Image: Students from Art Creation Foundation for Children in Jacmel, Haiti. Photo taken in 2009. Photo credit: Jen and Guy Pantaneon, Zanmi Lakay Blog

Hello Everyone,

There is much desire here at school and in the community to be of help in the recovery efforts in Haiti. All Maryland schools have the opportunity to help collect pennies to send to Red Cross relief in Haiti. This is usually a very successful way to raise funds, and I am glad to see that at the State level, it has been approved.
I have been so encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive response to the Hearts! Many folks saw the news report on the Visionary Arts Museum and Ted Frankel's shop "Sideshow" that profiled his efforts to fundraise through the sale of Haitian art and his support of the students here at Patapsco and the hearts project. In three days we sold nearly 200 hearts both at the shop and here at school!

There are so many wonderful people helping. For a first hand account and pictures, please visit the following links. Above all, keep talking about it and don't forget Haiti and Jacmel--help will be needed for a long time to come.

Please visit the blog "Zanmi Lakay-Helping current and former street children in Haiti improve their lives" at this link:

http://www.zanmilakayblog.org/ (there are recent photos here too)

Please read ... http://acffcjacmel.blogspot.com/2010/02/jen-and-guy-pantaneon-of-zanmilakay.html for an update on ACFFC and the art students in Jacmel.

Here is an excerpt from the link above:
Down in Jacmel, most of the artists we know have lost their houses and studios. Walls are gone and masks are crushed and streets are filled with rubble although much has been cleaned. Some streets are blocked because of people sleeping in tents. There is a system of symbols and they are spray painted on the structures-a black check or circle with a dot in the middle means okay, a red check or circle with a dot means you can’t go in and the building is destroyed, and a yellow or gold symbol means you can go in to get your stuff.
The highlight of today was seeing the over 60 children at ACFFC, the amazing organization we collaborate with in Jacmel. We were smothered in hugs and the children were asking us when we were going to begin a Photo Workshop. Everyone is afraid to go into the building for long, but food was being cooked, children were making art, playing soccer, using the computers all outside, and just being together. With the schools closed, it was good to see that these kids, along with the directors, teachers, and local artist mentors were working on making good use of their time and keeping busy. We will begin a program with them tomorrow encompassing photos, video, interviews, and their art as a way for them to work through their trauma and produce a stand alone project integrating the community. They are very anxious to get going and we worked through dinner tonight with staff on the details. We will of course be bringing much of their art home with us.

(except from Zammi Lakay Blog)