Post by fugees-online on Jan 15, 2006 14:18:07 GMT 1
To donate, please visit:
www.yele.org/index.html
What is YELÉ Hati?
Led by Grammy Award-winning Haitian born hip-hop musician Wyclef Jean, Yéle Haiti is a non-political organization intended to empower the people of Haiti and the Haitian diaspora to rebuild their nation. More than just another NGO, Yéle is a movement – one that combines the power of music with the tools of development in the areas of education, health, environment and humanitarian assistance and seeks to chart a new course for Haiti’s future.
a. Mission
Our mission is to use the potent combination of music and development to create small-scale, manageable and replicable projects to contribute to Haiti’s long-term progress. Each initiative is imbued with the unique power that only music possesses, reflecting the passion of Wyclef, Yéle’s founder. Whether utilizing local hip-hop musicians to deliver food in an isolated and forgotten neighborhood or crafting tunes for the radio to build popular support for a particular project, each program creatively integrates music as a central element in project delivery and radiates the essence of this synergy at its core.
The objective of Yéle Haiti is to restore pride and a reason to hope, and for the whole country to regain the deep spirit and strength that is part of our heritage.
- Wyclef Jean
Each of Yéle’s projects is conceived as a catalyst for the larger goal of helping to leverage resources and foster renewed hope for Haitians to rebuild their nation. Central to this mission is helping to project a new forward-thinking image that accurately reflects Haiti’s youthful population and their unique and irrepressible spirit, which is an integral part of their culture. We firmly believe that given a genuine opportunity to shape the future, Haiti’s youth will shock the world with their ability to take Haiti to the next level.
b. Statement from Wyclef
“Haiti is my native country, one I know as the first black nation to gain independence in 1804. Most other people seem to know Haiti only by the statistics about how bad things are there. The majority of its 8 million residents live on less than $1 per day. Unemployment is close to 80 percent. Average life expectancy is less than 50 years. Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
“I have been spending a lot of time talking with people in my native country to try and understand what is behind these statistics and the recent escalation of violence, all of which brings tears to my eyes. I have had conversations with gang leaders, met with the police officers and sat down with the leaders of the militias and the army. I have had meetings with the interim government. I have talked with Haitians from all walks of life, all colors of skin, all backgrounds and beliefs. From all these people I hear only one thing in my head and feel only one thing in my heart, that there is only one Haiti. Every Haitian loves their country like a mother loves her child.
“I see old women with large bags of rice on their heads and men on street corners selling sugarcane and mangos, all just trying to survive with a strong sense of pride. Walking past a church in my village, I hear the congregation singing an appeal to God to hear their cries and grant deliverance to Haiti. Through experiences like this I sense where my mother and my father got their strength. Now the whole country needs to reach deep into the spirit and strength that is part of our heritage.”
"Haiti is my native country, one I know as the first Black nation to gain independence in 1804. Most other people seem to know Haiti only by the statistics about how bad things are there. The majority of its 8 million residents live on less than $1 per day. Unemployment is close to 80 percent. Average life expectancy is less than 50 years. Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere."- Wyclef Jean
Recent Projects:
Gonaives Schools:
The area in and around the city of Gonaives was devastated by floods caused by tropical storm Jeanne in September of 2004. Most schools were damaged and all schools were closed for several months while repairs were begun. With the disruption of business and the decline in the economy in the region, many families have been unable to pay tuition for their children to go to school—noting that 95% of all students in Haiti must pay tuition, whether in public or private schools, due to the country’s economic situation. On top of these challenges, the teachers in the schools have very limited formal training and they tend to rely on a combination of memorization and corporal punishment as the twin pillars of education.
In January of this year Yéle Haiti began providing scholarships for children and youth in 70 local schools; renovating and rebuilding 20 of the damaged schools; and, helping to upgrade teacher skills through on-site workshops conducted in 16.
3,600 children receive scholarships to go to school, 320 teachers receive on-site training and an additional 12,000 children are affected through improvements to the 20 schools being renovated.
Partners:
ComCel, PADF, CAFT, FPN Haiti
Food Distribution
Beginning in Spring of 2005, most food distribution by the United Nations, Red Cross and most NGOs has stopped in the Cite Soleil, Bel Air and other major slums of Port-au-Prince because it is too dangerous for their staff to enter.
Yéle Haiti is tapping a resource never used before by enlisting local hip hop musicians in both areas to deliver rice, beans and vegetable oil to the neediest families. Having successfully made the first distribution in early June, Yéle Haiti is now a partner with the United Nations World Food Programme as the principle source of food being distributed by these musicians on a twice-monthly schedule.
The volume of food being distributed is sufficient to feed 1,500 people a day, which translates to 300 families (at an average of 5 per family).
L’Athlétique d’Haiti
Children and youth in the Port-au-Prince slums of Cite Soleil and Bel Air live in conditions that are considered the worst in the Western world. Given that almost all primary education in Haiti is tuition-based, many children are out of school because their families cannot afford it.
Yéle Haiti is supporting an after-school sports and tutoring program called L’Athlétique d’Haïti. This group works with youth from the Cite Soleil and Bel Air slums of Port-au-Prince. In order to qualify for the program, which includes after-school tutoring and one hot meal a day, youth must be in school full time. Yéle Haiti is providing scholarships for a number of kids so they qualify for the program, and is providing funds to help pay staff, cover the cost of maintaining the facility, and buy uniforms and sports equipment.
650 children benefit from the program, 134 of whom also receive scholarships from Yéle Haiti to go to school.
Partners:
ComCel
Clean Streets
Recent visitors to Port-au-Prince are all too familiar with the pileup of garbage on the streets there. Municipal authorities do not have the funds or the capacity to remove it, and the resulting health hazard is mounting.
Yéle Haiti is directing the public awareness campaign for a major garbage removal project in Port-au-Prince that began in June and continues to end of 2005. The name in Creole is “Pwojè Lari Pwòp” and the slogan “Respekte tèt ou, netwaye peyi w” means “Respect yourself, clean your country.” The project involves an average team of 600 workers a day and fifty trucks. The Yéle Haiti logo is on T-shirts worn by the workers and signs on the side of the trucks. Wyclef has written a jingle for the radio to encourage people to clean up their city, and he has created a new mix tape on the same theme that is being distributed on the local tap-tap buses. In the Autumn, up to thirty schools in the city will be involved in a one-week cleanup campaign for which they will be awarded scholarships for their school.
The project resulted in direct employment of around 1,400 people, with the benefits of cleanup being enjoyed by people living and working in the Port-au-Prince area.
Partners
USAID, PADF, CARE
For more information on forthcoming projects, please visit: www.yele.org
