Vassar Haiti Project

This morning, the Poughkeepsie Journal published the first of a series of articles about the Vassar Haiti Project. Just about a month ago, VHP personally thanked staff of the Poughkeepsie Journal for their consistent support of the project, which in turn, contributes to its success.

Check it out!

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20111201/NEWS01/312010016/Vassar-Haiti-Project-helps-village-gain-new-school-clean-water?fb_ref=artrectop&fb_source=home_oneline

About two weeks ago, VHP was struck by the news of the death of one of  our school’s six-year old girl, who was infected with cholera. Below, David Bridgman-Packer ’12, head of our Medical Initiative discusses cholera far beyond a mere exposition of the disease, embedding the rise of cholera in Haiti in a larger network of multidimensional inequality.

VHP recently heard from our partners in Haiti that a second-grade student in our school has passed away from a severe case of cholera.  Her brother has also contracted cholera, but was able to receive treatment in time at Alma Mater Hospital in Gros Morne.  Their family is one of the poorest in the area, and now joins thousands of others across Haiti that have lost children to the cholera epidemic.

The arrival of Cholera in Haiti has been swift and pervasive, and Chermaitre is not alone in losing members of its community.  The opportunistic disease thrives on poor infrastructure and inadequate sanitation.  In the months after the 2010 earthquake, the breakdown of government sanitation programs, the destruction of homes, and the resulting overpopulation of tent cities created the ideal environment for an outbreak.  When cholera first appeared in the Artibonite Valley, it moved quickly downhill in rivers and streams to the drinking water of Port-au-Prince.  In has since moved outward, affecting all corners of Haiti.  The disease has seen a resurgence over the summer, when heavy rains polluted drinking-water sources.  At the latest count reported by Partners in Health, 6600 deaths have occurred, with near half a million cases reported.  The disease has infected over five percent of the Haitian Population.

The response to cholera has been multidimensional and international.  In collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health, NGOs have established Cholera Treatment Centers across the country, which have treated hundreds of thousands of cases.  A broad public education campaign has also begun, with the government teaming up with the popular Haitian graffiti artist Jerry to produce posters on sanitation and disease prevention.  Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on the response.

However, the underlying conditions that allowed cholera to spread still remain, and the implementation of a national response is hindered by poor communication and an overwhelmed healthcare system.  Tent cities remain abundant as the rebuilding effort lags.  Outside of Port-au-Prince, much of the infrastructure needed to prevent the disease did not exist before the earthquake.  In the rural area where VHP works, rebuilding is not the issue.  We are building from scratch.  To reach the nearest hospital, villagers in Chermaitre must walk ten miles across two mountains, along a streambed, and finally along a road to Alma Mater Hospital, where definitive care can be provided.

Looking ahead, where do we go from here?  What small pieces of the puzzle can VHP connect to do our part for Haiti?  As we continue construction on our new clinic, the necessity of long-term healthcare is as clear as ever.  Our clinic is the first step toward providing basic sustainable healthcare to the villages in the area.  To fight the increasing threat of cholera, we will be working with the community to educate about the risks of the disease and the ways to avoid it.  For severe cases such as two children, we will be able to arrange transportation by car to the hospital.  Finally, in partnership with Claire Frohman and the VHP water initiative, we will be working to ensure that the water from our well remains purified and potable.

This recent news from Chermaitre strikes close to home.  Across boundaries of distance, language, and culture, our fragile grasp on life remains.  When hearing of children dying from disease – from preventable disease – we are reminded of the deep inequalities ingrained in our world, and haphazard chance that placed us where we are.

Laura Livingston ’12, head of our Merchandise Committee reflects on the connections between art, hope and spirit of creation in Haiti, and where VHP fits in the picture.

As members of VHP, we become accustomed to working with and getting to know to a variety of Haitian paintings and handicrafts. This artwork gives us a tangible connection to Haiti and reminds us that somewhere beneath, among, or even above the injustices of poverty, natural disasters, and disease there can be an indefatigable willingness to continue, imagine, and create. It is this creation that we are responding to when we “go wow” over a handicraft or secretly covet a painting.

During a sale our artwork can be almost overwhelming. You hardly know where to look, and it can be difficult to focus when you are eyeing a paper mache frog while a Pierre Maxo tiger is eyeing your back. However, for all of its engaging power, VHP’s artwork is simply a small point in the Haitian art universe.

According to the Haitian embassy’s “Brief History of Haitian Art,” art “blossomed” soon after the 1804 revolution. This art emphasized religion and portraits. Haitian art gained international recognition in the 1930s and 1940s with the creation of the Centre D’Art in Port-Au-Prince. The Centre D’Art was a gathering place for artists, who often also held other roles as voodoo priests and farmers. These artists painted surreal scenes and made patchworks of voodoo flags. The most internationally well-known artist of this time was Hector Hypolite, a former shoemaker and voodoo priest whose paintings featured religious imagery and country scenes. Hypolite’s works are still sought after and considered highly valuable. While the responsibility of the Centre D’Art for the works produced by its artists is disputed, the Centre was among of the first of a series of art schools and institutions (Foyer des Arts Plastiques, Galerie Brochette, and Calfou) that brought Haitian art outside the nation’s borders.

The above paragraph is a short attempt to recognize Haitian art as it exists outside of VHP. Like most histories, the history of Haitian art cannot be contained in a paragraph (or even a blog post). Tidbits of information and stories are sprinkled across the Internet and other sources for the persistent and curious investigator. An additional component of Haitian art that ought to be recognized are the informal, street art markets. VHP members have visited these art markets during trips to Haiti and enjoyed the diversity of art found there.

In addition to increasing my admiration of Haitian art, this brief reflection has made me realize (again) the brilliant idea behind VHP. Somehow, this organization has not only funded education, reforestation, water, and health initiatives in Chermaitre, Haiti, but the source of that funding has come from within Haiti in the form of artwork. It is a neat definition of sustainable development, and one that starts to counter the claim that there is little hope in Haiti.

Cindy Fung ’14 and Charlotte Ong ’14, Vice-Presidents for VHP’s Programming Committee invite you to this year’s Thanksgiving Sale:

VHP will be holding a student-oriented art sale of Haitian handicrafts in the College Center on Friday (Nov 18) and Monday (Nov 21) from 10am to 3pm on both days.

As part of VHP’s 10th anniversary, we’ll be having a bunch of special deals to thank the Vassar community for supporting us these past 10 years:

Purchases exceeding $15 = free baked good

$25 = free paper mache

$50 = free miniature painting

There will be a wide variety of crafts for sale, from earrings and necklaces to keychains, pen holders and iron sculptures. It will be the perfect opportunity to start your holiday shopping while supporting the Haitian craft industry and the sustainable development of Chermaitre!

Manning Wu ’14, head of our Reforestation Initiative and member of this year’s Outreach Committee reflects on upcoming art sale in Greenwich, CT, expected to be one of our largest sales of the school year.

This week, the Vassar Haiti Project had it’s second meeting with the Haitian art sale committee of the Convent of the Sacred Heart School in Greenwich, Connecticut!  We are all very excited for the sale, which will be January 20th and 21st.  This week, Andrew Meade was able to attend to ensure programming logistics, and David, the head of our medical initiative, was able to inspire the group with his vision for a clinic that is accessible to the people of Chermaitre.

We are also really excited that the CSH School wants to make this event educational, and look forward to students having discussions with Vassar and Yale faculty members about Haiti and to a student committee organizing publicity for the sale.  Next week, the head of the student committee will be coming to Vassar to interview students for a documentary project about Haiti and the Vassar Haiti project, to share with her fellow students- we look forward to seeing and sharing her project!  It’s wonderful to see more students interested in connecting with Haiti and learning more about Haitian culture and art.  We hope that, through the hard work of the CSH committee, they will be able to educate all the students of the school about Haiti and inspire them to get involved!

This sale will be a great way for our to reconnect with some of our alumni who are in Greenwich and the loyal patrons of our previous Greenwich sale, as well as reach out to a whole new group of people and share the wonderful mission of VHP.  We’re very excited about this new partnership, and hope it will be successful in educating more CSH students about Haiti and in sharing our beautiful artwork with more people!  Look for more updates as the event gets closer!

Over this past weekend the Vassar Haiti Project held a successful art sale at Trinity Church.  The sale was made possible by a collaborative effort between Vassar students and volunteers from the Trinity Church, all of whom worked long hours to transform the small church into a gallery of unique Haitian-made paintings and handicrafts that impressed visitors with their colorful creativity and intricate designs.   Ultimately the three-day sale raised just short of 10,000 dollars, which brings the project almost to the half way point in our goal to build a clinic in Chermaitre, Haiti.

The large time sacrifices many volunteers put in to seamlessly set-up, run and break down the sale allowed students the opportunity to meet members of the Trinity Church who were instrumental in the success of the sale and further publicize the initiative of the Vassar Haiti Project in the larger Poughkeepsie community. From picking which paintings would go to unpacking the cars Sunday evening, every step of the long process to make the sale happen was met with smiles and enthusiasm from old and new members of VHP alike.   A great many thanks to all of the volunteers who have given so much time and energy to the Project in order to provide the people of Chermaitre with access to the basic health care everyone deserves.

May our upcoming sale at Vassar be a similar success!

With thanks and gratitude to all who made the Haitian art sale at Trinity Church this weekend a smashing success….we realize that it is all of us together, collaboratively, with collective consciousness…that made our efforts create a great event. Thank you, Vassar students, coming together with Trinity parishioners, to raise $9,270.00 in three days!

We are almost at a halfway mark to building the clinic!

It only took 60 of us to make that happen….well, maybe that sounds easier than it was. Special thanks to Laura Livingston ’12, VP Merchandise, for her unending patience, for Deb Hillard and Pam Bunker, for creating the vision to bring health to a community so far away in a tiny village in Haiti and to David Bridgman-Packer ’12 who is bringing the details to what it takes to build a clinic to life for us.

Thank you, each and everyone, who helped in any way. We made it possible, together:

VASSAR STUDENTS:
Mariya Abdulkaf
Anne Agenor
Caitlyn Anderson
Jerry Bernau
David Bridgman-Packer
Jessica Cheng
Tamsin Cheng
Sarah Cheng
Alex Ciucu
Cindy Fung
Madi Halle
Caryn Halle
Zhuofan Huang
Fiona Koch
Kalina Kourdova
Laura Livingston
Lauren MacLean
Lily Meade
Sarah Oliver
Charlotte Ong
Meropi Papastergiou
Dip Patel
Leah Peters
Sahara Pradhan
Charlene Ren
Ahmed Sanda
Priscilla Sevilla
Shriya Shukla
Devina Vaid
Manning Wu
Lanbo Yang
Robyn Yzelman

TRINITY CHURCH:
Nancy Bitteker
Pam and Wayne Bunker
Jean Campbell
Julie Dotter
James Dotter
Laura Douglas
Martha Engle
Kathy and Phil Engle
Linda Herrera
Deb Hillard
Jan Humbert
Michelle Humbert
Mary Anne Kalbfus
Chris LaBorde
Diane LaBorde
Jane Long
Lillian Mierzwa
Susan and Scott Quade
Patrick Smith
Rachel Van der Stuyfe
Rosemarie Waian
Charlotte and Dwight Willman

With gratitude,
Lila and Andrew Meade
Co-chairs,
Vassar Haiti Project

VHP is amongst my favorite two activities on campus. It has made my first year at Vassar so much more enriching and stimulating than I had anticipated. Not only does it allow me to work with delightful people like Lila, Fiona and Charlene, but it also teaches me a tremendous amount about how much of a difference a group of motivated, well-spirited people can make from miles away.

The cause is innovative and unique – to buy Haitian art, resell it and use the profits to help the people of Haiti. This is a two fold profit, as Haitian artists can showcase their talent in the United States, and funds can be raised to improve the lives of the people in Cher Maitre.

I am learning a great deal through the project: Creol, the skill of stretching paintings and how to design posters, to name a few. I can’t think of any downsides to the project..and strongly believe its one of the aspects Vassar should be deeply proud of. Thanks, Andrew and Lila. You rock:)

Vassar Haiti Project collaborated with the Office of Health Education to hold the Halloween Fun Run! This is a continuation of last year’s Reforestation run that we held in November. We are hoping to continue this work and hold annual Fundraising Runs in the future.

Many students from Vassar Haiti Project volunteered at the event and cheered the runners on. We also set up a table for Vassar Haiti Projects handcrafts and T-shirts to continue our fundraising for Haiti’s reforestation initiatives.

In the afternoon, some of our volunteers continues to help out as judges at a kid’s Halloween Costume Contest. Here are words from one of our volunteers, Meropi Papastergiou:

“Last saturday I got the chance to sit as a judge, representing the Vassar Haiti Project, at a kid’s Halloween costume. The experience was just unbelievable. Seeing all the little kids in their absolutely adorable outfits parading in front of us, while in the midst of a snow storm, made it the best Saturday morning one could ever ask for. Just one of the many things VHP gives you the opportunity to do! Thanks for this, it was great and I really hope I get to do it again!”

And here are the pictures!