The Haitian Initiative starts Back to School Campaign after COVID and Civil Unrest derail school attendance in Haiti Tony and H.I. Soccer Team at 2013 USA Cup Like everyone else in 2010, Tony Sanneh had Haiti on his mind following the devastating 7.0 earthquake that reduced much of Port-au-Prince to rubble. Shortly after, the Haitian Initiative (H.I.) was started as a collaborative effort to support more than 300 children in Cité Soleil, Haiti. For three hours every…
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The Sanneh Foundation (TSF) has graciously accepted emergency food relief from The Jack Brewer Foundation (JBF Worldwide) to provide a month’s worth of nutrition support for the 350 youth participants of the Haitian Initiative (H-I) program in the commune of Cite Soleil, Haiti. The country of Haiti has been experiencing a famine crisis since early 2020 due to recent political unrest. Since the first cases of Coronavirus were confirmed last week, the entire country has…
Read MoreSummary In a continuation of partnerships and cultural exchanges developed through The Sanneh Foundation’s three-year delivery of the Department of State’s International Sport Programming Initiative (ISPI), The Sanneh Foundation (TSF) and the National Sports Center are partnering for the 2019 USA Cup to invite the FC Champion 11U, 13U and 15U teams to participate in the Haitian Initiative International Exchange to Minnesota. This group of boys’ teams from FC Champion HI of Petion Ville will…
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Beauty & Culture Every trip that I’ve taken to Haiti always has what you could call a “poverty tour”. Some organizations go out of their way to highlight the “plight” of the people of Haiti. But each time I visit, I come to admire the natural beauty of Haiti more and more. I’ve noticed that foreigners aren’t drawn to revisit Haiti because it’s “poor”. I think they’re drawn to a different kind of wealth that…
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Grief/Pain & Consideration Death and grief have a very bold presence in Haitian culture. Although death and sickness are facts of life wherever you go, I feel that it is especially part of everyday life and conversation here in a country with limited access to good healthcare and a million other complex issues. A couple of weeks ago, a Haitian friend of mine passed away very young. This week alone, I can’t even count how…
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Cultural Intelligence & Effectiveness Cultural intelligence, or CQ, is a measurement of intercultural effectiveness. How much cultural intelligence you have will determine how well you work with and relate to those of another country. I have worked alongside of foreigners in Haiti with varying degrees of CQ, and I myself have learned the hard way that the more you learn, the more you realize the things you don’t know. Through it all, I have come…
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The Haitian Initiative’s Presence within the Community of Cite Soleil One of the core elements of Haitian culture is community. The people in Haiti live close together, work together, cook together, and generally do everything with someone else. Doing something together makes it better. I’ve known many a foreign-run organization in Haiti to act in their own self-interests with an “us-versus-them” mentality, which tends to do more harm than good. During the first week of…
Read MoreJune Haiti Impact Trip Day 5 Our trip has been a wonderful mix of HI programs and visiting different areas of Haiti. Today we drove to Saut D’eau, a beautiful waterfall not too far from Port-au-Prince. Though only 10 miles as the crow flies from our guest house to the waterfall, it took us 2 hours to get there because we went the long way to stay on paved roads. When we arrived we walked…
Read MoreJune Haiti Impact Trip Day 4 – Hannah & Kendra Greetings from Haiti on day 4! Hannah and Kendra here with your quick update for the day! This morning we went to Papillion which is a Haitian run coffee shop and gift store that aims to keep families together by offering a living wage and daycare for their kids. We took a tour of their facility and saw how they made all their products. After…
Read MoreJune Haiti Impact Trip Day 3 We are heading back after an awesome day. We went to an artisan neighborhood this morning where they work with metal. The work was beautiful and we all got some trinkets This afternoon we were back at HI and we taught English and played with the kids. They were rockstars and we were mobbed for photos. The highlight was of the afternoon was the game we played against their…
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