seven baptisms and two weddings in Chermaitre over a single weekend! Working daily as we do across complex linguistic, cultural, and geographic borders, perhaps what translates most seamlessly are simply the joy and love of life.

One of four multi-village choirs participates in the baptism festivities. The villages of Molas, Fiervil, Chermaitre, and Treille were all represented.

Lily made the climb up the mountain despite a case of tonsillitis severe enough that a doctor advised against it. Our partner Pere Soner looked after her with great kindness, and praised her courage during the baptismal church service. “Lily was for us an inspiration,” he said later. “She was so courageous!”

Wedding in progress!

The wedding celebrants prepare to process down the mountain trail…

A very impressive wedding procession indeed!

“Sharing the journey with my daughter Lily was unforgettable.” said Andrew. “She grew up with VHP all around her, and to have her finally have the chance to connect all our art sales and activities with the actual experience of Haiti was just wonderful.” Lily exclaimed to her mother Lila upon return that Chermaitre “was the most beautiful place [she] had ever been, and [she] had been to a great many places!” Lily looks forward with great anticipation to her next trip.”