Hi everyone,
We’d like to start this week’s note by giving a special and very big thank you to our friend and colleague, JP Valteau. As many of you know, JP has been working with the JRF since late 2012 and has been a dedicated supporter through it all. This summer, he took on the project of constructing our new center and has been managing the labor force, finances, and helping to decide on design and details. Managing a large construction project is no easy task, and he has been doing it tirelessly for the last five months. We want to say thank you to JP for working weekends, handling disputes, and making countless runs to research and purchase materials. He has done an exceptional job with each new challenge along the way. We are getting really close to having the center complete! We’ll be making our first use of the library this weekend when we have our Christmas party with the kids.
JP poses with Franky, Maken, Jhonny, and Lovenson next to one of the new classrooms!
In other news, we had our first harvest from our children’s community garden! The children agreed that the produce would go to the JRF kitchen, so this week we got to have some spinach in our meals. We’re still waiting for beans, yucca, and sweet potato to finish growing. Participation in the project has been optional, and it turns out there is a group of kids who are especially hard-working, while the rest either don’t participate or do very little. The hard-working group will be rewarded with a field trip to a place of their choice. We are extremely grateful to Anderson, a father in the community with a green thumb, who has been leading the project. We couldn’t have done it without him.
Anderson, community agronomist, and Useline plant spinach together.
Charli, one of our hardest workers, poses with our first spinach harvest! This week we ate it in a Haitian stew called bouillon and cooked in a vegetable/chicken medley.
School and dance classes are taking up most of the children’s time these days. The majority of the children are taking after school lessons Monday through Thursday, and dance classes are Friday and Saturday. The JRF continues to work with first grade, kindergarten, and preschool students after school. This semester we supported the children by focusing on their schoolwork. However, this will change come next semester. As we have done in the past, we find that it is most beneficial to follow our own program, which will focus on reading and writing in French. The idea is that if we can help strengthen their literacy skills, they will be better equipped to succeed in school.
A shot from one of our girls’ dance classes. The classes are led by a local choreographer and teacher, Dieufel Lamisere.
Lastly, maybe some of you remember that when we arrived in Jacmel over a year ago, one of our greatest challenges was helping the adults to settle in and create a community among themselves. We held meetings each week in which we discussed teamwork, respect, trust, and problem solving. We still remember how hard it was to imagine people cooperating with another without the JRF mediating. It has certainly been a challenging ride, and we are proud to say that the community now functions as a group with its own leadership. The committee has undergone some changes, but with the four leaders in place now, decisions are made, disputes are settled, and money is saved. Each month, the families pay rent, which goes into a community fund. We have taken a hands-off approach with this, and the community is in charge of collecting and saving their funds. They have set up a bank account and do accounting on paper for each deposit and each expenditure in the community. The fund is meant to make improvements in the community or serve as an emergency account if a family requires help. They have continued their weekly meetings, totally independently of the JRF. A wonderful example of how they’ve learned to organize themselves is how the committee serves as a liaison between the community and JRF. When there is an issue in the community that people feel need to be discussed with us, it first goes through the committee, who then sits down with us, so that we can determine together how to move forward. We are extremely pleased with this progress, which allows us to focus more energy on the children.
A new wall that we are very proud of at our new center! JP, Catherine, and David came up with the design, and the mosaic was done by a local organization called Art Creation Foundation for Children, which focuses on educating children in the arts.
Looking back on 2016, we are proud of what we’ve accomplished. We are grateful to each and every one of you who give your support. We could have not made it this far without you. Have a happy and safe holiday.
Catherine, David, and everyone at the JRF
