Project Espwa

Project Espwa was founded in 2010 - in the weeks following the January 12 ("Doze Janvie") earthquake that took the lives and homes of thousands. Initially, like many other organizations, our objective was simple...get there and just start doing anything to help work towards recovery. For those of us that had never been to Haiti, it was like walking into an incredibly devastating war-zone. For those in our party that were native Haitians, it was overwhelming to find a country that was no longer recognizable. We brought in tent, tarps, clothing and medical supplies - and merely did the best we could to assemble as many shelters as was humanly possible in 10 days. On our second and third trips, we focused on a group of make-shift villages and communities that were clearly fighting for their survival - and concerned with health issues and security. We did the best we could to listen and respond to the needs we were hearing. Our second mission became clear: we needed to help community leaders with more secure housing and storage - providing reliable shelter and storage for salvaged household goods, food products and other assets of value. we needed to facilitate a source of clean water for the community (25+ families - approx 120 people) - this was essential in order to battle a growing epidemic of water born illnesses such as cholera. During our subsequent trips, we decided that we would continue to facilitate building projects by supplying tools, lumber and training. To date, we have constructed and facilitated dozens of shelters - including several more permanent houses (two-bedroom cottage like homes). All along the way, we kept asking ourselves, "what more can we do to not only help with the short-term recovery, but to make a tangible difference for the long-term"?