At long last we have received good news from Haiti. This may be direct result of the full congregation of my little Vermont church putting this on the top of the prayer list this week. I like to think so.
First, Gwenael Appolon, General Secretary of the YMCA d’Haiti, just reported that he finally received a signed document back from the appropriate government official, agreeing that the Haitian government would not charge tax or duty on the incoming containers. This is a very big, very hard fought, victory. Thank you Gwenael for your tireless efforts on this!
Second, in a conversation this morning with Lynda Gonzales-Chavez of the World Service Department of the YMCA of the USA, and Paula Gavin, a member of the National Board, the YMCA of the USA, agreed on a funding mechanism to get additional costs paid related to moving the last four containers from the Dominican Republic and moving us ahead on the retrofit!
With these great accomplishments, we now expect all of the containers in place in Haiti in mid-November. Haitian volunteers will go to work on the containers, and begin sorting and maybe even some distribution right away.
With holidays coming up here in the United States in November and December, and a major YMCA of the USA trip already in place for mid-January, we have decided to tentatively schedule our volunteer trip for the second week of February, with departure on Sunday, February 6th and the return scheduled for Saturday February, 12th.
With the passage of time and the fact that the containers will be in Haiti for several months before we get there, it now makes sense to schedule both of our groups, the distribution group, and the retrofit group, to go at the same time. Also because of the passage of time, we will allow more of the containers to be emptied before we get there; we can increase the size of the retro group so that we are ready to do more in the way of retrofitting the containers into YMCA buildings while we are there.
We are putting out the word now to all of the folks who signed up for the original trips (and in most cases, paid their share for the original trip scheduled in July), and others who indicated interest, but who could not go last July. For those of you who have not paid, please know that although the cost of a volunteer going to Haiti is substantially more, we had asked for a contribution by, or on behalf of, each volunteer in the amount of $600.
Please let me know ASAP whether you would like to go along on this trip from February 6th to the 12th.
Although a lot of time has past, the needs for the Haitian people have not diminished. They may have even grown. The clothes and supplies we will finally be able to deliver, and the new buildings that the containers will turn into, are very much needed and will be very much welcomed!
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