It's finally here. All the hard work baking, spreading the word and trying to raise money for this amazing project have finally paid off!! It's New Years Eve tonight and I just realized that I don't even have cable to watch the ball drop. But oh well who cares about a ball covered in light bulbs anyway when I have a suitcase to pack full of awesome supplies to take to Haiti!
While the stress to get prepared has been a little overwhelming at times, I can't wait to see the joy on my group of kids faces when I show them a new world of baking and decorating. Yes, I'm already calling them "my kids". A group of six teenagers will be anxiously awaiting my arrival and I can't wait to make a lasting moment in their life. Hopefully one that they will look back on and cherish. I can't wait to praise these amazing teens with lots of encouragement, love and most importantly FUN! I have aprons ready for each of them and made special certificates for the end of the two weeks. I have books that I've made loaded with decorating ideas and step by step guides and lots of recipes to try.
It's hard to keep my head out of the clouds and I find I have to constantly check myself back into reality of the situation. Over the past two months I've learned a great deal about Haiti and what to expect and that no matter how much I try to prepare myself for it I MUST remember to be FLEXIBLE!!! A good friend of mine, Jerie, has always said to me " You must always be flexible, like a reed blowing in the wind." Oh how those words are ringing true right now.
Catherine, the Project Manager, of Relief Team One has also been such a mentor to me in keeping me calm and preparing me for this adventure. Every time I speak with Catherine she has a way of shedding new light. I've included some excerpts of emails she has written me. They have struck a deep cord within me and I hope they have some sort of impact on you as well:
"In a recent lengthy conversation with a good friend , Georges Van Billoen, who is half Ethiopian and half Belgian and is currently Program Director at Suez University in Paris, he reminded me about what Ray and I have come to realize: "charity has been the curse of Africa and developing nations"; by giving them help, the western world has created dependency ( ex: Haitians have stopped growing rice because USAID provides rice for free)and effectively debilitated people by not letting their creative energies solve their problems. Yes, those people have had tremendous set-back with political repression and weather related catastrophes but human beings are stronger when enable to sustain their lives without depending on foreign help.
Relief Team One is all about empowering by teaching skills that have a lasting impact and not creating expectations of gift giving. We are going to Haiti with that goal in mind and what we bring is a set up for the children of Maud and our crew to develop sustainable self sufficiency... one step at a time..we will not give them a fish but teach them how to fish."
Last night my mom had an open house and during the party my brother brought up the fact that the Haitians eat mud cookies. They made jokes that I would be eating mud cookies for two weeks and so on. And from the whole conversation I realized how uneducated we all are on the matter of struggling countries. It is so easy to get wrapped up in our own little worlds and focus on things that in the long wrong shouldn't even matter. Things that will pass over us in a week or so. " We are like Butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever." It is not our fault that we are naive about others struggling around us. It is the way our society is and how we are raised. We know no different. So I want to share some research I found:
"It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud.
... With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some must take desperate measures to fill their bellies.
Charlene, 16 with a month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.
The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children here as an antacid and source of calcium. But in places such as Cité Soleil, the ocean side slum where Charlene shares a two-room house with her baby, five siblings, and two unemployed parents, cookies made of dirt, salt, and vegetable shortening have become a regular meal.
"When my mother does not cook anything, I have to eat them three times a day," Charlene said. Her baby, named Woodson, lay still across her lap, looking even thinner than the slim 6 pounds, 3 ounces (2.7 kilograms, 85 grams) he weighed at birth.
Though she likes their buttery, salty taste, Charlene said the cookies also give her stomach pains. "When I nurse, the baby sometimes seems colicky too," she said.
Still, at about 5 cents apiece, the cookies are a bargain compared to food staples. About 80 percent of people in Haiti live on less than $U.S. 2 a day and a tiny elite controls the economy.Merchants truck the dirt from the central town of HincheDimanche, a nearby shantytown.
Carrying buckets of dirt and water up ladders to the roof of the former prison for which the slum is named, they strain out rocks and clumps on a sheet, and stir in shortening and salt. Then they pat the mixture into mud cookies and leave them to dry under the scorching sun.
The finished cookies are carried in buckets to markets or sold on the streets.
A reporter sampling a cookie found that it had a smooth consistency and sucked all the moisture out of the mouth as soon as it touched the tongue. For hours, an unpleasant taste of dirt lingered."
... With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some must take desperate measures to fill their bellies.
Charlene, 16 with a month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.
The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children here as an antacid and source of calcium. But in places such as Cité Soleil, the ocean side slum where Charlene shares a two-room house with her baby, five siblings, and two unemployed parents, cookies made of dirt, salt, and vegetable shortening have become a regular meal.
"When my mother does not cook anything, I have to eat them three times a day," Charlene said. Her baby, named Woodson, lay still across her lap, looking even thinner than the slim 6 pounds, 3 ounces (2.7 kilograms, 85 grams) he weighed at birth.
Though she likes their buttery, salty taste, Charlene said the cookies also give her stomach pains. "When I nurse, the baby sometimes seems colicky too," she said.
Still, at about 5 cents apiece, the cookies are a bargain compared to food staples. About 80 percent of people in Haiti live on less than $U.S. 2 a day and a tiny elite controls the economy.Merchants truck the dirt from the central town of HincheDimanche, a nearby shantytown.
Carrying buckets of dirt and water up ladders to the roof of the former prison for which the slum is named, they strain out rocks and clumps on a sheet, and stir in shortening and salt. Then they pat the mixture into mud cookies and leave them to dry under the scorching sun.
The finished cookies are carried in buckets to markets or sold on the streets.
A reporter sampling a cookie found that it had a smooth consistency and sucked all the moisture out of the mouth as soon as it touched the tongue. For hours, an unpleasant taste of dirt lingered."
Here is another excerpt from an email on the overall goal of this trip:
Pâtisserie Michelle : une coopérative des Jeunes du Foyer Notre Dame de Lourdes (temporary name)
Relief Team One is very happy to inform you about their next initiative for the Foyer Notre Dame de Lourdes.
During the first two weeks in January, thanks to the generosity of three young Americans, RT1 will set up the infrastructures for a pastry business and a micro-computer lab. The goal is to have both projects help sustain the Foyer and eventually the Village Notre Dame de Lourdes.
Michelle is from Pennsylvania, and during the summer season she is a pastry chef at Talkeetna Lodge in Alaska. Since October she has been fund raising to set up her teaching program at the Foyer by selling her confections. She will bring with her material needed. We are grateful for the recent gift of a stove by Julie and Michael Turner.
Michelle brings with her, exclusive recipes that will use flavors found in Haiti and she will develop a line of special occasion cakes as well as cheaper small cookies for everyday consumption.
Six young adults among the children will be selected to follow her training. One additional orphan will be trained to be the manager. He/she will be in charge of keeping track of the equipment, taking orders, purchasing supplies, insuring delivery procedure and keeping track of the accounting.
Amy also from Pennsylvania, brings her experience as a cook for the US military in Korea as well as her own micro-enterprise success. She will assist the cooking staff at the Foyer and train the future manager.
David, a professor of computer science at Loyola University Maryland and a specialist in IT security is bringing 3 laptops and a printer and will teach Microsoft word, Excel and Outlook and basic computer security. He will also assist in developing the material needed to promote the pastry business. RT1 is hiring Jonas Jabouin, currently working on the construction, who is a graphic designer to develop the promotional material.
Planning:
_ Selection of the 7 candidates among Maud’s children
_ Hands on daily classes at the Foyer from January 3 to 14.
_ Marketing campaign development
_ Management structure development
Marketing:
Samples will be offered after mass at the Sister’s convent on Sunday, flyer's will be distributed by the trainees outside major supermarkets and by Maud when she attends meetings such as at the UNICEF, Food for the Poor, Minustah. Etc..
Sales:
2 product lines
_ inexpensive small cakes, and cookies
_ elaborate cakes for special occasion ordered by phone and delivered by specially equipped motorbikes for an additional fee or picked up at pre-determined location.
Co-op organization:
This venture is a co-op where 7 young trainees under the mentor ship of an adult will be vested in its success by profiting both from their skill development and from a percentage of the profit.
Relief Team One is aware of the challenges that will present themselves, but also has faith in the resourcefulness and drive present in the Haitians.
This project will not only provide a source of badly needed income to the Foyer but also further RT1’s mission of teaching marketable skills to young Haitians.
So there is some education for you. I could go on and on with loads more about the amazing orphanage owner Maud who I can't wait to meet!! She has done so much and is already an inspiration. I'm soo looking forward to spending time with her and soaking her in.
Need to get packing! Be sure to send some love and prayers through the universe as I head out on Monday morning. Till I return my friends, hope everyone has a safe and happy new year. And most importantly THANK YOU for all your support and donations. So many people have helped make this all possible and every little bit will count and make an impact in these children's lives!
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