Me, Brenda (the mom), Alex(14), Tyler (17) and Jared (10)
Over the past several months, ArtStore4Haiti and MMRCHaiti.org have been working hard, against all odds, to help out with the monumental problems that continue to plague Haiti. Cholera, mud slides, dwindling medical supplies, starvation, the scarcity of clean water are just a few of the challenges the country faces every day. But the real challenge we face is raising funds.
I am very proud and pleased to tell all of you that a “band of brothers” in a small northern Westchester community got together to help me sell the jewelry made by the Haitian children in the orphanages we work hard to support. Tyler, Alex and Jared Cohen with the help of Mrs. Moussa, the director of the Human Rights Club of Lakeland High School, raised almost $900.00.
Because we are a very small and completely volunteer organization, this money will go far to provide food, clean water, shelter, and educational material to some of Haiti’s most desperate.
March, April and May have been extremely difficult months filled with many dark clouds for me and the people I work with. This has been our silver lining.
Tyler, Alex and Jared, thank you for making such a tremendous effort for our cause.
Our Mission In Haiti
ISHMAEL, SPORTING A HAITI NECKLACE.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY OF RALPH SAINTILUS
“I finally got the passport this morning. THANK GOD!!” the email from Ralph came glaring from my Blackberry. It was the final document needed to extricate him from Haiti. Almost a year of jumping through hoops, everything we needed, except the airline ticket, was in place. I called American Airlines and had him scheduled on the 12:30 flight out of Port-Au-Prince the following day. You don’t want to wait too long because you never know what can happen in Haiti one minute to the next. Between the political unrest, the rioting, cholera; the government can shut the airport at any given moment.
Ralph was 9 when his father left his mother, remarried and took him and his new wife to the United States. They started a life in Pompano Beach, Florida and despite the fact that Ralph missed his mom, he loved his dad and was excited about living in a country he had heard so many amazing things about. Although he did not speak a word of English, he quickly assimilated, mastered the language, made friends and was doing well in school. Everything seemed to be perfect until one day his stepmother, using the ruse of going to visit his family, took him back to Haiti. Once there, she handed him $100 dollars, took his passport and Green Card and headed straight back to Florida. After six years of living in Florida, going to school and making a life, at 15 he found himself alone and without any identification in Port-Au-Prince. Even his birth certificate was back in Florida. Haiti is not a country you want to be in without ID. You cannot go to school, get a cell phone or do much of anything for that matter, without ID.
Ralph found his way back to his mom who was barely managing, living in a small, one room hovel with her 5 year old daughter, Ralph’s new half sister. The following day, he called his stepmother's cell phone, "I'm in Miami", she said. "Miami!!" Ralph screamed in disbelief, "How about me??" "You're gonna be there for a while - get use to it", she snapped back and hung up. He cried for weeks. One week later, after continually trying to call home, the numbers were changed. That was the last he heard from them.
Ralph lived with his mom and little sister, scraping together barely enough to sustain themselves. Cramped inside this tiny room, Ralph would occasionally sleep on the roof but the frequent heavy rain made it impossible to make the roof his home. He left within a month because he knew he was a tremendous burden on his mom. From his mom’s roof he went to his aunt’s house and asked if he could stay with her. She was sweet and kind and welcomed him but after three months it became too difficult for her to care for Ralph. She had two children of her own and was struggling to keep them fed. She told him he had to leave.
With no place to go, Ralph found a few pieces of wood and some old sheets and made a shelter for himself in the outskirts of Port-Au-Prince. He lived there, with 2 other street kids, doing odd jobs for pennies or scraps of food. When it rained, he would leave his makeshift tent to find better cover for the night. For almost a year, he lived like this, barley surviving, until January 12th, 2010. The earthquake changed everything. With fluency in English and Creole, Ralph was a valuable commodity to the thousands of relief workers. With inner ambition and a strong desire to help, he dug in. While assisting with transports, search and rescues and working as a translator for doctors, he had access to food. His daily struggle to survive was at least temporarily, over. As a gift for his hard work and translating skills, a doctor gave him a good tent. He parked himself outside of Haitian Community Hospital and his life as a relief worker began.
I met Ralph immediately after I arrived in Haiti. He was my right hand man: my translator, body guard, and keeper of my backpack. I don’t think I was there 24 hours before I started questioning him about his perfect English and his clearly American way. When he told me what happened, not only was I appalled at the recklessness of his father and stepmother, I was determined to get him home, here, back in the United States where he belongs. A year later, he is here. Amen and God Bless America!
A million thanks to Paul Waggoner, Eileen S., David C., Lisa A., and Pius D. Without these people, this doesn’t happen. These are the people who stuck their necks out, giving their time and expertise to see this through. In addition, they put up with me.
p.s. Although this act of abandonment sounds horrific by our standard of decency, it happens enough to Haitian children to earn them a name; “throw backs”.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT
Corrine Kaiser Gould, R.N. 1 Renaissance Square White Plains, NY 10601
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500 12/25/10
Dear Mr. President,
I am writing to you about a desperate situation in Haiti you may or may not be aware of. My friend and co-worker, Paul Douglas Waggoner is in Haiti’s National Penitentiary for allegations originating from ignorance and a deeply rooted belief in Voodoo. Although I chronicled the facts in an enclosure, in brief:
On February 23, 2010, Paul was working at Haitian Community Hospital (HCH) when a father brought in his 15 month old son. The child was critically ill, listless and died shortly after he was admitted. Although having nothing to do with the care of the child, Paul is accused of putting a spell on the 15 month old turning him into a zombie for the purpose of kidnapping him. The father viewed the body but did not take it because he did not have the funds for a burial. There is a death certificate that is signed by a Haitian doctor and 3 signed affidavits: one by an American attending physician and two by R.N.'s, all present at the time of the baby’s death, stating unequivocally that the baby died. Because the baby's eyes were not closed (rigor mortis had set in), the father was convinced the child was not really dead but put into a trance by Paul. The father confirmed his belief with a local witch doctor. Watch Anderson Coopers’ report:
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2010/12/17/ac.aid.worker.cnn.html
I am an R.N. and have been doing relief work with Paul on and off for months. He has done nothing but break his back for the Haitian people. PLEASE help him. I have exhausted every avenue and his health and life are at risk. There is not a shred of proof to hold him. To the contrary, there is proof that the baby died and the father did not want the body.
For the past 10 months Paul and I have been working together raising funds to support several orphanages. We have been supplying them with food, shelter, medical care, educational material and teachers. Some of these orphanages depend on us exclusively for their food. I enclosed some of the projects we have been working on with the kids.
We are also working hard on getting a young Haitian American, Ralph Saintulis, back into the states. He was abandoned in Haiti by his stepmother in November of 2008. She left him there without his passport or any form of ID. After the earthquake he started working as a translator for us and we have been trying to help him re-establish his U S. citizenship. The process has been excruciatingly difficult and we have the help of an immigration lawyer here, in the states. Can you imagine how frightening it was for a 15 year old American boy to be abandon on the streets of Port-au-Prince? Paul and I are his only hope.
Why is this man behind bars? He has done nothing but work night and day to help the Haitians. In addition, his human rights are being violated and the U.S. Embassy has not been fulfilling their obligation to ensure humane treatment.
Paul, along with Paul Sebring are co-founders of MMRCHaiti, one of Haiti’s small but more effective NGO’s.
Please feel free to contact me at anytime. I am willing to return to Haiti with you and show you the good work Paul has done. But please, make that phone call. I know you can ensure his release.
Respectfully,
Corrine Gould
Other links:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/25/v-fullstory/1988042/in-haiti-tension-builds-against.html#storylink=fbuser
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/offbeat/relief-worker-jailed-haiti-12222010
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500 12/25/10
Dear Mr. President,
I am writing to you about a desperate situation in Haiti you may or may not be aware of. My friend and co-worker, Paul Douglas Waggoner is in Haiti’s National Penitentiary for allegations originating from ignorance and a deeply rooted belief in Voodoo. Although I chronicled the facts in an enclosure, in brief:
On February 23, 2010, Paul was working at Haitian Community Hospital (HCH) when a father brought in his 15 month old son. The child was critically ill, listless and died shortly after he was admitted. Although having nothing to do with the care of the child, Paul is accused of putting a spell on the 15 month old turning him into a zombie for the purpose of kidnapping him. The father viewed the body but did not take it because he did not have the funds for a burial. There is a death certificate that is signed by a Haitian doctor and 3 signed affidavits: one by an American attending physician and two by R.N.'s, all present at the time of the baby’s death, stating unequivocally that the baby died. Because the baby's eyes were not closed (rigor mortis had set in), the father was convinced the child was not really dead but put into a trance by Paul. The father confirmed his belief with a local witch doctor. Watch Anderson Coopers’ report:
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2010/12/17/ac.aid.worker.cnn.html
I am an R.N. and have been doing relief work with Paul on and off for months. He has done nothing but break his back for the Haitian people. PLEASE help him. I have exhausted every avenue and his health and life are at risk. There is not a shred of proof to hold him. To the contrary, there is proof that the baby died and the father did not want the body.
For the past 10 months Paul and I have been working together raising funds to support several orphanages. We have been supplying them with food, shelter, medical care, educational material and teachers. Some of these orphanages depend on us exclusively for their food. I enclosed some of the projects we have been working on with the kids.
We are also working hard on getting a young Haitian American, Ralph Saintulis, back into the states. He was abandoned in Haiti by his stepmother in November of 2008. She left him there without his passport or any form of ID. After the earthquake he started working as a translator for us and we have been trying to help him re-establish his U S. citizenship. The process has been excruciatingly difficult and we have the help of an immigration lawyer here, in the states. Can you imagine how frightening it was for a 15 year old American boy to be abandon on the streets of Port-au-Prince? Paul and I are his only hope.
Why is this man behind bars? He has done nothing but work night and day to help the Haitians. In addition, his human rights are being violated and the U.S. Embassy has not been fulfilling their obligation to ensure humane treatment.
Paul, along with Paul Sebring are co-founders of MMRCHaiti, one of Haiti’s small but more effective NGO’s.
Please feel free to contact me at anytime. I am willing to return to Haiti with you and show you the good work Paul has done. But please, make that phone call. I know you can ensure his release.
Respectfully,
Corrine Gould
Other links:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/25/v-fullstory/1988042/in-haiti-tension-builds-against.html#storylink=fbuser
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/offbeat/relief-worker-jailed-haiti-12222010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
WILNER'S STORY
“Adversity is the first path to truth.” – Lord Byron
Over the past 5 months I have come to know the remarkable story of St-Fort Wilner; a Haitian street kid who has managed to survive and triumph over incredible adversity. As his English has improved (because my Creole has not) he is able to share his amazing journey with more detail and much more clarity. We are working together in hopes of shedding light on the nightmare of exploitation of Haiti's innocent children.Wilner's Story:
My name is St-Fort Wilner and I was born December 17th, 1987 in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. When I was 2, my parents separated and from that moment, my life became one of suffering and a struggle for survival. Twenty one years later, I am still struggling but I am no longer suffering. My belief in God has grown and sustained me despite my unbelievably difficult journey. My story is not for the faint of heart but only for those who believe in the strength of the human spirit and have faith that by the grace of God, we are all capable of overcoming enormous hardship.
After my parents separated, I spent the next two years being shuffled back and forth until my father unexpectedly passed away. My mother no longer wanted me and I was taken by my uncle Jeasilus, high up into Haiti’s mountainside, to Belle Fontaine, 40 miles outside of Port-Au-Prince. For the next 7 years, I was treated like a slave. Forced to do every chore; transport water, wash dishes, clean the house, take care of all the animals (cows, chickens, horses, donkeys and goats); if my work fell short or if I missed even the smallest task, I was severely beaten. I was kept from going to school and I never had one single minute to play.
After 7 seven years I could take the abuse no longer and ran away. With no where to go, I became one of Haiti’s thousands of street kids and my suffering continued. I went for days without food and had no place to sleep. If my begging led to even a little bit of money or a crumb of food, the older and bigger street kids would come over, grab it and beat me. I always had tears in my eyes. There was no one to help me, nobody cared. But somehow God always protected me. My heart stayed open, even when someone beat me. Always humble, I never fought back. God gave me this heart and these strong feelings of compassion even when I was suffering. I now believe this is how God cultivated love in me. Maybe I was forgotten by I was never forsaken – God was always with me.
I was living on the streets for about a year and a half when I was rescued by a white man from Texas. He came to Haiti and started an orphanage. When I met him I thought my prayers were answered and my troubles were over. I thought my life of poverty and suffering would end and in fact, within six months I no longer looked like a street kid. Everything had changed and it seemed for the better. More orphans came to this man’s orphanage and he had power to truly improve the lives of many suffering Haitian children. He brought hope to those in need and smiles to the faces of those who were desperately unhappy. He brought us clothes to wear and shoes for our bare feet. But he did not do it for the love of children or to help our country. He did to swindle money out of unsuspecting Americans. He made a Web Site that showed how desperately the children of Haiti needed contributions. He showed my sweet face and used my hard story to influence and deceive people. Anyone with a heart would be moved by this heart-wrenching Web Site to send money and they did. But he hurt us. He brought men and women to the orphanage to have sex with us. He was a lion in lambs clothing. He corrupted many of the children, some ruined beyond repair. We felt so obliged and then we felt so ashamed.
...to be continued
Follow Wilner's story and see how he managed to rise above adversity, start his own orphanage and save many of Haiti's street kids from falling victim to those who would take advantage of the most vulnerable.
Monday, September 13, 2010
THE HAITI NECKLACES
High in the mountains of Haiti, there is an orphanage run by a man named Wilner St-Fort. Once an orphan himself, he began, about 3 years ago, to take care of some of Haiti’s street kids. Originally, his orphanage was in the heart of Port-Au-Prince. But when he could no longer afford the $1500 yearly rent, he remained determined to keep his kids safe and moved the orphanage to a small parcel of land in Haiti’s mountainside.
It is important for everyone to understand that a Haitian orphanage is nothing more than an open lot that may or may not be surrounded by cement walls. The children usually sleep outside on the ground, exposed to the elements. There is very little in the way of sanitation because there is no running water. Few have electricity. The advantage these orphans have over the children living in the street is a sense of belonging and a sense of security. But there is a constant struggle for survival because food is so expensive and money is so scarce. The situation was dire before the earthquake, it is unimaginable now.
While I was doing relief work in Haiti at a small NGO (MMRC), we got a call from Wilner informing us that he was out of food and supplies. We packed the truck and made the 3 ½ hour trek up the mountain to make a delivery of food and other essential items. While there, Wilner asked if I would like to buy one of the necklaces made by his wife and the kids. I asked him if the kids could make a big bunch of them, so that I could take them back to the U.S. and sell them to help raise funds for his orphanage. Later, I made the same offer to the other Haitian orphanages. All the money raised from selling these necklaces goes directly to providing food, medication, educational material and shelter for some of Haiti’s most vulnerable children.
Diana Heimann has been kind enough to show case these beautiful necklaces in her store. Please help support some of the sweetest children you will ever meet. Diana’s store is located in the lobby of The Ritz Carlton Westchester in White Plains, New York.
Diana's contact info:
http://www.dianaheimann.com
3 Renaissance Sq
White Plains, NY
914-467-5880
Thank You,
Cory Gould
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