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!
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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.
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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.
