We would like to thank everyone who was able to attend Maison Fortune Orphanage's celebration of Brother Cos, Brother Harry, Brother Mike and Brother Bill last night at the Town Point Club, Norfolk, Virginia.
For those who were unable to attend, we offer this short peek into what proved to be a wonderful evening.
The Development & Marketing Committee
Maison Fortune Orphanage Foundation
Friday, February 28, 2014
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Haiti Cardinal's Video Interview!
Haiti's first Cardinal: 'I hadn't expected it at all'
22 February 2014
Watch Video (Note: you may need to watch an ad before viewing.)
The Bishop of Les Cayes, Chibly Langlois, will be the first cleric from Haiti to be made a Cardinal of the Catholic Church at a ceremony to take place at the Vatican on 22 February.
It is the first time since the start of the Papacy of Pope Francis that he has taken the chance to add new candidates to the prestigious and powerful "College of Cardinals".
The majority of those nominated are from outside Europe and North America. It is just one more sign, in a Church now led by an Argentinean Pope, that the centre of gravity in Catholicism is shifting in the direction of the global South.
Among the latest induction to the College are men from Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and the Philippines.
The BBC's Alan Johnston talked to Bishop Chibly Langlois in Rome, and asked him how he felt when he heard the news of his promotion.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Pilgrimage to Carissade!
Our Haiti Committee Twin members Rev. Msgr. Patrick Golden, Teresa Lee, Lory Phillippo, Elizabeth Boyle, Dana Marie Buchanan, Ed Gerardo, Marty Lico recently returned from a Pilgrimage to our Haitian Twin in Carissade.
Carissade is about six miles outside of Hinche, Haiti.
Elizabeth has created a very nice video to share their experience and to introduce some of the people who Twin with us, to include some of the sites of Hinche, as well.
TheHaitiCommittee.com
Carissade is about six miles outside of Hinche, Haiti.
Elizabeth has created a very nice video to share their experience and to introduce some of the people who Twin with us, to include some of the sites of Hinche, as well.
TheHaitiCommittee.com
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Be in Haiti, live, right now!
St. Edward Parish trip to Haiti!
February, 2014.
From the comfort of your own Virginia home, you can be in Cerca Carvajal, Haiti, with the Pilgrims from St. Edwards Parish.
Led by Kathy Gross, they are in Haiti, right now, and you can follow all of them via their blog which they are recording in daily.
It doesn't get any more real than this. Share the experience with them.
(Remember to scroll to the beginning of the blog to start at Day 1.)
St. Edward's Haiti Blog.
Bill Clinton in Haiti to visit projects
1.) Are you aware of these mentioned Clinton's projects?
2.) If so, do you have more light to shed on them?
3.) Are you interested in learning more about them?
4.) Is it important to know what other projects exist in Haiti?
5.) Would you categorize Clinton's projects as sustainable?
6.) Other questions, thoughts? Have a voice, post a comment!
Nation and World
By TRENTON DANIEL Associated PressPORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—Bill Clinton arrived in Haiti Monday to shine a spotlight on some of the projects that his private foundation has supported to help the country recover from a devastating earthquake in 2010.
The former U.S. president began the visit with a tour at a solar-powered primary school in Cite Soleil, a forsaken seaside slum that is one of the Caribbean nation's poorest neighborhoods.
The Clinton Foundation helped the Institution Mixte Union des Apotres-Prodev plant trees and a garden, meant to help feed the school's 200 students. And it helped organize a donation of 64 solar panels by NRG Energy Inc. valued at $100,000.
"This is going to be a complete—not only educational but neighborhood experience," Clinton told reporters.
"It's a good model."
During his visit, Clinton will also tour a training school for Haitian coffee farmers in a remote village as well as a recycling center and a new apparel manufacturer that invests part of its profits in its employees and their families.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Obama: More work to do to rebuild Haiti
Associated PressFebruary 6, 2014
WASHINGTON — Four years after a powerful earthquake devastated Haiti, President Barack Obama on Thursday praised the rebound taking place in the impoverished Caribbean nation but said there is more work to be done. He pledged that America will remain a partner in that process.
At the start of his first official meeting with Haitian President Michel Martelly, Obama also said he was encouraged by progress Haiti has taken to remove "political roadblocks" to holding legislative and local elections that are two years overdue.
Obama said the "good news" is that because of U.S. and other aid that flowed to Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake, along with Martelly's leadership and the will of the Haitian people, "we've begun to see progress." The 7.0 earthquake, centered just west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, killed an estimated 300,000 people and left 1.5 million others without permanent homes.
"The economy is growing. Security is improving. Infrastructure is getting rebuilt. Rubble has been removed," Obama said from the Oval Office as he and Martelly sat side by side in separate chairs. "Health facilities are beginning to open up. Schools are starting to get back into place, and businesses are starting to return to Haiti."
"It's been a very slow and difficult process, and I think we are all recognizing that we have a lot more work to do," Obama added. "But my main message today to the president and to the people of Haiti is that the American people are committed to standing with you in this process."
Obama said he also was encouraged by progress on legislation that could clear the way for the elections by helping to "resolve some of the political roadblocks that have stalled some progress in the country."
Martelly's government recently took an important step toward organizing the balloting with the publication in December of an election law that eased infighting between Martelly and members of parliament.
The executive director of Haiti's electoral council expects this month to announce a date for the elections. Martelly's government has appointed some 140 people to local posts in the absence of balloting.
Martelly said he wanted to discuss security issues in Haiti and the broader region, efforts to combat drug trafficking and his desire to build a strong democracy. Besides thanking Obama and the American people for their post-earthquake support, Martelly separately thanked Michelle Obama. The first lady and Vice President Joe Biden's wife, Jill, visited Haiti a few months after the disaster.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Teachers in Haiti do much with so little
The Catholic Virginian
February 3, 2014 | Volume 89 Number 7
by Jean Denton
of The Catholic Virginian
Of the nearly 40 parishes of the Richmond Diocese twinned with parishes and organizations in the Diocese of Hinche, Haiti, many have included projects constructing school buildings, providing school supplies and lunch programs and paying or supporting teacher salaries.
Consequently, the education of thousands of children in the Central Plateau has improved markedly over the last 30 years.
While this has made an enormous impact in those parishes, more than half of the 149 Catholic schools of the Hinche Diocese are in communities that don’t have the benefit of a twin.
Enter the Richmond Diocese’s Haitian Education Fund.
The HEF was established 12 years ago to twin with the Hinche Diocese’s Catholic Education Office (BDE) in support of the overall work of the Haitian diocese’s school system.
Paul Keller, who helped start the HEF with then Bishop Walter F. Sullivan and others, recalled that the effort began with supporting a few parishes in building schools with their Haitian twins. But he said school construction soon began in a number of twinned parishes in the Hinche Diocese and was proving to be “a perfect project for parish twinning.”
So the HEF and BDE began to work on the broader challenge of “working to form a real school system, evaluating all the schools and needs and solidifying standards,” explained Mr. Keller, a member of St. Paul Parish in Richmond.
One thing they learned at the time, he noted, was that “the variation in the quality of schools (throughout the diocese) was astonishing.”
Since then, Keller said, the HEF, BDE and twinning parishes “have traveled a wonderful journey of mutual learning for all involved, coming to know our common concerns and ways to work together.”
“Our challenge is to make education better in the Diocese of Hinche,” he said, “and the beauty of the twinning program is that there’s such a broad array of needs and resources that we all can direct our projects to complement each other rather than duplicate efforts.”
In recent years, HEF and BDE’s efforts have focused primarily on teacher training, which they identified as a pressing need.
Indeed, it is no small concern for parish schools in the rural Hinche region where teachers themselves rarely have more than a ninth grade education and some have completed only sixth grade.
HEF Vice-chair Colleen Hernandez pointed out that in twinning with BDE at the diocesan level, “We can help on a broader scale.”
“A twin parish can’t always improve the education level of their teachers, but BDE can,” she explained.
“The BDE sets the curriculum and analyzes test scores. When the students don’t pass the tests, many times it’s because the teachers don’t have the training to teach them well.”
With so many teachers and so little funding, the necessary training is hard to come by.
But with HEF financial support, the BDE has employed supervisors to regularly travel to schools throughout the diocese to observe, evaluate and advise teachers in the classroom and provide on-site in-service training to teacher groups.
Last fall, a delegation from the HEF board of directors traveled to Hinche to visit face-to-face with the BDE board. Ms. Hernandez explained that although many of the HEF representatives visit Haiti periodically with their own parish twins, “it had been a long time since we’d been there as a board, and we wanted to enhance our relationship and show our support.”
The HEF group came away impressed.
“It’s amazing to see how dedicated they are to what they are doing and how hard they work,” Ms. Hernandez said. “It’s not like they each have one job — they all have five jobs or more that they are handling at once.”
Coming together was gratifying to the Hinche board as well. BDE Director Richard Joseph said, “The trip by the HEF was very important because we had the chance to discuss together the priorities of the diocese and the projects of the BDE this year for Catholic education in Haiti. It helps us have a common focus for improving education.”
Kathy Dowdy, HEF chair, said, “I was so impressed with the progressiveness of their vision for the role of education in the diocese and their regard for sustainability in their programs.”
Ms. Dowdy has been to Haiti numerous times with her parish, Holy Spirit in Virginia Beach, that is twinned with St. Jude Parish in Baptiste.
At the meeting, the BDE gave the Richmond delegation a book outlining their priorities and strategies, Ms. Dowdy said.
“Their vision is constantly looking ahead,” she said, noting she was particularly struck by a new initiative to involve parents in schools. As a retired teacher, she pointed out, “That’s one of the most difficult things to do.”
Mr. Joseph said the BDE values the relationship and support of the HEF “in sharing thoughts, ideas and opinions on the needs of the schools in the (Hinche) diocese and the best way to improve education in Haiti.”
Ms. Dowdy said she indeed sensed the BDE’s openness.
“They really appreciate everything we do. They take it and run with it, and you’ve never met a more hard-working group of people. They’re on it 24-7.”
The HEF is funded exclusively by individual donations. With a current budget of about $16,000, the HEF provides more than half of the BDE’s operating funds including a sizable portion to support the work of the BDE supervisors.
Until this school year, three supervisors covered about 1,300 teachers in 149 diocesan schools. However, a three-year grant from Catholic Relief Services and the Kellogg Foundation allowed the diocese to add seven more supervisors last summer.
At the fall meeting, the BDE reported that the supervisors had been able to visit every school at least once last year and met separately at least monthly with all primary and secondary school principals.
For HEF representatives, the visit “was a real affirmation that they are doing good work that is making a difference,” Ms. Hernandez said. “It is remarkable to see how much they can do—and with so little. It makes us want to do everything we can to support them.”
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