We live in an age when values are crumbling, even at school there are concepts that have been neglected in training and education of children. FAD seeing the seriousness of this problem has seen fit to give these children the concepts of values so that it can be consistent and accomplished citizens.

After the training sessions, instructors give a little time for children who want to sing and recite poems to discover their talents.



It’s time to recess, children play among themselves, to relax and enjoy also discuss what has been done during training sessions.

After recess monitors distribute food to children.

Emmanuel Midi

Port-au-Prince – Hebdo-fad (“FAD-Weekly”) was the first activity that FAD organized when we began working as a registered charity in Haiti (2005). Usually, us volunteers will collect our money together so we can provide something to eat for the kids after the four hours of teaching and activities.

Back in the day, each Thursday all the members of the organization would meet to collect what money we have and make plans for the Hebdo-fad. The money was always been the hardest part of what we’re doing; it was difficult to find work even before the earthquake, so not all of us were lucky enough to have a job. But, all of us want to help our community and combat one of the basic problems of our country, which is the lack of education.

This week everything was a little bit different because we had received some donations after the last post about FAD, so we didn’t have to worry too much about collecting the money amongst ourselves. What we did have to decide was what to offer the kids to eat this week.

We all agreed not to make rice, because every NGO is giving free rice to people here and we didn’t want people to think that were pretending to buy stuff but actually just giving away aid food. Instead, we chose to make wheat with chicken and tomato, for a change.

Next, we had to figure out would be available to go to the market.

Every member showed their schedule; I was off the roster because I was working with Prosper, another member of our team, to enhance and upload FAD’s new website (so far only available in French, but English coming soon). At the same time I also had to write my blog for Inside Disaster.

So, Friday in the morning Bazile, Bergeline, Gina and FAD’s President, Lamy, put aside their other activities to go downtown, hop-scotching on the dirty path to the market to buy the supplies for the next day.

On Saturday morning, there was no need for any alarm to wake us up. We set the program to begin at 8:30am, but at 7am kids are already on the ground waiting on the program to start. So, we like to be there early in the morning so we can keep the situation under control and make sure none of the kids get hurt while waiting for the program to begin.

As they gather, we start the program on time, so the kids can understand what being on time means, and why it is important.

First things first, we ask all of them to say a short prayer. It contains the first lesson of every Hebdo-fad: respect for each other, respect for the choices of others, and respect for their own decisions.

Then, the first counselor begins with the first activity. Up to five of us present different activity on the axes we have: Formation Animation Discovery.

Jude talked to the kids about how to dress properly. Here he is showing the kids what it means to be decently dressed:

And how to dress not decently!

This is a picture from one of our Animation activities, where this boy made up a dance while the rest of the class sang:

Even the workers outside stopped to watch our activities. Many of them told us afterwards they would like to receive the same training as the kids!

Wilson talked to the class about communication. He spoke about the importance of listening to others when they speak, thinking before you reply, and showing respect in a discussion:

At FAD, we think it is important to teach the kids the right manners when they’re young, because once they start growing up there will is less chance for those basics to be learned and applied.

Finally, it was time to eat – there was wheat and chicken for all the children and no rice in sight!

We serve food to the younger kids, but the older ones serve themselves:

To teach the kids respect for each other, and the meal, no one eats until everyone has been served, and we say a short prayer of thanks:

Click to view Hebdo-FAD Animation Video

We want to thank every single people who had contributed to help FAD organizing the second Hebdo-fad after that unforgettable earthquake, and we do hope you will continue to support us in the best ways you can.

Port-au-Prince student, fixer and researcher Emmanuel Midi is blogging for Inside Disaster from Haiti. You can learn more about him in these blog posts, or connect with him on Facebook .

NOTE: In Haiti, FAD has been a registered charity since 2007 (No.STC-05902, 16 March, 2007). Because they are not able to accept international donations directly at this time, Inside Disaster is collecting them on their behalf via Paypal: fad@theplaceonearth.com.

If you don’t have a Paypal account, you can open one at www.paypal.com. We will be accepting credit card donations soon!

Port-au-Prince – Since the day I met Emmanuel and Johnny in front of the Embassy, we have continued working together. They are the students you can see in the blog from January the 24th, “There isn’t much of a future for us”.

I’ve been paying them for their work as “fixers”. I thought they would carefully save the money for their very uncertain future, or perhaps spend it on basics to improve their comfort in the camp, like getting their own tent and so on.

But no, the students spent all their money on this organization which they started back in 2005. It is called FAD (Fonds D’Actions pour le Développement). The goal is to help the underprivileged kids around Cité Soleil and Bas Delmas. Before the quake, every Saturday, they would greet between 100 to 200 kids in the school of Bas Delmas, feed them and have creative activities.

Addressing poverty is not only providing food, clothing and shelter, but it is also providing intellectual stimulation, love, fun, creative energies, some more love, psychological counseling, laughter, group dynamics, skill development and so much more. The 50 members of FAD have been doing a great job at this since 2005. And they have been doing it on their own, even if in 2007 FAD was officially registered with the Haitian government. They would collect funds amongst themselves and buy as much food as they could. Most of the time it would just be plain rice, but occasionally there would be candies.

Since the earthquake, the FAD members have been victims as well, and it took a while for them to find each other, gather some money and start again. But they did it, and I was invited to attend the first “Hebdo-FAD” event after the disaster.

In the crowded class room, there is no bible and no God with any agenda or judging anyone’s sins, only a universal tolerant God sitting outside of all religions is present. There is a mix of kids from every faith, background, social class and age.

For the first hour, the kids sing fun songs, songs they have written themselves. They dance and clap their hands. The counsellors take turns doing different activities. In one of the activities, they talk about the earthquake, explain what it is, how it has happened before in other countries, and the fact that it is a natural phenomenon (not God punishing them for their sins). They talk about remembering the ones who didn’t make it, what it means to move on and keep growing and learning, rebuilding the country etc…

There are many foreign NGOs working in Haiti. There is a desperate need for help in hospitals, in the camps and in the orphanages, and it is important to send money to the main organizations like the Red Cross and Medecins Sans Frontiere so they can work on the ‘bigger jobs’.

But an organization like FAD is built by victims and young intellectuals who know the local culture and can play an important role in Haiti’s recovery as well, especially in the long run. Jose-Hancy Lamy (President of FAD) told me how they would like to take in more children, have the means to have more skill development activities, have their own building equipped with a kitchen among many other projects.

Since the FAD organization is officially registered with the government (No.STC-05902, 16 March, 2007), I am able to wire funds every week to help them continue.

If you want to help them as well, you can easily send funds to this Paypal account: fad@theplaceonearth.com. If you don’t have a Paypal account, you can open one at www.paypal.com.

Emmanuel will upload pictures and reports every week so we can follow their progress.