Page 15 - 37-Fall 2013

Hope Rises from the Rubble

Seeds of love have spread as far as
Cap-Haïtien, six hours to the north.
Photo: Wen Ren

FFP not only serves food to a thousand families Artibonite. Impressed by the local community
each morning but has also built thousands of organization, FFP decided to build houses
sturdy concrete houses, schools, and community for the community’s three hundred families,
centers, and has installed water purification upgrading their homes from straw to concrete.
systems for numerous communities. The houses, however, were just the first step.

In general, FFP’s model of operation is As Beth explained, “Our objective isn't just
quite different from Tzu Chi. Whereas Tzu Chi‘s to provide that physical house, but to really
contributions to the community are often in change their lives.” And with the new homes,
the form of intangible services and relief goods, that is exactly what happened. Grateful for their
FFP’s focus is more often on infrastructure, new homes, many took care to decorate and
homes, and water purification systems. But in a maintain them. Not wanting to be outdone,
more fundamental sense, the two are doing the their neighbors did the same. Building on this
same: providing opportunities. FFP identifies new spirit, the community leader gathered
strong local community leaders with “the effort everyone together to discuss how they
and the intention” to make a difference and could improve their community. They started
then works as a liaison to connect them with engaging in cleanup projects and began wisely
the financial means to see their goals achieved. apportioning any gifts that came in: if they were
given some trees, they would distribute them
In the FFP office, Beth shared the inspiring first to the families that worked hardest at the
example of a farming community in rural most recent cleanup project.

Soon this community was thinking even
bigger. They wrote a letter to the government
introducing themselves as a community that
was trying to improve the lives of its members
but which needed better roads to succeed.
There happened to be some foreign funding
waiting for such a project, so they soon had
newly paved roads connecting them to the
outside. With the dusty dirt roads now paved,
even the air quality was improved. Later, when
cholera first appeared in Artibonite in October
2010, the community with the new roads was
a logical place for cholera prevention training
sessions to be held, so the community received
With programs like Food for Work, Tzu Chi aims vital health education, which also created some
to inspire as well as assist. Photo: Patrick Chou local jobs, at least temporarily.

www.us.tzuchi.org | 15