The First 20 Years

Several studies are pointing the way to achieving self-sufficiency in developing communities by attending to family behaviors and nutrition during early childhood. In most marginalized communities, even those in industrialized nations, parenting practices generally parallel economic level.  Kids in at-risk communities are far more likely to be neglected or treated with disdain or violence, whereas children in wealthier climes are generally treated with regard, included in family events on a near equal basis, and empowered to become their own agents beginning at an early age. Some of the differences between the two groups are due to educational backgrounds (e.g. illiterate…

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Farewell, Fred Voodoo

Been reading Amy Wilentz’s ‘Farewell, Fred Voodoo’ on life in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake.  If you’d like to immerse yourself in Haitian communities and their legendary resilience, this is the avenue – and the agony and the ecstasy. There’s an openness to new ideas in our communities there that consistently inspires.  We’ve introduced a full plate of programs to some of Haiti’s most neglected communities – schooling, adult literacy, adult vocational training, orphan reunification, computer labs and training, English classes, dance, chorale, yoga, meditation – many of which were utterly foreign to our participants at the onset.  Nevertheless these programs have been met with…

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Haiti Update

For decades Haiti has ranked among the poorest countries in the world. Now, according to the 2017 United Nations’ World Happiness Report, it’s also one of the unhappiest, joining the bottom ten most chronically depressed nations (Syria, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Togo, Guinea, Liberia, Yemen and Tanzania). Fortunately, our participants haven’t gotten the memo. Our programs are brimming with energy and hope for the future. Last September 2016 we began installing computer labs and reading libraries at two of our locations while also commencing with instruction in computers, English and French. It’s our experience that high school…

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ASR Opens First Academy in Haiti

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”                                                                                                     –  Margaret Mead Today we proudly inaugurated the first Aid Still Required Academy in Deuxieme Plaine, Haiti, for 119 children, 30 of whom are orphans.  The original inspiration came from the local community itself, a few hundred farm families earning…

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A Note from ASR Supporter Jill Higgins

While Hunter and Andrea were in Haiti for the last two weeks, Jill Higgins and her daughter Ivy took time to fly in for 6 days to visit and get a look at several of the Aid Still Required programs around the country.  Below is Jill’s reflection on her time there.

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Indiegogo Here We Go : Haiti and the Jatropha Tree Program

Fund a Jatropha Seed Oil Press for Haiti, Change the Lives of Thousands For the past three years, 1,000 farmers have been growing hundreds of thousands of Jatropha trees in southern Haiti.  Why?  Because the seeds from these trees produce oil so rich it serves as a straight replacement for diesel fuel.  Yes, that means you can run your car, truck or farm machinery on it.  Right now, Haiti has to import all of it’s petroleum.  The jatropha program can reverse this trend.

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Celebrities Bringing Attention to Haiti

As you may know, we have partnered with dozens of celebrities to bring attention to areas around the world that have been forgotten after a major disaster. Recently, we have asked many of these celebs to move above and beyond supporting ASR awareness campaigns. By working with Omaze, an online charity raffle site, our celebrity supporters can offer their fans a chance at winning the experience of a lifetime all while raising crucial funds for Aid Still Required programs. In the last few months, Seth Green, Sting, Adam Levine, and Bonnie Raitt have done just that. To add to that,…

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Dollies Making a Difference in Haiti

Before we left for Haiti, the ladies over at Dollies Making a Difference decided to continue their support of the children in Haiti by making dozens of dollies for the children with whom we work. Dollies Making a Difference (http://dolliesmakingadifference.com/)  began their work after the earthquake in Haiti over three years ago sending more than 600 dollies to children who had likely lost everything. Since then, the women based in west Los Angeles, have continued to bring joy to kids all over the world where disaster has brought pain. From Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Burkina Faso, to Israel, North Korea,…

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Haiti Update, 6/7: Port-au-Prince and Heading Home

The last several days have been a whirl-wind as we left Les Cayes for Port-au-Prince.  While we initially had planned a return to Wharf Jeremie to deliver 300 solar lights, problems at customs have delayed their delivery. As a result, we had to return to Wharf Jeremie with the news that our trainers would deliver the lights as soon as they arrived. Generally speaking, people seemed to understand that importing items to Haiti is oftentimes a problem. I think we were more upset about the situation than the program participants. The children who were in session when we arrived were…

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Haiti Update: 6/2 Leogane and CODEP

CODEP currently employs 600 people that support 3,000.  These 600 are divided into roughly 30 sub-groups that work on different sections of the mountains. This year, CODEP is going to be doubling its membership. These groups also manage tilapia ponds. These are fish are used both for consumption and for selling at the market.

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Haiti Update: 5/31, Cap Haitian and Pandiassou

A lot has happened since our last post, so I will give a quick summary here. From Port-au-Prince, we headed up highway 1 on the west side of the country. About 6 hours later we arrived in the northern city of Cap Haitian, the second largest city in Haiti behind Port-au-Prince. It is a beautiful place, right on the water with much cooler temperatures and a slower place. This is the home of our wonderful trainer, Lovely, and she rode with us back to Cap Haitian. We visited with two Art of Living trainers that are based in Cap and…

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Haiti Update 5/24: Wharf Jeremie

I had hoped to be able to update sooner, but we had very spotty internet in Port-au-Prince after the first day.  Over the next several days in the capital we spent most of our time in Wharf Jeremie with our incredible team of trainers, Samson, Estavela, Lovely, Faby, Daniel, and Jeff. Upon our arrival to Wharf Jeremie, the team took through the narrow pathways of the settlement with mega phones to announce the start of the program the next morning. Many women who had already completed the program over the previous year and a half came out of their homes…

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Haiti Update 5/21: We Have Arrived!

A lot to catch up on and I will do a bigger summary tonight but we have had some incredible meetings so far and will be getting together with our trauma relief team today to go over strategy for the upcoming course. If possible we will visit Wharf Jeremie today to make plans for the sessions starting in the morning. So far we have had good luck in terms of getting together with knowledgeable players in the nonprofit world and getting an update on progress in the country. Yesterday we had the chance to go and visit both the Patience…

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Return from Haiti: Trauma Relief and Healing in Wharf Jeremie, Cite Soleil

From our ASR Newletter…. We returned from 12 days in Haiti last month and it has taken these past weeks to distill our experience there. Our focus in Haiti was to implement a stress-reduction program for the women of Cite Soleil, Port au Prince’s notorius slum and to vet child services and reforestation projects.  While we were there, Haiti got under our skin. Wharf Jeremie- Our project neighborhood Haiti feels overwhelming. It has something to break everybody’s heart: utter poverty, alarming rates of unemployment, illiteracy, rape, orphaned and abandoned children; and a once-lush countryside which has been almost entirely deforested.…

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