PROGRESS: 04/21/2010 - And now we wait!

The funds have been raised, the structure has been evaluated.  Now we just wait until Andre's father comes up with a plan and the materials to start reinforcing the house.   We estimate that the damage is around $5000 and luckily we raised just over that!


This is going to be a slow process, but we will get it done!  Photos to come!

Updates!

Not sure how many people are checking the site lately, but here is an update!  Andre and Chelsea are back from PAP.  They evaluated the family's home and have come up with about $5000 dollars worth of repairs that need to be done.  This is great news because we raised roughly $7000 for their cause!

I will have photos as they come and progress reports as I know about them.  The main thing is that the family is safe and with the repairs they can inhabit their house without fear of collapse with or without another earthquake.

At this point Andre, Chelsea, and Action Santa Cruz are moving on!  Donations can still be made to the Cherer's until December 31st of 2010.  Each donation should note Andre, Chelsea, The Cherer's, Andre's Family, or something along those lines.  That will help me straighten out where the money goes.

I would also like to say that I will be issuing tax receipts in May.  If you have not received one by the end of May, please let me know and I will send it out to you.

I am so grateful for the community in and around Santa Cruz for their amazing support!  Our fundraisers really did help a family who was blindsided by a terrible natural disaster.  Each and every one of you holds a special place in all of our hearts and I can't say how much it means to me personally to be a part of this.

If anyone would like to see our donations spreadsheet and/or how the money has been doled out, please let me know.  I will hide the names to just initials to protect the innocent.  I want everyone to feel comfortable that %100 percent of the proceeds went to Andre's family and that there is no funny business.  :-)

Keep up the great work & look for more projects from us in the future!
Josh Brown
Action Santa Cruz

Putting up a Shelters System dome for Andre's relatives

Delmas 57, the narrow street where Andre's family lives, has turned into a tent city for about 70 families. Many of the neighborhood houses, like Andre's family's house, survived the earthquake with just cracks, but everyone's too spooked to sleep inside. Only three houses have been destroyed completely on their street, the dead still trapped inside the rubble. By the time Andre arrived on March 9, the smell of death had already left the area.




Here's Andre's cousin Joanne and her fiance in the makeshift shelter that 14 of Andre's aunts, uncles, and cousins were sharing, made from a very large tarp that they got from their minister. When it rained, the ground got wet, so they asked Andre for one of our Shelter Systems domes. We had hoped to set it up on the land in the mountain village, but they're still negotiating.

Here's a little cutie in the camp who I couldn't resist photographing.



We set it up on the rooftop of his uncle's house so they could see what it looks like and so they'd believe that it's really 14' in diameter.

I had hoped they would keep the other structure and move one family into the dome. But they're too afraid to sleep on the rooftop for fear that a bigger earthquake will come and topple the walls from the neighboring houses. So Andre took it down and helped them set it up in the camp.

They tried to leave up most of their original shelter, forgetting about the 7' height. As Andre was setting it up, his uncle was still taking down some of the supports of the tarp. I was afraid they'd puncture the dome with the nails, but luckily only one small rip had to be patched with duct tape. By evening, they were ready to lay out all their bedding. All 14 fit cozily into the dome which is designed for 8-10 people.



Andre and I and his brother-in-law are the only ones in the whole neighborhood who are sleeping inside a house. I've been trying to set an example that it's safe. I told them about Santa Cruz's 6.9 earthquake in 1989 and how we were told it might be 50-100 more years before the pressure builds up on the Loma Prieta fault line again. Port-au-Prince hasn't had any aftershocks for 3 weeks, but most residents are afraid to sleep inside even if their house is intact.

The city is going around and inspecting the houses. Some, like the one above with the SUV trapped inside, got red tagged, meaning they have to be demolished. This house is next to the camp. Other houses got yellow tags meaning they must be repaired before they can be inhabited. Andre's house got green, which means it is inhabitable now. Andre's stepfather is a builder, so he will hire some people to help him repair. Materials alone are $4,000-$5,000, but the labor will be cheap, just the opposite in the U.S. where materials are cheaper than labor.

The rains are beginning. I wonder how long it will take for many Haitians to venture back inside their houses. But for hundreds of thousands, they no longer have a house to go back into and they will be living in tents....maybe for years.

2 Months After the Quake: Plans change yet again

Today marks two months after the Jan. 12 earthquake. Hundreds of thousands are still homeless and camping out on the streets of the capitol. Andre is spending his fourth night in a tent in Port-au-Prince and is growing weary already. He's been great about staying in touch via iPhone, emailing lots of photos: of the land we wanted to buy, the cracks in his family's house in Port-au-Prince, and family members with their tents. I'm joining him next Wednesday morning after 26-hours of travel and two stopovers. We have reservations to return April 7, but Andre doesn't know how we can stay that long. When he went downtown he saw a man bleeding to death in the street from a bullet wound. I don't know if I'm ready for this.

Today was a productive day for me. I bought a solar backpack off craigslist, which will supposedly recharge cell phones and iPods. Because of lack of electricity it's been challenging for Andre to keep the iPhone charged; he even had to pay one time for recharging service. The city sometimes turns on the electricity in the houses, but you never know when or for how long, which is how it always was, even before the quake.

A friend who went to the same high school with me in Chula Vista, back in the 1970s, surprised with a generous cash donation, plus two suitcases, one filled with toiletries, first aid kit, tiny sleeping bags, and mosquito netting.

I spent half of her donation on assorted flashlights: mini-Mag lights, wind-up flashlights, key chain mini-lights, and rechargeable batteries and charger. The Haitians always need flashlights in Port-au-Prince, even before the quake, because they rarely have electricity. Whenever we visited, they let us use the kerosene lamp. I could read for a while, but not too long because the light is so dim. Soon I'd just give up and go to sleep. You can't do anything in the dark and you can't leave the house because the whole neighborhood is pitch black. Only some hotels and businesses used to be powered by noisy gasoline generators. This was before the quake. I don't think there are any hotels and only few businesses left.

I spent a lot of time today on the internet, connecting with a carpenter/EMT who has enough frequent flyer miles for a round-trip ticket. He said he'd love to go work with Andre's stepfather, depending on what happens with his business. I also hooked up with John Calvert, an expert on perma-culture. He suggested a variety of ways to get water to the land...assuming we could buy the land. It seems all that's changed.

Andre and his stepfather had a meeting with the owner of the land in Athis that they wanted to buy. Now he's changed his mind and doesn't want to sell. I don't understand why he would string Andre's stepfather along for a month if he didn't want to sell. Mathieu must have gone back and forth between the capitol and the mountains at least a dozen or 20 times while investigating this deal. I could hear the frustration and discouragement in Andre's voice when he told me the news.

But there's good news too: damage to the Port-au-Prince house doesn't look that bad, at least not from the photos Andre sent me. I'm not an engineer and I'm not seeing it in person, but as a Californian, I'm used to cracked buildings. Often it's just cosmetic damage. Even after the 6.9 earthquake in Santa Cruz many buildings were saved by retrofit seismic repairs.

In a way, it makes more sense to repair the house in Port-au-Prince first. The land and building project can't finished before the rains, and tent living will get old fast. I love camping, but when it starts raining hard, I'm ready to pack it in and look for a hotel. Andre's family's house is about 1000 square feet on the main floor, has two smaller apartments in the basement, and a new two-room apartment for his sister, her husband and their kids on the third floor. So there's plenty of space for extended family members to squeeze in.

I'm also a little relieved that the land deal is on hold because I've worried that Andre's siblings wouldn't be happy in such a remote, rural location. His parents, aunts and uncles, and grandma all grew up in the mountains, but not the siblings and cousins. Andre is the only one of his generation who did because he spent his childhood with his grandparents. He knows the country life and enjoys it. As an American, I like the mountain village also because it's cooler, cleaner, healthier and has a nice view. But it seems the initial panic to get out of the capitol is fading now that the aftershocks are dying down and the rains are coming soon.

It happened here in Santa Cruz as well in 1989. They evacuated our neighborhood because the Victorian house next door to my grandma's house fell on her gas line. I was in Italy at the time, but my housemates and my grandma were instructed to camp out on the Santa Cruz High School football field, as aftershocks rattled their nerves. On the third night it started to rain, so everyone went back into their houses. I'm guessing the Haitians will do the same.

One of the 14' dome tents that Andre brought was for a friend's family. They are extremely grateful for their new home. But in the camping area that Andre's family shares with about 70 families, there's nowhere to set up such a big dome tent, and I'm bringing another one soon. Andre's family is sleeping in a borrowed tent, which may be reclaimed if Andre's sister and her in-laws return to the capitol. Even though many of his relatives are sleeping under tarps, Andre is afraid to let anyone borrow the dome because they might not want to give it back when we need it. I was hoping we could use them on the land while we're building, but since that might not be happening, and since his family might be able to repair and move back into their house, I'm not sure what we'll do with the dome tents. They cost $350 for the tent, $50 shipping from Georgia, $50 for the floor tarps, and $100 for excess baggage charge -- that's $550 times three -- so I don't want to just give them away. Everyone wants one, but who can afford to buy them?

Well, it's always good to be flexible and open minded. There's definitely no script for a disaster like the Haitian earthquake. We're two months into this thing and the end is nowhere in sight.

Burners without Borders -- another wish list for Haiti

A few weeks ago, I searched the word "Haiti" on craigslist. I found a carpenter here in Santa Cruz who said he was looking for work for a few weeks to get money together for his upcoming trip to Haiti. He was going with an organization called Burners Without Borders. It sounds like it's Burning Man meets Doctors Without Borders. He said he was taking his tools with him and was hoping to help with the reconstruction efforts.

I wrote to him and said I could give him some small jobs, since my regular guy is in Mexico right now (Daniel, for people who know me). I was also curious to know more about him and this organization. I heard back from him once, but that was it. Then I got busy and forgot about him.

Now I'm looking at photos of cracks in Andre's family's house that Andre sent me with my iPhone --thanks to AT&T for the great international plan they came up with to help the relief effort in Haiti. I take back all the bad things I've said about AT&T in the past. From these photos, I would definitely agree with Andre and Dr. Tony Hoffman that the house should be repairable. With fewer and smaller aftershocks, little by little, the family is cooking inside, using the bathroom, getting a change of clothes, and plugging in their cell phones to recharge when the random electrical service comes on. By the way, even before the earthquake most families in Port-au-Prince only got electricity a couple of hours ago, usually late at night when everyone was asleep.

I bring up Burners Without Borders also because I was interested in their list of needed supplies:

SEEDS: apricot, cabbage, tomato, potato, carrots, red and white beans, yams, corn, pistachio, papaya, cauliflower, squash, watermelon, purple onion, sweet peas, garlic, beans/red and white, peppers and spicy peppers.

SUPPLIES: Crutches, Naproxin, Immodium/ anti diarrhea meds, Baby formula,Bottles, Nipples, Food/A packs, IV Needle Inserts, Slings (all sizes), Pedialyte Powder, Adult Crutches, Canes, New Socks for Amputees, Cast Shoes (Left and Right), Saline forwards, Gloves, Anti-fungal ointment, Antibiotic ointment, Sulfa, Antibiotics,

OVER the COUNTER MEDICINE - Tylenol (adult and peds), Motrin (adult and peds), Tussin, Dressings, DUST MASKS (the concrete dust here is VERY bad)

I didn't know if you could bring seeds on a plane internationally. I'll have to check about that because if we succeed in relocating his family to the mountain village they would certainly be able to grow some food. I have a friend who works in the garden center at Pro-Build and I will give her this seed list. Andre did take some of these supplies and over-the-counter medicines last time. I'm waiting to hear back from him regarding what else they need or what they need more of.

Andre sent me photos with an iPhone

Andre arrived in Haiti on Tuesday, March 9 at noon. His brothers Reginald and Johnny were there to pick him up, along with his five 50-pound bags, 40-pound carry-on and day pack. We were really lucky to get all that on the flight because American Airlines tightened their baggage restrictions on all flights to Haiti. Normally, on international flights they allow two 50-pound bags for free, plus up to three more for $100 each. At the last minute we found out we could only take one extra for $100. We already had them all packed, so we decided to get to the airport three hours early and act like we didn't know about the change. Our plan worked.

Upon arrival in Port-au-Prince, Andre was upset to see that his bags had been opened, especially the two relief tents which we had wrapped so carefully and sealed with packing tape, mummy-style. He had to pay off the customs officers with shampoos, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste. But the rest got through: two 14-foot dome tents, two smaller tents, three air mattresses and foot pump, three 16' x 20' tarps for the floors of the dome tents, flashlights, hand tools, soccer balls and cleats, some clothes, jump ropes, nuts, canned tuna, packaged foods, more toiletries, medications, band-aids...plus even more stuff I can't remember now.

Before Andre left, I called our cell phone companies. Verizon has no service in Haiti. My iPhone with AT&T service would work, plus they have a special plan because of the relief workers. For $20 per month pro-rated, we have an international plan for Haiti and the Dominican Republic: phone calls anywhere in the world for 25 cents a minute (instead of $1.99), data (internet and email) for 50 cents a MB instead of $20, and text messages for 10 cents each. They couldn't tell me exactly how many emails you get for one MB of data, but it's roughly 300. About half that many if there are attachments. So he took my iPhone and I have his Verizon phone.

Andre's been busy since he arrived. He handed out the stuff he brought. The finger flashlights that someone from Minorsan donated were a big hit. He also went up to the village of Athis with his stepfather and brother. They're ready to buy the land, but the escrow office is destroyed. So he got a meeting with the seller on Friday to talk about making a deposit on the land through a lawyer, to guarantee the price, and hopefully to allow them to start building.

Andre also sent me photos of his friend "Coach", his Aunt Miche and sister Beatrice in front of the tent that a friend donated. This friend's sister works for Eureka Tents, so she was able to get a returned tent for $20, regularly $150 new. Miche is sharing it with four others. Andre's family hasn't been able to put up the dome tent because there's no space for it. They're staying in a campsite with about 70 families not too far from their house. They can't go anywhere else because they wouldn't be able to keep an eye on their house and their possessions. Another dome tent went to a friend's family and they've been able to set it up. Andre didn't send me any pictures of that yet.

He did send me pictures of the Hotel Villa Imperial where we used to pay $5 a day to go swimming, use their wi-fi, and recharge cell phones and my laptop. The owner of the hotel died in the earthquake. I was glad to hear that the manager survived. Fortunately, he was out in the parking lot when the earthquake hit. Andre sent another picture of a destroyed building just a few blocks from his folks' house.

Andre thinks his family's house might be repairable. That would be the best short term solution to get them safe from the rainy season that's coming up soon. I asked him to see if he can find a seismic engineer to inspect it -- preferably from California or another place that gets earthquakes frequently.

I'm leaving on Tuesday, changing planes in Miami and Santo Domingo. I have an overnight layover in Santo Domingo. I was joking that I should set up the dome tent and air mattress for myself in the airport. My own little refugee camp. Andre and I are booked on the same return flight on April 7, overnighting in Miami with some Haitian friends.

Another successful fundraiser

Thank you so much to everyone who donated silent auction items. helped set up beforehand and clean up afterwards, who brought all the yummy food, and who bid on these great auction items. Altogether we brought in over $2000!!

Andre and I are just so grateful to all our friends and this wonderful community for the love and support you give us. We know that Haiti has been in the news for nearly two months now, and with the

earthquakes in Chile and Taiwan, everyone's on overload regarding earthquakes. We're hearing that many relief workers are leaving Haiti now, just as the rainy season is beginning. The UN is predicting a second wave of suffering as Port-au-Prince prepares for flooding and disease. 150,000 survivors of the earthquake are living in areas that may be evacuated. In the midst of all this, Andre is preparing to fly there tomorrow. Today we spent the day packing his five 50-pound bags and 40-pound carry-on plus day pack. A lot of the wonderful purchases and donations we've collected will have to wait for my trip over in a week or so. It was so hard to prioritize and decide what to take first and what can wait. We also just learned that American Airlines has tightened their baggage restrictions and will allow a maximum of three 50-pound bags, rather than five, even though we're prepared to pay the $300 overage fee. Well, we'll take it all and pray that we get it all on board. We'll be arriving three hours early before the plane's cargo gets filled.

It was great to see so many of our friends altogether in one place. Usually Andre prefers to be out of the spotlight, but he seemed to enjoy chatting with everyone about how his family is doing. We've heard from Dr. Tony Hoffman of UCSC who's working on children's rights in the Delmas neighborhood not far from Andre's family, that his stepfather should see a doctor. He's either depressed or ill.

We finally spoke to our friend Rose who just got back to Florida after two weeks in Haiti. She's starting the adoption process for a one-year-old malnourished baby boy whose mother died in the earthquake. She had hoped that the US embassy would give him humanitarian asylum, but she couldn't get an appointment.

Before she left Florida, Rose had tried to buy a tent to take with her, but every store was sold out. We're lucky to have the three relief tents we bought from Shelter Systems, as well as four smaller tents that were donated.

Rose had a hard time getting out of Haiti. She'd paid $130 to fly to D.R., but it cost her $500 for the hour and a half flight back home. She misses little Alan already. The adoption lawyers she spoke to said it will probably take 6-12 months to get him to the U.S. and it's going to cost quite a bit too.

Rose was surprised to see so many white people in Port-au-Prince. That will be something new for me too. I'm so used to being the only "blan" for miles. Poor Haitians would cross the
street and follow me around asking for money and telling me they're hungry. Rose was surprised to see all the white people riding in the back of tap-taps, getting rides on motorcycles, and filling up her flight home. She said there were probably about 20 Haitians on the flight and the rest were Americans. When Andre and I went in June it was me, a few missionaries, and a plane full of Haitians.

Andre and I have a few goals for our trip to Haiti. First of all, we want to
find out if there's another way to buy the land in the mountain village since the escrow office was destroyed in the earthquake. We'd also like to see if there are any structural engineers who can evaluate his family's house in Port-au-Prince and see if it could be repaired. Maybe that would be a faster way to get them out of the rains.

I also want to meet Tony and Starry, two Americans in Haiti who I've been in contact with. And I plan to go to Jeremie to visit Andre's sister Marjorie who moved there with her husband and his family about a week or two after the quake. She had never been before, but it seems she likes it. I've always wanted to go to Jeremie. Now that Andre's sister, brother-in-law, nephew Joel and goddaughter are there, I have my excuse.

Our new dome tents from Shelter Systems

We ordered three 14-foot dome relief tents from Shelter Systems, a Santa Cruz company. Soon after the earthquake rocked Haiti, the U.N. ordered 3000 tents from Shelter Systems, their biggest order ever. Several mission groups have ordered 100 or 200 to go to Haiti also. Up until now, these dome tents were most popular at Burning Man gatherings.

Jeff, who works at their westside warehouse, was super nice and showed Andre how to assemble one in just 25 minutes. You don't need any tools, and they go together like tinker toys. The finished product is strong, light, durable, comfy, private, well ventilated, etc. etc. They don't have any seams or zippers to rip.

Eleanor Hamner, the company's business manager, spent 13 years of her childhood living in a dome tent in Aptos, CA. Needless to say, her parents who started Shelter Systems, were hippies. Her dad still sports long gray hair and beard. "But we all live in houses now," says Eleanor, even though she says she loved living in the dome tent.

The bad news is we just found out on American Airlines website that they have new restrictions for flights to Haiti. Originally, when we bought Andre's ticket for March 8, we were told he could take two 50-pound bags, one 40-pound carry-on and a day pack for free, plus a maximum of three more 50-pound bags for $100 each. We were preparing to take the max. Now we find out he can only take one 50-pound extra bag. We're also concerned about the bulk of the relief tents, even though they only weigh 43 pounds each.

Our plan is to get to the airport three hours early on March 8 and bring three extra bags. I will use all my chutzpah to try to get them on the plane. If not, I bring two back home until I fly over to Haiti in a week or 10 days. I decided to wait until Andre gets in touch with me from Haiti about the situation over there before I make my reservation. A friend who has lots of frequent flyer miles has offered to let me have them, but I'm going to pay her half the price of a ticket. That's really generous of her.

Andre's family has been trying to discourage us from coming. His brother asked him if he's really ready to see his country in ruins. It sounds like such a desperate situation. Maybe we won't stay a month after all. We'll see once we get there.

EVENT: March 13th Concert @ The Parish Publick House

Our Silent Auction Items (so far) for March 6 fundraiser

GRAND PRIZE

One week at Playa del Sol Beachfront Resorts in PUERTO VALLARTA or LOS CABOS, Mexico
Studio apartment with kitchenette, accommodates two adults and two children
$840 value (opening bid $400)

RETAIL GIFTS

$35 gift certificate to OM GALLERY, 1201 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz

$50 gift certificate to the HINDQUARTER BAR & GRILLE, donated by Bob Cornell, owner

Donated by BORDERS Book Store:
four books:
"Peter and the Shadow Thieves" by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
"True Colors" by Kristin Hannah
"Odd Hours" by Dean Koontz
and a CD: "Warm Strangers" by Vienna Teng

Two $20 gift cards for Gayle's Bakery

$15 gift certificate to Black China Bakery

JEWELRY

Donated by Sarah Borgenson of Wild Iris Studio (wearwildiris.com)
40" hand-knotted necklace and matching long earring. Cobalt blue Czech glass beads and sterling silver. Retail price for set $80.

Handcrafted stone jewelry by Sage (Sage@JewelryBySage.com)

three handcrafted glass tile necklaces by jenny q. sandrof, jewelry designer

Black Coral necklace and bracelet from Cayman Islands, valued at $150

Handmade glass earrings by Carol Seslar

SERVICES

$150 gift certificate for any services MINORSAN SELF DEFENSE & FITNESS, 1320 Mission St., Santa Cruz, including self defense, aerobic kickboxing, Body Pump to music, Zumba, weight loss, and pilates

Four weeks of fresh, organic fruits, vegetables and herbs delivered to a location near you by TWO SMALL FARMS of Watsonville, value $88.

1-hour business consultation with Dani Beckerman, 1406 Mission St. Santa Cruz, $275 value

SANTA CRUZ YOGA, 402 Ingalls Street, Santa Cruz
www.santacruzyoga.net
Gift Certificate for 5 classes (value $45)
Gift Certificate for 10 classes (value $80)
Gift Certificate for 20 classes (value $150)

1-hour MASSAGE, Swedish or Deep Tissue, with Yslandy Torres, 9509 Soquel Dr., Aptos, value $80

1 hour of MEDIATION Services, value $300 (opening bid $50)
with Mary-Margaret Bierbaumm, Attorney at Law

6-week introductory HULA dance course with Leolani Lowry (www.hulaschool.com), $75 value

two certificates for one-hour MASSAGE with Dr. Erica Schafer, Chiropractor, 549 Frederick St., Santa Cruz

Three 1-hour SPANISH classes with Chelsea George, value $90

Three 1-hour KID'S SOCCER classes with Andre Cherer, value $90

2-hour electrical work by licensed electrician Joan Peterson of JP Electric, value $120

Three 90-minute Guinea West African Dance Classes with Mohamed Banagoura at Pacific Cultural Center, 1307 Seabright Ave., Santa Cruz

Two certificates for 45-minute LIFE COACHING sessions with Elizabeth Skolnik

1 initial nutrition consultation at NOURISH, 130 Walnut Ave. Santa Cruz, donated by Jocelyn Dubin, MS, RD

Three 1-hour RACQUETBALL coaching with Chelsea George, value $90

BABYSITTING for a weekend evening with Nicole Selman, value $50

Two hours PHOTOGRAPHY with Chelsea George, good for portraits, photoshop or scanning classes, restoration of old or damaged photographs, design greeting cards or book from your photos.

One-hour TECH SUPPORT session with Josh Brown, Computer and Network Specialist, $80 value

One 30-minute MASSAGE with Cynthia Pritchard Martinez, value $40


MERCHANDISE

DVD collection of outstanding films from THE PACIFIC RIM FILM FESTIVAL, value "priceless"

Two copies of the book "Sand Between Your Toes: A Watercolor Journey Through Santa Cruz County," signed and donated by the author Sally Bookman

Open Studios fused glass artist Pat Dellin donated a fused glass candy/nut dish/sushi tray, value $45

Gold-framed picture of hands, donated by Agnus Dei Books & Gifts, 138 Walnut Ave Santa Cruz

Two bottles of wine, donated by June Smith, former owner of Roudon-Smith Winery, valued $30 and $25

a pair of hand-knit hand warmers

electric wok

wii game (Simpsons)

picnic set

Green Indian shawl

Collector's cookie jars, valued at $200

Eco-grocery bag from Two Small Farms, Community Supported Agriculture

Liz Claiborne Leather Jacket, value $149

JoAnn Marie Designs fold-up bag

PHOTOGRAPHY & ART

from Bud Seslar Photography (www.Buddy2.Biz)
a framed landscape of snow-capped mountains
a B&W print
a large framed color photo of a heron

from Geoff Gilbert (www.SunriseSantaCruz.com)
two matted prints of our very own lighthouse photographed at sunrise

from Sally Bookman, local realtor and artist, two prints: one of flowers, one landscape

Custom framed and matted print of "Woodies, Sand & Surf" by artist Scott Westmoreland

"Blue" by Alexandra Blum, mixed media (aliblum.com)

A large handmade clay casserole dish with words saying "I think I could love you" in green and white glaze by Wendy Vandegrift, artist and teacher

HAITIAN ART

One small handmade voodoo mirror from Haiti

Haiti souvenirs: tap-tap refrigerator magnet, Topi-X necklace, Haitian flag pony tail holder, 10 Gourde note, and matted print of mother and child

Haitian painting of fruit and vegetables

3 pieces of tin work art by craftsman in Kenscoff, Haiti

FREE

Haiti Information & Activity Book for kids

Haiti buttons

Minorsan Fundraiser Huge Success

Altogether, our grand total was $2400 for the three-hour event at Minorsan Self Defense & Fitness at 1320 Mission St., Santa Cruz. A huge shout-out goes to Clara Minor, co-owner with husband Dio Santiago, for her incredible organizing ability.
As soon as she heard about the dire situation of Andre's family in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, she immediately volunteered to host a fundraiser. She sent out emails to 900 present and former members, cataloged the nearly 100 auction items, and spent all day Sunday, getting ready and running the silent auction.

I first joined Minorsan in 2006 when they were still in their old location next to Sylvan Music. I've taken Zumba, Body Pump, Kick Boxing and self defense classes with both Dio and Clara. Andre is devoted to his self defense class and just graduated to a blue belt. Even though he knows he has to go to Haiti to help his family, he's sad to miss his self defense classes.

On behalf of Andre and his family, I want to thank everyone who donated silent auction items, brought food, bid on items, and to everyone at Minorsan who pitched in and made this such a great success. The whole event was nothing but Positive Vibrations. It's this kind of support that gives us hope for Haiti and the Haitian people.

Getting the money to Haiti

Raising the money for Andre's family is only half the battle. Then we have to get it to them somehow.

When the earthquake first hit on Jan. 12, 2010, there was no electricity or communication with Haiti for three long days. Once we confirmed that his family was alive, we struggled to send them money so they could buy food and water, even though there wasn't much of either available.

The Western Union office in Port-au-Prince, where we usually send money to his family, was still without power. The closest functioning office was more than 20 miles away, but it would be impossible for Andre's family to travel. We even tried to find people who were going to Haiti, who could carry some cash for us, but the border crossing from Dominican Republic was full of desperate thieves and no one wanted to risk it.

On January 19th, a full week after the quake, Andre's family still didn't have any money and was running out of food. We heard rumors that a company called C.A.M. (Caribbean Air Mail) was able to deliver money to their Petion Ville office, a few miles from Andre's family. That sounded great, until we found out C.A.M. can only send money from six states, such as Florida, NY, and NJ where most of the Haitian immigrants live. So we had to call our friend Hubert in NJ and get him to set up an account and use his own credit card. They charged us their normal $44 fee to send $400, but at the moment we didn't care. We were so relieved and happy to know they had some money and could survive. We were the first of all our Haitian friends to succeed in getting money to our family.

A few days later, Western Union was able to open their offices in PAP. And the best news -- they weren't charging any service fee to send money to Haiti. Normally Western Union charges 11% for themselves. For the land that Andre's family wants to buy in the mountains, the cost will be about $12,500 plus another 10% to do the paperwork. At 11%, we would have spent $1500 in service fees before the quake.

But Andre's family didn't want us to send the money through Western Union for safety reasons. People had been beaten up and robbed after picking up money. And while most people were probably received $50 or $100, we needed to send thousands. According to World Vision, the average income in Haiti is $450 per year, so you can imagine that Andre's family could be targeted.

Fortunately, Andre's brother Johnny is a police officer and carries a weapon. He always accompanies his father when they pick up money. On Jan. 25 we sent another $500 for food and water via Western Union. While a friend in Florida said it took her family three days to pick up money due to the mob scene at that time, Johnny was able to step to the front of the line and get it quickly. Still, they said they preferred if we could transfer the money directly to their bank account.

When Josh Brown opened up an account for Action Santa Cruz at Bank of America, we found out that they do international wire transfers for a $45 flat fee for any amount. So, on Feb. 4 we sent $2500 from B of A to Andre's stpefather's bank account in Unibank in Haiti. Too late, I found out that it would take 2-10 working days to arrive. At least with Western Union it's there within an hour...for no charge.

Well, guess what? Today is Feb. 27 and the $2500 still hasn't arrived. After two weeks we put a tracer on it, which would take 3-5 days. The tracer said the money should be at the bank, so Andre had his stepfather and Johnny talk to the bank manager. Andre also spoke to him, through his stepfather's cell phone. They finally figured out that the main name on the account is Johnny and we had sent it to Mathieu because we were told the account was in both their names. So we had to go back to B of A and make an administrative change. We were told it would take 3-5 more days.

Meanwhile, Western Union ended their promotion on Feb. 12, the one-month anniversary of the earthquake. I wish I'd sent more before that date, but I only managed to send a few hundred more to Andre's family for food, plus some smaller amounts to aunts and uncles. At least for now Western Union is charging a reduced fee of only $15 to send $1000. But get this: it costs $125 to send $5000!?! Who does their math? And there's no chart of their rates, even when you go in person. I assumed that the more you send, the cheaper it gets proportionally, not more expensive.

I used to be able to send money online through Western Union, but I reached my limit. So I had to go borrow the money at the bank and walk the cash over to Western Union. At least it's safer here than in Haiti. Johnny and his father have been going to Western Union to pick up the money, $1000 at a time, and then walking it over to the bank.

The good news is, we finally managed to get them all the money they need to pay the 75% down payment of the $12,500 sales price for the 1/4 acre of land in the mountain village, and the 10% extra for the notary to do the title search and escrow. The bad news is, the office where the notary files the papers was destroyed in the earthquake. The Haitian government hasn't made any new provisions for real estate transactions. I can see that it isn't their highest priority right now, but it's important to us so we can get Andre's family out of the capitol and up to higher, safer ground before the rainy season floods Port-au-Prince and washes away the refugees and their flimsy tents.

Wish list for HAITI

Andre is leaving for Haiti on March 8 and I hope to follow two weeks later. If you can contribute any of these items on our wish list, or help out with some cash, that would be great. Please attend our next fundraiser on March 6 from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. at Louden Nelson Center for a dinner, slide show, and silent auction. Suggested donation is $20 or bring some food to share, and come prepared to bid on dozens of wonderful items. If you'd like to donate any auction items, please call me at (831) 426-0154, or send an email to chelseamaya@gmail.com.

Tents
Camping air mattresses with foot pump
Portable water-filtration system
Water purification tablets
Flashlights (rechargeable, wind-up or solar)
Rechargeable AA batteries with charger
Tarps
Mosquito netting for beds
Small hand tools, such as hammers, pliers, mortar spatulas, hand trowel, screwdrivers, hacksaw Soccer balls (deflated)
Jump ropes
Big lightweight suitcases or army duffel bags
Costco-sized cashews
Costco-sized almonds
Peanuts
Powdered milk
Large cans of tuna
Instant soups (not in styrofoam)
Raisins and other dried fruits
Protein powder with whey
Trader Joe’s packaged corned beef hash
Children’s vitamins
Kotex (sanitary pads)
Conditioning shampoo
Hand or body lotion
Soap
Toothpaste and toothbrushes
Light blankets like Mexican serapes or airline blankets
Cell phones and chargers

On American Airlines international flights, each passenger can take two 50-pound suitcases, a 40-pound carry-on, and a day pack for free. We can also take up to three extra 50-pound suitcases for $100 each. The most important item that all his relatives want are tents. I found an interesting article, entitled "Homeless Haitians Want Tents, Get Tarps."

There's a company in Aptos, CA called Shelter Systems. They recently sold 3,000 dome tents to the U.N. for Haiti. I left a message and sent an email to this company today. I'd love to take some of their dome tents with us. They claim to be the strongest for wind and rain. Andre's family said they're expecting heavy rains tonight. I just don't know how the hundreds of thousands of homeless Haitians will survive the hurricane season this year.

Google Earth Images of the house, campsite, and mountains

Just for fun, I decided to look up the address of Andre's family in Delmas, Port-au-Prince, never expecting to find it.

How surprised I was not only to find their neighborhood and their house, but to realize that these satellite images were taken on Jan. 25, 2010, nearly two weeks after the earthquake.

I painted the roof of their house in red in Photoshop so you can find it easier on the map. It's pretty distinct anyway because of the way it's positioned on the lot, at an angle to the stairway that separates it from a walled-in empty lot.

It's hard to see the destruction from these photographs, but it does give us some idea. At least we can tell that the roof of Andre's family's house is intact. We heard that three houses on their street collapsed completely, killing people inside.
I was also surprised to find their campsite. The colorful tents really stand out from the concrete buildings and rubble around them. Tony Hoffman, who is working for children's rights for the American Refugee Committee in the Delmas area, estimated that about 70 families live in this campsite. Seventeen people are living in the big blue tent with Andre's family, probably extended family members.

Andre's family inherited this tent from his sister's in-laws when they went back to Jeremie where they're originally from. It was brought to Haiti by the Chinese. Andre's brother-in-law had connections with someone at the airport in order to get it.

In the third picture, again I painted the rooftop in red. You can see the tents in the middle of the picture. And I wrote the name "Route de Delmas" on the main street in the bottom of the picture. This road runs from downtown through Delmas and up to Petion Ville.

Now I have a clearer idea of how far away from the house they are camping. This makes security of their possessions a bit tricky. We hear that the men stay awake at night to guard everything. Tony said they are safe sleeping in this campsite because all the buildings around them have already fallen.

This last picture is a big overview of Port-au-Prince and the mountain villages above it. Andre's family lives about halfway between Port-au-Prince and Petion Ville. The Route de Kenscoff winds from Petion Ville through Fermath and onto Kenscoff, whose cool weather is enjoyed by the wealthy residents of Port-au-Prince on weekends and vacations.

To arrive at the village where Andre's family wants to buy land you turn off at Fermath. From there, you need a 4-wheel drive vehicle, motorcycle, or strong legs to make the four mile hike over a rough, rocky road past Fort Jacques. Duval, the village where Andre grew up with his grandparents if farther off this map, beyond Athis.

First post-earthquake photos of Andre's family

Tony Hoffman, PhD, a lecturer at UCSC and specialist on children's rights in the third world, is now in Port-au-Prince and today he visited with Andre's family. He sent us back this report and two photos.

I was really impressed to see this wonderful tent that the family inherited from Andre's sister Marjorie and her in-laws when they left Port-au-Prince for Jeremie, a 7-hour trip by boat. Somehow Marjorie's husband had connections to get this 20-person tent from the Chinese at the airport. Andre and I will stay here when we go to Haiti in March, so we're hoping someone will donate an air mattress.

I was also excited to hear that Tony thinks the house in Port-au-Prince might be salvageable in the future. Of course they will need to get a seismic engineer to look at it and decide how to make it safe. It's so sad to hear that four or five of Andre's neighbors were killed when their houses collapsed completely and their bodies are still under the rubble. I originally got in touch with Tony a few days ago, through a UCSC writer named Guy Lasnier who's doing a story on him. Here's Tony's email:



Hello chelsea and andre:

I met with your family today. They are safe, no one is hurt, and their house
has cracks in it - but I think it is repairable. It is in a crowded and
unstable area, but the house seems somewhat intact. Just up the street are
three collapsed homes in which four or five people died.

Your stepfather seems concerned and worried that little aid has come their
way. Your mother is cautious but optimistic. [Brother] Reginald is looking for a
driving job.

The family is living in a tent in a front yard about 100 meters from the house.
It is very cramped, perhaps 70 families are in the two or three "camp" yards
right there. But they do have water and are using one or two functional
toilets.

So their situation is bad, but not desperate. They are living by buying and
carrying water and food - no food or water aid has arrived, because there
are much worse situations with no money or shelter.

They DO need water filtration - so bring that when you come. I am not sure
what they should be doing to get their toilet and bathroom working - you
should plan on that. They mainly need money, because they are buying water
and food at rising prices...

I will visit them again. The biggest problem is the 70 families they are
with - no services at all, and some are in worse conditions with no home,
family or money.

Tony