Art Creation Foundation for Children (ACFFC)
We spent much of our time working in Jacmel with artists, with young adults in our programs, but mostly with the 60-80 children of Art Creation Foundation for Children (ACFFC). Because there was no school happening after the earthquake, we knew a top priority was to create activities for the kids, and we made a lot of plans. The children were all busy making art, mostly paper maché birds at that time. We got about half of them started on a serious digital Photography Workshop giving out eight assignments while sharing cameras, but each student was able to do some reshooting and work on their own. We also took a bunch of students on a field trip to the beach and the river past Marigot, passing yet another funeral procession, and our fete at the end included a slideshow and tent giveaway (see Blog Update #4 for more info). The work of the students from ACFFC was published in the New York Times Lens Blog (see Feb. 18th post). We planned the Mural Project with the kids painting the walls of their Foundation building – each using a piece of the wall to create whatever they wanted, and they totally jammed and it now reflects the colorful and imaginative essence of ACFFC. As all of this was happening, we were trying to get supplies. The large NGO’s said our organizations were too small to help or supplies weren’t in yet or had some excuse for not providing tents and food, so we became resourceful, worked under the radar, and figured out things ourselves. Judy Hoffman, president of ACFFC, got a connection from Amerijet to G.O Ministries who were buying food and supplies in the Dominican Republic and volunteer pilots were flying it in to Haiti. We were the recipients of thousands of pounds of food that was distributed to children and families and staff of ACFFC, young adults we work with directly, and artisans and their families. It was amazing. This is also how our 60 tents arrived. We’d get a call from Judy with the first name of a pilot and the tail number of his plane, and then had about 40 minutes to find a truck and get to the small Jacmel airport. Some of the pilots asked us if we could take them on a tour so they could see the people and the city – we brought them to downtown Jacmel, Pinchinat, and to ACFFC, and it was a highlight of their work in Haiti to be able to meet the children they were helping.
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