Security Graduation JULY 18, 2010

JULY 18, 2010

So the past two weeks- thanks to David Lawrence- Canadian security- we were able to provide another two week training course for the Lamentin 54 Camp Security. It was fun to see throughout the two weeks and to see the end result of pride within the PEP LA security team.

The graduation was Saturday morning at 10 AM. Yvon Jerome- Mayor of Carrefour was present and provided the team with a great speech. After some hard work the graduation ceremony was a success and not only are those 75 men and women that are properly trained in security better off- the Camp of 20,000 refugees is better off because of this course. Our goal is to work with Yvon Jerome on trainings such as these throughout all the camps in Carrefour, and eventually with the entire city for security. You may think that security training and security guards means protect and serve in a secure way- domestic violence, gender violence, ect. But we believe these men and women when properly trained in the entire vision of moving forward will not only keep the citizens safe, but will make it a better place to live. They can tell the man on the corner to stop peeing on the street, they can enforce littering laws by positive reinforcement of proper disposal, simple things such as this will make Haiti a better place.

With the help of David Lawrence, yvon Jerome and the city of Carrefour, we hope to work through security along with many other issues to make Haiti better. I wanted to share those pictures with you- pictures from the ceremony- yvon speaking, the food we served after, Madam Benedette and Fabiola decorating with me, Ti Blanc getting her photo with the S.P. #1 team, ect. I hope you enjoy them.

If you have any interest in coming and teaching a course, or working with the security teams in training or on a daily / nightly basis please feel free to contact me. Also- something that is not real prevelant, but is happening is Gender Violence...there are a few cases of rape in the camp- much less than other camps due to our great security staff, but we are wanting to cut this number to zero. something that will greatly help stop Domestic Violence and gender violence is lighting. I leave the camp daily before it gets dark, but 20,000 people including children are obligated to stay as it is their home. Something I want to do is to get solar panels for street lights throughout the camp. 8 Acres is not easy to light- but if we start small, such as lighting just the restrooms so people feel comfortable to go to the restroom at night- this would be a great start. You may think its silly to do this- but people are fearful to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, therefore they go in their tent in a bucket, many people dont want to walk to the bathroom to dump the urine, so they dump it outside their tent, if there is a slope- it goes to the next tent, starts a fight with their neighbor (rightfully so) and one thing leading to the next, lack of lighting causes more fights than known.