Work
Children Of Oban
by sean on Aug.22, 2010, under Haiti, In The News, Orphanage, People, Work
One of the many vids I took of some of the children who will live at the Danthor Foundation orphanage once it is ready… The kids loved the cameras! This is filmed in a small village called Oban, about 5 miles from Jacmel in Southern Haiti. Filmed in March 2010 about 6 weeks after the earthquake that killed up to 300,000 people… Myself and Manbo Paula were there and with our $US20/day each we were able to feed about 25 people…
Cite Lumiere De Peredo
by sean on Jul.12, 2010, under Haiti, People, Plea for help, Work
Wow, I got some new photos off my broken phone and am happy to be finally able to share these…
Whilst I was in Haiti, on March 29th I made a trip out to Cite Lumiere De Peredo in Peredo.
Cite Lumiere is a school with about 400 students ranging in age from 5 to 25. The reason for students there being above the normal age we Westerners would normally go to school is that students cannot normally afford to go to school when they are younger, and so they get in whenever they are able to.
A week earlier Djony Pierre (the school principal) had heard there were some blanks (white people) in town who were trying to find ways to help Haiti and he came out to visit to see if we could help him and his school out. He was one of about fifty people who came to seek help from Westerners and now it is time to tell his story.
This is Djony Piere.
Cite Lumiere is a private school. When I first heard this, my instinct was much like it would be in the developed world – A private school must be rich and therefore they probably don’t really need my help. But I quickly learnt that this was wrong! It is private because it receives absolutely no money from the state and they have to raise all the money themselves. In Peredo, there is one state secondary school for boys and one state secondary girls’ school. Cite Lumiere has 400 students of both genders, it is the only school in Peredo that teaches primary classes. It has 16 teaching staff, 1 guard and a “housewife” who I believe does all the maintenance there.
There is no orphanage in Peredo but I didn’t get the figures for how many orphans were living in that town. I will email Djony and ask him to confirm all the figures on this page.
The school has been going since October 4th, 2004 and was set up by Djony in his attempt to better his country, help kids get an education and to teach. Running your own school is a great status symbol in Haiti and he does it really well. Fortunately, not a great deal of structural damage was done to the school during the earthquake, but it was affected immensely economically by the fallout of funds being sent elsewhere. And I should mention that the school is non-denominational accepting people of all faiths.
I was shown around the school, talked to the children of all ages. It was amazing how astute they were when it came to issues such as the criminal syphoning off of cash that is donated to Haiti. They all knew about that, even the youngsters. They made pleas for my help and I offered to do what I could by way of telling their story to the world. I was gutted when I thought I had lost the photos and videos of that school but am so relieved I can show the world this story.
One very thought-provoking thing happened at the end of the day as I was leaving. Djony told me that it was not a school day. It was actually a school holiday and he had arranged a special day in to coincide with my visit, so that the I could meet the kids and help them get their story out. This was really moving and I’m glad I’m finally able to share the story.
Please see the pictures of the school below. I’m going to sort out and upload the videos shortly.
If you have some spare cash, please please consider making a donation to Cite Lumiere. In the first instance, please send Djony an email at djonypierre1978(AT)yahoo.fr
Thank you! Ayibobo!!
Arriving at the Danthor Foundation Orphanage
by sean on Apr.25, 2010, under Haiti, Orphanage, Work
I filmed the last 5 minutes of our journey from Cayes-Jacmel to the new Orphanage Location in Oban, a village with 1004 residents about 10 miles outside Jacmel in Haiti. That’s me holding the camera and Manbo Paula (creator of the Danthor Foundation) on the other Motorcycle. The orphanage building is actually a disused night club (hence the amazing decor) that has been made available for the use of the Danthor Foundation.
We’re actually going to have to raise a lot of awareness to take the Orphanage to the next level and make it functional.
More pics and videos of the Orphanage to follow 
Haitian Street Scenes
by sean on Apr.24, 2010, under Haiti, Work
I have started the process of sorting out photos taken in Haiti.
The pics in this first album are various street scenes taken in different locations across the country. Hopefully this album portrays some of the wonderful diversity of the experiences I had, from joy through wonder and sadness at the devastation…
Back In England
by sean on Apr.06, 2010, under Haiti, People, Work
Hello all,
I’m now back in England after just under a month in Haiti. It was a very intense whirlwind of an experience. I didn’t have much Internet access out there but took several hundred photos and interviewed a number of people from schools, churches, peristyles (vodou temples) and others. Over the coming week or so, I’ll get all of these up online and do my best to share my experiences.
Once again, thank you to all who contributed money, energy, prayers and bandwidth. I’ll update the sponsors page shortly.
My work in Haiti is not finished and I know I’ll be back there before the year is out – and have made several contacts there who are encouraging me to bring more people. Watch this space for details.
Lots of love,
Seani Fool
Outside the “other peristyle”
by sean on Mar.22, 2010, under Haiti, Vodou, Work
Still in cayes-jacmel. Taken Outside the “other peristyle”.
the bull is not at all shy of showing his tackle
as well as working vodou and feeding people, i’m spending a lot of time entertaining the hougan’s grand kids!
Papouche
by sean on Mar.17, 2010, under Haiti, Orphanage, People, Plea for help, Work
This is Papouche. One of LaBien’s adopted kids is always drawing birds and flowers
. I took loads of photos of his art but current bandwidth costs restricts me to s single upload at this time. He will probably be taken in to the Danthor Foundation Orphanage once it is ready
La Bien – The Good Man
by sean on Mar.16, 2010, under Funding, Vodou, Work
This is
La Bien – The Good Man
Check the link – see this is taken in the Peristyle. The Haitian Vodouisants use Machetes instead of daggers in their rituals…
The focus of ritual is always close to the ground – so seats are close to the ground too… including this car seat which is sat upon for meditations and more. Notice the pic of La Sirene in the background – beautiful goddess of the sea that she is.
La Bien feeds 25 people with the rent we pay him! His sort of vodou is called Natural Mystic or Natural Vodou… rather than the initiatory Peristyle vodou. Your donations have directly helped him feed 25 people! yeahh!!! Give more if you want and I’ll try to get more photos and videos up soon…
Best wishes from Sean
Vodou Orphanage
by sean on Mar.16, 2010, under Work
Hello there from Jacmel, Haiti…
Came into town today to share some really amazing news – everything is falling into place really quickly for getting the Danthor Foundation Orphanage up and running!! Well forget the old venues discussed for now – there’s a fantastic venue really close to LaBien’s plot which used to be a nightclub with several private rooms on the premises… The venue has not been used as a nightclub for quite some time but is amazingly well build and has very only minimal damage! There’s lots of rooms – maybe for about 24-30 kids initially and lots of room for expansion… Manbo Paula is really excited about it!!
We contacted the owner, and he’s a great guy – really sympathetic to the cause – the world’s first purely vodou-styled orphanage – and he will probably give really low rent. He hasn’t used the building at all and it was just sitting there anyway…
I’ve taken loads of videos and pics of it but alas, I’m having problems with broken USBs and flaky bluetooth and seem unable to get anything off the cameras and onto the net!! Grrr!! Hope I can show this to you all soon!
A fool in Obon, Jacmel, Haiti
by sean on Mar.13, 2010, under Vodou, Work
Hello all,
Well this is day 5 of my trip to Haiti – but feels like day 2000. I was really hoping to update this blog a lot more regularly with the photos, pictures and videos I’ve been taking, but the Internet Cafe (where I am now) is far far far from Auban… When I first made contact with Mambo Paula about coming here, she spoke of Auban. Well of course I quickly ran to google maps to look up where I was going! But there was no Auban and so I guessed it must have been a typo. But having arrived, I can see why it has no google-maps presence. There’s just nothing there at all….
And yet there’s so much there! The wonderful people I’m staying with in this remote world have barely got food to eat at the moment, but all the wonderful donations I’ve brought along are going a long way. Mambo Paula and I are paying $US20 each per day to stay on this family’s property – for food and accomodation. That $US20 is going a real long way – we’re feeding 25 people with it…
I hope my mate Clive (brighton, happy birthday mate!!) gets to read this – he donated a tent which four boys are staying in just next to the large tent Paula and I share with 3 or 4 kids.
So much has happened – I don’t know where to start – maybe with the sadness….
I have been heartbroken 
On the day we arrived in Auban we were led to a woman who was trapped under the EarthQuake rubble for 3 days – with her five now deceased children.
What can I say to a woman like that? What would you say? her five kids were taken in the 55 second quake and she is oh I don’t know what to say… but it is hard not to cry when she walks by. Mambo Paula and I administered first aid and made her a sling for her broken arm… We’re giving her pain killers for it too but nothing can take away the pain from losing all five of your children… harsh … oh soo harsh….
She is one of 25(ish) people staying on this compound I’m on… It’s a pretty special affair – if there was a bit more variety of food it would be complete idyllic eco-village… fruit trees: mangoes, coconuts, and animals running free: chickens and goats… just not so many as to feed all the people there… We are doing our bit for them and we’re feeling pretty good about what we’re doing here… Manbo Paula doesn’t take compliments too well – when people tell her she’s amazing she goes a bit bashful, so if you’re a friend of hers reading this – be sure to tell her how amazing she truly is!
So much to say errrrrmmm the big daddy of the place we’re staying at, at first I thought his name was Papa Baz but since have learned that Papa Baz is a term of endearment, like “bro”, “mate”, “guv” or whatever you might have heard… From day one of arriving here, he’s been immersing me in the family vodou rituals practiced in the area. there will be a huge amount written on him when time permits!!
I imagine a few people reading this want to know about the vodou – there’s (at least) 2 types of Haitian Vodou – peristyle vodou and family vodou. If you’re a western occultist the nearest analogy to this distinction would be High Magic and Low Magic… But even that doesn’t do it justice… Peristyle Vodou has an element of grades, initiations, secrets and allegiances to houses. Family Vodou is much closer to the Earth and more accessible. I’ve been introduced to both in some quite dramatic beautiful fashions and I’m really blown away by their beauty and simplicity…
Let me compare some vodou with Western Paganism (but bear in mind I’m only 5 days in!!!) – there has been no circle-casting in Vodou at all whereas in the West, there is a definite focus on casting a circle at the start of performing a ritual… people haven’t changed clothes, or taken their shoes off or turned their mobiles off to go to rituals… (oh that reminds me! there’s no food here, but there’s a fuckload of mobile phones!!! hungry people calling each other up on the local cell network… crazy!) There is also a big prayer element to the ritual – praying to deity is a thing not done so often in the West, but it is a powerful part of what I’m getting into here… too much to write, and so little time…. lots of candles and flowing water.
Money for Spirituality is something I find really challenging – always have… But here it’s an every day part of the magic and ritual.. if someone casts a spell or does a ritual for you, they expect to be proper paid for it… I guess that goes some way to display how confident they are with their prayers and rituals – you want something, they gonna cast the prayer and it’s gonna come true! Definitely hard to wrap my head around at first but now, it makes so much sense… Well, if I’m still doing it in a few months time let that be an indication of the success of the prayers said for me – for money.
And let’s just say one more word on money, coz I do feel deeply drawn to the vodou and have read much about it over the years… I tried to get involved and invited a number of times but found a number of dead-ends for myself… I kind of kept an eye on that door and wondered if it would ever open… I felt the sense of power behind it… And then woosh, the door is flung open and I’m pulled through… And I feel really keen to support it and the people who practice vodou, partly for its wonder and beauty but also for the sheer fact that I absolutely value the right to complete religious freedom.. and with this in mind, I’m really glad to be shifting my money in that direction.
I’ve been taken to 4 or 5 peristyles and they are amazing. I wish I could upload some pics from here but I can not and have no time right now to go into a big description… HOpefully I will before too long…
Oh back to Papa Baz – named Labien – the big chief on our plot of land… an amazingly generous man like few I’ve met in my life… supporting a number (6 or 7????) orphans… half of which were orphans before the earth quake. and these young children have the most adorable smiles and eyes. They are wonderful and I hope to upload some vids of them singing soon. They are a bit lost and confused – suddenly no parents. they earth shook. wtf??? but such delight when they see that people are being kind to them.. having a giggle and a laugh and playing thumb wars… and drawing pictures… lots of picture of flowers. haven’t quite figured out why, but the kids draw flowers incessantly!
“1 2 3 4 I declare a thumb war” but in kreyol…
Labien is one of those people who just gives every single thing he gets away… He lives really close to spirit/la mystery – and trusts in it implicitly… So he seems to feel he can give everything away and it will just come straight back and you know, it seems to… He has opened up his land for these orphans and this crushed woman (and some other people) as a part of his family vodou. I hope this would be some massive inspiration for more of the world’s churches and temples to open up their grounds to home the needy! Labien is a great man…
And I really feel like I’m doing some great work here. Before I came I was distressed and asked Manbo Paula if she was sure I wouldn’t be a drain on an already hungry population… she assured me that just by being here and paying for my accommodation I would be doing good… I doubted her but am so glad I followed through… just by being here I am helping to keep 25 people in food and tents and tarps and medicines… I never before felt I could contribute so much to our planet before. It is going to be hard to leave when the time comes but I may stay a little bit longer just to help out just a little bit more… I’ll stay if 1 – I still feel I am doing good and 2 – if I am able to afford to stay on doing this… If you have donated – thank you so so so so so so much! you are literally saving lives and I’m seeing it first hand… More donations are still welcome if you feel drawn to and there is a link on http://www.afoolinhaiti.me.uk/sponsors/ if you would like to… I will hopefully soon upload pics and vids so I can show you where your money is going…
I have learnt about 50 kreyol words and hope to learn more in the coming few weeks… I’ll sign out for now though. There is some ritual to St Jacques tonight I am going to – Instead of a ritual dagger/athame – we use a Ritual Machete – AYIBOBO!!!
Love, Seani Fool
(ps – sorry, i haven’t proof-read this)
