HOPE YOU HAD A HAPPY TG - SOH

here's exerts of a letter I wrote to Beausoleil a few weeks ago...we are still trying to get a meeting setup in Brooklyn regarding this mission...I am grateful of Beau for inspiring me to not give up on this...

Save Our Haiti Foundation.

HISTORY
I started thinking about this foundation in the summer of 2002 after really getting an understanding of what the situation was in Haiti. I started thinking of ways that I can help, ways that us Diasporas can help. I looked around me and saw so many just like me, very disconnected and could careless about what’s going on in his country yet waiving the Haitian flag so high and always saying how we are Haitian with pride. I remember in this country how much fighting I had to do in school to be proud of where I am from. Yet after all that fighting, I really knew nothing at all of where I am from. My friends and I all we cared about was what truck we were ambitious to buy. What clothes we would spend a week’s pay on to go to the club and spend the other week’s pay. It just got to a point where I was questioning my ways and started doing searches on the Internet and seeing what was going on in Haiti. I felt like I was committing a crime by living the way I was and doing nothing at all about the situation.

I got linked with a friend from Chicago was worked for the Haitian consulate and knew a lot of ways we can help. From my fascination with Fidel Castro and Cuba, I began to think that education was the key. It was the greatest gift you can give anyone. My friend and me decided we would find ways to fund education for children in Northern portion of Haiti. We started working on getting this foundation started. I called it SOH pronounced “So” because that was the attitude of the Diasporas I knew about the conditions of Haiti. It was perfect because the SOH translated to Save Our Haiti, and that is the mission to save Haiti through education. Now that we had the idea, we worked on getting it legalized and getting more people involved. It was a disaster, a lot of the people that were volunteering were friends of hers who just wanted to be part of something. These people could have cared less what the mission was and a very important lesson was learned. Though we tried doing it on our own, it didn’t work out for many reasons. One reason was finding a liable and trustworthy source in Haiti to work with. The second problem was that she was from North Haiti and basically sought to help those people that she knew. I can’t blame her for that attitude since on emotion anyone would do that, but it wasn’t at all what we needed…this is not a way to collect money from people to help your family. Well eventually the whole thing fell apart.

I wanted to forget the whole thing, but god spoke to me and I knew I had a responsibility. I just had no idea where to start. I took to the Internet. I was researching on every mission that I can find that was helping Haiti. I then found one that I was very intrigued by. They were called the North Haiti Mission. Again the mission is in North Haiti, that is something I liked because I didn’t really want to deal with the hustle of Port Au Prince, I wanted to start somewhere that was very slow and a lot more concentration and information can be found out. So I evaluated this mission for a whole week and dissected their website before contacting them. I finally contacted them and we have been communicating ever since. I love their mission and the things they do, so I decided this was my link to Haiti. Now it’s a matter of getting everything legalized, getting a presentable website done, and having the right people help me because I also learned I can’t embark on this foundation alone.

THE NORTH HAITI MISSION:
www.northhaitimission.org
I am a big fan of these people. They’re out in North Haiti building schools and dormitories in a place that was neglected. They built wells for these people to have clean water. What I like best is that they detail everything they do on their website. They basically answered every question for me before I even contacted them. I am not religious and made this known to them before we even work together, but I love the ways of a true Christian. These people have given up their lives and comfort to help people they don’t even know. I can write a book about my feelings and the things I learned from them, but I will just give you some links on their site you have to see and you will be able to see for yourself why I decided to go with them.
http://northhaitimission.org/mission/mission.htm - the mission statement
http://northhaitimission.org/nhmhistory/history.htm - what they’ve accomplished in a short time
http://northhaitimission.org/upcomingplans/upcomingplans.htm - they never stop working towards a bright future
http://northhaitimission.org/solarlight/p2a.htm - a very touching story
http://northhaitimission.org/solarlight/p0a.htm - this has changed my mission quite a bit…this is the famous Solar Lighting Project…I am currently speaking to the engineer of this himself, he’s a great guy…please read this one completely, it’s well worth it.

THE PLAN:
The plan still revolves around education. Though with the realization of the solar lighting project, I am now dedicated to finding a way we can get more of these built as well. As you saw in the last link, they are teaching the people of Caesse Haiti ways they can help themselves. The plan I have is to setup a strong foundation of Diasporas who can afford to give something every month, use that money to finance the building of new schools, dorms and get more students in school. Also take a percentage of the collection and donate to the Solar Lighting Project. I would like to stick with the North Haiti Mission for now and basically turn Caesse into a success story. Use Caesse as an example that if we put together we can fix Haiti section by section. Make sure you have checked out the North Haiti Mission website before we continue. Now imagine the city they are in having electricity, all the children being about to attend school, people finally able to make a living. The North Haiti engineer thought a lot of young men in the city how to build the solar lighting stations, thus that means every time money is put to finance them, these young men have work to do and will be paid for their work. They are teaching the people in the village to build low cost lamps that utilize florescent bulbs, they can use this to sell in the cities and now even the women have a way of making a living. Now currently these are people that live on less then a dollar a day…way less… so even if they can amass a small profit out of these new skills, it’s huge to them. Also we take electricity for granted because we have it, imagine never seeing it before, and now can you imagine what that means to these folks? They can start a new living and you know our people all they need to do is be thought something as aggressive as they are, they will use it to teach others and before you know it, the whole country will be light up off of natural resources that never run out like the sun.

Another astonishing thing about solar project is that the Mission is now testing a solar powered cooker. It doesn’t sound like much now does it. Well now imagine our people no matter where they from no longer have to rely on charbon (charcoal) in order to cook. Now you see what a big deal this is. Imagine the outcome, trees would be able to grow again without anyone having to rely on them to make a living. People will be living healthier without having to inhale the hazardous fumes of charbon, thus lessoning repertory problems many Haitians suffer from now. Now do you see the big deal? It is environmentally safer and better, it’s medically safer and better…Haiti is a country of sun, these people are giving us ways to use our number one and one of the last natural resource we have left, to help us rebuild our country. This is why I want to stick with them. They are showing our people skills that are more precious then gold right now. They have volunteer teachers that go to Haiti during the summers and teach for free…why are they so motivated and dedicated but we are not when it’s our home they are trying to fix. They hired a Haitian nurse through their advancements. Now that’s one person that would not have a job, but she has a paying job through a mission. All their funding comes from their church and some of them out of their own pockets. Their help is costing them a lot of money, let’s show them that we do care and we want to help.

The plan is not simple but it’s straightforward. We form a union, we collect money as if we were the IRS…I mean imagine if of the 4 million Haitians living in the U.S. we get a response from 1 million of them. The 1 million pledged an average of 5 dollars a month. That’s 60 dollars a year from each person and 60 million a year total just from America. I am not good in math so please revise that for me. Do you know what we can do with that? Don’t say it’s not possible…believe me, it’s very possible. It will take time, structure, planning and trust. But we can do it. We pay on average I would say 25 dollars a month for cable. We pay I would say 200 a month on things we don’t even need and that 200 is nothing because I myself was known to spend that in one night just on drinks and clubs. Can you imagine how much that money can do for Haiti? Well right now, it’s not even about the money, it’s about me asking you to spread the word to help me do this. All I have now is a vision, a plan, which can be altered so please make suggestions, correct me where I am wrong. I need help laying it down, a blueprint doesn’t count if you are not willing to pick up a brick.

I must mention this before going any further. We will keep people posted on all financial gains and also keep them posted on where their money is going and the advancements we make. The mission will provide us with reports on each of the children and how they are doing in schools etc. New projects will be posted etc. We will keep close contact with the mission. They will serve as our eyes and ears. This way people know what they are putting their money into and don’t ever doubt us.

[/b]

well thank you man, for the complement. But I do think you deserve the applause here. I had that Idea for the longest. But never could put it in words, and you have done just that. Ive spoken to my father about this as well and he is very interested in the whole Idea. He cant help us financial or anything like that. But what he has is an extent list of haitians in the US that he believe will be able to help this cause. Sorry if we have not been able to meet on this. But I got allot of things going on right now and desperately trying to make time for this wonderfull cause. I do hope we can get the site up by the end of the year so we start this on the good foot. Any and all suggestions from KC members are welcome as always

ON A DIFFERENT NOTE, my wife is about to kill me. Because she is gettting tired of listening to that BIGGA HAITIAN CD in the car and at home. Its good people. SO COP IT.

Hey Beau,

Dont worry about it...I know it's rough right now...I myself is very involved on a project, I think I told you abou it, it will launch within the next two weeks and right now it's taking up everything I have....so that's the reason I had SOH on the backburner...I found a great designer in India that is going to do the site for us for a very cheap price...I think it's something like 80 dollars...since it's for a good cause he gave me a good price...he sent me two themes and I liked one of them...I told him end of December and early January I'll be ready

Also I received a blue print from the North Haiti Mission on what I need to do in order to get everything legitimate...I beleive you have a friend in Accounting that says he can help us with that...well I think it requires also 8 members minimum before we can get a form from the government making it legit...but we will have plenty of time to discuss all this...I am very glad you are willing to help me with this, it's one of those things sometimes I get discouraged...not only will helping Haiti be a climb uphill, but it's a climb uphill just getting to that point...but our ancestors would have climbed any mountain for our freedom, so it only makes sense we climb any mountain today to free Haiti of it's current state...

The thing that amazes me is when you look at the simple logic behind this, it can be done....yes it's very hard and at times frustrating work...but this is really possible...there are enough Diasporas living abroad that if we even got the attention of 10 percent, we can really get something done in our country....if we took it as serious as paying our taxes and 10 percent of us gave Haiti just 10 dollars a month, 120 dollars a year....trust me, Haiti would not be in this shape...we'd be able to go city to city and help rebuild...if we were determined, not even the Haitian goverment could stop us...we have to take this matter into our hands...

Hand outs from the U.S. and the world will not save the people...Our goverment will not help the people...we, the diaspora is the only solution...we are the ones that need to hire companies to go build wells...we are the ones that will have to take it upon ourselves through group effort to send trucks and tools to Haiti to fix the roads, clean up the cities...build the schools and educate the youngers...pay for the doctors, nurses and medication...give the farmers tools...give them livestock...give them electricity through efforts like the solar project...educate them on life matters like Aids and planting trees is as important as chopping them down....we are the hope...the only hope...we cant keep sitting and waiting...we have a duty, we cant turn our backs...if there were just one spark, you'd be suprise how it would spread...our people are amazing...all they need is a jumpstart...it would probably take us a decade of hard work dedication to get the country to liveable standards...after all this, It would only take 10 years...I truly beleive that...there's alot of hope in Haiti...alot

Beau,

On the other topic...PUT DOWN THE CD

give the poor woman a break man...but the CD is definitely worth getting...definitely...

Luvher, that’s more like it, a post that is progressive this time, one with a purpose. No, I’m not pumped yet and my nerves are exactly where they were before I read your post in case you might assume.

Anyway, like you, few years back had a similar dream, a dream that was defeated not because the lost of hope within me but a dream that was defeated by the same people it was intended to benefit. (I’ll elaborate on that later on later post).

Like you I believed and still believe that the so-called “diaspora” is the last and best hope for Haiti but one best and last hope that in reality don’t give a damn. The one last and best hope, that won’t give $1 to its kind but would give $100 to the outsiders. The one last hope that is too busy living up the American dream, and forget about the Haitian nightmares.
It seems like you have very good intentions Luvher. Manifesting those intentions is the easiest part but convincing your Haitian brothers and sisters to give a helping hand where there aren’t any personal gains is the hardest... I wish you the best of luck.

PS: Last but not least, as long this project is serious, free of greed and the objective is to truly help the misfortunate in Haiti, I would volunteer to help in anyway I can. Banners, links, donations even a section on this site dedicated to this cause etc...

Marco, the first paragraph is not too fair...if I check the forum I am sure not every thread in here is so called "progressive" or is about bettering Haiti...not everything I post will be this...seems you are the administrator of this site and I am sure as an admin you can be a little less opinionated...I still say my last post was widely misunderstood, and dont think I should have to feel I have to watch my questions because the administrator might misunderstand it or feel it's not progressive and put me on blast for it...As long as I am not posting personal attacts or being bluntely disrespectful to Haiti or any members in here, it should especially be the Admin's job to make me feel comfortable posting anything in here being that this is a public forum...

Marco for the time being we are researching still how best to present this idea online and elsewhere.
But when the time comes, you will be the first to know.
Thanks for your input thus far. I will get in touch with you both as soon as I can.

Till then fellas,