Turtle Tree is proud to have a connection, or a collaboration, with the following organizations – who, by the way, should not be held accountable for its actions or programs.

Friends of Haiti in NY, Corp.: a charity in New York that raises funds to support one hundred fifty school children in Fond Verrettes – a small village close to the Dominican border. Friends of Haiti in NY was founded by Pierre Michelle Kalil, who was born and raised in Haiti and nowworks at the United Federal Teachers in New York. Michelle has helped Turtle Tree’s partner, Fanm Veret, the women of Verrettes, to obtain funding from Spain for their training to become a legal co-operative. The charity is involved in several other projects in Haiti, including a school in Lakay founded by New York school teacher Kathia and the restoration of a national palace in Petit Riviere.

FAMSI, El Fondo Andaluz de Municipios para la Solidaridad Internacional, is an NGO in Andulucia, Spain that coordinates several local development aid-organizations. www.andaluciasolidaria.org.
FAMSI has been instrumental in providing funding for training of Fanm Veret, the women of Verrettes. Two Spanish representatives Jose Luis Pelayo Ruiz and Crystele Ranchin visited us twice in Verrettes and, after meeting the second time with the women’s group, he recommended that they would be eligible for financial support to become a legal co-operative and to have access to business training programs in the future.

The Haitian People Support Project, (www.haitiansupportproject.com) a charity headquartered in upstate New York, that provides assistance to grass-roots, community-based projects such as: schools, orphanages, peasant/farmers cooperatives and health clinics.

Pierre Leroy, a retired French teacher from New York, is the president and founder of the Haitian People’s Support Project. Pierre left Haiti in 1961 when a whole generation of intellectuals and professionals were fleeing from the repressive era of the Duvalier regimes during the period between 1960 and 1986. Upon returning home to Haiti 26 years later in 1987, Pierre decided to return the past favor he received from his native country in the form of humanitarian projects by helping the poor, illiterate, and orphans. For the past 16 years, with the help of his collaborators, Pierre has created a solid network of volunteers and supporters for HPSP throughout the United States. This network has been extended to the Dominican Republic with a focus on helping schools for Haitian children of the Bateys (sugar cane plantation community). HPSP has been actively promoting inter-cultural educational programs for Haitian and Dominican youth with the intention of fostering better cultural, political, and economic relations between the two people.

The Dutch foundation Going to school in Haiti (www.stichtingnaarschoolinhaiti.nl) was founded by Marijke Zaalberg, a Dutch retired schoolteacher who came to Haiti in 1995. Turtle Tree’s Ton Vriens met her in 2004 when Haiti was in turmoil and president Jean Bertrand Aristide was airlifted out of the country by US military. Marijke has been somewhat of a rolemodel; with limited means – just some contributions of friends and neighbors – she built an extensive network of five schools in the mountains south of Kenscoff, providing basic education to about 900 children.

Faith in Action International (www.faithinactionint.org) is a grass-roots organization run by the missionary Tom Braak – an American from Michigan with a good sounding Dutch name. Tom has focused in the last twelve year on reforestation, offering plants and trees from a number of nurseries in the mountains surrounding the Artibonite Valley. He also works with the farmers on improving their water supplies by capping springs and building rainwater reservoirs. Tom is a good neigbor and a good friend when we are working with Fanm Veret in Verrettes. He is married to Ficita, who is from a local farmers family. Tom and Ficita have a new born son, Ryan.

Fodes-5 is a community organization high up in the mountains of Labrousse, Miragoane (dep. des Nippes), Haiti. Labrousse is one of five local communities that Fodes-5 caters to. Six-thousand inhabitants proudly carry a Fodes-5 membership card for which they have paid a small fee. The organization was founded by a son of Labrousse, Alfred Etienne. He was able to attract substantial Canadian investment in the communities and so far they have built two schools and broke ground on a full-fledged hospital. In a partnership with Fodes-5 and
Delft Technical University Turtle Tree is researching ways to manufacture a line of wicker products in Labrousse and neighboring communities.

Hopital Albert Schweitzer (www.hashaiti.org) is a major healthcare provider in the region where Fanm Veret work. The hospital was created by an American couple, Larry and Gwen Mellon in the fifties. Larry Mellon was the heir of a large fortune and he and his wife became known as true angels who did everything in their power to improve the living conditions in the Artibonite Valley. When they passed away, the American board did not manage to keep the hospital operating at the same level but – with all its financial struggles – it is still performs an invaluable service to thousands of Haitians. Turtle Tree’s Ton Vriens has several good friends working at the hospital. He met Fanm Veret in 1997 when he was invited to the hospital by Jenifer Grant, daughter of the Mellons and boardmember of HAS. Jenifer was already at the time knitting with some of the ladies. Madame Billie, the daughter-in-law of the Mellons has created an artisan boutique on the grounds of the hospital in Deschapelles and she oversees the weaving of carpets; her company is called Belizaire and Mellon. Belizaire is a wise Haitian businessman who grew up around the Mellon family.