Here & Now: Interview with Marc Young

Robin Young, of Public Radio International's Here and Now Program, interviewed HODR's International Operations Director, Marc Young, on December 5, about Project Gonaives. Listen to the national broadcast by clicking here.

HAITI: Project Gonaives Update – 24 Nov 2008

We continue to plow through the mud here in Gonaives! 62 volunteers representing 9 countries have cleared 22 residences, allowing 42 families to return home. The end is even in sight for Olanne, our most challenging mud site which has soaked up 12 days of work so far.

All 9 classrooms at the Sisters' school are back in operation, with 600+ students back in class. We continue work in their clinic and library, which provide services for an additional 200 members of their local community.

Volunteer numbers will grow steadily over the coming weeks, so we have opened up tent space at our base. If you're interested in joining us at Project Gonaives, email info@hodr.org.

HAITI: Project Gonaives 30 Day Report

After just one month in Gonaives, there has been a transformation. The roads, once blocked by mountains of sludge and flooded with chocolate brown soup, are now lined with dump trucks and loaders. Businesses are back, tap taps are resuming their routes, and schools are set to reopen. The former hotel at #1A National Road, Gonaives, Haiti is now the busy, bustling headquarters of HODR’s Project Gonaives.

Here’s a look at what we’ve accomplished in our first month of operation!

Labou Partout (Residential Mud Clearing)
The recent hurricanes left the city of Gonaives buried in mud. People have been living on the roofs of their homes or in informal shelters (schools, community spaces, with friends/family). The core work of Project Gonaives is, and will continue to be clearing mud from peoples’ homes, allowing families to return and take the first steps toward normalcy.

To date, our volunteer teams have removed over 100 tons of mud from 15 properties, allowing 28 families to return home. The work is difficult and slow – in many neighborhoods wheelbarrow access is limited, so homes must be emptied of mud by hand. Our bucket brigades of local and international volunteers snake through these communities, restoring hope and home one inverted bucket at a time.

Back to School
The colorful pressed shirts, hair ribbons, and shined shoes of schoolchildren have been conspicuously absent in Gonaives. Until now! Our first major rehabilitation project is at the École Emmaus Centre St. Joseph, known to us simply as “The Sisters.” For the past three weeks, we have been busy mudding out, scrubbing, and painting this school run by nuns. This week, classes resumed thanks to the efforts of HODR volunteers, community members, a CRS (Catholic Relief Services) cash-for-work program and equipment rental, and heavy machinery contributed by the UN. This is truly a partnership that works – together, we’re putting 700 children back in school.

(Sidenote – can you even recognize the school from this video, shot one and a half months ago?)

Let’s coordinate! (GPS with CRS)
Building on our early relationship with CRS, we provided GPS training sessions to their staff followed by exercises in the field. The United Nations coordination effort uses GPS data from each organization to create a comprehensive mapping of response efforts. Our training gives CRS a valuable tool for future assessments and program management, while maintaining recognition for their current programs on the UN stage.

Taking it to the Streets
As the mud piles higher and drier, residents are blitzed by dust clouds. A local radio station organized a grassroots project to clean the streets of our neighborhood, and we provided tools and a volunteer labor force to work alongside community members. After some detail work on the national highway, we moved in to side streets. HODR volunteers were also featured on a live radio broadcast to promote the cleanup and talk about our work in Gonaives.

Trick or Treat
While Halloween isn’t traditionally celebrated in Haiti, everyone loves a good scare! We hosted a Halloween party for 30 local children, complete with a haunted house. After games like Bobbing-for-Oranges (no apples here) and Ring Toss, brave groups of kids and parents set off for trick-or-treating on the haunted house tour. All tricks were thoroughly tested on Michelet, our watchman, and all treats on Norma, our cook. We’ve already heard feedback from the community – “great party, when’s the next one?”

Play Time
Ebenezer Camp sits on the outskirts of town, near a newly formed lake. The homes of the 112 families living in tents here are still flooded from the August/September storms. Each Saturday, a cheerful band of volunteers leads a “safe space play” program for the benefit of the camp’s children. With a simple supply of energy, creativity, and modest materials, our volunteers engage and entertain the kids. These activities encourage cooperation, imagination, and provide a respite from the realities of life after the hurricanes.

IOM Distribution
The families of Ebenezer Camp are faced with the challenge of creating a home from nothing; the site has no preexisting water, sanitation, or shelter. HODR requested 240 safe water storage containers from IOM (International Organization for Migration) for distribution at the camp. Our first self-managed international distribution went off without a hitch! With help from the camp managing committee, ADSEC, we identified the beneficiary families, distributed tickets, managed the crowd, registered each person as they picked up their container, and improved the lives of these families in a modest, but tangible way.

A Toolkit and a HODR Hand
Oxfam International launched a household cleanup program in the neighborhood next to ours. Last Saturday, HODR volunteers helped to mark and assemble the cleanup tool kits and distribute them to the first 50 families in the program. Our volunteers continue to consult with Oxfam field workers, supporting them with site monitoring, tool maintenance, participant motivation, and program management.

Hurricane Talks
This past Sunday, HODR volunteers were invited to the Ebenezer Camp youth group to give a talk on hurricanes. The inquisitive audience ranged in age from 15 to 65 (maybe it’s a youth-at-heart group), and asked questions about how hurricanes form, early warning systems, environmental risk factors, and mitigation strategies. We are looking to expand this program into a weekly series around Gonaives.

Community Water Pump
Our neighbors across the street have a community well that provided us with water during the first days at our base. The low volume, direct-lift pump required a bizarre technique that was a combination of stamina and rhythm that confounded almost all of the volunteers, but none of the 7 year old neighborhood girls. Although the completion of our new water system made trips to the community well purely for leisure, we wanted to thank the family and community for their kindness and generosity. We replaced broken pipes and installed a lift and push pump; now anyone can pump water easily from the well (even Marc).

Local Volunteers
We are proud to announce the participation of 17 (so far) local volunteers in Project Gonaives! We were told that we should not expect “local volunteers” in Haiti. We were told that “it is not part of their culture,” that with 70% unemployment “no one will give their time for free.” That has not been the case! Each day our local volunteers turn out to work side-by-side with our volunteers from around the world. Their presence gives us a boost of muscle and laughter on the jobsite, greater empathy in our work, and a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by their fellow Haitians.

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On behalf of all the volunteers who have worked at Project Gonaives so far, thank you to everyone in the HODR family for your energy and support!

There is much work left to do and if you’re interested in volunteering at our project in Haiti, please email info@hodr.org. While there are plenty of spots open in our mud bucket brigade, our shuttle seats are limited so please email now! We also encourage you to make a contribution through our secure website. Your financial donation will make a direct difference in the lives of the people of Gonaives, delivered through the hands of a volunteer.

Stefanie Chang
Project Director
Hands On Disaster Response

HAITI: Project Gonaives Update – 30 Oct 2008

We’re just getting warmed up! After 3 weeks of operations at Project Gonaives, volunteers have mudded out 9 residences allowing 12 families to move from rooftops, shelters, and shared spaces back into their own homes. HODR has nearly finished washing classrooms and desks at a school for street children, and will begin the final stage of repainting the flooded rooms next week. We also continue to support the UN coordination of the cleanup effort in Gonaives by providing GPS training to local Catholic Relief Services and Caritas Haiti staff.

Coordination of local volunteers from Gonaives continues to breathe life into the project. We work daily with local volunteers who also see the value of their hands at work in their home community. Our foreign volunteers find that our work is more effective, our job sites more fun, and our exposure to life in Gonaives more sincere when our efforts are combined with those of our neighbors.

We hope to see you and your boots in Gonaives soon! If you are interested in volunteering, please email info@hodr.org.

IOWA: Project Cedar Rapids 90-Day Report

90 days in Cedar Rapids…and oh, what a ride it’s been

300th Home

The focus for the majority of Project Cedar Rapids has been cleaning out flood-affected homes. Through our dedicated efforts we reached and passed a milestone—we cleaned/gutted out our 300th home! As the project evolves we will continue mucking and gutting and work towards our membership in the 400 club.

We clean up pretty well too…Rebuilding & Mini-Grants
While mucking and gutting homes continues, one of our newer initiatives is rebuilding. Volunteers are insulating, framing, hanging doors and installing drywall, flooring, windows, and siding to repair flood-damaged homes. Our volunteer teams are moving at a pace that would make many professional contractors faint! Our lean and mean long-term volunteers coupled with skilled volunteer groups that join us for a weekend or week are getting people back in homes.

In appreciation of our work, the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation, and Rockwell Collins both generously donated to Project Cedar Rapids. They are the latest to join the ranks of our enthusiastic supporters from around the area. These contributions have made a big impact in supporting our project, and have allowed us to develop a mini-grant initiative that provides rebuilding materials for residents who cannot afford them; our 3-day mini-grant approval process allows us to connect funding to residents with unmet needs in a timely manner and help get people over the hurdle of a financial stopping point. Thank you to all of our donors for your support our project, our volunteers and this community, as we work to get people back into their homes!

A little R&R in Palo
One family that we helped thanked HODR for hanging drywall in their home and threw a “Fish Fry” to celebrate the rebuilding. The food was delicious and our volunteers had a great time! Thank you!

We’re Getting the Band Back Together
The last 30 days has seen a lot of familiar faces and volunteer groups that have re-surfaced for a second, third or fourth trip back to Project Cedar Rapids! Coupled with the strong support of local groups like the Cedar Rapids Rotary Clubs, the CRWRC, church groups and hundreds of local individual volunteers, we have been able to continue making strides in the recovery process and we thank each and every volunteer who has been a part of the past 90 days.

Long Term Volunteer Love
We also want to take a moment to thank our core of long term volunteers, local and out-of-state, who lead our teams every day and have worked tirelessly to make this project what it has become. Through your efforts and dedication, you have made a significant and lasting impact on the lives of those affected by the flood, and on the short-term volunteers whose stay you help make so effective. You make HODR what it is and we appreciate all the work you’ve done and continue to do!

Project Cedar Rapids will continue through October 25th. Until that day we will be working harder then ever to serve the local community. Thank you to the Cedar Hills Community Church who opened their doors to us back in June and has been a gracious host throughout the project—your generosity has allowed HODR volunteers to…

Muck and Gut 309 homes
Coordinate 1800 volunteers from 39 states, France, Canada and China!
Work 26,408 volunteer hours
At a savings of $584,441.86 in labor costs to flood-affected residents

And we’re not done yet…

Bill Driscoll Jr.
US Operations Director
Hands On Disaster Response

NBC Nightly News: Making a Difference

John Hancock, HODR volunteer, was featured on the NBC Nightly News 'Making a Difference' segment for his work with HODR. John is part of the team that launched our volunteer project in Gonaives, Haiti, in response to Hurricane Ike and a string of other tropical storms and hurricanes that hit the country during the fall of 2008. John dedicated the previous year to HODR, volunteering in Peru, Bangladesh and Iowa, on our assessment in China, and here, in Haiti.

“We have to take something that is so ridiculously large and impossible to deal with, and break it down into something you can do in one day, in one hour," Hancock said. "You can clean up a whole community like that.”

Visit www.HODR.org/Volunteer for more information on volunteering with HODR. To support our work by making a tax-deductible donation, please make a secure online donation. Please give generously to support HODR and the communities we assist.

Click here to see the NBC 'Making a Difference' segment from October 4, 2008.