Maria Bello for Huffington Post: Two Years Later — Reimagining Haiti

January 12, 2012 By

At a prayer breakfast in Port-au-Prince last month, 23 Haitian and U.S. women colleagues met to drink coffee, share a bite and, well, grieve. Our host, Danielle St. Lot, Haitian activist and entrepreneur, did not plan this grieving and we certainly did not expect it. The hour of laughter and chatter beforehand could not have prepared us for it. But it had to happen. It had to come. It was time.

January 12, 2012 will be the two-year anniversary of the earthquake that devastated many of their lives and threw those of us invested in the country into triage mode. The network of women activists, business and political leaders that I had been working with in Haiti before the earthquake at Femmes en Democratie (FED), woke up one day to their children screaming, their grandmothers dying, their houses falling and their country destroyed. They had no time to grieve their losses because there was work to do.

Two weeks after the quake, Danielle, the founder of FED, made it onto a plane to D.C. in the only skirt she had left, a pair of flip-flops, and not even a dollar on her, to speak to members of Congress about the devastation. She was convinced that people had to know the extent of the loss and, in particular, what the women of Haiti needed. Over the last two years, she has become a voice for women throughout Haiti.

Each of the 23 women present on that balmy day in a garden restaurant in Port-au-Prince had a similar story. Lives were lost and businesses shattered. But there were neighborhoods to rebuild, people to help, and children to care for, so no one had time to stop and cry. As one guest sobbed: “We have never cried. We have been so strong. It is time to cry.” And we did. We mourned deeply.

Then we moved on.

So now on the two-year anniversary, my Haitian women colleagues want you to know, it is time to move on.

With only 6 women parliamentarians and 4 women appointed ministers, Haiti is in step with the rest of the globe, where women still hold only 15.6 percent of elected seats. How can we make sure the voice of half the population will be heard in decision and policy making processes affecting Haiti? We need to support female politicians through training and assistance and to increase women’s political participation at local, regional and national levels. And we need to push our government aid organizations like USAID who have money allocated for Haiti to spend more on women and make the funds accessible to smaller, micro-NGO’s in Haiti that work with women.

Haitian women also need money and jobs. Studies show that when women control finances, more is spent on health, education and well-being of their family and community. By investing in women, you are investing in the whole country.

Haiti is now “open for business.” It is ripe for investment opportunity under the visionary leadership of new President Michel Martelly. With its proximity, human capital and young, smart Haitian business people spearheading, Haiti is ready to become a name in manufacturing and agriculture. For companies who are investing in Haiti or are considering it, we ask that you look through the gender lens at each of your projects. Measure not only the impact it will have on women in the community, but how your business can be better served by hiring more women, putting them in managerial positions, and giving them technical training.

This is not about billion dollar investments; it is about small investments in existing or small businesses that want to expand, especially women run businesses destroyed in the earthquake. They need access to loans with better conditions, vocational training, business education and technology. At the women’s trade show in Port-au-Prince last month, I saw beautiful merchandise ready to export but they need partners.

Haiti is not just “rebuilding” with cement and muscle. Haiti is “reimagining” a nation, with a bold vision and collective dream. They have the opportunity to look towards the single vision of citizen participation in decision-making, where everyone’s rights are respected and women have an equal say in the process and equal opportunity for economic freedom. President Martelly, with his willpower, energy, intelligence and heart is a strong supporter of women. One constitutional amendment that he supports says that, if ratified, 30 percent of offices in national life must be occupied by women.

Pretty progressive. VERY smart business.

Actress Maria Bello is co-founder of the Haitian women’s organization, We Advance. (weadvance.org)

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First English Program Graduation

October 19, 2011 By

 

Twenty-one year-old Stephanie Meancourt held her head high as she walked toward me in her new hot pink dress. She grinned at the audience and then, with a shaky hand, reached for her diploma. Like almost every graduate sitting in front of me, this was the first diploma Stephanie has received, and I feel confident that it will not be her last. “I have changed my mind about life,” Stephanie struggled to explain in English. “I see my life in a new way.”

When We Advance gave me the opportunity to begin an English program, I was thrilled. I became a teacher because I always have believed that education is the key to social and financial progress for all, but especially for those who are the most needy. Having taught in the New York City public school system for five years, I have seen many examples of how education has changed lives, but never has the power of education been so clear to me as it was on Friday, October 7 in Waff Jeremie, a neighborhood in the worst slum in Port-au-Prince. That day, forty-five men and women who had passed the We Advance Level One English Course proudly accepted their diplomas.

“We feel more independent,” Jedelene Latendresse, age twenty-one, explained as she described the effects of We Advance’s English Education Program on the female students. “We feel more confident, that we can do more by ourselves and rely less on the men.”

And men in Waff Jeremie have benefited from the program as well. Two months ago, Anderson LaPierre often went hungry because he had no money for food. Still, however, he came to English class promptly every day, always did his homework and eagerly participated in class activities. A couple of months ago I had the good fortune of meeting an American who is president of a magnetic components factory in Port-au-Prince. He happened to be looking for a hardworking, intelligent and good-natured young man to work for him. When I learned this, Anderson immediately came to my mind. The next day I gave Anderson fifty Gourdes (just over one American dollar) for a haircut, and he went to the factory for an interview. Now Anderson has a job, and though it doesn’t pay much, he eats every day and saved enough money to buy me a beautiful engraved box. He also passed his We Advance Level One English Language Exam and has a certificate to prove it.

This program is special because it is not just an English course; we have incorporated into the curriculum social issues that are relevant to our students such as domestic and sexual abuse, birth control and HIV/AIDS. We encourage our students to share their opinions and experiences and to dialogue about these issues. Perhaps not every We Advance student will find a job or become fluent in English, but all have gained self-confidence and determination to improve their lives and give their country a better future.

Written by Clare Harwood

Clare Harwood is a teacher for We Advance. She has taught in the New York City public school system for 5 years and received a Master’s in English Education at Columbia University Teachers College. 

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Maria Bello Brings Change to Haiti (Radar Online)

August 10, 2011 By

 By Leah Ornstein - Radar Style & Beauty Editor

After the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, actress Maria Bello and a group of women started the WE ADVANCE charity to improve the health, safety and well-being of women throughout the slums of the ravished country’s capital city, Port-au-Prince.

The group recently re-visited the developing nation, bringing a camera crew with them to document their program in action, and RadarOnline.com has the inspiring video, narrated by the critically acclaimed actress

In the video, which premiered at The Hamptons For Haiti Benefit last month to a crowd which included Mariska Hargitay, Liev Schreiber, Fisher Stevens,Patricia Arquette and Donna Karan, Bello explains how she, Barbara Guillaume, Alison Thompson, Aleda Frishman and a group of prominent Haitian women got together to discuss the problems facing Haiti.

“This small country boasts over 10,000 NGOs and received over a billion dollars of aid after the earthquake, yet the conditions remain abysmal,” Bello says. “Where did all that money go?  It made us angry. WE ADVANCE was created because, basically, we were p***ed off.  We wanted results.”

PHOTOS: Stars Help Out at the Help For Haiti Telethon

In the last 7 months, the group has created the Nap Vanse Family Clinic, which has seen and treated more than 10,000 people, started-up educational programs, providing natives with the opportunity to learn English and take classes in sanitation, art therapy and physical education, and also treated children to a weekly wash day, where 200 kids get to take a bath.

To read the full article on RadarOnline.com, click here or on the image below:

Maria Bello Brings Change to Haiti

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On the Ground in Port-au-Prince (Huffington Post)

January 21, 2010 By

This is Part One in a series of blog posts by Maria Bello, who is traveling with Artists For Peace And Justice in Haiti. Read Part Two of the series now.

The acrid smell of death is not the first thing that hits you landing in Port-au-Prince. It is the screams and wails of mourning that are overwhelming. The cries of mothers, fathers, neighbors and friends who have lost so much and so many in the last week. The Haitian people whom I have come to know over the last year are a strong, compassionate, resilient bunch who mourn with the same passion they live by.

Paul Haggis and I landed this morning with a team from the JP Haiti Relief Organization, a private foundation created by Sean Penn and Diana Jenkins to help in the rescue efforts. They have gathered 10 doctors, nurses and surgeons, a water specialist, logistics people and two cargo planes filled with medical supplies, food, tools, thousands of water filters and generators to help existing institutions and set up a clinic that will service those in need. They are generously supplying our group, Artists for Peace and Justice, with medicine we desperately need to get into the hands of our friends at St. Damien’s Hospital in Port-au-Prince. For the last 48 hours, operations have been performed without anesthesia, children are dying from dehydration and simple wounds have become so infected that many require amputation.

We have been called here by our dear friend, Father Rick Frechette. A doctor and priest in Haiti for the last 22 years, Rick defines the power of one man’s call to action. He and his Haitian colleagues have built and run the only free pediatric hospital in Haiti, the only hospital for disabled children, two orphanages, 20 street schools, free medical clinics in the poorest slums of the city, Cite de Soleil and most recently, New York City, a job training center that includes a bakery and shoe factory. He supplies the only free drinking water to the people of Cite de Soleil and feeds thousands of people a day in and around Port-au-Prince.

To read the full article on HuffingtonPost.com, click here or on the image below:

On the Ground in Port-au-Prince

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