Sassier Haiti: Village of Hope
Sassier is located in the mountains of rural southwest Haiti, about 10 km (6 miles) southeast of Jeremie, the capital of Grand’Anse province. The Grand Anse is the most remote of Haiti’s provinces.
The Sassier area includes Sassier itself and 25 other villages in an area of about 30 square miles, inhabited by about 10,000 people. Roughly half the population is under 18. More than half the adults cannot read and write. Until the past few years, most children did not attend school. Most of the area is accessible only by foot.
Life in Sassier is hard, as it is everywhere in Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Life expectancy is less than 55 years. There is no electricity, no water, no public transportation and little infrastructure. Residents walk for up to two hours to obtain water to drink, cook, and wash.
Most inhabitants engage in subsistence agriculture, and are hampered by deforestation, erosion, poor soil, unpredictable rainfall, mountainous terrain, and poor roads. Only a quarter of the land is arable. Hurricanes, flooding, and drought are frequent. Per capita annual incomes are less than $400. State institutions are weak. Economic growth is slow and erratic. Inflation, low investment, and trade and budget deficits pose persistent macroeconomic difficulties.
Despite these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, the people of Sassier, in collaboration with Zanmi Sasye and other organizations, have begun the transformation of their community. In 2007, HDTV named Sassier as “the Village of Hope” in a multi-part news story about the community.
Who is Zanmi Sassier?
ZANMI SASYE—PARTNERS WITH SASSIER is a not for profit organization which partners with groups in the Sassier area to bring hope, create opportunity and improve lives for the 10,000 inhabitants living here in Haiti. Since 2006, we have provided or facilitated more than $1 million in direct assistance and investment in the Sassier area. Our work builds upon and complements efforts begun in 1998 by Sacred Heart Parish in Winnetka, Illinois. We focus on three principal areas:
- Education;
- Health Care and Humanitarian Assistance;
- Community and Economic Development.
Our key accomplishments over the past six years include:
- organizing a significant group of international collaborators who provide substantial financial, technical and operational support to the Sassier community, including the Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Association for Schools in Hispaniola (Verein fuer Schulen im Hispanioloa), Kindermissionswerk, Catholic Relief Services, and a group of medical professionals from Western Michigan;
- providing funding and technical assistance for the completion of a 20 classroom school in Sassier;
- facilitating and providing funding for the education of more than 950 students in three schools in the Sassier area, including 850 students in Preschool through 11th Grade at Institution Pierre Toussaint in Sassier;
- soliciting and securing more than $500,000 in funding for the construction of two new school buildings in the Sassier area in the 2010-12 period, the first of which is now under construction;
- soliciting and securing $200,000 in funding for the rehabilitation of the deplorable road to Sassier including a new bridge across the Guinaudee River, which is now in process;
- providing technical and managerial support necessary to implement the foregoing projects;
- providing funding for two medical clinics in the Sassier area, each staffed by a nurse and a pharmacist assistant, complete with pharmacy;
- organizing, funding and managing visiting medical teams of American and Haitian medical professionals who provide primary care for thousands of area residents each year;
- provided technical assistance and funding to provide medical care, food and sustenance to more than 2000 migrants who fled to Sassier after the January 2010 Earthquake;
- organized and managed a team of 8 doctors who served the victims of the January 2010 Earthquake at St Antoine Hospital in Jeremie in February 2010.
All our Officers and Directors are volunteers and receive no compensation. Most also absorb all their own expenses for travel, lodging, etc. and contribute generously to Zanmi Sasye financially. More than [95%] of donations are directed to projects in Haiti that directly benefit the Sassier community.
Read MoreSupporters
Since its inception, ZANMI SASYE—PARTNERS WITH SASSIER has received more than 60 separate contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations. As our capacity and operations expand, we intend to solicit contributions from an increasingly broad range of donors, as well as our generous and established base of supporters.
Donors and members receive regular updates on project progress, new activities, and financial results. Our board members travel frequently to Sassier to assist with project planning and evaluation and to ensure that monies are spent properly and effectively.
Read MoreHistory
Brief history from the beginning of collaboration.
Key accomplishments in 2008 include:
- 646 students enrolled in classes from preschool through grade 9
- addition of five new classrooms, for a total of 19
- acquisition of textbooks for all students
- installation of a computer lab for secondary students
- financial support to seven post-secondary students
- more than 2,000 patients treated during three medical clinics
- construction of retaining walls to protect 3 hectares (7.5 acres) of agricultural land
- planting 7,500 saplings and plants for reforestation and watershed protection
- new model orchard with 46 fruit trees
Activities
Our organization builds on work begun in 1997 by individuals from the Chicago area. ZANMI SASYE—PARTNERS WITH SASSIER, INC. was formed as an Illinois not for profit corporation in 2005 to expand the original program and to broaden its fundraising efforts. “Zanmi Sasye” is Kreyol (Creole) for “Partners with Sassier.”
ZANMI SASYE—PARTNERS WITH SASSIER provided more than $200,000 in funding for education, health care, and community development projects in our first two years of operation. Our budget for fiscal 2009 is equally ambitious. Our volunteers receive no compensation. Members from the U.S. and Canada travel at their own expense to Sassier to provide medical care, educational and planning assistance, and technical advice. Therefore, we’re able to operate with virtually no overhead. More than 98% of the funds we raise goes directly to our projects in Sassier.
We cooperate closely with other NGOs operating in the region to ensure that our programs are coordinated and do not overlap. Local partners include Sacred Heart Parish’s Haiti Ministry Committee and the Archdiocese of New York’s Office of Black Ministry in education; Haitian Health Foundation, Doctors of the World, and St. Francis of Assisi Haiti Ministry in health care; and Caritas in community development.
Board of Directors
Our seven-member board includes an energy consultant with additional experience in logistics and telecommunications; a financial executive with the International Monetary Fund (and native of the Sassier area); a former Haitian ambassador to the United Nations; a Haitian-born physician now practicing in the Chicago area; a restaurateur and businessman (also a native of Sassier); a corporate attorney; and a corporate financial executive.
We have received a Federal income tax exemption under Internal Revenue Code section 501 (c) (3). All donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Read More
