Festive music emanated loudly from large speakers. Crowds of people mingled, greeting one another and chatting. The atmosphere was vibrant and full of energy; this could easily have been a scene out of a wedding reception or town fair. Actually, this was last Saturday’s mobile clinic for the physically disabled people of Thomassique, organized by a community-led organization called ACAHT (Association pour la Canalisation d’aide aux Handicapés de Thomassique). Upon arriving at the event, we realized that this was not merely a mobile clinic, but an opportunity for the community to come together and celebrate the fact that much-needed services are now being provided for handicapped people in this area. The event was an embodiment of all that ACAHT and other local community-led initiatives seek to do – bring people together to effect positive change in Thomassique.
ACAHT is just one of many successful locally led initiatives in Thomassique. Here, we will highlight the work of several other organizations with which we’ve worked this year. This is just a small sample of countless community initiatives that exist here.
ACOSAT
Within our first week in Haiti, we were approached by Jocelia, a woman who runs an organization and school for orphans in Thomassique. The organization, called Association Communautaire Orphelinat secours d'Enfant de Thomassique (ACOSAT), aims to provide services for guardian families taking care of orphaned and abandoned children. While this is a perennial problem in the community, it has been a particularly pressing need in the months following the earthquake. ACOSAT was one of the local organizations (along with ACAHT and the World Vision Earthquake Relief Committee) that we partnered with to distribute the earthquake relief items that were sent to Thomassique from the US in the months following the disaster.
An innovative thinker, Jocelia has also begun a program to fund ACOSAT’s school by starting a business as a seamstress. She plans to teach young women in the school how to use manually-powered sewing machines. They will make and sell uniforms, clothing, and decorative cloths. All profits will benefit the organization and school. In an environment in which external funding is nearly impossible to come by, it is this kind of entrepreneurial spirit that can sustain community initiatives such as ACOSAT.
Lekòl Tèt Ansanm
The lack of an adequate education system is a persisting problem in Thomassique. The government-run school has the capacity to serve only a small fraction of children in the area. For the majority of children who cannot find seats in the government-run school, private school is the only chance at an education. The cost of a private education – tuition fees, books, uniforms, shoes - can be unmanageable, especially for families with multiple school-aged children. In response to this problem, there are several locally run free or low-cost schools that have been introduced in Thomassique. We collaborate with several of them for our School Lunch Program. One of them, Tèt Ansanm, was started by Down Belizaire (our x-ray technician at St. Joseph’s Clinic) and his friend Betony. This free school is open to Thomassique’s poorest children, and the teachers work on a volunteer basis. Other free and low-cost schools in this area include Lekòl Fermi and Lekòl Pòv.
Kay Pòv
Kay Pòv
Association Femmes de Thomassique (AFDT)
It seems that we are constantly learning of more community initiatives in Thomassique. Just last week, we attended a meeting with the Association Femmes de Thomassique (AFDT), an organization dedicated to the empowerment and mobilization of women as key players in development work. We met with the committee of over 50 women from Thomassique and discussed their needs and ambitions. One of their goals is to begin a loan program for women, using pooled funds to support entrepreneurial ventures. They also expressed interest in collaborating with the clinic to address issues of women’s health in Thomassique. We plan to collaborate with AFDT as we look to expand the outreach services of our maternity department. Furthermore, the board members of AFDT expressed interest in selling Bon Sel as a way of promoting good health practices and fundraising for their organization. AFDT’s salt sales began last week.
The presence of multitudinous community-led initiatives in Thomassique was a surprise to us when we first arrived here. Not knowing much about the area, we had originally anticipated that community-led initiatives would require a certain base level of material resources that were lacking in Thomassique. We were impressed to find that, even with extremely limited resources, several programs have been implemented. This is not to say that resources are not needed. Indeed, money is the limiting factor in every one of these programs. But we were surprised and impressed by the fact that community collaborations such as these exist even in the absence of material resources; such initiatives are fueled by the resourcefulness, determination, and civic-mindedness of the people of Thomassique.
This week marks our one-year anniversary at St. Joseph’s Clinic. One year ago, our friend Rigot Thomas asked us a question that has resonated with us ever since: kijan w wè Ayiti? How do you see Haiti? The answer is complicated, to say the least. Every day in Thomassique, we witness the effects of global injustice: hunger, preventable diseases, lack of access to clean drinking water, and abject poverty. But it is unfair and inaccurate to reduce this country to a poverty-stricken, victimized nation. The people of Haiti are not passive recipients of misfortune or aid; they are active and invaluable players in development work. In the face of a harsh reality, it is they who best understand the needs of this country. Our work in Thomassique this year would not have been possible or effective without our local partnerships. We continue to be inspired and moved by the competency, compassion, and undying commitment that these organizations have to this community.
