New School Roofs
Thank you to Trees that Feed and St. Francis Xavier!
Zanmi Sasye President Gerald Keenan has been in Sassier and Jeremie, Haiti, since last Friday. He sent us the following report today.
Roofs for Schools
A primary focus of our Haitian partner Oganizasyon Zanmi Grandans (OZG) is building schools, several of which provided emergency shelter to local residents during the Hurricane and afterwards. The OZG Board decided to expand its focus to putting new roofs on schools damaged by the Hurricane. The first project was completed last week at Sainte Familie School in just two days. Two hundred children (Grades 1 to 6) will now be able to begin school again there soon.
Today, OZG started a new roofing project for St. Jean Evangelique School, which provides the Gift of Education to more than 400 students (Grades 1 to 9). This project will take about a week to complete.
Shoutout #1 – Trees That Feed Foundation
Restoration of agriculture and animal husbandry is essential. Huge thanks to the Trees That Feed Foundation in Winnetka for a truckload of 40,000+ sweet potato cuttings that will arrive in Jeremie Wednesday and be distributed to farmers in the area south and southeast of Jeremie this weekend. Several thousand fruit tree saplings are also being donated by TTFF; transportation from Port au Prince is being arranged. If you know Mary and Mike McLaughlin, TTFF’s founders, please send them a personal note of thanks for all they are doing for our sisters and brothers in the Jeremie area. TTFF is also helping us find sources of chickens and goats that we can provide to local farmers. We are providing all the logistics, distribution and coordination for these efforts.
Shoutout#2 – St. Francis Xavier in Wilmette
St. Francis had sent school supplies to Haiti for their twin parish east of Port au Prince, which the Hurricane largely missed. Jody Weschler of SFX came to Haiti last week to direct the distribution of the supplies. Being an avid reader of these missives, Jody offered two large file cabinets and several other boxes filled with school supplies for the children of Sassier. We gratefully accepted Jody’s offer, picked up the supplies Monday night in Port au Prince, and will have them delivered to our secure storeroom in Jeremie on Thursday night. Give a big cheer for everyone at the Haiti Ministry at St. Francis Xavier for thinking about the children in Sassier!