Canadian Association Step by Step News
February, 2012
Join us for a terrific night of laughter and friendly competition to support the disabled children of Haiti and the work of the Canadian Association Step by Step.
Trivia Night
Saturday February 18th at 7:30 p.m.
The Street Tap & Eatery
547 Ontario Street, St. Catharines
$3.00 per person
50/50 draw
Trivia Night Poster (PDF)
November, 2010
Cheque Presentation to Plan Canada on November 8, 2010 to Assist with the Rebuilding of the Pazapa Centre
October, 2010
The last few months have been very productive for our friends in Jacmel, Haiti.
The Pazapa centre opened for the fall term on October 4th and saw a continued
increase in their registrations. Just prior to opening they were expecting
20 new students, in addition to their previously enrolled children, mostly
children 0-3 years of age. While the centre continues to operate under temporary
structures, they are currently working to build a small kitchen to restart
the canteen program and provide the children nourishing hot meals. Orthopedic,
medical and educational programs have resumed and staff are anticipating a
very busy fall.
Pazapa also received new grant money to purchase kitchen and cooking equipment
for a small local foods project. Parents and graduated students will be able
to produce and sell Haitian products such as peanut butter and local jams,
with sales targeted to NGO’s, hotels, markets and visitors to the centre.
It is hoped that approximately 20 individuals will be able to participate in
this small enterprise.
Most importantly excellent progress has been made in establishing a rebuild
plan with the invaluable support of Plan Haiti and CBM (Christian Blind
Mission). Funds are currently being secured from a number of sources both individual
and corporate to ensure the success of this project. Canadian Association
Step by Step is also directing funds to the rebuilding of the centre through
Plan
Canada/Haiti who is recognized as well positioned to ensure the completion
of the rebuild, including primary structure, play facilities and secondary
buildings. In the coming months, C.A.S.S. will be able to update donors
on
the progress of the rebuilding efforts and the activities of the centre.
We continue to encourage donors to consider the earthquake recovery needs
of Haiti
and Pazapa and recognize that continued contributions are still needed.
It is our promise to donors that your funds will be carefully targeted to projects,
such as the Pazapa centre’s rebuild, that are accountable and clearly
benefit the local community, the families and children of Haiti.
May, 2010
Good News! Pazapa has been able to purchase land in Jacmel that will be the
new home for the centre. While the community waits for direction from the government
to commence rebuilding (aftershocks still continue which delay the ability
to start rebuilding), Pazapa has made arrangements to erect temporary shelter
for their classes. Tents have been donated by Save the Children and Plan Haiti
has assisted with additional temporary classroom structures and latrine facilities.
With the generous donations from both Canadian and American donors, Pazapa
is making good progress in their recovery efforts and looks forward to working
with several partner agencies in the coming months to build a new permanent
structure for the centre. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months!
See the photos on the Pictures page.
An update from the Executive Director of Pazapa
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"Dear all,
Before I get to the PAZAPA updates, I wanted to share with you some
statistics that I found in a newspaper article about Jacmel. There is
a total 1,785 destroyed homes in Jacmel, 87 businesses, 54 schools, 24
hotels and 26 churches. The death toll was around 3000, which represents
10% of the Jacmel population. Finally, there is a total of 5,730 families
who are displaced.
Where the PAZAPA families are concerned we have a total of
10 families whose homes have been completely destroyed by the earthquake
and 37 more homes which were damaged and need repairs.
As I usually tell myself on a daily basis: “in Haiti it’s
one step forward and five steps back”. PAZAPA is facing one more
setback. The house that we were negotiating for our temporary location
is no longer available. The owners felt that our expectations were too
high and they were not willing to make the appropriate repairs to the
unfinished part of the building. Our Administrator, Mr. Forgeas, is a
very cautious person and he did not feel comfortable risking donated
funds on this deal. Therefore, PAZAPA continues to search for a new temporary
location as well as a suitable property for the building of our new Center.
With the extra CRS food that was left in our storage room, we felt the
need to donate it since there would be no school in the near future and
we feared that it would go bad. Mr. Forgeas contacted Catholic Relief
Services and they agreed that the Centre hand out the food to our families.
There was another food distribution done last Monday, February 8th, to
a total of 80 families. They received wheat, soy, beans and oil. The
distribution was done out of my home and everything was done in a calm
and orderly fashion thanks to the dedication of the PAZAPA staff and
not to forget the cooperation of the families.
Day by day, the staff has been gradually emptying the Center’s
main building and storing certain items in our storage room in the backyard.
So far all computers have been removed because they were exposed to rain,
sun and dust damage, the DVD and TV, all medical and casting materials/files.
The entire main level of the center has also been emptied. They have
spent most of this week doing this dangerous task knowing that the last
aftershock was last Tuesday of 4.6 magnitude!
I have been speaking with Dr Colleen O’Connell from Healing Hands
Canada regarding their support to PAZAPA’s rehabilitation efforts
in the future and here are some very promising things that she has said: “We
are working on having HHH teams in steadily to go wherever the needs
are… and are now bringing mainly pure rehab professionals. St.
BonFace hospital (somewhere between Jacmel and Les Cayes) is receiving
rehab patients, and we have some HHH people there. If you thought we
could set up “shop” somewhere, we could certainly send a
team to Jacmel. Also, I asked one of the doctors there to let me know
how many amputees – HHH is working with Handicap International
to ensure P&O centres get set up across the country, not just PAP,
so you shouldn’t have to send people that far”.
For your information, Colleen has annually sent Healing Hands volunteers
to PAZAPA since 2007. They are a very dynamic team and have supported
our needs mostly in physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech language
therapy among others!
Finally, we are in need of casting material for our orthopedic and clubfoot
patients because CURE Haiti is currently shifting its focus on earthquake
relief in Haiti. Also, the other centers who were partners in the clubfoot
project no longer exist (Healing Hands Haiti and St Vincent). This will
be the case until all centers reopen and CURE makes a decision on the
project.
I have posted the pictures of PAZAPA as well as all the other colonial
homes in Jacmel damaged by the earthquake on my Facebook account."
Marika MacRae, Executive Director of Pazapa |
2009 News
In 2009, C.A.S.S. was again
able to help the PAZAPA centre in Jacmel Haiti. This year C.A.S.S. contributed
to several PAZAPA projects
to include its "Ti
Commerce" program.
20 Families with disabled children, or individuals with disabilities
that just completed
their schooling, were be able to receive interest free loans to initiate
small businesses. As this strategy has shown itself
to be quite successful in the past, it is anticipated that the funds
provided to
this initiative
in 2009 will
allow
for
the Ti Commerce Project
to continue
annually in the future without further outside funding.
Additional funds were also provided to support
an outreach project in the La Montagne
area.
C.A.S.S.
funded
the
Outreach
Goats
Project
providing
10 children with disabilities each a goat to raise. The offspring from these
goats will be used to provide revenue for the community as part of a self-sustaining
small community farming business. (Photos of the Outreach Goats Project can
be found on the pictures page of this website.)
It was also a joy to be able to fund the annual Childrens'
Christmas party providing toys and gifts to approximately 120 children with
disabilities. (Photos of the Christmas party are also on the Pictures page).
These are just a couple of C.A.S.S. projects and it is anticipated
that the association plans to fund more initiatives in the coming months. Individuals
who wish to participate in fund raising or board activities are always welcome.
If you are interested in volunteering with the Canadian Association Step by
Step, please contact us at
canadianassociationstepbystep@gmail.com
More Information
For more information about the earthquake in Haiti click here.
Our most current Brochure is available here.
All of our past news updates are archived here.
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