It's a great feeling when something important happens, or in this case, gets released... after six years of not really having a real handle on website stuff, I'm happy to say Kledèv has a website that is more than just a place holder for some future idea! 

“Since the earthquake of 2010 the CHEDEVE Soccer and Leadership Program has difficulty to go well.

As you all know, the soccer program is a game that has been created from dialog between young people of Haiti and their American friends in December 2007. Since, there’s two training every weekend and a meal on Saturday. The program is not only a place to learn football; it is also a place that young kids learn how to become leaders.

The program was a success thanks to the support of young people of Haiti, volunteers from our community, the economic support of KLEDEV USA and over high school, Stephanie Curci and other people of the USA.

Since the earthquake of January 2010 CHEDEVE has difficulty to keep the program going on because people who used to support them has economic difficulty. In December 2010, The Global Fund for Children, with Susanna Shapiro, made a miracle to make it happen for a year it happened not in the same way because CHEDEVE staff could not feed the kids every Saturday as usual.

This year again, it’s the same case - Global Fund for Children with Sandra Macias del Villar brought on more support to run the program, but it’s not the full amount we need to keep the program steady. So far, there’s only enough for two meals a month and all the staff, coaches and cooks are still volunteer, and we would like to give them something for their generosity because everyone here is still in a low economic situation.

We all so need to create other opportunity in the program, like information classes where the kids will learn computer skills and introduction to Internet access, introduction to English, and art classes to develop their skills.

So we invite you one more time to support our 90+ kids in other to keep them away from violence and also give them a chance to become a leader even if they are from places with no big opportunity.”

(download)

Click here to download:

From_the_staff_of_the_CHEDEVE_.zip (7.2 MB)

Please act now upon what’s in your heart and give what you can to support our work!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!

Please don't feel that you must make a large donation to make a difference. It's the heart-felt contributions of the many that make this all work and there is a lot of magic in a contribution made from love and brotherhood beyond the dollar amount. We get the love, and that is what sustains our work. We love you, too!

Thank you for supporting our important work. 

(download)

Click here to download:

IN_NEED_OF_SUPPORT_Community_L.zip (867 KB)

In January, one of our community leaders and founding Haitian member of Kledev, Max-Robert Vital, or Maxo, had the opportunity participate in a first-of-it's-kind developmental training program in Haiti in which he experienced being empowered in his leadership at a whole new level! The seminar was very similar to one some of us may have done in which people distinguish what in the past is limiting the future and invent a new future of possibility! It was an amazing opportunity for him to participate and he made it happen, and now he is excited about the future like never before!

Maxo was already a super hero to the 13,000+ kids and adults in the tent community of Camp Tapis Wouj with the food programs and for the cholera program he spearheaded. His efforts have saved and enriched lives of so many. Long before the 2010 earthquake, he has been especially concerned and committed to creating programs for kids so they can go to school and have enough to eat. He is continuing his efforts and we doubt he will ever stop!

A seminar series is being offered to continue the work that was started in the initial program and is scheduled to meet every three weeks starting Saturday, February 11. The seminar is taking place in the central part of Haiti and Maxo lives in Port-au-Prince, so travel is required. We are raising funds to cover his travel, food and lodging.

To learn more about Maxo, please visit his Facebook page at Vitalx Max Robert and feel free to friend him while you are there! There is also a video from Dec. 2010 of Maxo taking us through his camp: http://youtu.be/q87QKEFWYNs

Pictured Left to right: Georges Edouard, Michel-Pierre Omero and Roosevelt Hyppolite after having delivered Cholera Prevention Programs, with children from the L'Azile, Haiti community.

April 14, 2011

Hi there,

I am glad that I can take a minute on my birthday to thank you on making me who I am today. I want each of you who receive this email or read this page to know that today I am proud of my 35 years because you are reading it and you contribute to making my life amazing.

Few years ago, I used to be a regular person, working at the Oloffson to take care of my family and sometime I took a minute to help a friend, maybe someone that I don’t really know. Now I am an humanitarian helping people. In fact, all of this would not have started if I didn’t meet in 1999, my wonderful friend Clay Kilgore, who jumped in my life at the first moment I offered him the possibility. Since he stays there as one of the biggest MIRACLE. Year after year, we become more familiar, now we are not only friend, he is a family, I don’t know, maybe a father, a brother, an uncle, I don’t know, but he is always there to support me at any level till he has the wonderful idea to create a family ”Kledev”.

When we started this organization, we didn’t really know where we wanted to go, but all I remember is that we want to do something to make a difference in the life of all those smiling faces that we cross everyday in the streets who are waiting for a miracle to get a brighter smile. In the face of the kids who clean the windos of our cars every day expecting something back. In the faces of those who never expect that someone will show up to play with them and share a dream with them.

Four years after, our organization is still a baby, but did great from what I hear, lol… Sure, people tell me everyday that I am doing great job and that I have to continue. And you show it to me every day too, by supporting me, Clay or any member of our team, with prayers, ideas, encouragement, materials and with your precious money that you could use for other personal purpose.

Four years after we are still here with a strong soccer program, a dance program, and a school sponsorship program every year. In order to eradicate Cholera, you offered us your precious help to deliver Cholera supplies, seminaries and so much that I would never be able to do myself or with only Clay.

Stephanie Curci, I would never forget you who was the first to say :oh, that’s good job, I can help with that. Since, we have all of Boston with us, specially student of ANDOVER High school. You were one of the ones who made us come up with the soccer program. Our school sponsorship program would not be a success without you, every year you collect money and school supplies for our kids. The best thing is that you believe in what we are doing, you help without asking any question. And you teach us the biggest lesson of the game: it doesn’t cost anything to ask…We are having success with that.

Dr. John May, there’s no word to thank you for your support. You don’t like to talk too much but always do big action. You don’t only make action, but you introduced me to other friends who become good friends of me and the organization, too. Today I don’t have chance to meet you as usual. I know that I am in your heart where ever you are, like you are in my heart every day, too.

Richard Morse, my boss when I was at the Oloffson, who now is a someone that I have so much admiration for. Who he is in his support to the future of Haiti, who sometime take a minute to do a miracle in my life because he knows that I am working with my community.

My beautiful cousin, Jyna Sanon, who is always there for me and the kids of my programs, Colleen Schell, Michelle Karshan with Li Li Li, who gave big support after the earthquake. Susanna Shapiro with Global Fund for Childrem, who gave another level to our organization. Jen & Guy Pantaleon, Mr. Paul Miller, Lynette Camara, Kathy Powell-Larson, Jim Macahilas, Elaine White, Alan Haynes, Clay’s Mother and Father Judy and Gary Kilgore, Barrie Bamberg, Sophie O’Shaughnessy, Clare Ellis who take time to write about our program in her magazine… And here in Haiti, Valerie Louis who is the motor of our programs, Nixon Fevry our first local partnet who gave us space for our office and program during the four years,now we have ours,thank you Nicky, Jean Camille, Georges Edouard, Omero Pierre-Michel the one without him Kledev would not be what it is in Haiti. He spend his whole life on thinking of what could be done to make life of other people better without asking where is my future.

Thanks to all of you who are always and will always be there for me and for Kledev. I want you all know that without you, your precious support, your wonderful appreciation, I would never stand to write this note to say how proud I am of doing what I am doing today. Every single thing you do makes a difference in my life, in the life of people of my community, in the life of people of Haiti and contribute to a better future for Haiti.

Today is my birthday, and my wish is to continue working in partnership with you to serve those who need our support to have a brighter smile. Sometime you can see one of them smiling while you are complaining about his or her future. Let’s keeping working together so that in the near future, we all can smile together.

I sincerely have to say if I have all of this without Sherline Nell, I would not be the man that I pretend. I would be smiling with you. I love you Boule!!!

I love you all.

Roosevelt Hyppolite

Kledev In-country Director

Photo: My friends Dave and Nathan squirming on my lap - this is from back in 2004 - I put it here because I look alright, maybe like a future foreign aid worker, but what I really want to be when I grow up is a part of people's lives working in Haiti as they grow up.

One of the things that Kledèv values most and aims to cause in Haiti is teamwork. Our team in Haiti does amazing things together and for a long time I knew that. But when I was there this past November, I learned a few things that I couldn't have gotten from staying away and doing it like I do from a distance... I have gotten pretty good at empowering them to be great and to create something as possible in spite of circumstances from having weekly conversations with just a few people, but being there showed me there was something really missing for them, and for me, even though I wasn't aware of it - relatedness.

The Value of Relatedness

Everyone on the team knew that I was on the team and was providing something in the area of leadership, but as the team had grown, some had never met me. Many of the kids in the area we work, Fontamara, had heard of me, but had never met me. After having been physically away so long - three years, and for pretty good reasons - to some of our teammates I was only someone they'd heard of and to the rest, I was distant memory!

Reasons aside, what was missing for all of us was that great flood of energy that comes from time spent together, living together in some cases, and creating and playing the game side-by-side, and saying to each other face-to-face "I will do X by Y time."

Another thing about relatedness, and this is really the difference - is being in their world vs. having information about their world. I cannot tell you how much time I spend trying to get into the world of Haiti when the easiest way to get that world is to just go be there.

Okay, I had reasons. One of my loftier reasons has been about not wanting to have it look like the results were happening because I'm there. You know how having a video camera on the action actually changes the action? That.... I can give that up. There is too much work that needs to be done.

And I can admit, as a volunteer, the expense of travel has been a reason. It costs to fly, and I didn't have it like I had in previous years, and still don't. And I never thought it was a good idea to spend money on getting me there when I could send the money and have our team make something out of it... well, that's what I thought...

Last thing about this - when I was there, a trusted friend and associate said something that has stuck with me. He said, "you have to get that when you are here, we can get into places we cannot get into when you are not. Without you, we look like just another Haitian trying to get something. You give us credibility."

Okay, I may not like that, but I got it. The way I have been causing leadership has been too much in the background, too much as a listening and not as an active participant. Not just in Haiti, but in other areas as well. People want me there and even though I don't have all the answers, things get answered when I'm there because I ask the questions that I ask! And in Haiti, admittedly, I do not look like another Haitian trying to get something!

As a result, I have made a new promise to my team, and that is to be there a minimum of four times a year - once about every three months. I do not know where to funding is coming from to do that, but I am my promise and I will make it happen.

The Value of Miles

The cool thing about the trip I took in November is that I learned a few things about how Airline Miles work. A good friend and supporter of the work I do in Haiti does a lot of travel for business, as many people do. Once I declared that I was going, I shared with her that I was going, a bit about why, and that I wasn't sure how it would all come together... and thanks to her generosity, she donated the expense by simply making the reservation for me using some of her miles!

In the process, we figured out an pretty simple interim way to allow people who would like to contribute something toward making Haiti work. If you have American Airlines miles to spare, you can "gift" up to 40,000 a year (I think that's right) to someone as long as they have a AAdvantage number.

I have an AAdvantage number! And since I am a representative of a legal nonprofit, when you donate miles, I can offer you or your company a receipt for your tax deductions for the same value that the airline charges to buy miles ($1000 per 40,000 Miles). So for a gift of 40,000 miles, you have made a donation valued at $1000 and it cost you $0 - totally worth it if you itemize! And even if you don't, totally a great thing to be able to contribute in a way that work can get done, and there is plenty to do in Haiti. And, it would put you on our team - again, the beauty of teamwork!

Now, I can't ask my friend to keep doing that, but if I had a handful of a few people gift miles into my account, my travel to Haiti would be covered for 2011 and that would fulfill the flying part of my promise (the rest I still need to raise funds for). If even more people gifted miles, I could invite more people to go with me to do things like photo/video document our programs, consult on infrastructure project management, they sky is the limit! Every trip we can take on donated miles frees up cash for other things, and to be honest, makes travel possible for someone who might be a key player, but cannot instantly afford absorbing the full expenses of the trip.

You may not have lots of miles and this may not be for you, but if you know people who travel a lot for business and might care to invest in improving conditions in Haiti, could you forward a link to them?

To gift miles to Kledev, my AAdvantage Number is 5N5Y758, Name Clayton Kilgore

(below updated March 19, 2012)

AA.com has changed how the gifting works, so it's not a simple slide-over, it costs something now. I think it's still possible to use your miles to purchase flights for others, and if you want to work that out, we'd need to coordinate the trip together, but it would be awesome if you would!

If you want to gift a full trip for one team member, like my friend did in November, put a note in the comments field below. I've been avoid sharing this scheme, and I know this is a bold and unreasonable request, but hey, I've asked for all kinds of things that aren't cash and gotten piles of it! Asking is my job and I promise to never use anything donated for anything other than Haiti-related business. Going to Haiti is not for everyone, but people seem to love to contribute to the empowering stuff we're doing.

Thanks for being someone who loves to contribute!

Heart, Clay K
www.kledev.org

Pictured: Max-Robert Vital, founding member of Kledèv, standing outside his tent with his son and kids from the camp. (Dec 2010)

I can't believe what it takes for me to get myself to stop everything, sit down and write something, and actually complete it! it's been over six months since I stopped to write anything longer than an email. The nice thing about this blog is that I really don't need to know more than sending an email, so I'll start with this simple structure. Thank you, makers of posterous.com!

There is much about Haiti that I want to share. In fact, I think that's what has been in my way - there's just so much! Where to start?

What is happening now with our team in Fontamara is extraordinary... first of all, the soccer program is back on with the funding from Global Fund for Children (thanks!). The Folkloric Dance program currently does not have a strong funding source, and so one of impacts of the soccer program being back on is that the girls are jealous. I say this because jealousy is something very real for them. So one thing that needs to get funded this year, among many things for sure, is the Girls Dance Program... not to stop the jealousy, but because if we empower girls to learn to create the future together as leaders, the future of what's possible in Haiti transforms.

While I was in Haiti in November, one of the main focuses, naturally, was the Cholera situation. I want to tell you who we are working with.... when I met with our team in Fontamara on the first Tuesday of that trip, they had a pretty well designed proposal for a program they wanted to do and they knew they wanted to do it fast. In part, it was to create a presentation in which children and their parents would receive basic, clear information about what to do to prevent cholera (importance of washing hands, putting a specific number of drops of bleach in water to kill the microbes that cause the disease, etc...) and to get their questions answered. They also intended to give out kits containing bar soap, rehydration salts, and small bottles of bleach with dropper caps to the parents so they would go home with something in there hands to begin with. As if I need to say it, for many in Haiti, making sudden purchases for health related concerns is not possible.

Our team had already been in action and received a small amount of bleach in gallons and bar soap from UNICEF (no small feat) before I got there and I gave them about $60 to purchase more. I also had traveled in with a generous donation (thanks to Barrie Bamberg) of about 900 empty 2 oz. bottles with dropper tops to fill for the distribution.

So what's really extraordinary about all this is that by Friday, there was a solid presentation given to members of the community, including a large number of school children (about 100? Probably more). There was a nurse giving demonstrations on what to do, how to do it, plus there were songs from the kids and a skit some of the teenagers put on that was memorized in just the three days! There were even choreographed dances that some of the girls (who wanna have a dance program) put on to break the seriousness of the subject and of course, they were great!  The program was completely inspiring, and in the question and answer part, people asked whatever they had to ask to get clear about what to do, and I got a real sense that the community concern was quickly going from for fear to understanding - and that  empowers people.

What's also really extraordinary is that in the interest of getting people basic Cholera prevention supplies, our team has recently been visiting camps to meet the leaders there and have found out the reality of the situation - in some medium-sized camps, there have only ever been one or two distributions of anything since the earthquake over a year ago. As we know from Max-Robert Vital (the guy in the photo and one of our founding members), some camps like his have not had any support at all - as he said, "we are just with God."

So Max-Robert and our Fontamara team (too many to name here) is empowered and motivated, but not quite enabled to make the difference they want to make - to provide people in the camps with basic cholera supplies, free of charge, so they can at least experience some peace and security around the cholera situation. Of course, if they want to do it, it is for us to see what we can do to enable it.

One of our collective capabilities, when we do have some funding, is making things happen. UNICEF IS GREAT, but everyone is attempting to go that route and their big system gets bogged down. When we get some money together, we can make purchases quickly support the Haitian economy, and deliver items with no red tape. That's always been the difference between us and big NGOs. Small, efficient and motivated. Also a total plus, it's Local and accomplish by highly capable Haitian endeavor, supported by us. The way I've been doing it, we've stayed small and all-volunteer, but this point, we can stand to get a little bit bigger and make some paid staff jobs for some our super dedicated parters in Haiti. It's also clearly time for me to transition out of being an advertising artist and keep my hand in empowering something in Haiti full-time, get a staff going here in SF, and taking on more of what needs to be accomplished. A year after the earthquake, what's clear is that there is no end in sight to what needs to be accomplished.

As for the cholera,the situation is dire. Handing out of soap, dehydration salts and bleach in small bottles is an inexpensive, wise choice as far as giving people something away for free, as what it provides is the means for families to confidently clean their collected water correctly so no fear of disease and no drinking too much chlorine, and they have a sense that someone cares and that everyone is in this together. That goes a long way.

Our team and future staff is very motivated to make Cholera prevention, among so many other things, a part of what we do, and what we do is guided by what they say is needed. Of course, funding is required to make the small bottles, labels, and Clorox available, and we also want to make it a job for someone to get paid to work on the filling of the bottles, putting the lids on, putting on the putting on of labels, and the assembly of kits with soap and rehydration salts (which we could also make up if UNICEF can't fill the order). We have even found a manufacturer of small bottles in Haiti so when we purchase the bottles, it will support the local economy.

While we are empowering a brighter future in Haiti, we'll clearly need to give some stuff away for free, especially when there are emergencies. That's basic, but we're really more about empowering people to have what what they need to be strong and motivated to make thier own lives happen. It's all an investment in people - nothing is wasted or just given with no empowerment piece. If you want to join in the investing, jump over to our still very skinny website and find your way to the donation button - we can still make a little do a lot!

We need to be in action on this...

Thanks!

Clay Kilgore
www.kledev.org

Kids play program just weeks after the earthquake - these are the future leaders of Haiti and we can support that future.

The work required of us to go from a small organization with a soccer program to what's required to make life happen for our community members has be unimaginable. That is to say, we have still not seen the top of that mountain...

Thanks to everyone who has generously chipped in to respond immediately after the quake. If you gave then, people ate, got bandaged, drank water, and began to get a sense that there was a world of people who cared...

Now we need to do something miraculous and it will only happen if we rub our hearts together... Regular support is what's missing. We receive beautiful, small monthly donations from a handful of people and they are the life blood for just a handful of people to get what they need to survive.

There's a elderly lady who can barely see from Oregon who sends $10 a month from her Social Security check. I don't want to take it, but I understand what she wants me to do. I have a friend who set his auto bill pay to send a regular check to our post office box monthly, because he wants me to do something on his behalf. I have another dear friend who never fails to send her support.

I said I am responsible for this organization and it's not always natural for me to be that. I am still learning how to be a fundraiser and these lovely, generous souls have made it obvious to me what really needs to happen. It becomes rewarding when I remember that all I am doing is asking you to do something small, over time, that you already want to do - invest in the future of your fellow man in Haiti so they can see what's beyond their struggle...

We have yet to begin to really dig out of the mess over there, and the Big NGO food aid just really can't sustain anything.

Please set up your calendar to remind you to send a regular check for $5.00, $7.50 or $10.00 monthly donation... you might not miss it and when we all start sending these (I'll do it, too!), it will really be huge. If you have it, set your auto-bill pay to send your unnoticeably small amount to our post office box (Kledev, PO BOX 40567, San Francisco, CA 94140)

If that doesn't work for you, look in your pocket and see if there's a little there you can send our way and put it here: http://www.kledev.org/aid.html

Thanks for being great!

Heart, Clay

These are some of the beautiful young people - the future leaders of Haiti - who we want to keep supporting. If you are so inspired after you read this, bounce over to www.kledev.org to hit the fund links and give a little, and share this blog post with people you know...

It's been six months since the big upset in Port-au-Prince and I want to start by saying that, if the earthquake was your first real look into life in Haiti, thank you for looking, because I know it wasn't easy to look for anyone. I had a strong desire before the quake that people of the world take a look to meet and understand who are these people in Haiti - beyond what the media used to report... the quake changed everything. Now the world gets the strength and beauty that the people in Haiti are, but for the past few months, the media has been mostly for the very interested.

I have not told stories here much in the past several months. I have had my share of personal breakdowns and also worked on getting communication happening between Haitian Community Leaders and the NGOs and the UN (which has not happened yet). I have kept working to empower the great leaders I work with over there, but what we have all been dealing with is the many breakdowns that have come from diminishing support. That's not a complaint - I own that I did not create the support. I get that I could have done lots more and I could have requested the leaders I work with to publish their stories here. That will come. In the meantime, please accept my summary and a conversation I had last week to empower someone that lots of people look to for answers.

In the community of Fontamara we had a few amazing breakthroughs in the early months after the quake, but now we are not sure what is happening and who is still there with whom to complete conversations. The breakthroughs included our CHEDEVE leaders obtaining a shipment of food aid from the United Nations World Food Program, which served around 140 kids and some 20 adults two meals a day for seven weeks. The breakthrough was not just receiving the aid, which took many weeks to coordinate, but that the CHEDEVE leaders made it happen themselves - they made calls and created the relationships that made it possible and it empowered them. Of course, the donated food aid was bags of rice and beans with no way to cook it, so a lot of the funds we got through our friends and via our website went to get the pots and all the things needed to actually make a culturally acceptable meal. For seven weeks, it worked.

The breakdown was that after that, the hands at WFP seemed to be changing and they kept making the guys jump through hoops, writing reports and finally, after several weeks and staff of the WFP essentially asking them to "stop calling," (one person actually said that to them), the criteria for food aid changed and the kids in Fontamara were suddenly too old to be supported by the WFP. Breakdown.

Another thing that was breakthrough in the beginning, again from the leaders of CHEDEVE being in action making calls directly to many of the NGOs listed on the UNOCHA Roster (updated daily: http://3w.unocha.org/WhoWhatWhere/contactReportFwt1.php?uSite=ocha_haiti_earthquake&repId=10) was that there was a visit from a carload of UNICEF representatives... initially, there was a possible partnership, and subsequent meetings proposed temporary school tents might be set, but after the community cleaned and prepared the site in Fontamara, it was deemed unacceptable. Another site was found and cleared in another neighborhood. The communication with UNICEF fell off after that with no answer given. In the beginning of those talks, it really sounded like we might be working with them to rebuild a school. It's amazing to me that people who have been trampled by an earthquake have to meet so much specialized criteria so kids can receive the humanitarian aid the world said they wanted delivered... It's not over, but these relationships that were started did not produce any real results, which is a breakdown for sure...

Other Breakdowns

• Soccer program postponed indefinitely (people now living on soccer field)
• I virtually stopped asking for funding from individuals to support the community in meeting their basic needs and didn't get any other kind of support structures created
• A deranged gang leader named "Deles" who was imprisoned in the National Jail came back to the community, killed one community resident and the result is the community is only partially functioning, paralyzed in fear of what he'll do next.
• The rain
• Leaders in the same boat as citizens but looked to for answers

Remember, Leaders are Human Beings

In case you wonder what I do, one thing is I have a weekly conversation with a community leader in Haiti. I did not ask him if it was okay to publish this with his name, so it's not there, but these are the last things he said to me in our weekly conversation last week:

July 6, 2010
me:  how is the community doing this week with the fear level (concern for gang violence?)

Community leader in Haiti: The community is ok,less fear for sure,but we still go bed early as usual

me:  are people also still afraid to go inside buildings?

Community leader in Haiti: In my area no,but some people still affraid of building specially those who`ve been in a house during the earthquake

me:  got it - so some people in your area still in tents, but mostly not - unless they had a BIG scare and they are not ready to go back in

Community leader in Haiti: No more people in tents in my area.Some left for their security but most of us sleep inside now

me:  okay - it's good for me to know that, just to see how it is

Community leader in Haiti:  ok

me:  are people eating and drinking enough water?

Community leader in Haiti: There`s enough water,an NGO put a water station in a church,people get clean water for free but not food

me:  got it... I understand most of the food programs are pulling back - are some of the prices coming down?

Community leader in Haiti: No,price is still same but inflation is rough here

me:  do you know the price of a big bag of rice?

Community leader in Haiti: 1800 gourdes
almost $40

me:  okay, that is much more reasonable than it was a couple months ago
but still high, right?

Community leader in Haiti:  Not really,but there`s no money to buy it
no work to win money

me:  got that - so people are not eating much

Community leader in Haiti: right

me:  got it...
don't like it, but got it

Community leader in Haiti:  ok

me:  thanks for telling me - I am thinking about it and I do not know the answer

Community leader in Haiti: No problem

BREAK

Community leader in Haiti: Ok,definitely `progress will not show up soon for Kledev or CHEDEVE

me:  I have the same point of view, but breakthroughs can happen in an instant

Community leader in Haiti: I am not sure,because i don`t see where it will come from

me:  so even though it seems like it will continue to take a long time (because it often has in the past) .... we can still stand in the possibilities that we create for ourselves

Community leader in Haiti: Yeah,we still stand being of possibilities

me:  as human beings we are always in the trap of our point of view - creating possibility of new ways of being give us access new actions

Community leader in Haiti: Yeah,but i am stucked,my mind is down

me:  I got that - it may be useful for you to say whatever is there - get it out of your head...

Community leader in Haiti: ok boss

me:  okay. let me have it all - nothing held back - tell me what is your biggest concern right now

Community leader in Haiti: The situation here now

me:   say what about the situation has you concerned (or tet chaje)

Community leader in Haiti: I don`t see any good future in the situation.Nobody is really care about a changing here,maybe those who can`t bring it

me:  so the future you see is just as bad or worse than it is now, and in that future, nobody cares

Community leader in Haiti: yeah,nobody cares

me:  got that - an I get that you are experiencing that like it is real and it is sad for you because you care so much and love people, especially the kids, and you are alone in your caring and there is not enough of you to make a difference... and you are committed to making life for people, especially kids, as wonderful as you know it can be, because you have seen the happiness that is possible - and you know thay can have it - but somebody has to care

Community leader in Haiti: Nothing good will happen in the coming 5 years here Clay.Sometime i am asking myself if leaving haiti is not the best choice now?

me:  I got that too - it is so hard to make any significant difference that you just want to give up and leave - I want you to know that you are free to make any choice you want to make - I am not attached to it being any particular way

Community leader in Haiti: Yeah,it`s not an easy choice,but i must think about it as a possibility finally

me:  okay, so here's another question: What are you committed to?

Community leader in Haiti: So hard to wake up at 33 waiting for your mom to feed you sometime.So hard to see people starving and standing powerless

me:  i get that it is so hard - what else is hard?

Community leader in Haiti: Nothing works here now Clay

me:  I am hearing you and I am getting that you see nothing is working, people are starving and powerless and you are starving and powerless, and it seems a endless situation where life is not possible and being an inspiring leader doesn't last - and doesn't make a difference

Community leader in Haiti: Yeah,and it`s not easy to see people waiting for a miracle from you,while you know you need a miracle too

me:  it must be very hard, everyone looks at you as a leader and thinks you have something special and for you, you have nothing, just like them... everyone needs a miracle, and you are the one who everyone thinks can make it happen and you do not know how

Community leader in Haiti:  exactly

me:   it makes it hard to leave the house and look people in the eye

Community leader in Haiti:  yeah - That`s life.I admit it,but i just worry about the changing

me:  and you have to live with that we are not big enough and that we have failed and disappointed everyone, and Chedeve and Kledev are not strong - I get that you are worried about the changing and the future is not looking good... what else do you need to say about it?

Community leader in Haiti: Nothing for now.I need to think about what to do in the next six months - I don`t want to close it.I just need a better tomorrow.I would really love to see a changing Haiti for we all or a better world

me:  I can see that you understand that you have a choice, and you are choosing - I want what you want... I say it is possible - the future is created in language... I am not saying there won't be more hard days where you are down to the ground... I have them too and my circumstances are much less harsh... I will stay with you as you create that better tomorrow, even on the days when it doesn't seem possible - do you get my world?

Community leader in Haiti: Yes i do

me:  have you shifted into a new space where something is possible?

Community leader in Haiti: Yes i do

me:  what do you see is possible?

Community leader in Haiti: Maybe we will need to create it - I see i need to try to believe in myself and take a good decision

me:  i get that - remember the possibility you created before?

Community leader in Haiti: Ok,i will

me:  what is that again?

Community leader in Haiti: Being peaceful,successful

me:  and h...

Community leader in Haiti: happy

me:  if you were being that right now, how would your future look?

Community leader in Haiti: Cool

me:  You just got it - create what's possible, right now... for yourself and - then a new view of life is right there

Community leader in Haiti: Get it.

www.kledev.org

Thanks to the brilliant courses available through Landmark Education, whose distinctions enable me to maintain an empowering context, no matter what. (www.landmarkeducation.com)

Chatting right now with Roosevelt Hyppolite in Haiti - Group Chedeve is serving two meals a day to 130+ kids in Fontamara, but the volunteer kitchen staff needs to be contributed to - cooking all day everyday in the tropical heat - they are wearing out! Who wants to invest in four great Haitian women getting a bonus for their amazing generosity? Would love to see this work, y'all... Donate a little or a lot via www.kledev.org and let me know its for the cooks! Thanks! Heart, Clay