Saturday, November 29, 2008

Sove Nou >Nou Sove

So it look s like we're headed to Haiti for the second in our "Sove Nou" Trilogy "Nou Sove". Originally it was to be with Jimmy Jean Louis from the TV show "Heroes" to go to where he was born and many of the places that have been affected by disasters both natural and man made over the past couple of years, such as the hurricanes that devastated the country last and this year. And more recently the schools that collapsed, but now it looks as if many from Hollywood will be there in a movement called Hollywood for Haiti. This is not to be confused with Jimmy's non profit Hollywood Unites for Haiti which KijiK will be partnering with for many projects. We're creating a separate blog and website to show what we're doing on the ground while in Haiti and the progression of the documentary. The new website info will be coming soon but for now here's the new blog:

http://nousove.blogspot.com/


And here's some info on the Hollywood for Haiti movement:

HOLLYWOOD IN HAITI TO HELP CHILDREN IN NEED

Paul & Deborah Haggis, James Franco, Madeline Stowe, Josh Brolin & Diane Lane, Maria Bello & Bryn Mooser, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Michael Stahl David and others, in Haiti with N.P.H. – Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (Our Little Brothers and Sisters) for the inauguration of the first Rehabilitation Centre for disabled children in the country, and the launch of “Francisville – New Work City.”

Two-time Academy Award winner Paul Haggis went to the slums of Haiti last February to meet Father Richard Frechette, priest and doctor, who has been working with the children of Port Au Prince for over twenty years.

Haiti is one of the two poorest countries in the world. “Father Rick,” as he is known to the people of its massive slums, is the Head of N.P.H. – Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (Our Little Brothers and Sisters, Nos Petit Freres and Soeurs), a humanitarian organization founded in 1954.

In Haiti today, two hundred and fifty children die every week, most from easily preventable diseases. One child out of three dies before reaching the age of five. Of those who survive, one child out of two does not go to school. Seventy percent of its people are unemployed.

While in Haiti, Haggis visited several N.P.H. projects, including the orphanage that Father Rick founded twenty years ago, home to six hundred abandoned children, and the beautiful new pediatric hospital he built -- the largest in the Caribbean. He also spent time at Father Rick’s street schools in the slums, which provide an education and a hot meal a day to over 3.000 children, and NPH’s water distribution centre, which provides the only clean water available to thousands of people. Father Rick also built the only free mortuary and cemetery. As terrible as it sounds, until he did so, most poor parents were unable to bury their dead children, and their bodies were simply left on a hill, and as a result suffered terrible indignities.

Paul was also there to witness the beginning of construction of NPH’s rehabilitation centre for disabled children.

This December 3rd, a date internationally celebrated as World Day for Disability, Paul and a group of friends will return to Haiti for the inauguration of “Kay Saint Germaine – House of Little Angels,” the first rehab centre in the country for disabled children. The life of these children is especially difficult in Haiti. According to voodoo worship, the disabled are considered cursed. They are therefore shunned, often abandoned, or worse.

Those visiting on this occasion are doing so to support N.P.H. and Father Rick in spreading information and awareness about the plight of the handicapped children in Haiti. They will also attend the kick-off of a new project, Francisville, a site where small factories and a professional school will be built to produce basic goods such as bread, soap and shoes in order to provide training and jobs for the poor, as well as to create resources to at least partially sustain N.P.H. humanitarian projects in the country.

Joining the group of Americans will be a delegation of Italian donors and volunteers from Fondazione Francesca Rava – N.P.H. Italia, the organization that lead to the realization of Kay Saint Germaine and is now promoting Francisville.

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