I need to have raised $5000 for Random Acts by the 24^th May, the first 25 people to reach the target will go on the trip.

This is the link to my donation page http://www.crowdrise.com/HopetoHaiti2012/fundraiser/Vanesha .  100% of the money you donate will go to Haiti, I will be covering my own travel and accommodation expenses. 

My favourite thing about Random Acts is that the money doesn’t disappear into a pool of bureaucracy , you know exactly which projects it will go to and you can put names and faces to each person who will benefit.

Last time I spoke about Bonite Affriany, this time I’d like to introduce you to George Metellus.

George Metellus –Art Creation Foundation for Children (ACFFC)

This is George Metellus.  He runs the Art Creation Foundation for Children which is an organization created for the education and personal growth of street children in need in Jacmel. 

The kids at the ACFFC adore him – he is their role model, parent, sibling, playmate, provider and defender rolled into one.  He can bring a smile to any face and has no hesitation in throwing out the eligibility criteria for the foundation if he sees a child in need.

Theoretically, the foundation provides facilities for 95 street children between the ages of 6-11.  In reality the foundation provides care for children of any age, their siblings and sometimes even their families.  They take in disabled and very sick children – the shortage of medical care means this is normally a death sentence for these kids in Haiti. 

Just seeing the front door to the ACFFC tells you that this is a very special place. 

 

It’s bright and colourful and a vast contrast to the destruction and broken foundations around it -  you can hear children laughing, singing and playing before you even walk through the door. 

 

The ACFFC provides education, food and healthcare to every child who attends.  Lots of the children are orphaned, some have been abandoned by single parents who cannot cope, others have a working parent.  Children here will leave every night and go back to the streets or return home.  There are no accommodation facilities.

Every inch of the inside of the building has been decorated by the kids. 

The classrooms are full to the brim of children determined to gain literacy and numeracy skills and work areas where children creating paintings and sculptures which hang from every available surface.  The younger kids play outside and follow you around in the hope that you will play with them.  Kids will grab your hand and show you what they have created and what they are learning.

They have endless patience and will teach you over and over again how to create a bird out of clay if like me, you are useless at art!

Luckily certain things such as affection and love are universal – it’s hard not to fall in love with these kids. 

We brought washing up liquid with us to teach the kids how to blow bubbles.  They had never seen that before, their joy and wonder was both wonderful and sad.

This is Marie by the way.  Everyone calls her Bebe as she’s one of the youngest kids at the foundation.   She’s nearly 3 and was a firm favourite with us all.  Her older sister who is 5 attends the foundation and her mother leaves Bebe there too so she can work.  Bebe’s father was killed in the Haitian earthquake.

It costs on average a $1000 a year to provide food, education and art supplies for a child at the foundation.  The more funds the ACFFC raises, the more kids get help.  Not one dollar donated goes towards administrative costs, these are all absorbed by the board members of the foundation.

  As you may have guessed, the ACFFC was my favourite out of all the places I visited in Haiti.   These kids are humble and generous and even though they have nothing they are willing to share half of that nothing with you.  I had to stop children from using their drinking water to help me wash my feet when they got dirty.  They’re pretty amazing.

A proportion of the money raised by Random Acts will go towards supporting the ACFFC.

Every donation makes a huge difference – if you can help, please do.  If you’re not in a position to help, please feel free to spread the word and forward this e-mail on.

 

If you are interested in learning about  Hope to Haiti/ ACFFC  you can read about them here:

http://haiti.therandomact.org/

http://artforhaitianchildren.org/

Thank you

Vanesha

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