On Giving and Givers – A Recap of Sustainable Initiatives
At Return 2 Haiti we are blessed with a group of givers that have followed us from our days with Lekol Pa Nou, the school created at the request of the parents in the Pichon region of Haiti, and the nonprofit Education for Prosperity. Additionally, we have continued to enjoy the support of our own faith community here in the U.S. – Fellowship for Today. Much of those early funds helped us forge a partnership with Homeopaths Without Borders so we could manage the logistics of the training and support of the first class of Homeopath Communitaires, our first Health Initiative.
Our challenge is to take our three-pronged approach to creating sustainable projects in the areas of Health, Education and the Environment for the Belle Anse region of Haiti to the next wave of supporters/givers by selecting and creating projects that are well-defined, sustainable and within financial reach. The goal is to lay a solid foundation in each of the focus area and to demonstrate measurable progress each step of the way.
Education Initiative
We are inspired by the Association of the Friends of Belle Anse, former Haitian citizens who have settled in New York City – many with simple service jobs, who have reached into their pockets to help us acquire books in French for a library project. (Click here for a complete list of needs for our first education initiative.)
Health Initiative
Our Health Initiative continues with the collaboration of Homeopaths Without Borders to include more training for the 21 graduate Homeopath Communitaires practitioners and additional training for the nine students still wanting to complete their training in order to begin helping people in their home villages in the region. (Click here for details on needs for year two of the health initiative.)
Environmental Initiative
Our goal is to launch a research project on sustainable environmental programs in Haiti before we settle on our first Environmental Initiative. Our co-founder Cynthia Balthazar is coordinating a research project which will likely begin in 2015. Until the research is completed we know that we will still definitely need to have a home base from which to operate. This home base will do double duty as a secure housing facility for visiting students and donors as well as be the hub for a permanent training facility and community gathering space from which to operate future initiatives. This hub needs to have power and internet connectivity to fully support all of our sustainable projects. Regular monthly gifts or one time gifts into our Building Fund will get us to our goal of an operating community hub faster. ( Details on the estimates of cost on the first phases of the Building Fund coming soon)
Go to our Givers page to learn more about who is giving to Return 2 Haiti.