Category: Uncategorized

OJFA in Rainbows

December 2, 2015December 2, 2015 Melissa Schilling Uncategorized

The Rainbow Brigade || Lakansyel Squad … One of Project HOPE Art’s happiest afternoons in a long time. With just $20 worth of scrap fabric, 2 pairs of scissors, a flair for playing dress up, elaborate and inventive braiding skills, some portable lights – we wrapped the orphanage in rainbow braids.
Love Wins!

Our Art Director, Rachel Znerold started the Rainbow Braid idea in the States with various Musical Performers. We brought the idea to Haiti, on a small scale, in homage to the deep cultural history of African Braiding. Braiding hair was one of the few practices that slaves could hold onto and continue to openly practice in the New World.

We wanted to create a project that the girls at the orphanage could participate in with almost zero instruction and put their own flair and ideas into it. We wanted a whimsical, happy project. And we wanted to infuse solar lights into the project outcome as this orphanage does not have electricity and it gets dark at 5pm.

So here it is, the The Rainbow Brigade || Lakansyel Squad:

Braids are regarded as a cultural trait of the African people, and they can also be a fashion statement. The history of African tribes and the cultural significance of braiding is deep and long.

Africa is a large continent, which consists of innumerable tribes. The Massai and Zulu are among the primary tribes. Others include:

Afar
Anlo-Ewe
Amhara
Ashanti
Bakongo
Bambara
Bemba
Berber
Bobo
Bushmen
Chewa
Dogon
Fang
Fon
Fulani
Himba
Ibos
Kikuyu
Pygmies
Samburu
Senufo
Tuareg
Wolof
Yoruba

Tribal girls have varied cultures, and the hairstyles are unique and used to identify each tribe. Braid patterns or hairstyles indicate a person’s community, age, marital status, wealth, power, social position, and religion.

Elaborate patterns are done for special occasions like weddings, social ceremonies or war preparations. People belonging to a tribe can easily be identified by another tribe member with the help of a braid pattern or style.

Immense importance is given to the custom of braiding. The person who braids hair performs it as both a ritual and a social service. It is an art form taught by the senior female member of the family to her daughters and close friends. The person who braids well is considered an expert. The man or woman who braids does it as a social duty. No rewards are expected.

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Mesì Gueldy René et Deesse Aishar Delismond for helping ??

-The Rainbow Brigade || Lakansyel Squad

Haiti: Through the Eyes of the Wise Elders

November 4, 2015 stun013 Uncategorized

Midterm Report:

Today was the 4th and also the last day of revision with the participants of the #Wise elders creative workshop.

We have started the October 3rd with 34 people but, 4 more had joined us within two weeks later which make the final interviewing process is ended with 38 participants in total.

During these four weeks, the participants went to meet their respective elder in their neighborhood in order to fill their question forms. On Saturday they come to meet #Jure at HC so as to examine every single question. They shared their responses in front of the class so the others can hear responses of each one, ask questions and give their comments.

This first part of the project is come to an end. It has been a wonderful experience for all of us, teachers and students. We learn things that we did not know before, things we did not learn even at school. In fact, everyone was interested in knowing the answers of others when we meet.

On this last day, we had a meeting with all participants on base. We did a general review with everybody except those who could not come because the socio-political panic that has raised last week between two clan of gangsters in the area of Cité Soleil. This fact also cause two of our present participants had lost their questionnaires while running away under gunshots. Nevertheless, those who were not affected by this trouble and some who were able to save their work brought it. We commented responses. We collected all students’ papers. Planned to take more photographs and refreshed them about the next steps of the project.

As a whole, the first part is ended on a good atmosphere. We take pictures of the team, the participants and go home.

As a reminder, I want to make this refreshment about the next steps of the project Haiti Through the Eyes of the Wise Elders commonly known as #Wise Elders Creative Workshop. We will work with our young leaders to re-analyze and correct all participants work. Work with colleagues to on translation of the papers. Typing and polishing the final work in English then, work on publication.

Music class performence in Konbit Soley Leve, June 25th 2015

September 1, 2015 winter312 Uncategorized

Since2011, a group of young adults in Haiti, especially in Cité Soleil started a social movement named KONBIT SOLEY LEVE with the purpose to eradicate the rate of vandalism, social conflit between the differnts blocks wihtnin Cité Soleil and to promote fraternity and collaboration between them.

Cité Soleil is internationally known as an extremely impoverished and densely populated of the Haitian metropolitan area and one of the poorest and most dangerous area in the western Hemisphere also one of the biggest slums in Northern Hemisphere.

KONBIT is an authentic Haitian term that describes an old method of accomplishing a large or intense work. Usually they are a group each one of them has their own work but they prefer to combine to help the others in the group and this way they set out evry day to do someone else’s work in the group and sometime they do community work.

These young Leaders chose to name their movement this way first to trace back the method of living together but mainly to unity the people from different block and make them work together for one and other.

KONBIT SOLEY LEVE’s main objective is to work with the community Leaders so the inhabitants of Cité Soleil have a better lifestyle by promoting fairness, collaboration and peace in Cité Soleil. KONBIT SOLEY LEVE uses music, sport such as: soccer and basket game for peace, summer camp, sensitize people, do some workhop any eans to make the idea

Transcend everybody no matter social you are belonging to.

In June 2014, KONBIT SOLEY LEVE launched a program called “Cité Soleil Peace Prize”. This featured program aimed to reward the first 5 social Leaders withnin Cité Soleil that are doing or had done the must recent work and that has a social impact. This year, on June 25^th was the second edition of Cité Soleil Peace Prize. Our linkage to the Konbit had permitted us to assist and our music class had been performing in that event. Our music teacher Gueldy RENE and our Education program Director Winter LUC are members of KONBIT SOLEY LEVE, we profite of this event to let people hear our children’s voice as we are promoting better life style for kids and there were many notable persons from various classes in the Haitian attending that event it was very important moment to spread out our objectives through the song of our children “ Children today adult tomorrow we need good care” which is also on Gueldy’s album. They had the opportinunity to perform live.

That was an amazing experience we had the opportinunity to meet lots of eminent people the greatest importance was performing and help the Konbit do this meaninsful job.

Chewed Paper Master: Charlotte Charles, Activist and Artist

July 17, 2015July 17, 2015 Melissa Schilling Uncategorized

To meet 45 year old Charlotte is to meet the soul of Haiti. She is passionate, fierce, funny and vibrant. Not possessive of a vapid bone in her body, Madame Charles will take charge of any conversation and turn it into a confabulation about the rights of women in her beloved Haiti.

After the earthquake she managed a tent city in Jacmel. One of the only women that we know of to hold this difficult position. You can read about her experiences here and watch her here.

Madame Charles, is one of the few female artisans in Haiti. She develops her livelihood as a painter of vibrant Jacmellian papier-mâché . She has also become a mentor to other young women thinking about a career in the arts. A mother to one daughter, she represents women empowerment and encourages more Haitian women to become more entrepreneurial.

About the Horses: Artisanally crafted, these horses are carefully hand-painted and embellishes with an array of materials found in local marketplaces. Embellishments range from sequins, rhinestones, sisal rope, woven banana fronds, wigs, goat hair, glitter and anything else that can be foraged locally in craft stalls in downtown Jacmel. If you would like to purchase one of Madame Charlotte’s chevals (horses) simply email with her US friend, Melissa Schilling (melissa@projecthopeart.org) to make arrangements. Her horses range from $250-350 and support women’s rights arts programming.

About Jacmel: Jacmel is a commune in southern Haiti founded by the Spanish in 1504 and repopulated by the French in 1698. It is the capital of the department of Sud-Est and has an estimated population of 40,000, while the municipality (commune) of Jacmel had a population of 137,966 at the 2003 Census. The town’s name is derived from its indigenous Taíno name of Yaquimel.
The mansions of Jacmel with their cast-iron furnishings would later come to influence the home structure of much of New Orleans. Today, many of these homes are now artisan shops that sell vibrant handicrafts, papier-mâché masks and carved-wood animal figures. In recent years, efforts have been made to revitalize the once flourishing cigar and coffee industries. The town is a popular tourist destination in Haiti due to its relative tranquility and distance from the political turmoil that plagues Port-au-Prince.
The city has well-preserved historical French colonial architecture that dates back from the early nineteenth century and has little changed. The town has been tentatively accepted as a World Heritage site and UNESCO reports that it has sustained damage in the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

About Papier-mâché: French for “chewed paper”, is a composite material consisting of paper pieces or pulp, sometimes reinforced with textiles, bound with an adhesive, such as glue, starch, or wallpaper paste. For the paper strips method, the paper is cut or torn into strips, and soaked in the paste until saturated. The saturated pieces are then placed onto the surface and allowed to dry slowly.
The strips may be placed on an armature, or skeleton, often of wire mesh over a structural frame, or they can be placed on an object to create a cast. Oil or grease can be used as a release agent if needed. Once dried, the resulting material can be cut, sanded and/or painted, and waterproofed by painting with a suitable water-repelling paint. Before painting any product of papier-mâché, the glue must be fully dried, otherwise mold will form and the product will rot from the inside out.
In ancient Egypt, coffins and death masks were often made from cartonnage — layers of papyrus or linen covered with plaster.In Persia and Kashmir, papier-mâché has been used to manufacture small painted boxes, trays, étagères and cases. Japan and China also produced laminated paper articles using papier-mâché. In Japan and India, papier-mâché was used to add decorative elements to armor and shields.

Bon Fet Dokte Koffee

May 31, 2015 Melissa Schilling Uncategorized

On a sweaty January afternoon, a group of five Project HOPE Art volunteers stepped into a swirling jigsaw puzzle of human sounds, smells and sights. People were milling around on foot and taking up space in a collection of chairs that ranged from the three-legged plastic lawn chair propped on a wall to planks of wood carefully balanced on broken cinder blocks and rocks.
In the midst of the people hurricane was a dark-haired woman in a beige sunhat holding a clipboard. She put us to work painting, singing and embracing the members of the people hurricane.

Over the years since that day (four+ years ago), the storm of people vibe has faded and turned into a sweet wealth of friendly faces who have become like family. They know we bring with us music, watercolors and sometimes when Liz Ancker is visiting: green eggs and ham sandwiches.

Visiting the Ti Kay Clinic one day in 2013, I was astonished. The place seemed empty. When I asked Dr. Coffee about it she laughed and said, “Didn’t you listen to National Radio this morning? There is a big hurricane coming.”
I had no idea there was a hurricane in the vicinity.
(Safety Third!)
Since I was there already, I turned on music and set about painting a mini-mural with all the kids at the clinic and quite a few adults.
And that is exactly how Dr. Coffee runs her clinic. She is around when there is no one else. She digs up resources, nurses and meals by rubbing two pennies together and blowing her magic on it.

Today we wish a Happy Birthday to one of our favorite project partners.
Bon Fet Dokte Koffe!

At her clinic, Ti Kay (little house in Haitian Kreyol), Dr. Megan Coffee or Dokte Coffee provides free, high-quality medical care to Tuberculosis and HIV patients in Haiti. Ti Kay, Inc. is a medical non-profit organization that aims to treat, and hence prevent, tuberculosis in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Based at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, HUEH (L’Hôpital de l’Université d’Etat d’Haïti), Ti Kay focuses on treating inpatients and outpatients. After the earthquake when the state sanatorium was not functional, the head nurse of the TB program and Megan Coffee, a US doctor, established an inpatient program for the care. The outpatient treatment was expanded after the earthquake.

Project HOPE Art has had the privilege of creating art with Ti Kay patients. Simple coloring projects and face painting added a light to an otherwise bed-bound day. Patients young and old gathered around every available surface with any marker available to join in on our murals. We hope to create some more creative chaos at Ti Kay soon!

If you’d like to donate directly, Ti Kay Haiti has ongoing needs for the following:
14 gauge venocaths
Oxygen concentrators
60 cc luer lock syringes
Small stopcocks
Protein powder
Protein bars
B6 vitamins
Milk powder
Iron pills
Please contact Dr Megan Coffee to arrange shipping at tikaycontact@gmail.com