After the first weekend of our May, 2011 training for Social Science Students from the State University, trainees were invited to help us train the teachers.

 While people in Haiti are very expressive and exuberant as a culture, it is not part of the culture to share difficult feelings with others, or process feelings psychologically.  Our first weekend, we met with Social Science, Psychology and Social Work trainees, all of whom are also survivors of the earthquake. 

We discussed survivor’s guilt, grief and grieving, and how to return to balance through self-care and caring for each other using integrative cross-cultural healing practices: story-telling, prayer, movement, and song,  and stress-reduction tools including Asian style breath-work.  Kim discussed working with child survivors and shared teachings about the Medicine Wheel and how it acts as a guide to living in balance, to take care of ourselves, each other, our communities and the Earth.  
Our first weekend, Social Work, Education, Communication and Psychology students from the Statue University of Haiti, practiced counselling skills with each other one-on-one and in small groups. 

The next weekend, ten State University of Haiti students volunteered to travel more than 2 hours by car (due to traffic and distance) to the School of The Deaf to help us train teachers. These Facilitator-Trainees supervised and taught teachers breathing techniques for stress reduction, and facilitated small group discussions. Teachers shared problems they experienced in their classrooms, learned about group facilitation techniques (in theory and in practice) and share strategies to address problems in their classrooms to help their students recover from the traumatic stress.Here are a couple of examples of some of the problems teachers brought up from the first round of group work (led by State University of Haiti Trainee-Facilitators).

The Issues Teachers in Haiti Are Dealing With:

Group 1. Teachers report feeling stress and trauma.  None of these teachers had the session last year (in our March-April 2010 training program, when Kim and I were in Haiti with ATOP). They are still feeling scared, for example, loud noises make them jump, and it is hard to concentrate at work.  They seem to be living in the past still. Every time they try to move forward, it is the same thing, the past coming forward with memories and flashbacks.

 Group 4 Members of my group say they are feeling stress and panic and shaking inside; and can not forget the event. Some say they do not have an appetite; or they cannot sleep, or forget things often.  They are feeling like they do not want to get attach to anything or any one, but just want to detach from everything, just waiting to die because of the stress.  They are hoping today to learn how to move forward.

Group 6 . . We are also more worried about our students.. . .Some of them won’t even talk at school--they may talk at home, but at school they are just silent.  There are many issues with the students. . .and both the teachers and students are also stressed--they don’t’ have any capacity to memorize or concentrate, sometimes they just start crying.

In the May, 2011 training program we primarily focussed on the longer-term issues that emerge after a year of  disappointments and disillusionments. During lunch and after lunch the State U trainees facilitated groups for the teachers, to help the helpers heal from trauma so they could then be more effective in their classrooms.  Groups focused on issues of survivor’s guilt and grieving losses.  (For an exercise on what you can do to help yourself and others Click here for Stages of Acceptance )

As we express the tears and feelings of loss with others we feel less alone..Mourning losses takes time.  The time it takes to mourn helps us to adjust to a new life without our beloved friend or family member.  It is during this period that we begin to realize how the loved we shared continues--it extends beyond the conditions of our day to day experience.  Even after death, love lives. Love is unconditional.  

     When a child (or adult) looses the person he or she was attached to, the one that he or she loved, the child (or adult) needs to learn all over again that he or she is
1.    safe
2.    loved
3.    able to be engaged with the care giver (teacher, parent, family member, counselor)
4.    and ultimately to learn and practice initiating engaging with others in ways that are loving and safe

                           RESULTS:
Teachers commented that “though it is hard to start talking and sharing, once we begin it is hard to stop.”  "We learn from each other." “We don’t want to stop” “In truth, we are really all the same.” 

When we closed the group, one-by-one each group member shared a word that described what each had gained--something  that  could now be given to others in the community.

Here are a few examples: “give and receive…solidarity… community… love … peace… serenity… life …patience . . . free….”  By the end of the program as all of our 50 participants shared a word, there was a palpable sense of solidarity, joy and optimism. These are the qualities that reinforce and rebuild resilience.  It is the resilient human spirit that 'bounces-back' and supports going forward in life, even after disaster.

 Kim and I next debriefed with the State U of Haiti Trainee-Facilitators and here are a few of their comments: 

Facilitator /Trainee 1  I have learned how to apply what I have learned.  The teachers in my group said that it is very hard to focus and concentrate, so they had a hard time. . And this is true for the children too. Today they have learned a way to release the frustrations and tensions. A few of them had a really dramatic change. By the end of the group they had big smiles instead of being withdrawn and resistant.  They need a follow-up to maintain their progress.

Facilitator /Trainee 3 I learned from each of them, and I learned how to get to know them. For example, one of the teachers was hard to work with because she lost her husband. She didn’t want to talk.  Then I did the interventions, by the end she felt good, because every time everyone shared she felt better. 

Facilitator /Trainee 4.    The teachers in my group had a lot of stress and said that it is not easy to relax.  One of them has difficulty to concentrate and focus. Her memory is bad now and she can not memorize anything new or stay focused.  During the event she was under the rubble in her home for 5 hours with her children waiting to be rescued.  So she is still very nervous. And she wants a follow-up from this training.  They feel that with follow-up sessions they can learn how to heal and go forward.  People in my group found this really helpful to talk about everything.

Facilitator /Trainee 6   There was one person in our group who never wanted to accept this issue, survivor’s guilt was happening.  By the end they were saying how good it was to talk, what good timing it was to talk about it, and what a good time they had with each other. They feel if they could have something like this every month, or even every three months it would really help.  And I would be able to volunteer to come to facilitate groups.

Student /Facilitator 10 Teachers with problems have a harder time teaching. They were happy because they could share, and they felt people in their group understood them and what they are going through.  And they now know that there is a way to heal and to help others.   I learned that in order to help people I can help them by giving them knowledge, patience and love. 

At the beginning of the group, one of the group members said. . “.Ìt doesn’t matter what you say or do, it isn’t going to help.``  So the last thing I did –the Engagement` was I asked everybody what they learned, and what they could do now that could help others. . . .and by the end of the group, at that point that is when she realized that she got a lot from sharing and listen and learning, that it did help her too. That’s how I learned about knowledge, patience and love as being so important.

We end our program with a promise: that we would supply Trainees with training materials based on these programs, so they could continue the training of others in their communities. I transcribed our face to face trainings, and Kim prepared DVD training programs which were in English and Kreyòl  (These were filmed by our translator, Vladimir Lubin, during our March-April 2010 training programs).

In June, 2011,  Kim,met with Valcourt to pass along  the DVD's ( which included a downloadable copy of my English transcripts and training notes in a  Manual format); and  Valcourt  agreed to distribute them to our trainees. Father Wismick is currently checking into translation options for the manuals.
   

CONCLUSION AND NEXT STEPS. . . .

The Haitian trainees we met are eager to help with the healing of their communities.  I am moved by the fact that the students traveled so far often at great cost and inconvenience, to help us train the teachers who are the front line in supporting the children and families. Ronald Jean Jaques, who started the Department of Psycholoy at the State U of Haiti, told us that there are only 100 psychologists in Haiti -- in a country with so many millions in need. 

Kim offered our final insight by telling the trainees “your generation are the pioneers.  You look at any country, Canada, wherever in the world, that is how it started … when you go to remote areas, people do not know about getting help. At first they are like, “Oh, this is different`` But your job is to spread seeds. . . for people to be more healthy and to build a better world.”
 

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Spirituality and Mental Health Conference in Haiti

by Kim Haxton

The Spirituality and Mental Health Conference took place in Haiti from June 25th to the 26th. The Conference had 200 participants. Conference attendees ranged from Teachers, Nuns, Priests, Psychology and Social Work students.  The conference presentation included local Psychologists from the University, Psychologists from various institutions from the United States, and Canada, who have worked, or who have done research in Haiti since the January 12th 2010 Earthquake last year. The visionary behind the conference is a Catholic Priest named Father Wismick. He is currently working on his PHD in Psychology in New York, at John Fordham University, and is the head of the Haitian Dioceses in New York.

Each morning there was a panel of 3 key note speakers. I presented Dr. Hedva's 5 Step Spiritually Directed Therapy protocol for healing in the panel address. I also presented in the afternoon an experiential model of play and art therapy. The session talked about the different age groups and behaviours linked to trauma, and tools to help address those issues. This included songs, and a couple of art activities that participants practiced with each other.

One of the activities for adolescence was to pretend you are a photo journalist, and draw a series of images that you would “show and tell” a story about each picture and in this way to share about your experience with the others. The activity encourages sharing and the possibilities to look at situations from a birds eye view. It can also be used as a diagnostic to understand how children are feeling (See the ‘sad cat’ in the example below from a child-survivor I worked with at the Haiti Community Hospital in March-April of 2010 right after the earthquake.)
The next game we practiced in the workshop is geared to help younger children feel safe and secure. (It works with adults too!)  The children are instructed to draw an outline of their hand, and at the top of each finger, they are instructed to put the name of someone they can go to if they need help.  In this way each finger identifies a person of safety and helps to define their support-system. People at the workshop responded that they had never thought about who would be their safety net. I also used the Breathing techniques that are used in Dr. Hedva's training programs for dealing somatically with stress.

On the 27th of June, I travelled with Father Wismick to his village, outside of Gonaives, to work with the children. There were 300 children from pre-school up to high school age.  All were rather excited to have an outsider come in to share and play with them. We were there for about 3 hours, mostly singing songs. We agreed that next time the group needs to be broken down into smaller groups (by age). However, the day was filled with laughter and lots of sweat. (It is hot in Haiti at this time of year, and it was 40 degrees in the plains outside of Gonaives).

The next day we flew to Port au Paix in the north to present to Teachers.  The focus was how we help children heal from trauma. Father Wismick presented material on working with different ages groups, and he described children’s stress behaviours and how to bring them back into balance. I presented the 5 step model, and shared teaching about the Medicine Wheel and how it acts as a guide to living in balance, to take care of ourselves, each other, our communities and the Earth.

Haiti has a great deal of work that has been done, and continues to be in its rebuilding process. It was an incredible privilege to be apart of that process, meeting many different types of people who are committed to contributing to this service of community renewal. Many thanks to all those who contributed financial support and energy to make this project a success.

  Kim Haxton BA, BSc., First Nation’s Ceremonialist and Facilitator. Kim had the opportunity to present the results of Dr. Beth Hedva's Emotional Healing and Community Renewal After Mass Trauma work at a Psychology Spirituality and Mental Health Conference at Universite du Notre Dame, in Port Au Prince in June, 2011. Kim had joined Canada Association for Trauma Outreach and Prevention (ATOP) team with Dr. Beth Hedva, in March-April 2010 where Kim provided play therapy to orphans and children survivors at the Haiti Community Hospital, and co-facilitated Emotional Healing and Community Renewal training programs with Dr. Beth Hedva under the direction of the local Daughters of Wisdom. While in Haiti, Kim  worked with Dr. Hedva as part of the Canadian ATOP team, as well as offering support to local Haitian NGOs including: The Center for Learning, Training and Transformation (CAFT), and the local the Bahai community in Petionville, among others.

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ATOP Meaningfulworld’s Psychosocial Rehabilitations Trainings and healing groups - one-year follow-up to the earthquake in Haiti

  from Dr. Ani Kalayjian
 
A solemn yet celebratory day in Haiti marks the one-year anniversary of the January 12, 2010, earthquake. 230,000 people lost their lives in this devastating earthquake, 2.3 Million people are still missing; over half of the Haitian population found themselves without homes, 70% of people’s homes were destroyed. Although thousands are angry since they cannot get out of the tent-city. On 12 January 2011, streets of Port au Prince were flooded with a sea of hundreds of thousands people dressed in black and white, with some mournful colors like blue and purple or bright forbidden colors sprinkled throughout the crowd.
 
We, the ATOP Team, began our work immediately, surveying Haitians about their feelings and their continued challenges on the day of the earthquake anniversary. Haitians call one another “emotional” but at the same time, it is taboo to express one’s emotions or discharge negative feelings, unless it is through reactive behaviors. The ATOP training utilized the 7-step Biopsychosocial and Eco-Spiritual Model. This seven-step model has been utilized in over 25 countries and 30 calamities, both natural and human-made with excellent response. Through this model various aspects of the disaster are assessed, identified, explored, processed, worked through, released, and a new meaning achieved. This innovative model incorporates various theories including: psychodynamic, interpersonal (Sullivanian), existential and humanistic (Viktor Frankle), electromagnetic (EMF), Learning theory, flower essences, essential oils, physical release (Bessel van der Kolk), mind-body-spirit continuum, chakra balancing, prayers and meditation.
 
Although the roads in Haiti are still unpaved and rubble caused by the quake still blocks many streets, people have the determination to get to their destinations. Of course, some streets were unpaved and difficult to drive or walk through even before the earthquake, but more deterioration is taking place each day. The majority of the group expressed how the training made them feel better physically:  headaches have gone away, body aches transformed, shoulders feel released of all stress; and emotionally: frustration is transformed; hope is strengthened, and plans for action solidified.
 
 Dr. Ani Kalayjian is the founder of The Association for Trauma Outreach & Prevention (ATOP) of Meaningfulworld is a charitable 501 c (3) organization founded in 1990, to address the psychosocial and eco-spiritual needs of the surviving communities globally. Specifically it aims to promote the advancement of knowledge about the immediate and long-term human consequences of traumatic events and promotes effective methods of prevention, relief and restoration to those traumatized and to those treating traumatized populations. For more information about Dr. Ani Kalayjian’s international humanitarian efforts and training programs for volunteers (held in New York City) contact www.meaningfulworld.com

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Add Your Light 

 from Jan Tollefsson
 
The economic situation in Haiti prompted ADD YOUR LIGTHT to develop a one lamp, one cell phone connector mini-system using a 1.8 watt panel. I am grateful to Rotarian Dave Marchant, who came over at the last minute to waterproof our experimental panels. We’ll be sure to buy waterproof panels for future systems! Dr. Beth Hedva kindly packed two minisystems in her luggage, as she left on her important mission in Petionville, Haiti. 
 
Then, selected people can try them out and  who will understand & promote their important potential in Haiti — for literacy, for health, for fire prevention, and for the development of small businesses.
 
The first system went to Merlyne Luseui (see photo) under the direction of Linda Gershuny, the founder and Executive Director of The Center for Learning, Training and Transformation (CAFT). Merlene will present the unit to the Board of one of the CAFT community education programs.
 
The  second unit went to Reverend Djalòki Jean Luc Dessables who will be passing it onto community leaders in Carrefour-Croix (in French), Kafou Kwa (in Creole), in the larger Léogâne area.  For more information on the lighting units go to  http://www.addyourlight.org/project1.aspx

Dr. Beth Hedva and Kim Haxton left on May 12th to continue training Social Science students and professionals from the State U. of Haiti. Their course, “Spiritually Directed Therapy Protocol for Recovery from Trauma”, which focused on upgrading counselling skills. Kim has completed the project of editing and preparing a DVD training from Dr. Beth Hedva’s trainings in Haiti under the direction of the Daughters of Wisdom in Petionville and in collaboration with the Association for Trauma Outreach and Prevention which arrived on the scene in March 2010l and she delivered these training materials to program coordinators Father Wismick and Social Work Administrator Jean Yves Valcourt when she returned to Haiti in June-July.

Beth Hedva has written the training manual (in English) (which was included as a downloadable document on the DVD, thanks to the efforts of VIDTEL, Detroit, Michigan who produced the final master of the DVD trining materials).. We are seeking funding (in-kind and cash donations)  to help production and distribution costs of a hard-copy French  - Creole training manual to distribute to trainees who may then have tools to train others in their communities.  You can participate in this project by donating to Add Your Light directly or via CanadaHelps.org, specifying “Haiti Disaster Recovery”.

Founded by Jan Tollefson, M.D. Add Your Light Charitable Foundation is based in Calgary , Alberta , Canada . It is a nonprofit incorporated federal company with charitable status granted in January, 2004. Prior to that, we operated for 6 years as a missional venture of the University Hill congregation of the United Church of Canada (Vancouver, B.C.) Our projects are primarily located in the Dominican Republic , with the major concentration being in the area of Dajabon (northwest D.R.). However, we are also involved in helping the Haitian community across the border from Dajabon, and we are training people from other countries (Canada, United States, Honduras, etc.), so that they might spread these projects even further. 

We focus on the following projects:

• Solar Panels And Light Emitting Diodes
• Biosand household water filters
• Latrine construction
• Classroom construction
• Small business development  and micro-credit loans to women
• Assistance to an orphanage: salaries, food, education costs
• Occasionally medical assistance in the case of a special need

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How to make a Contribution

Donations to Add Your Light may be made directly or via CanadaHelps.org, Please specify “Haiti Disaster Recovery”
Cheques can be mailed to Add Your Light, #1506, 80 Pt. McKay Cr. N.W., Calgary, AB, T3B4W4 (use if the donation form is helpful but optional). Please let us know if you want updates by email, mail or not at all. Thanks!

 On-line donations with a credit card can be made at:  www.CanadaHelps.org.  Go to their site, select Add Your Light, and follow the easy instructions. Also, they can set up automatic scheduled giving (eg. monthly or quarterly), if that would be more convenient for you.  CanadaHelps sends out tax receipts immediately by email. Please note, they deduct 3.9% for their administrative costs.

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 First Report On the Light Unit

from Reverend Djalòki Jean Luc Dessables

Meet Djaloki on CNN http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/06/22/velton.haiti.image.problem.cnn

Most people in Kafou Kwa are farmers - growing sugar cane, sweet potatoes, corn, and raising chickens, pigs and cows. Functioning businesses are 1 restaurant, 1 wholesaler of soda drinks, 2 lottery centers (Ayitian borlette), 1 garage, 2 small movie projection places and numerous informal retail outlets (mostly outdoor stalls).

The lamp will be placed in a busy crossroad in Kafou Kwa that is normally dark at night. It is expected to improve the perception of security, extend community and commercial activities and allow students to study after dark.
 
The crossroad is not far from a community water reservoir. If the people are satisfied with the unit, it is likely that several people of the community will raise money to buy other more powerful units to lighten other places in the area, including an open field where soccer matches are regularly taking place.
 
In the immediate aftermath of January 12, 2010, Rev. Djalòki co-coordinated HRC-LOREA (Haiti Response Coalition—Lonè Respè Ayiti), a unique partnership of Ayitian and foreign organizations. HRC-LOREA mobilized, trained, and empowered Ayitian communities to reach a higher level of self-sufficiency, while facilitating connections between needs and resources and advocating for just policies, accountability and Ayitian-led development.

 

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