An Inspiring Week with Haitian Teens: Post #1 Jacmel, Haiti 2012

I have just returned from a wonderful week teaching a group of Haitian teenagers in Jacmel how to photograph their artwork.

Art Creation Foundation for Children was founded by my childhood friend Judy Hoffman in 2000 as a way to help street children in the town of Jacmel to get an education and learn crafts by which they could earn a living.  Little did she know what she was getting herself into.  Before the 2010 earthquake, the project included 60 children and a small staff.  The foundation now takes care of 100 children and their families.  A few of the children are orphaned; most have some family, but none had attended school or eaten on a regular basis prior to joining ACFFC.  The foundation provides a safe place to be after school, a place to do homework and to learn about and create artwork.  During the school year, the children’s school fees are paid and they are provided with uniforms, shoes, backpacks, books and a substantial lunch after school.  During vacations, they are served three meals a day.  A major goal is for each child to be able to be self-supporting and to have a real sense of community as he or she becomes an adult.

I arrived in Jacmel with my friend Monica to learn more first-hand about the foundation and to hold a workshop for some of the older children on how to photograph their artwork – mainly objects of papier mache and paintings.  It was a wonderful week and we all learned a great deal.

We somehow negotiated our way out of the totally chaotic airport Port au Prince and crossed over the mountains south to Jacmel.  Fairly hair-raising, although our driver, Juice, was really skilled at passing every person or vehicle in front of us, using an intricate combination of honks that seemed to be a common language understood by all, whether on foot or in some kind of vehicle.  We were glad to arrive in Jacmel.

This was our first introduction to the foundation:
We turned left and then right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There we were met at the door to the courtyard by Georges Metallus, the Executive Director in Haiti.

 

I will continue my story in the coming days and weeks, so that I can share my impressions of the children, their accomplishments and the work the foundation is involved in with you all.

For the moment – a peek at the group of teenagers I worked with: