To a partner, friend and sponsor of a person in need in Haiti:

People in Need was created to answer this question: Is it possible for one human being to truly care for another, even though they have nothing in common except for their shared humanity? This letter contains news about several new programs we have developed as we continually strive to answer that question by saying Yes!

Our new system depends on Coordinators, whom we have chosen from our Haitian partners. Each Coordinator assists a group of 5 – 8 members in their neighborhood. Mothers receive a telephone and a camera; Coordinators who are children are given a telephone but no camera. All this is part of our effort to decentralize, and to give more power and responsibility directly to our partners. It also makes possible more frequent updates, personal messages, and photos, and you can now expect to receive at least two per month. You will also now receive email notifications when messages are sent.

Video messages are a new way your partner can communicate with you. During the month of October, 2008 you will receive a short clip (one or two minutes) of your partner speaking to you about their life. (Another option coming soon is video conferencing, where you will have the chance to talk face-to-face with your partner!)

Another new program is Birthday celebrations. We visit your partner’s home on their birthday with gifts, cake and beverages. Though obviously not necessary in a practical sense, we are delivering a crucial heart-to-heart message, especially poignant since none of our partners has ever had a birthday party before. Your partner knows that this is a gift directly from you, not from People in Need. You can expect to receive a video clip of the celebration shortly after your partner’s birthday (the date is noted on your Financial plan). (Click here for a sample.)

Occasionally your partner visits our center in Port-au-Prince for workshops and classes. We recently held a drawing workshop. If you are the partner of a child, you will receive a drawing that your partner drew specifically for you within a week or two. Some of the children had never before had the opportunity to draw on paper.

On my recent trip to Haiti – I just returned yesterday – I was struck by the principles and commitment of our staff. All are working, at barely subsistence wages, because they believe in our project. You can read about them, and see their regular news updates, by going to News from People in Need (a link you can find on the home page of the website), and clicking on the picture of each (more will be added soon).

City of Brothers, Sept 25 2008

Haiti is a country that is among the most suffering on the earth. Four major storms (Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ika) have struck the country during the last two months. Six hundred people have died and crucial infrastructure, agriculture, and housing has been destroyed. None of our partners (who are located in Port-au-Prince and Jacmel, in the center and south of the country) were injured; but some of their homes were flooded, or were destroyed, and many are now in even greater need than before. A section on emergency help needed will be added to our website.

Getting around in Haiti is done on tap-taps (communal taxis in converted pickup trucks), or on the back of hired motorbikes. Just a couple of days ago I was thrown off of one of these underpowered vehicles as it flew backwards into the air, and I landed hard on my back on the pavement. Luckily I escaped injury. Our work in the slums (especially Cite Soleil) is also considered dangerous: most foreigners (and Haitians) wouldn’t enter without an armed guard (the United Nations has a large peacekeeping force in the area). But we are working with local community leaders who have the respect of their community, and who protect us. We have never encountered any real trouble.

Most trouble is a creation of the mind. This goes for trouble of all kinds – especially poverty, hunger, sickness, and exploitation (obviously once they are created they exist outside of the mind as well). Our minds create our culture; and culture creates our political life and everyday reality. With clarity and courage there is nothing we can’t do to create the world we envision. It all begins with the simplest human relationship: the one true way we have of dealing with a stranger. If we can do this with care and understanding, the nature of our position in the world changes. We are truly building ‘One relationship for the world.’

News about other programs is coming in future newsletters. As a preview, you may want to take a look at Other ways you can help (a link on the home page of our website).

In Partnership,

Geoff

Thanks to all of the people who have become sponsors or who have registered this month as a guest with People in Need. In this letter you will find news of some exciting new progress. As we develop our programs and expand our work, we have new reasons to believe that this innovative program can make a real difference to many people living in extreme poverty, as well as in forming personal relationships that matter. If you are a sponsor, please check your Partnership page for your monthly update. As an initial gift, many partners have received a food package (twenty meals for schoolchildren and their families, or forty meals for mothers of families). In future months, your sponsorship plan will be carried out. For example, we are in the process of purchasing school uniforms for sponsorships of children not going to school. The name of the sponsor will be embroidered on the uniform! This month in Fifteen minutes for understanding you will find news of the effect of the global rise in food prices. In Haiti and other countries, millions of people are now facing starvation. You will also find a very brief mini-course, supplied by Humanity School, on the meaning of Compassion. Just visit your Partnership page for details (or click here). I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Haiti, hanging onto the back of motorbikes and squashed into the back of pickup trucks (the primary form of transportation, called tap-taps). During this trip we made contacts and partnerships with a number of wonderful Haitian organizations. News of these opportunities will be available on the People in Need website in upcoming months. We have made the decision to interview seventy new people in the notoriously poor slum of Cite Soleil - fifty girls not going to school, and twenty mothers and their families living in extreme poverty. A photo gallery of the extremely poor neighborhood we are focusing on, called Cite Fequier, is available here. Cite Fequier is one of the most difficult places to live on earth. Almost all families live in shacks made of tin, with dirt floors, no running water, no electricity. Many have few if any work prospects, and many are facing starvation. Please consider telling a friend or two about the opportunity to form a partnership with one of these people in need. In order to facilitate the additional responsibility of the new partnerships we are forming, we have need of a center of our own, and are now planning to occupy a small building in Port-au-Prince. This will make more in-depth monthly updates possible (it’s not easy to conduct interviews while squatting on a dirt floor!), as well as providing opportunities for classes and other resources for partners. We are seeking new ways to deepen the interactive features of our site, and you can expect more tools for learning about your partner in the future. For example, we are making arrangements for a special Saturday class for schoolchildren partnerships, to begin in September. This class will provide additional learning tools for children, as well as readings where both children and their sponsors can read and respond to the same stories! Another feature we have implemented in the past month is the opportunity to purchase a $25 food package for a starving family. This package contains enough food for forty meals, and we have made a special effort to find rice that is grown locally. The use of foreign rice by aid agencies during the past decades has been devastating to farmers and to Haitian agriculture. http://img.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101093164665/newspets_div.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x;” rowspan="1" colspan="1" background="http://img.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101093164665/newspets_div.gif" height="1"> In spite of the catastrophic situation, there is also something truly special that is evident in Haiti. The openness, humility, and simplicity of many people in life and death situations is striking. The suffering seems to be tied to the beauty. And it provides an opportunity - and a necessity - for we individual people, privileged to live where we do, to reach out and extend a caring hand. Please contact us with any questions, comments, or suggestions.   In partnership, Geoff Director, People in Need