From the beginning our Sewing for Haiti project was aimed to create clothing for the women and girls who had survived the Haitian Earthquake. But there was something more. After seeing what happened in Katrina, with the Tsunami and other recent natural disasters, it was self evident that though financial outreach is "tsunami-like" in the beginning, people are not without their amnesia.
Time passes, stories change and life moves on. Consistenly during the tragedy in New Orleans, I thought of the children who were still separated from their families months later. Or of how people would not remember that there were still people seeking clothing and shelter where they had relocated. The sheer volume of the fabrics that had been donate spoke to reuse and revitalization - both for the people who would be willing to create the new items and for those receiving them.
After the phenomenal outpouring of support by men, women and children for the people of Haiti - our next step was to keep our ears to the gound and listen for those organizations which had shown their commitment to the Haitian people in the years before the earthquake.
Our research introduced us to an Italian dynamo - Mike Fedele - Founder of
Life for the World.
Life for the World has been in Haiti for the past nine years running an orphanage and connecting with the community of Matelas, Haiti. What impressed me with Life for the World was their direction connection with Haitian people. Their organization (based in Indiana) had satellites in New York who had gone down without fanfare at least 6 times since the earthquake, checking on their orphans, and the people in the community. They assisted in 14 drops of food with NO incidents and had web coverage of everything.
When I spoke with Mike his passion was infectious. He encouraged me to send the images from the Sewing for Haiti event which he posted immediately on their site and tearfully overwhelmed AGREED TO ACCEPT OUR DONATIONS TO BRING DURING THEIR NEXT TRIP TO HAITI!!!!
Check out their site and make sure they feel your love!
http://lifefortheworld.com/blog/"
New York Group Arrives with More Food and Tents
Haitian-American supporters from NY just arrived at Maranatha via the DR for their 2nd humanitarian trip. They brought 60+ tents, donated by individuals in NY, as well as by Tent City. Thanks to the New Yorker’s for providing our Haitian neighbors with a home! NY York Team also filled the bus with more than 6,000 lbs. of food. Crossing from the DR was difficult this time, as the border patrols are now regularly shaking down folks bringing in humanitarian aid. A couple of tents were sacrificed to this process."
