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.