BLOG.HAITIECOLE.COM

HAITI - Ressources for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance Summit

HaitiEcole.com BLOG — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:17:00 GMT

This event was organized by Global Investment Summits in conjunction with the IPOA. Jointly, they brought relevant international organizations and aid agencies together with key players from the private sector. This model seems to be the modus operandi of the IPOA, in particular and it works well.

I was not apprised of the summit until the second day at which time the DC office of the IPOA diligently prepared to receive HaitiEcole.com and even set up a table for us to present www.HaitiEcole.com at the roundtable meeting sessions which would take place later on that day.

When I arrived at the SOFITEL Miami Hotel on March 10, 2010, as I went through registration, security and entered the conference room, I saw a comfortably packed room with individuals representing various organizations and I walked in as LTC Michael Hendrigan/Stuart Kefford - Civil Military Fusion Center was speaking. His presentation was on "Cooperation in Security and Stability". His website address is: www.cimicweb.org.

Then I was delighted to listen to Ms. Maureen Taft-Morales - Congressional Research Service speaking on "Conditions in Haiti and Long Term Reconstruction. Ms. Taft Morales spoke of Equality, Poverty Reduction Programs which are crucial for a sustainable Haiti. The primary concerns I noted from her expose are: Corruption and Lack of Capacity. Ms. Morales did praise Haiti on the fact that Haiti developed a budget, there were procurement processes getting in place just before the earthquake happened and there were some job creations worth noting; although, she mentioned, clean water and other services are still inadequate. "The key is sustainability", she said. "Haitians must be involved in the process" and she further said there should be REQUIRED TRAINING and knowledge transfer in every area in Haiti. With respect to capacity building, Ms. Morales spoke of three (3) main areas of potential growth in Haiti, Science and Technology, Human development, "the young people" and their EDUCATION and she brushed upon Trade and Export. Ms. Morales briefly but efficiently exposed the need for sound and sustainable EDUCATION for Haiti's Children. She said "Education is crucial" and job creation MUST be accompanied by an Education component, and I fully agree with that concept. It was interesting for me to hear the words that I utter daily regarding Haiti and its children, its future.

Ms. Merrie Archer - US Department of State followed and spoke of "CRS Support of USG Efforts in Haiti". It was a very informative speech and she concluded by quoting a well-known creole proverb: "Main anpil chay pa lou". In this blog I wish to primarily focus in the area of Haiti's Children Education and will inform you primarily about that. Ms. Archer was very kind to give me a few minutes of her time after her speech and told me of her strong interest in children's education.

During lunch, I joined a professional group of guys from Worldwide Shelters and learned of what they do as they listened to what I do. It was delightful and I hope to work with them on behalf of www.HaitiEcole.com.

The afternoon sessions were devoted to private consultations between representatives from leading NGOs, IGOs, Government Agencies, and the private sector. Schedules were pre-arranged to provide a unique opportunity to discuss the key issues affecting Haiti's Reconstruction and Redevelopment sectors.

At HaitiEcole's table 15 I sat and was visited by quite a few, the Director of Haitian Diaspora for FONKOZE was very interested to learn of HaitiEcole.com, she is quite a resourceful individual and we have already followed up on that meeting. The President of Recycle Tech Inc. was one gentleman I spent quite a bit of time with as he came to meet with us, I would have never thought there would have been such a great connection between what they do and our long term goal for HaitiEcole.com. That was a match! We have already met at their offices and are working on a deal. I welcomed the President of ITG Consultants who immediately committed to sponsor our HaitiEcole.com soccer game coming up in the month of June at the campus of Florida International University in Miami. (Details are going to be available soon) Thanks IPOA and GIS, Ltd! I really enjoyed Mr. President of IPOA, Mr. Doug Brooks, stopping by HaitiEcole table 15 and taking the time to listen to who we are and what we are doing and where we want to take HaitiEcole.com. One of his staff members also joined in and they did not simply listen but they promptly acted by providing me a list of organizations and individuals they thought might be important for me to meet with and have private consultations with. That list helped me to swiftly go to the area managers and set up my meetings with various entities such as World Food Programme, OXFAM, and others in the private sector. I was able to quickly chat with World Vision's South Florida region Executive Director and the President of the Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce among some notable individuals in attendance.

This past week since the summit has been a follow-up week with meetings, drafting MOUs and LOIs and it did not leave me much time to blog on it as quickly as I had hoped. Overall, this Summit has been one successful event for HaitiEcole.com and we are grateful to the organizers. The IPOA did not let us pay for anything as a non-profit organization and we are very pleased.

Visit our website: www.HaitiEcole.com NEWS page as often as possible to stay informed of the latest developments at HaitiEcole.com!

Until next time friends, "do good because it is good".

Gina Hortance
Founder
www.HaitiEcole.com

.

The Amazing Development of HaitiEcole.com

HaitiEcole.com BLOG — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:38:00 GMT

Finally, I have an opportunity to get our blog started to communicate with you directly, you who are our wonderful students and amazing teachers of www.haitiecole.com. I'll say WELCOME and THANK YOU to all of you.

January 12, 2010, a date most of us "earth people" will never forget. Anyone living on planet earth was no doubt shocked and shaken by this terrible earthquake that destroyed so many lives and buildings and things in Haiti. I immediately had the urge to do something, but was unsure of what to do immediately. I started surfing the internet to find real time news and pictures and all that came through depicted fear, chaos and despair. I contacted the Red Cross with whom I have been affiliated since 2006 to enlist as a volunteer for their initiative for Haiti. Subsequent to that I started searching for our orphans in the South of Haiti at "Kay Ti Moun" as sponsored by Esther's Mission, a Mission I established when I traveled to Fond Fred, Les Cayes in 2006 with the PGA Golfer Leon Cosmon to establish our humanitarian effort for our brothers and sisters in Haiti. I also became active on Facebook's Haiti Earthquake group and commented, asked questions, offered help, etc... Still, there was this hunger to do more lurking in my soul... to make a difference ...

I prayed to my God and asked for an opportunity to be useful to Haiti in whichever way I could, and there was the birth of HaitiEcole.com. I had not stopped thinking about the children, the youth, the students of Haiti and who would be taking care of them, what would happen to them, where would they go to school, how will they survive, where would their hope come from? I literally started with a blank piece of paper and thoughts were flowing through my head and the name of the website came to me, then the technical aspect to develop the website in a practical way, I worked day and night with my team to create HaitiEcole.com for the students, build the database on the backend, up to what you are now seeing, a functional HAITI ECOLE website for all students to come to and take courses at will, do their homework, network with other students, get help from tutors and teachers and continue to hope, continue to live...

RadioKiskeya-Haiti was the first radio station to embrace our idea to reach out to the students of Haiti and many other radio stations joined in to play our informational spot. Then the students came, hundreds responded to our invitation to register to take courses, my team was delighted. Many teachers started registering, hundreds of them, we were even more pleased. A hard working man who has a heart for Haiti, Stephen Nuchia has been instrumental in the development of www.haitiecole.com from a consultative perspective and his encouragement was crucial to the continuity of the project, and Stephen is also our very first Professor/Teacher at HaitiEcole.com. Stephen is very special to us at HaitiEcole.com. We are glad that our students are enjoying his Math and Computer Programming classes as well. Miss Irvika also joined the team to teach English to 7th, 8th and 9th graders, we are very pleased with her program for the students.

We are continuing to structure haitiecole.com to a FREE K-12 and University courses hub for ALL students as we build a very strong Advisory Board with top-tier professionals. In the meantime, we have also sent our request letter for funding to various foundations such as the Clinton-Bush Foundation, UNICEF Education Cluster among many others. We will keep you posted as to how much funding we receive from them and how the funds are appropriated immediately. We are not interested in harboring money, we will distribute the money to pay a stipend to our Haiti Teachers, send the materials they need right away to start and.or continue teaching on our forum, our students need help with cybercafe fees to be paid and cell minutes to be added to their phones, we will enable that limited access to them for continuation of their studies in the meantime, they are worth it, their mind is too precious to waste. HaitiEcole.com is housed under Cilia Foundation, Inc., an IRS 501C3 non-profit since 1991 in the US. Our records are available at www.sunbiz.org.

We have very strong partnerships developing out of Haiti, France, the French Antilles and certainly the US and we will keep you posted on all developments. Keep us in your prayers as we continue to work hard for the students of Haiti. It is all for them. We want them to know we care about them. We will not forsake them.

A quick Hello to our Miami soccer lovers, do not miss our haitiecole.com Fundraising soccer game at Florida International University coming up in June 2010 to benefit registered students and teachers of HaitiEcole.com.

Until next time friends; "do good because it is good" (My only living grandmother's saying for many decades as she is getting ready to celebrate her 100th-year anniversary on our planet on March 24, 2010).

My best to you.

Gina Hortance
Founder
www.haitiecole.com

Welcome

HaitiEcole.com BLOG — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:35:41 GMT

Welcome to my blog. Please check back soon for new entries.