Program areas at Aid Still Required
HAITI 2021 FIELD PROGRAM ACCOMPLISHMENTS POST HAITIAN EARTHQUAKE REVITALIZATION With unemployment at 40% nationwide, rampant soil degradation due to deforestation, literacy hovering around 50%, slums rife with crime, gangs ruling major commerce arteries, little manageable infrastructure in place, and a reputation for institutional corruption, its no wonder Haiti remains the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the poorest in the world, a moniker it has held for decades. In addition to its man-made woes, Haiti is prone to natural disasters, routinely bearing the brunt of category 4 and 5 hurricanes and ubiquitous flooding. On January 12th, 2010, the capital city of Port-au-Prince was leveled by a massive earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people, displaced more than a million more for several years, and brought damage estimated at 14 billion dollars. HAITI: CHILD SERVICES AND EDUCATION- Cap Haitien; Economic Orphans of Fontemara; Les Cayes: Deuxieme Plaine. The number of at-risk children in Haiti has more than doubled since the 2010 earthquake due to parent deaths or living parents' inability to find work to feed and care for their children. Orphanages are under great strain, understaffed and underfunded, and a great many of them are corrupt. About 80% of Haitian orphans are "economic orphans." Parents who have no means to care for their children often place them in orphanages as a last resort. Moreover, with most of Haiti's children dropping out of school before 6th grade, the predictable future for Haiti's children in general is bleak, especially for those in the most vulnerable sections where ASR works and for those without housing. I. OADENN CHILDRENS CENTER (Cap Haitien) - Recipients: the families of Charrier. Over the past ten years ASR's OADENN Children's Center has grown from 30 to 216 children ages 2 to 20, offering after-school and weekend activities during the school year, and daily programming throughout the summer. Activities include English, Spanish, computer, vocational, literacy, chorale, dance and library skills classes as well as reading clubs, soccer, art, yoga, field trips and healthy snacks.Annual ASR school scholarships support 75 OADENN orphans who otherwise are unable to afford school with tuition, uniforms, backpacks and books, and after-school remedial help for those behind grade level. In 2016 ASR launched the center's trilingual library & installed a solar-powered computer lab where students and adults receive weekly professional training. In 2017, literate adults in the community were trained to teach their illiterate peers to read, write and count. These adults continue to train other community adults. About 65 parents and other adults are also engaged in the programs at the center. II. AID STILL REQUIRED ACADEMY - Recipients: farming families in the Deuxieme Plaine sector In January 2016, the new 3,000 square foot Aid Still Required Academy opened its doors to 112 farm children. The school sports six large classrooms and an expansive assembly hall, and doubles as a community center. In late 2016, after determining that high school graduates who are fluent in English and computers fare far better in the Haitian job market and university admissions, ASR instituted professional English classes to all grades (1-6) and built a solar-powered computer lab to train teachers and students in grades 4-6. Also in late 2016 during category 4 Hurricane Matthew, and subsequently during other hurricanes, dozens of families found refuge in the school.Continuing Partnerships: Food for the Poor has constructed 102 new houses in the ASR school community, built a solar-powered well, and donates food for daily school lunches; and One Egg provides each student and teacher with a boiled egg each morning.Several teachers at the ASR school completed their 3-year national accreditation studies, sponsored by ASR, in December 2017. Also in December 2017, ASR retained the services of a pedagogy expert to continue in-class training and regular weekend teacher workshops for this school and two others.III. ESPOIRE POUR DEMAIN School (Ravine Parc, Haiti) - Recipients: farming families in the Ravine Parc sectorIn August 2019, ASR began operations in Ravine Parc, a highly impoverished area of southern Haiti. Immediate needs were determined to be health care and improving the existing school instruction. Most everyone in the most at-risk areas of Haiti has health challenges. Since August, 2019 nurses have made regular in-home visits to each family in Ravine Parc, as well as in Cuperlier, providing most the care needed, while ASR mobile clinics with a staff of doctors and nurses have addressed more severe needs.When ASR began operations in Ravine Parc, the teachers at the local school were untrained and mostly under educated. ASR has provided regular weekend teacher training workshops and weekly in-class training since August 2019 for these teachers and those at the Cuperlier school, to improve the quality of teaching. IV. PATIENCE ECONOMIC ORPHAN/FAMILY REUNIFICATION PROGRAM - Recipients: families in Port-au-Prince. In 2014, after becoming aware of widespread abuse and neglect at an orphanage in a suburb of Port-au-Prince, ASR partnered with UNICEF Child Protection and IBESR, the Haitian government agency overseeing orphanages, to remove the children from this orphanage and find alternative solutions for their care. During this process, ASR became aware that most of the children in the orphanage were not true orphans but had living parents who had given up their children due to lack of means to care for them. In 2015 ASR committed to a pilot program whose ultimate goal is to provide a model to reform the Haitian orphanage system. Instead of institutionalizing children, ASR has designed and instituted systems to educate children and support parents in becoming self-sustaining, so that they may fully provide care, for their own children autonomously. ASR has teamed with Fonkoze, Haiti's premier bank for economically challenged Haitians to offer microloans and literacy training for the country's poorest citizens. During 2016 and 2017, ASR's team, in conjunction with Fonkoze staff, conducted weekly literacy and financial literacy classes for parents. ASR is also supporting the children's school needs and working with families to address nutrition and family planning. V. NOUVELLE VIE ADULT LITERACY AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING - Recipients: the women and men of Reno/Delma (Les Cayes, Haiti) As the Reno/Delma community in Les Cayes began to stabilize through ASR's trauma relief program (2012-14) participants requested literacy classes. At the time approximately 95% of community members were illiterate. In 2015, upon securing a grant through The Economist Charitable Trust, ASR program leaders enrolled a nationally trained literacy facilitator and nine colleagues as "Alpha" teachers. More than 700 residents of Reno/Delma have completed this training. Later in 2015 participants requested vocational training be added to expand their skill set. In the winter of 2015/2016 ASR began a hand- and machine-sewing program that is continuing today. On October 4, 2016, the Reno/Delma communities bore the brunt of category 4 Hurricane Matthew. In addition to enduring Matthew's 145 mph sustained winds, these communities, which lie below sea-level, filled with rushing, neck-high floodwaters that obliterated houses and drowned 80% of the crops and much of the livestock.As with all ASR participant locations, Reno/Delma is a forgotten community and, as such, was neglected by first-responders in Matthew's aftermath. During the months following the hurricane, an ASR team brought supplies to Reno/Delma daily, including food, water purification kits and tablets, candles and other necessities, and later repaired 87 of the damaged dwellings. In 2017 The Economist Charitable Trust awarded a second grant to this program due in part due to the devastation of Hurricane Matthew a few months before. In August 2021, the Reno/Delma community was devastated again by a 7.2 scale earthquake followed three days later by another category 4 hurricane. Again this community was forgotten by other agencies and again the ASR team provided necessities for those traumatized and rebuilt 62 houses.VI. NOUVELLE VIE School - Recipients: the women and men of Reno/Delma (Les Cayes) In September 2019, ASR opened the Nouvelle Vie K-6 School to 100 children who were not attending school. All teachers have completed the national curriculum. In 2021, following the earthquake and hurricane, ASR rebuilt the school and added a large kindergarten. The schools enrollment is now 200 students.
AID STILL REQUIRED OUTREACH CAMPAIGNS:ONGOING CAMPAIGN: OUTREACH FOR 2004 TSUNAMI RELIEFAid Still Required All Star Tsunami Relief CD Compilation - to raise funding and awareness for the 2004 tsunami-affected region.Recipients: The people of Indonesia and Sri Lanka, the global and domestic public audience.Proceeds for the CD are directed to field beneficiaries Yayasan Lamjabat's Environmental and Small Business Training Center (Aceh, Indonesia) and the community Tsunami Early Warning Center (Peraliya, Sri Lanka).Aceh alone lost 160,000 lives with 2,000,000 displaced. Now, years after the tragedy, thousands in Aceh are still struggling to rebuild their lives. Many marine inhabitants were all but destroyed by the wave and today warming seas are exposing reefs to direct sunlight causing irreversible damage. On land, farmers also have been contending with the violation of their eco-systems by the tsunami. Additionally, fishing areas are subject to widespread destructive practices including fish-bombing and poisoning, and slash and burn practices. The ASR All Star Tsunami CD Compilation's goals are to increase the level of awareness regarding the continuing struggle by thousands in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami and to raise funds for sustainable projects for those in need. ASR's CD project has been endorsed by President Clinton's United Nations' office and includes musical tracts donated by: Paul McCartney, John Lennon (estate). Adam Levine & Maroon 5, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, Sarah McLachlan, James Taylor, Ray Charles (estate), Norah Jones, Avril Lavigne, Ani DiFranco, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and others. Production costs were kept at a minimum, with all tracks, songwriting and publishing rights donated by the artists, writers, publishers, and their record labels. Program were kept to a minimum as the ASR founder (producer of the CD) and all participants volunteered their time and services to the project.OUTREACH FOR HAITIAN EARTHQUAKE RELIEF (2011-2020): Recipients: The Haitian people. the global public audience.On January 12th, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck just off the coast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, killing more than 160,000 and injuring millions more. Now, years later, Haiti continues to struggle with pervasive food shortages, makeshift housing, unsanitary conditions, and every form of violence. Additionally, more than 95% of Haitis countryside has been deforested, making farming nearly impossible in most areas. Haiti remains the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, a moniker it has held for decades.Beginning on the first anniversary of the earthquake and continuing through 2020, ASR produced an extensive outreach campaign with the help of high-profile public figures to raise awareness about the continuing need in Haiti. Through national television appearances, national print media, and global social media, the campaign reached more than one billion people worldwide. Contributors include: Paul McCartney, Sting, Hugh Jackman, Morgan Freeman, Kobe Bryant, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Adam Levine & Maroon 5, Usher, Scarlett Johansson, Celine Dion, Alicia Keys, Sheryl Crow, Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw, Janet Jackson, Mia Farrow, Don Cheadle, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, and dozens more. Program were kept to a minimum as the ASR founder and all participants volunteered their time and services to the project.OUTREACH FOR DARFUR CONFLICT RELIEF (2007-2009 and 2013): Recipients: The Darfur people. the global public audience. Since 2003 the conflicts of the Sudan's western region of Darfur has claimed the lives of more than 300,000 people and displaced 3,000,000 more. In 2008 Aid Still Required partnered with other groups to bring awareness to the needs of hundreds of thousands mired in camps in and around Darfur. In partnership with other NGO's, the 2008 campaign included 24 NBA players such as Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Tracy McGrady, and other high-profile figures including Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Mia Farrow, Don Cheadle, Sheryl Crow, and James Franco. By 2013, the conflict in Sudan had escalated to include South Sudan, Blue Nile and South Kordofan. ASR partnered a second time with many of the same groups to mark the 10th anniversary of the conflict and call attention to the continuing need of refugees still numbering in the hundreds of thousands and growing. The campaign reached out to millions worldwide to call on then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to address the crisis with urgency and bring the perpetrators to justice. Program were kept to a minimum as the ASR founder and all participants volunteered their time and services to the project.POST-KATRINA OUTREACH (2012): Recipients: The residents of greater New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, and the global and domestic public audience. Hurricane Katrina remains the costliest natural disaster in US history. 1836 people perished and property damage is estimated at $81 billion in New Orleans alone ($150 billion in the region). 80% of New Orleans flooded, including the Lower Ninth Ward and surrounding parishes, and the downtown region, areas which were already suffering from more than a century of poverty and neglect. As a result of the flooding, tens of thousands were left unemployed and without homes. Additionally, costal marshlands, the habitat of numerous types of marine life, were destroyed. Already fragile from dredging, today the wetlands can no longer provide adequate natural protection from hurricanes. Recognizing the ongoing conditions in the Post-Katrina New Orleans area, ASR launched its 7th Anniversary Hurricane Katrina Campaign with high-profile public figures posting on social media and offering experiences and auction items to raise funds and awareness. Participants included: Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Randy Newman, Bonnie Raitt, Adam Levine & Maroon 5, Robin Williams, Tim McGraw, Jason Mraz, Brad Paisley, Jackson Browne, Chris Noth, Chris Paul and Alcon Entertainment. With Variety Magazine as media sponsor, ASR also produced The Big Easy Joint, an evening of authentic New Orleans food and music that brought together prominent members of the Los Angeles entertainment and philanthropic communities to raise awareness around the continuing need of New Orleans' blighted communities. Program were kept to a minimum as the ASR founder and all participants volunteered their time and services to the project.