On the 29th of January, Board Member and Head of Medical Programs Dr. Reza Nabavian and Executive Director Tanyella Evans took a trip to Haiti to meet with Father Rick and his team and review the plans for phase 2 of the Academy for Peace and Justice. Tanyella reflects on the trip:

“Everyone says it, but Haiti really is a unique and special place, that opens your eyes and breaks into your heart.

As soon as we arrived we went to the cholera clinic that APJ had sponsored as soon as the cholera epidemic hit last year. It was incredible to see the progress that had been made as the structures around the clinic have gradually become more permanent and state-of-the-art equipment is improving patient care. The cholera clinic is providing dignity to those who are so ill – over 4,000 patients have been treated since October, 50% of whom would have died without the care provided.

We left Dr. Reza at the cholera clinic with Conan, the head of St. Luc’s medical programs, to relieve some of the staff and discuss progress. Bryn and I visited the other programs in the area, many of which APJ has supported with donations, supplies or contacts to get their projects off the ground. There was a beautiful centre for disabled children and rehabilitation clinic, as I left I saw children in a classroom learning sign language. We visited Patricia Arquette’s project for orphans after the earthquake, Give Love, where shipping containers have become dorms and a safe haven for these bright-eyed children. School takes place in tents outside, with food donated by the World Food Programme.

The following day we spent a full day with Father Rick, Nebez (the Director of the Academy) and the local Haitian architect on the land at the Academy for Peace and Justice. The grade 7 classrooms are beautiful, and a permanent kitchen block is well underway. Pre-fab computer labs are full of state-of-the-art computers for the staff and children to use. We began to map out the rest of the 10 acres of land and draw up where the next classrooms could go. Father Rick and Nebez took the lead and we came up with a modular design that would enable easy access to all of the classrooms and most effective use of the land. The final plans and budget will be completed next week for the Board to review.

Meeting Father Rick in person was incredible. I had heard so much about this man, read his books, replied to his e-mails and studied his face in photographs for marketing materials. Whenever Paul talks of Father Rick, the man who inspired him to start Artists for Peace and Justice, it is with a tone of deep love and respect. As I sat with Father Rick making light conversation after a long day that they had spent working in the cholera clinic, I got a glimpse of the philosophy that infuses all of the work that is done in Haiti. It is a philosophy of giving from the heart. Everyone is equal, everyone deserves love, respect, opportunity and dignity. The result is a completely unconventional approach to development – after all, what is the economic value of burying the dead, hiring local staff who do not have Western qualifications to lead the programs, or refusing funds from foreign “development experts”?

Yet this is why Father Rick has succeeded where so many larger, more bureaucratic organizations have failed. I left Haiti so proud to be a part of Artists for Peace and Justice, working in a true development partnership with our highly effective grassroots partner. I know that the Academy for Peace and Justice is in good hands.”

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