Formation, Animation, Discovery for Haiti’s kids

By Emmanuel — March 5, 2010 | 4 comments

Emmanuel Midi

Port-au-Prince – Hebdo-fad (“FAD-Weekly”) was the first activity that FAD organized when we began working as a registered charity in Haiti (2005). Usually, us volunteers will collect our money together so we can provide something to eat for the kids after the four hours of teaching and activities.

Back in the day, each Thursday all the members of the organization would meet to collect what money we have and make plans for the Hebdo-fad. The money was always been the hardest part of what we’re doing; it was difficult to find work even before the earthquake, so not all of us were lucky enough to have a job. But, all of us want to help our community and combat one of the basic problems of our country, which is the lack of education.

This week everything was a little bit different because we had received some donations after the last post about FAD, so we didn’t have to worry too much about collecting the money amongst ourselves. What we did have to decide was what to offer the kids to eat this week.

We all agreed not to make rice, because every NGO is giving free rice to people here and we didn’t want people to think that were pretending to buy stuff but actually just giving away aid food. Instead, we chose to make wheat with chicken and tomato, for a change.

Next, we had to figure out would be available to go to the market.

Every member showed their schedule; I was off the roster because I was working with Prosper, another member of our team, to enhance and upload FAD’s new website (so far only available in French, but English coming soon). At the same time I also had to write my blog for Inside Disaster.

So, Friday in the morning Bazile, Bergeline, Gina and FAD’s President, Lamy, put aside their other activities to go downtown, hop-scotching on the dirty path to the market to buy the supplies for the next day.

On Saturday morning, there was no need for any alarm to wake us up. We set the program to begin at 8:30am, but at 7am kids are already on the ground waiting on the program to start. So, we like to be there early in the morning so we can keep the situation under control and make sure none of the kids get hurt while waiting for the program to begin.

As they gather, we start the program on time, so the kids can understand what being on time means, and why it is important.

First things first, we ask all of them to say a short prayer. It contains the first lesson of every Hebdo-fad: respect for each other, respect for the choices of others, and respect for their own decisions.

Then, the first counselor begins with the first activity. Up to five of us present different activity on the axes we have: Formation Animation Discovery.

Jude talked to the kids about how to dress properly. Here he is showing the kids what it means to be decently dressed:

And how to dress not decently!

This is a picture from one of our Animation activities, where this boy made up a dance while the rest of the class sang:

Even the workers outside stopped to watch our activities. Many of them told us afterwards they would like to receive the same training as the kids!

Wilson talked to the class about communication.  He spoke about the importance of listening to others when they speak, thinking before you reply, and showing respect in a discussion:

At FAD, we think it is important to teach the kids the right manners when they’re young, because once they start growing up there will is less chance for those basics to be learned and applied.

Finally, it was time to eat – there was wheat and chicken for all the children and no rice in sight!

We serve food to the younger kids, but the older ones serve themselves:

To teach the kids respect for each other, and the meal, no one eats until everyone has been served, and we say a short prayer of thanks:

We want to thank every single people who had contributed to help FAD organizing the second Hebdo-fad after that unforgettable earthquake, and we do hope you will continue to support us in the best ways you can.

Port-au-Prince student, fixer and researcher Emmanuel Midi is blogging for Inside Disaster from Haiti. You can learn more about him in these blog posts, or connect with him on Facebook .

NOTE: In Haiti, FAD has been a registered charity since 2007 (No.STC-05902, 16 March, 2007). Because they are not able to accept international donations directly at this time, Inside Disaster is collecting them on their behalf via Paypal: fad@theplaceonearth.com.

If you don’t have a Paypal account, you can open one at www.paypal.com. We will be accepting credit card donations soon!

Tags: Emmanuel Midi FAD Featured Humanitarian aid