Newsletter
Write To Be Wednesday — November 2024
It’s been a heavy few weeks for Haiti. In November alone, Haiti has seen (another) ousting of a prime minister, (another) stoppage of flights to the capital city Port-au-Prince, and staggering numbers of displaced people as violence continues to soar. Thankfully, Write to Be’s staff and programs in Les Cayes (about a 4-hour drive from Port-au-Prince) are doing okay. However, the instability in the capital impacts...
Back to School Campaign
Summer has faded away, the sun is setting earlier, and the school year has started – that means Fi Ki Fò is back in full swing! We’re so excited to continue providing academic support, mentorship, and empowerment activities to the girls at Reconfort — and of course, plenty of FUN! We’re kicking off our 2024 Back to School Fundraising Campaign! With your support, we can ensure Fi Ki Fò girls have all they need to reach their fullest potential this year...
Write to be Wednesday — September 2024
I am thrilled to share our updated website with you! On behalf of the entire Governing Board, I would like to extend a huge thank you to our Web Designer Brianna Patterson and Web Developer Calixte Paul for their many hours of hard work on this site. I am so proud to see how our incredible Fi Ki Fò and Famn Ki Fò programs are...
Write To Be Wednesday — July 2024
Happy Write to Be Wednesday!
It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway through 2024. We have big goals for the second half of the year at Write to Be, and we can’t wait to see what we’re able to accomplish with your support! It’s you - our supporters and friends - who make it possible for us to keep our programs going strong.
Summertime temperatures here at home always reminds me of the sunshine in Haiti. What better way to celebrate the summer than with Write to Be? For just this month, we’re launching a SUMMER 600 Campaign - the board will be matching donations up to $600 until the end of July! Help us meet this match by…
Write To Be Wednesday — June 2024
As challenges in Haiti have grown, your continued support has allowed us to keep our programs going strong.
First, we have exciting Board updates to share! Corinne Paul and Stafford Oliver recently became the President and Vice President of Write to Be. Stafford and I are excited to put into action the incredible vision that Pascale Leblanc and Emma Sparks put forward as the previous president and vice president. We are deeply grateful for their years of dedication to Write to Be, and are excited that they will continue on as board members. In the months to come, we’re looking forward to greater engagement with Write to Be champions like you, expanding our community of supporters, and being able to grow our Fi Ki Fo and Famn Ki Fo programs even more. This will include a website refresh, re-launched monthly donor program, and more opportunities for each of you to connect with and support our work with women and girls in Haiti.
Sincerely,
Corinne A. Paul
Write to Be Board President
Thank you to our donors!
“I support Write to Be because I believe in its mission to holistically support young girls and women through enabling the amazing strength and light already within them. It’s an organization focused on being community-driven to ensure programs truly meet the needs of those involved and on evolving and adapting over time as situations change. I know it is an organization that truly listens - because of that it’s an honor to give on a monthly basis so I can play a small part in supporting their work.” - Sarah Hartzheim
Mèsi anpil (thank you so much) to all those who gave …
Meet fara & fi ki Fò
We are so excited to introduce you to… Cassandra! Cassandra is one of the girls in our Fi Ki Fò after school program. Learn more about her by watching the video below!
Madan Sara Film Screening
Write to Be is excited to introduce our virtual event series, "Pearl of the Caribbean: How Beauty Blossoms Under Great Pressure." 🌺We welcome you to join us each month to learn more about the beauty of Haiti and Haitian culture, especially through the lens of women and girlhood. Through this series, we will work to contextualize why Haiti faces many of the struggles that are often discussed in the media and highlight how Haitians continuously demonstrate strength and resilience in the face of these challenges.
Our first event took place on Saturday, October 9th from 4 to 6 pm via ZOOM. We screened the powerful documentary, "Madan Sara", followed by a Q&A with the film's creator, Etant Dupain! "The women known as Madan Sara in Haiti work tirelessly to buy, distribute, and sell food and other essentials in markets through the country. The Madan Sara documentary tells the stories of these indefatigable women who work at the margins to make Haiti’s economy run. Despite facing intense hardship and social stigma, the hard work of the Madan Sara puts their children through school, houses their families, and helps to ensure a better life for generations to come. This film amplifies the calls of the Madan Sara as they speak directly to society to share their dreams for a more just Haiti."
Fi Ki Fò girls distributed food to community members wearing their new shirts
Haiti Earthquake relief
Thanks to our supporters we are SO CLOSE to hitting our $10,000 fundraising goal for earthquake relief! From $5 to $1,000, we are so deeply thankful. Since we have begun our campaign, we have already dispersed emergency cash grants through our Famn Ki Fò program. We have included a few stories and pictures from our grateful grant recipients.
We distributed 25 grants totally $2,500 through our Famn Ki Fò grants program. Our staff have been working hard to distribute these grants to the women and girls most impact by this disaster. Many families live in rural communities that have not seen much aid, if any at all. Write to Be are making these difficult trips over rivers and up mountains to reach those in need in those areas. It is certainly challenging, but in the words of our Program Director, Madam Fara, "these are special meetings, filled with emotion and gratitude."
Earthquake in haiti
As you know, on August 14, 2021 a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Les Cayes and the southern region of Haiti. Homes and buildings collapsed, leaving over 2,000 dead and many people injured, without basic essentials, and heavy with grief. The earthquake struck amid a time of deep political and civil unrest in the country and hurricane season in the Caribbean, bringing tropical storms and flooding to the already weakened infrastructure. Additionally, COVID-19 continues to spread among communities.
For the past six years, Write to Be has been working in southern Haiti to support women and girls in developing independence and agency so they can be fearless authors of their own lives.
We currently have two Haitian team members, Fara Jean-Baptiste and Sagine Francois, bringing extensive experience in education and community development. Madams Fara and Sagine are Les Cayes residents who lead our two programs: the Fi Ki Fò (Strong Girl) after-school empowerment program for girls and the Fanm Ki Fò (Strong Woman) grant program to support emergency needs and personal development for women. Fara, Sagine, and the governing board in the United States have worked together to develop a strategy for Write to Be to support earthquake relief. Write to Be is committed to transparency and accountability as we listen to needs expressed by Haitian people and invest in partnerships with vetted local organizations.
