Vassar Haiti Project

Hassan Ragy ‘21: Why Haiti? We were asked this question on our very first morning by the Haitian-American musician Richard Morse and, to be honest, it was a question that I had myself often wondered about the answer to. While I had the medium of art try to understand the vitality and vibrancy of Haiti […]

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  Lila Meade: I woke up to the cacophony of roosters singing in harmony to the response of dogs protesting whatever impending danger they perceived. This started happening at 3am. I’ve forgotten that sleep is not the foremost conversation when we come Haiti – the rhythm of this country is such that sleep is overrated. […]

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Over the weekend of February 2nd, VHP hosted an art sale at the St. Mark’s Church on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C for the second time.  This sale was spearheaded by the brilliant Jackie Eiting, who sits on our Board of Directors, and was executed by community volunteers who housed us, Vassar alumni who helped […]

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In December, we participated in the Fair Trade Bazaar at the Dutchess County Interfaith Council. The space was filled with vendors selling a variety of items from Rainsticks and Chocolate, along with excellent live music. Members of VHP participated to sell handcrafts, as well as to engage with the members of the Poughkeepsie community. It […]

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On January 27th, we had our annual VHP Spring leadership retreat. The retreat was an excellent opportunity to come together again after the break apart and continue to strengthen our bond as a group, improve our way of operating, and prepare for the year ahead. During the retreat, we were fortunate enough to be joined […]

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On Wednesday, November 8th, VHP held a General Body meeting during which each committee presented a “microtimeline”: what we have been up to this semester, and what is coming up for the rest of the semester or year. Each presenter was given 1-2 minutes to speak. After the microtimeline portion, we had an envelope stuffing […]

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Day 1: 3.16.15 After a challenging 3:30 wake up call, a rough car ride to the airport, and assistance from generous airport employees who waived the fee for our extra luggage, we are finally here in Port au Prince! It all began to set in when we were sitting on the plane, and the gorgeous […]

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By Samantha Basch ’16: Last week, I wrote a blog post about the joys of working on VHP’s StartSomeGood campaign. This week, some shocking news reminded me of why I have put so much effort into the project. My work has not been for the sole purpose of self-gratification; I work to ensure that VHP’s […]

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In 2008, the Vassar Haiti Project successfully built a school for 250 elementary school students in the rural village of Chermaitre, Haiti. However, kindergarten classes still had to be held in the neighboring church. The church is a basic stone and wood structure that has fallen into major dilapidation over the years. In March 2012, […]

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Antonia Massa, ’13 comments on the upcoming Art & Soul Reception: In the past week there’s been a little flurry of media coverage of Hurricane Sandy’s impact in refugee camps in Haiti. The situation is grim: Sandy caused over 50 deaths, damaged hundreds of thousands of Haitian homes, and left many more without food. New […]

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