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Thanks to all of the people who have become sponsors or who have registered this month as a guest
with People in Need. In this letter you will find news of some exciting new progress.
As we develop our programs and expand our work, we have new reasons to believe
that this innovative program can make a real difference to many people living
in extreme poverty, as well as in forming personal relationships that matter.
If you are a sponsor, please check your Partnership page for your monthly update. As an initial gift,
many partners have received a food package (twenty meals for schoolchildren and
their families, or forty meals for mothers of families). In future months, your
sponsorship plan will be carried out. For example, we are in the process of
purchasing school uniforms for sponsorships of children not going to school.
The name of the sponsor will be embroidered on the uniform!
This month in Fifteen minutes for understanding you will find news of the effect of the global rise
in food prices. In Haiti and other countries, millions of people are now facing
starvation. You will also find a very brief mini-course, supplied by Humanity
School, on the meaning of Compassion. Just visit your Partnership page for
details (or click here).
I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Haiti, hanging onto the back of motorbikes and squashed
into the back of pickup trucks (the primary form of transportation, called
tap-taps). During this trip we made contacts and partnerships with a number of
wonderful Haitian organizations. News of these opportunities will be available
on the People in Need website in upcoming months.
We have made the decision to interview seventy new people in the notoriously poor slum of Cite
Soleil - fifty girls not going to school, and twenty mothers and their families
living in extreme poverty. A photo gallery of the extremely poor neighborhood
we are focusing on, called Cite Fequier, is available here.
Cite Fequier is one of the most difficult places to live on earth. Almost all families
live in shacks made of tin, with dirt floors, no running water, no electricity.
Many have few if any work prospects, and many are facing starvation. Please
consider telling a friend or two about the opportunity to form a partnership
with one of these people in need.
In order to facilitate the additional responsibility of the new partnerships we are forming,
we have need of a center of our own, and are now planning to occupy a small
building in Port-au-Prince. This will make more in-depth monthly updates
possible (it's not easy to conduct interviews while squatting on a dirt
floor!), as well as providing opportunities for classes and other resources for
partners.
We are seeking new ways to deepen the interactive features of our site, and you can expect more tools
for learning about your partner in the future. For example, we are making
arrangements for a special Saturday class for schoolchildren partnerships, to
begin in September. This class will provide additional learning tools for
children, as well as readings where both children and their sponsors can read
and respond to the same stories!
Another feature we have implemented in the past month is the opportunity to purchase a $25 food
package for a starving family. This package contains enough food for forty
meals, and we have made a special effort to find rice that is grown locally.
The use of foreign rice by aid agencies during the past decades has been
devastating to farmers and to Haitian agriculture.
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In spite of the
catastrophic situation, there is also something truly special that is evident
in Haiti. The openness, humility, and simplicity of many people in life and
death situations is striking. The suffering seems to be tied to the beauty. And
it provides an opportunity - and a necessity - for we individual people,
privileged to live where we do, to reach out and extend a caring hand.
Please contact us
with any questions, comments, or suggestions.
In partnership,
Geoff
Director, People in
Need
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