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We update our blog to collect the news and updates we receive. It's at http://blog.haitianconnection.org

A Thank You From Fr. Rick

Dear Renate
Thank you very much for the money you sent for earthquake relief. We have used the money for assistance to people who are hungry and thirsty. To date we have distributed over 4000 sacks of rice to many areas in Port au Prince and some to Leogane and Miragoane. That is over $88,000 worth of rice, which we purchased, using your donation along with others. Our biggest problems now are hunger, homelessness and woundedness (physical and psychological).
Thanks to you and to all who have donated.
God bless you
fr rick frechette

Kay Pou Fanm Ayisyen (Houses for Haitian Women)

It is believed that over three million people were affected by the recent earthquake in Haiti leaving thousands of Haitian people without homes; many of these are women who are single parents and heads of households. Kay Pou Fanm Ayisyen is a project of Haitian Connection in partnership with APF (Asosyasyon Peyizan Fondwa) and the Trou Kofi Women’s Organization of Fondwa with the simple goal of helping to construct needed housing. Women who own their own homes in Haiti are more able to maintain a small businesses as well as feed, clothe, and educate their children. Now is a crucial time for Kay Pou Fanm Ayisyen as we attempt to raise funds to help women build new homes for themselves and their families.

All donations and funds go directly to the building of homes for women in Haiti.

For further information or to make a donation please contact Renate Schneider 312/493-3719 or Amy Jobin 217/714-6695.

Checks can be made out to our fiscal sponsor Partners in Progress, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit. All donations are tax deductible. Please put Haitian Connection, Kay Fanm in the memo line. Donations can be sent to: Partners in Progress 329 N. Fairfield Street Ligonier, PA 15658

Haitian Connection’s Long Term Response to the Earthquake and its Psychological Aftermath is to establish a Mental Health Program in Jeremie

The catastrophe which hit Haiti more than two weeks ago only underscores the need for trained mental health counselors on the ground, particularly in the months and years to come as people resettle, tally their losses and readjust themselves to a new, and most likely much more difficult, reality. Psychological relief aid cannot be done in the same was as other disaster relief. It requires a consistent and long-term presence on the ground. As a result we have added an additional and urgent objective, to our project – the training of local people in trauma and grief intervention. The immigration from Port-au-Prince back to the rural areas is already underway, officially sponsored by the government but also undertaken by families and individuals who know there is nothing for them in PAP. In the week following the earthquake 3,000 people had already in Jeremie and more will come. It is imperative that a resource base be established in these rural areas as soon as possible.

Our objectives are:

• Mental health training in psychological first aid
• Mental health training in depression, anxiety and substance abuse
• Development of a cadre of community mental health workers at each of three sites – Jeremie, Dekade, Gatineau.
• Development of a mobile group of community mental health workers who can travel in to the more remote mountain regions.
• Development and evaluation of culturally appropriate mental health assessment tools.
• Development and evaluation of culturally appropriate mental health intervention strategies.
• Specific focus on children and trauma.

We are currently looking for funding of this project. If you are able to assist us financially, or by giving us frequent flyers miles of know others who might be interested, please contact Renate Schneider at haitianconnection@gmail.com