Please Remember Haiti

It has been one year since the devastating earthquake shook Haiti on January 12, 2010, at 4:53 pm.

We will be mourning and honoring those lost in the quake and hoping that the international community will continue supporting and helping the millions of Haitians still surviving. We are thankful that all of the children we sponsor in our education program are healthy and in school (Papouche even graduated from carpentry trade school!), and the organizations and programs we partner with are still running to help so many more children in need. Their lives however are much worse than they were a year ago. Please put your dollars to work in the grassroots nonprofits working directly with Haitians – there are many. Pa bliye Ayiti. Don’t forget Haiti.

We are also looking forward to being in Haiti next month to celebrate the successes, see all of the children in our programs, bring donations, and pay tribute to the amazing artisans that have been through hell in Jacmel as they resume their treasured Kanaval that was cancelled last year. On February 7, 2010, Zanmi Lakay sponsored the Silent Artisan Procession in Jacmel. It was the first time ever that Kanaval was cancelled. Organized by the incredible paper maché artists of G-27 to pay homage to the victims of the earthquake. The people of Jacmel lined the streets and the mayor joined us. The only sounds came from the funeral band. We buried our black armbands and banners in a grave at the cemetery.

There are many events in the Bay Area, but if you can’t attend any you can still honor and pay tribute by lighting a candle and having a moment of silence.

There will be a Haiti benefit concert for Les Petits Chanteurs, the boys choir of the Holy Trinity Music School (a program of the amazing church with the murals that fell in the earthquake-their school was destroyed) on January 16, 2011, at 4 pm at Church of the Advent, 261 Fell Street, SF.

Zanmi Lakay will be speaking and selling Haitian art at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, 3534 Lakeshore Avenue, in Oakland on Sunday, January 16, 2011, at 11am.

Bernal Yoga in San Francisco will be having their second annual Yoga for Haiti! benefit class for Zanmi Lakay on Monday, January 17, 2011, on Martin Luther King Day from 12:00-1:30pm.

Many Haitian musicians in the Bay Area will be playing at Ashkenaz at 8pm on Friday, February 4, 2011, and Zanmi Lakay will be selling Haitian art.


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