Globals For Solidarité
Standing in Solidarity
Our overall mission is to stand in solidarity with Haitians and support their strive toward self-sustainability. There are many NGOs and other organizations provided aid for Haiti, yet we value the strength of supporting the action of Haitians themselves. So instead of implementing new projects, we work to stand in solidarity with the people who are working to change Haiti. We partner with many grass root organizations and activists in Haiti to provide sustainable aid and to create a life long relationship of support with these powerful leaders. In doing so, we focus on three main sources of growth; education, the empowerment of women, and by improving standards of living.
Education
We work with schools around the Por Au Prince area in hopes of spreading access to education and increasing the quality of education provided. We are working with a high school to raise scholarship funds for students to go to a University when they graduate since many are forced to end their education due to the lack of income. We also are working with the founder to build the school on a different site. This new construction will serve as a community center, orphanage, and school and will also provide sanitary water through its cistern for the entire community. These projects that empower Haitians and demonstrate the strengh of community are those that need our solidarity the most.
We are working with an elementary school that has recently been evicted and must raise enough money for a new school site. The principal of the elementary school tells us that her students beg her to provide a higher education for them because once they graduate from 6th grade, most students are not able to attend school. When we visit her, she informs us that her school provides a meal a day for the students, and in many cases, this meal is the only one these students get a day. Schools protect children, give them a chance for a better future. The only way for Haitians to reach self-sufficiency is if they create a future generation prepared to make change, only possible through an increased access to education for all.
Empowering Women and Youth
The women groups and youth groups we meet with are those that are actively changing Haiti. These grass root organizations empower these individuals to create a better life for themselves and their communities. We work with a women's micro loan orgnaization that works to empower women to work for their families. This group allows women in the community to take out a loan with a very low interest rate (solely enough to keep the bank active) and start their own business to gain profit. It allows women to fight for their families and empowers them to be dominant figures in the community. This organization also provides education classes for adults and for children in the community all day and night. We stand in solidarity to support their movement.
The youth of Haiti also plays a large roll in the future of Haiti. When meeting with students in high schools and in universities in Haiti, their immense strength and passion to work hard in order to help their countrty radiates. The way the youth in Haiti cherishes their education and ability to change the future is inspirational and proves the urgency to support them. By empowering the youth, we have no doubt that Haiti will change for the better.
Improving Standards of Living
It is important to address the condition Haiti is in currently. After the 2011 earthquake, the infrastructure was destroyed and tent cities began to emerge. There is little being done to help rebuild Haiti and it has taken a large toll on the abundant lower class. There is little access to sanitary water, electricity, or medical aid. And because of the immense political curruption, there is very little visibility of the suppression inflicted upon the overwhelming population living under the poverty line, restricting them from rising above.
We support orgnaizations that work to improve the standards of living for these victims. We are more than proud to stand in solidarity with a community group in the slum, Cite Soleil. The group provides a youth soccer club that reaches out to the youth that would otherwise be involved in gang activity to give them a outlet for hope. The group provides a community garden for everyone to work on to provide food for the community and a source of income that proves to the hopeless people that they can make a change. We support groups making a change such as these to provide money for water, food, and resources.
