April 7, 2025 • 24 mins
In this powerful episode of Visual Eyes Podcast, host Chris Baker speaks with Dr. Andis Tamayo, founder of the Renand Foundation, about his mission to combat child slavery, poverty, and lack of education in Haiti.
Originally from Cuba, Dr. Tamayo’s journey to humanitarian work was inspired by his fascination with Haiti’s history and his own experiences with adversity. After witnessing the devastating Restavek system, where over 400,000 children are forced into domestic and sexual slavery, he knew he had to take action.
💡 In this episode, we discuss:
✔️ The shocking reality of child slavery in Haiti
✔️ How the Renand Foundation provides education, healthcare, and meals to vulnerable children
✔️ The impact of partnerships with Starlink, medical teams, and nonprofits
✔️ Challenges facing Haiti & the foundation’s vision for expanding schools and trade programs
✔️ How YOU can get involved and help make a difference!
🌍 Support the Renand Foundation:
✅ Website: www.RenandFoundation.org
✅ Email: ATamayo@RenandFoundation.org
✅ Phone: 954-558-8895
✅ LinkedIn: Renand Foundation
✅ Facebook: Renand Foundation
✅ YouTube: @RenandFoundation3917
🎧 Listen now and join the movement to change lives in Haiti!
Would you like some help creating the perfect narrative for your organization?
Book your Strategy Call
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Special Thanks to Stacy Daugherty for the beautiful wall artwork in the background. Socials: @artographybystacy
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris Baker (00:08):
Chris Baker, and each week we'll explore
incredible connections betweennonprofits, businesses and the
community.
This is a space where wehighlight inspiring partnerships
, uncover strategies forcreating meaningful impact and
share stories that show howworking together can make all
the difference.
Whether you're a nonprofitleader, a business owner or
(00:28):
someone just passionate aboutbuilding connections, this
podcast is for you.
Welcome back to .
Today I have a special guest,Dr Tamayo, and he is with the
Ranyard Foundation.
Did I say?
Andis Tamayo (00:43):
that right?
Chris Baker (00:44):
Renand Foundation, Renand Foundation.
Did I say that right?
Renan Foundation, renanFoundation.
So tell us a little bit abouthow you got this foundation
started and why it got started,All right, so the Renand
Foundation started.
Andis Tamayo (00:58):
I mean, I fell in love with Haiti when I was 16,
17 years old.
I lived in Cuba and in Cuba wehad to study a book that is
called the Kingdom of this World.
It was written by AlejoCarpentier, who's a Cuban writer
.
He's already dead, but anyways,the book is a novel, but it's
based on the Haitian Revolution,so a lot of the stories are
(01:20):
related in the book, are realstories from the Haitian
Revolution, are related in thebook, are real stories from the
Haitian Revolution, and I just,I mean, I read the book like 20
times and I really fell in lovewith the Haitian Revolution,
with the historic facts,everything that happened in
Haiti and you know, back then inCuba, I always thought about,
like maybe one day I will govisit Haiti and I will go to all
(01:43):
these places that the bookdescribes and everything.
But two years after I finishedmy high school, I actually yeah,
two years after I finished highschool, I actually came from
Cuba.
I came from Cuba in a boat andthat's the whole story, Anyways.
But after arriving here, Ibasically, you know, I did
(02:04):
everything that everyone, everyimmigrant, goes here, goes to
school, works three or four mainjobs and et depression where I
decided that I didn't want to doanymore what I was doing.
I had the opportunity back thenof visiting Africa to do a
(02:35):
little bit of volunteer workwith the US government and I
absolutely fell in love withhumanitarian work, because I was
now going as a humanitarian butI was embedded in a team of
people that were humanitariansand I fell in love with it.
So when I came back from Africa, I decided that I want to
(02:55):
dedicate my life to making adifference in the world, and so
I went to school.
I got my doctorate degree inorganizational development.
My dissertation was specific onnon-profit development, and so
I was either work for a bignon-profit or start my own
non-profit and what I was tryingto figure out, what I wanted to
(03:16):
do with my life.
A friend of mine put a post onFacebook and she said I'm moving
to and so all those memoriesback then what I was in Cuba
saying I want to go to Haiti.
I was like it was almost likethe universe was telling me this
is your time to go to Haiti.
So I didn't even think about it, I just I called her up and I
said I want to go to Haiti withyou, and so I graduated from
(03:38):
university on December of 2014.
In January 2015, I was alreadyin Haiti.
Now, when I was in Haiti, oneof the first things that I found
out was that there was thisgroup of children.
Usually, these are childrenfrom rural families, very large
families, and these familiesdon't have the means to raise
(04:00):
these children.
They don't have the means tofeed them, give them education,
provide medical care for them,and so what they do is they take
these children and they givethem to people in urban areas to
provide them with a better life.
What really ends up happeningis these kids become not only
physical slaves, but they alsobecome sexual slaves.
(04:22):
They become, they're treatedlike animals.
I mean, they're very, they'retreated really bad.
These children are calledrestavics, and last time I was
checked, there's more than407,000 restavics in Haiti.
Oh my gosh, and so I have neverbeen physically abused, but I
was sexually abused once as akid and I knew what the trauma
(04:46):
the trauma growing up I have toovercome to be able to, you know
, have the life that I have now.
So I figured, you know if I cantake what happened to me and
bring it here to Haiti and dosomething for these children.
Don't have anyone else here.
Maybe, you know, maybe I coulddo something for that, and so
that's how I started.
The first thing that I did iswhen I got my nonprofit my 501c3
(05:13):
, is, we took over a school thatwas in rural parts of Haiti.
We started bringing kids,providing education for them,
free education.
Then, eventually, we gotanother school.
We got a couple of children'scenters, a clinic.
Throughout the years, all wehave been doing is not only
providing education to thesechildren, but also providing
(05:35):
medical care for free, becausemost of them don't have access
to medical care.
And then also, we provide onemeal a day, because most of
these children don't eat everyday, and so we provide one meal
a day, because most of thechildren don't eat every day,
and so we provide one meal a day.
So we provide education,medical care and then
after-school classes through thechildren's programs, the
after-school programs, so thatwe help them do their homeworks,
(05:57):
because the parents are out inthe field working.
So we're providing, you know,we teach them English, help them
do their homework, et cetera,et cetera.
So the idea is to make surethat whatever is keeping the
families from providing themeducation, medical care, food
and it's a risk for the familiesto take them or to give them
(06:19):
away, for them to become breasttopics we take those risks out,
and so the Cuba children arebeing in those communities.
Chris Baker (06:32):
They're staying with their families, they are
educated, they're fed, all thatstuff I mean just talking about
through that whole entirejourney, I could really feel it,
what you're experiencing andseeing.
So I'm glad that thisorganization is here to really
make a difference.
Um, that's awful that I meanthere is, you know, these
children that are getting usedin this way, like this is just
(06:55):
you.
We would hope at this point inour evolution of humanity that
this wouldn't be a thing, but itunfortunately sounds like it
still is and it's still justreally hard.
So, as your foundation isactually working to end this
child slavery and the sextrafficking, what are some of
(07:18):
the collaborations that yourfoundation has had the
opportunity to work with, eitherfor-profit businesses or other
nonprofit businesses, to reallykind of move your mission
forward?
Andis Tamayo (07:29):
Right.
So we've worked a lot withorganizations in Haiti local
organizations.
My focus has always been tomake sure that I do as much as I
can locally, not only toprovide jobs for the people
there, but also to provideopportunities for the community
(07:50):
to support the work that we'redoing here in the United States.
I've worked with different inJacksonville that go with me on
a regular basis to providedental care.
I've also worked with AHF.
Chris Baker (08:07):
AHF, ahf.
Andis Tamayo (08:09):
Yeah, I worked with AHF.
One of the programs that Iwanted to implement was HIV
program, because the enemiesdidn't have that and there's a
lot of stigma related to it.
So we actually implemented thefirst HIV program in our
community in partnership withthe HF.
(08:32):
We did the tests, you know thetesting.
They gave out the condoms,provided all that they needed.
The HIV prevention program alsowas linked to tuberculosis and
everyone had tuberculosis.
We followed up with them.
Most of the follow-up was givenby IHF, but they provided us
(08:55):
with the money for us to startthe program.
There were other nonprofitorganizations here Our Fund
Foundation.
They provided money to thefoundation as well.
That's it.
Chris Baker (09:11):
So how does getting you know that assistance from,
let's say, let's go back to ourfund specifically?
So I mean, what kind ofcollaboration efforts did you
have to like go through to getthe funding from them?
Does that make sense?
Andis Tamayo (09:28):
Right, yeah, so a lot of our donors.
They put money in our fund andso there is a funder at Bouts, I
think it's called, and so theyask our fund to donate their
fund to their own foundation,our fund.
I also forgot to say thatanother collaboration that I
(09:49):
have had is through StartLink.
Chris Baker (09:53):
Okay, yeah.
Andis Tamayo (09:55):
We had a huge donation from StartLink.
I think it was nine StartLinksantennas that we were able to
put in all our schools,children's centers, clinics, you
name it and so, for the firsttime, in many of the communities
that we are, the children hadaccess to internet for like the
(10:15):
first time ever.
Oh, wow, it was really great.
Chris Baker (10:19):
Oh, wow, that's awesome.
On the other side of thecollaborations is sometimes
there's some challenges.
Of the collaborations issometimes there's some
challenges, either communicationor, you know, getting the right
resources to make everythinghappen.
So what are some of thechallenges that you've faced,
either working with otherorganizations or the lessons
that you've learned togetherwhile you're collaborating so
(10:42):
that you can do more benefits?
Andis Tamayo (10:44):
Well, I mean one of the main problems or issues
that we have had access to beingable to visit Haiti, especially
because I mean at the beginning, when I started going to Haiti,
I was there two or three weeksat a time every other month or
something like that.
Sometimes I spent a whole monthin Haiti.
Then, after a while, after thepandemic, I was only able to go
(11:09):
like four or six times a year.
Now I haven't been able to gosince last year, and that's been
a while.
Things are so chaotic right nowNot in the area that we are.
The city where we operate iscalled Jackmel.
It's like the fifth largestcity in Haiti.
Nothing is going on there.
It's very peaceful.
It's very safe.
(11:30):
There are no problems, noissues, no one is killing people
.
There's no gangs.
It's absolutely very safe.
But to get to the city I haveto fly into Port-au-Prince, and
that's where everything ishappening.
All the chaos is happening.
Chris Baker (11:43):
So it's the connection city.
Andis Tamayo (11:49):
So usually what I do is I fly from Port Lauderdale
to Port Prince and then I flyout to Jack Mill and that's not
a problem.
But since lately the flightshave been canceled, there's no
way for me to get there.
Chris Baker (11:58):
So that's the main issue, I know, okay.
Andis Tamayo (12:00):
But usually if we have flights, then we could just
go.
You know, fly to Port Prince,then fly to Jackal.
Chris Baker (12:06):
So how are some of the ways that you could navigate
that?
Or you could ask for assistanceto hopefully get you there.
Andis Tamayo (12:14):
Yeah, I mean if we can get like a private plane
that was straight to Jackal thatwould be great.
Chris Baker (12:21):
Yeah, no, that would definitely be the cure-all
for everything, absolutely.
But hopefully maybe some of youknow the viewers and people
that are watching the show rightnow.
You know what are some otherways that you can think of that
they could collaborate.
That may not just be donordollars, it may be other ways of
getting supplies, or maybe it'sa service that could help, you
(12:45):
know, in some other way.
Right?
Andis Tamayo (12:47):
or maybe it's a service that could help in some
other way, right?
So most of the biggest NGOs orbiggest organizations in Haiti
are in porpoise, not in theareas where we are Very few,
like, for instance, I know AHFit's in Jack Ryle but they're
already collaborating with uswhen it comes to medicine,
(13:07):
things like that.
That's usually what thedifficulty that we have
regarding Haiti, because most ofthe NGOs, most of the
organizations, are in thecapital and everything is closed
down.
And you know it's very hardWith Starlink.
I mean, we have the opportunityto be with Starlink, that you
(13:28):
know.
We can communicate with ourteachers.
We're going to communicate withour executive directors there.
We're going to communicate withthe students, whatever it is
that they need.
We could do Zoom calls and talkto them and everything, but
right now we're a little, youknow, limited to that what we
could do, going to edu yeah, forthe travel piece of it.
Chris Baker (13:49):
That's a little kind of a standstill at the
moment.
Um, so organizations likestarlink and that kind of
program that they've kind oflike helped you add in.
What other companies orpotential ideas could you think
of that could help in that samemanner?
Andis Tamayo (14:09):
I mean any organization that can help with
medicines, or any organizationthat can help with education,
any organization that can helpwith, I mean school systems that
could, for instance, teach ourstudents English.
That's one of the things thatwe do Teachers that want to join
and do a Zoom classroom orsomething like that.
(14:32):
We can help, we can get, we canuse that, because we have
started it now.
Things related to, for instance, one of the things that I
wanted to implement and Ihaven't been able to implement
is the PayPal program, wherechildren in the United States
can communicate with thechildren via Zoom in Haiti.
Okay, Kind of like a videoPayPal thing.
(14:54):
I mean things like that.
Those are things that we candefinitely use and collaborate
with other people.
Chris Baker (15:02):
I think that's a good ask, especially if that's
something that you were tryingto achieve.
Bringing that out and askingeven here on this show is a good
way to future project that intoreality, because hopefully
somebody that's listening mightbe able to go.
Oh, I know how I can help makethat happen.
Andis Tamayo (15:20):
The other thing that we can do is do telehealth.
Maybe a hand doctor in theUnited States that are willing
to see our patients there in theclinics.
That will help as well.
Chris Baker (15:31):
Yeah, I mean even just a couple hours a month.
Every little bit helps.
I like that that's an easierask, I think for just saying,
hey, doctors, come on If you canhelp one hour a month.
If you have 10 doctors, that's10 hours a month.
That's a huge, huge assistance.
So, through your education andyour health care services that
(15:54):
you're offering, can you shareone of the success stories that
really stand out that made adifference in one of these
child's lives?
Andis Tamayo (16:05):
Actually, the reason why I implemented the
dental program when I went toHaiti was because it was very
beginning.
I was out in the communityvisiting families filled in
children's, which is somethingthat I used to do all the time
when I was in Haiti and we'revisiting one of our kids from
one of our families the neighborwho was not one of our kids
(16:27):
from one of our families, theneighbor who was not one of our
families.
I saw the kid that was sittingin their porch their kid sitting
in their porch and this kid wascrying.
He was not happy at all.
And I saw that his cheek wasswollen and I asked you know?
We asked the parents what'sgoing on and said oh yes, he has
a tooth infection.
I requested the case managersthat worked for me to take the
(16:52):
kid to the dentist and I toldthe parents I'll pay for it,
just make sure that you take himto the dentist in town.
Yeah, mind you, we're talkingabout.
These families are in the ruralpart, not in town so right far
away from town and so I saw thekid that day, and then I went
back and then the next day Icame back to the united states.
Well, a week later I?
(17:14):
Um my camp managers called meand when I asked them about the
kid, they said, oh, the kid diedfrom a tooth infection.
And I was devastated.
I was like kid.
They said, oh, the kid diedfrom a tooth infection.
And I was devastated.
I was like, oh my God, I couldhave saved this kid.
He was only five years old andso as soon as this happened, I
mean I spent like a whole monthtrying to figure out how can I
avoid this from happening again.
(17:34):
And so I called a friend of minewho was a dentist in El
Salvador and he was working fora dental office in Jacksonville,
and I said, I told him we haveto implement a dental program.
We cannot, we cannot do thisanymore.
So he put a group together andwe went to Haiti uh, three times
, four, five times um withdentist, dentists, denturogynist
(17:58):
, and every time that we wouldgo we would see, you know,
hundreds of children, not onlythe children in our, in our, in
our, under our program, but alsochildren in the community.
And then we'll see families,their parents and stuff like
that.
So we implemented this dentalprogram and, even though I'm not
bringing dentists right now,what?
(18:18):
What we have done is we hired alocal dentist from town and
then they're coming to ourcommunities to provide dental
service.
Chris Baker (18:27):
Oh God.
Andis Tamayo (18:28):
And it's funny because yesterday the managing
director in Haiti took pictureson Facebook.
I already put them on my faceon Facebook and it says it was a
person, a gentleman from thecommunity, who walked 10
kilometers to go to our clinicto be seen by our dentist, and
(18:51):
the dentist told our managingdirector I would have charged
him $400 in my private clinic tosee him and here, with the
Renown Foundation, he's beingseen and he's not paying
anything for it.
So that's huge, huge, hugethings that has happened now.
All the things that we aredoing.
I mean the fact that we areable to provide one meal a day.
(19:13):
Most of the kids in ourcommunities.
They don't eat every day.
In fact, the way that familiesin Haiti, because they don't
have money to buy everything.
What they do is, for instance,mom in the morning make a pot of
fries or a pot of beans orwhatever, whatever they have
available, and then every timesomeone in the family is hungry,
(19:37):
they come and they grab onespoon and then they eat one
spoon or two spoon from the potand then they walk away and then
two or three hours later, whenthey're hungry, they do that.
So they, these people's, doingit every day when they do it,
the day is little by little.
Yeah, they entertain in,they're not hungry.
So one of the things that weimplemented is we all our
(19:57):
children's in our school and ourchildren centers they get one
meal.
The things that we implementedis we all our children in our
school and our children'scenters they get one meal a day.
That's amazing.
A lot of the food that we buy,a lot of the vegetables,
plantains, whatever, meat,whatever that we give them, we
buy them from the local farmers.
So not only are we providingfood for our kids, but we're
(20:20):
also fomenting the economy ofthe local farmers.
Some of those families are thefamilies that we also help the
kids with.
Chris Baker (20:28):
So that's amazing.
It's a nice circle coming backto help.
Yeah, that's awesome.
So, looking ahead, what aresome of the strategies that your
foundation is actually lookingto empower the unprivileged
children in Haiti and how canyou expand that impact a little
(20:49):
bit further?
Andis Tamayo (20:50):
Well, I mean, right now we have two elementary
schools and three children'scenters.
Our vision for the future is tobe able to build a secondary
school, middle school, highschool and then eventually to be
able to build a trade school.
I mean, that's the main finalgoal, right?
Yeah, we can take the child allthe way from kindergarten to
(21:13):
they graduate, and we're notthinking about a university,
we're just thinking about thingsthat they can actually practice
in Haiti, like you know, be amechanic, mechanic, a
cosmetologist, a barber, thingslike that.
Things that they can actuallygraduate and then go and work
and earn a living out of thatright, oh, awesome, I like that.
Chris Baker (21:34):
Having a trade school giving them a full round
education, okay, awesome,awesome.
So, as we wrap up the episodehere, one I'm going to ask this
first, how do people getinvolved?
So how do they reach you to?
You know, assist these childrenand the foundation itself.
Andis Tamayo (21:53):
Well, we do have a website, renownfoundationorg.
We also have a phone number.
People can reach me at my phonenumber, 954-558-8895, via email
, atamayo at renownfoundationorg.
My team of people here is verysmall.
Most of the people that workfor the Renown Foundation are in
(22:16):
Haiti.
I personally designed it likethat, so you know I have it's me
.
Now there's a new executivedirector coming up and then we
have a director of operations asour team here and, obviously,
our board of directors.
We are also looking for toexpand the board of directors.
Okay, we can get more peopleinterested in becoming members
(22:39):
of the board of directors andjoining us.
That would be great.
We're also looking to expandour advisory committee, which is
people that help us with theirfundraisers, with the gala and
things like that, sure, soanyone who wants to be involved
with that would be great.
Chris Baker (22:57):
No, yeah, Building a board is very important and
expands your resources and helpsa lot, so all right.
So my favorite question that Iask everybody that's on the show
is what is the legacy you hopeto leave through your work for
future generations?
Andis Tamayo (23:15):
I mean.
I think that more from apersonal perspective.
I know that I came to thisworld to make a difference in
the world, and so that is thelegacy from my personal
perspective, with thegenerations that I'm touching in
life.
I'm hoping that these kids inHaiti get to transform their
(23:37):
country and make a difference intheir country as well transform
their country and make adifference in their country as
well.
I hope that at one point in thefuture there are not more rest
of X in Haiti.
Chris Baker (23:55):
I hope children in Haiti can have the same freedom
that all the children in otherparts of the world have.
No, that's a beautiful legacyto envision and I think you are
making huge steps towards thatand we really appreciate it.
So thank you so much for beingon the show.
If you're looking to get moreinvolved, please reach out to
the Renard Foundation and jointheir board.
So thank you again for comingon.
(24:17):
Thank you Appreciate it.
Thank you for joining me onthis episode of Visual Eyes.
We hope that the inspirationand practical insights can help
you foster stronger connectionsand meaningful change.
Don't forget to subscribe,share the episode and leave us a
review.
To learn more about Visuals byMomo and how we support
(24:38):
collaboration and storytelling,visit visualsbymomo.
com.
A huge thank you to everyoneout there listening.
Until next time, remember,collaboration fuels change and
your connections can inspire theworld.
Chris Baker, and each week we'll explore
incredible connections betweennonprofits, businesses and the
community.
This is a space where wehighlight inspiring partnerships
, uncover strategies forcreating meaningful impact and
share stories that show howworking together can make all
the difference.
Whether you're a nonprofitleader, a business owner or
(00:28):
someone just passionate aboutbuilding connections, this
podcast is for you.
Welcome back to .
Today I have a special guest,Dr Tamayo, and he is with the
Ranyard Foundation.
Did I say?
Andis Tamayo (00:43):
that right?
Chris Baker (00:44):
Renand Foundation, Renand Foundation.
Did I say that right?
Renan Foundation, renanFoundation.
So tell us a little bit abouthow you got this foundation
started and why it got started,All right, so the Renand
Foundation started.
Andis Tamayo (00:58):
I mean, I fell in love with Haiti when I was 16,
17 years old.
I lived in Cuba and in Cuba wehad to study a book that is
called the Kingdom of this World.
It was written by AlejoCarpentier, who's a Cuban writer
.
He's already dead, but anyways,the book is a novel, but it's
based on the Haitian Revolution,so a lot of the stories are
(01:20):
related in the book, are realstories from the Haitian
Revolution, are related in thebook, are real stories from the
Haitian Revolution, and I just,I mean, I read the book like 20
times and I really fell in lovewith the Haitian Revolution,
with the historic facts,everything that happened in
Haiti and you know, back then inCuba, I always thought about,
like maybe one day I will govisit Haiti and I will go to all
(01:43):
these places that the bookdescribes and everything.
But two years after I finishedmy high school, I actually yeah,
two years after I finished highschool, I actually came from
Cuba.
I came from Cuba in a boat andthat's the whole story, Anyways.
But after arriving here, Ibasically, you know, I did
(02:04):
everything that everyone, everyimmigrant, goes here, goes to
school, works three or four mainjobs and et depression where I
decided that I didn't want to doanymore what I was doing.
I had the opportunity back thenof visiting Africa to do a
(02:35):
little bit of volunteer workwith the US government and I
absolutely fell in love withhumanitarian work, because I was
now going as a humanitarian butI was embedded in a team of
people that were humanitariansand I fell in love with it.
So when I came back from Africa, I decided that I want to
(02:55):
dedicate my life to making adifference in the world, and so
I went to school.
I got my doctorate degree inorganizational development.
My dissertation was specific onnon-profit development, and so
I was either work for a bignon-profit or start my own
non-profit and what I was tryingto figure out, what I wanted to
(03:16):
do with my life.
A friend of mine put a post onFacebook and she said I'm moving
to and so all those memoriesback then what I was in Cuba
saying I want to go to Haiti.
I was like it was almost likethe universe was telling me this
is your time to go to Haiti.
So I didn't even think about it, I just I called her up and I
said I want to go to Haiti withyou, and so I graduated from
(03:38):
university on December of 2014.
In January 2015, I was alreadyin Haiti.
Now, when I was in Haiti, oneof the first things that I found
out was that there was thisgroup of children.
Usually, these are childrenfrom rural families, very large
families, and these familiesdon't have the means to raise
(04:00):
these children.
They don't have the means tofeed them, give them education,
provide medical care for them,and so what they do is they take
these children and they givethem to people in urban areas to
provide them with a better life.
What really ends up happeningis these kids become not only
physical slaves, but they alsobecome sexual slaves.
(04:22):
They become, they're treatedlike animals.
I mean, they're very, they'retreated really bad.
These children are calledrestavics, and last time I was
checked, there's more than407,000 restavics in Haiti.
Oh my gosh, and so I have neverbeen physically abused, but I
was sexually abused once as akid and I knew what the trauma
(04:46):
the trauma growing up I have toovercome to be able to, you know
, have the life that I have now.
So I figured, you know if I cantake what happened to me and
bring it here to Haiti and dosomething for these children.
Don't have anyone else here.
Maybe, you know, maybe I coulddo something for that, and so
that's how I started.
The first thing that I did iswhen I got my nonprofit my 501c3
(05:13):
, is, we took over a school thatwas in rural parts of Haiti.
We started bringing kids,providing education for them,
free education.
Then, eventually, we gotanother school.
We got a couple of children'scenters, a clinic.
Throughout the years, all wehave been doing is not only
providing education to thesechildren, but also providing
(05:35):
medical care for free, becausemost of them don't have access
to medical care.
And then also, we provide onemeal a day, because most of
these children don't eat everyday, and so we provide one meal
a day, because most of thechildren don't eat every day,
and so we provide one meal a day.
So we provide education,medical care and then
after-school classes through thechildren's programs, the
after-school programs, so thatwe help them do their homeworks,
(05:57):
because the parents are out inthe field working.
So we're providing, you know,we teach them English, help them
do their homework, et cetera,et cetera.
So the idea is to make surethat whatever is keeping the
families from providing themeducation, medical care, food
and it's a risk for the familiesto take them or to give them
(06:19):
away, for them to become breasttopics we take those risks out,
and so the Cuba children arebeing in those communities.
Chris Baker (06:32):
They're staying with their families, they are
educated, they're fed, all thatstuff I mean just talking about
through that whole entirejourney, I could really feel it,
what you're experiencing andseeing.
So I'm glad that thisorganization is here to really
make a difference.
Um, that's awful that I meanthere is, you know, these
children that are getting usedin this way, like this is just
(06:55):
you.
We would hope at this point inour evolution of humanity that
this wouldn't be a thing, but itunfortunately sounds like it
still is and it's still justreally hard.
So, as your foundation isactually working to end this
child slavery and the sextrafficking, what are some of
(07:18):
the collaborations that yourfoundation has had the
opportunity to work with, eitherfor-profit businesses or other
nonprofit businesses, to reallykind of move your mission
forward?
Andis Tamayo (07:29):
Right.
So we've worked a lot withorganizations in Haiti local
organizations.
My focus has always been tomake sure that I do as much as I
can locally, not only toprovide jobs for the people
there, but also to provideopportunities for the community
(07:50):
to support the work that we'redoing here in the United States.
I've worked with different inJacksonville that go with me on
a regular basis to providedental care.
I've also worked with AHF.
Chris Baker (08:07):
AHF, ahf.
Andis Tamayo (08:09):
Yeah, I worked with AHF.
One of the programs that Iwanted to implement was HIV
program, because the enemiesdidn't have that and there's a
lot of stigma related to it.
So we actually implemented thefirst HIV program in our
community in partnership withthe HF.
(08:32):
We did the tests, you know thetesting.
They gave out the condoms,provided all that they needed.
The HIV prevention program alsowas linked to tuberculosis and
everyone had tuberculosis.
We followed up with them.
Most of the follow-up was givenby IHF, but they provided us
(08:55):
with the money for us to startthe program.
There were other nonprofitorganizations here Our Fund
Foundation.
They provided money to thefoundation as well.
That's it.
Chris Baker (09:11):
So how does getting you know that assistance from,
let's say, let's go back to ourfund specifically?
So I mean, what kind ofcollaboration efforts did you
have to like go through to getthe funding from them?
Does that make sense?
Andis Tamayo (09:28):
Right, yeah, so a lot of our donors.
They put money in our fund andso there is a funder at Bouts, I
think it's called, and so theyask our fund to donate their
fund to their own foundation,our fund.
I also forgot to say thatanother collaboration that I
(09:49):
have had is through StartLink.
Chris Baker (09:53):
Okay, yeah.
Andis Tamayo (09:55):
We had a huge donation from StartLink.
I think it was nine StartLinksantennas that we were able to
put in all our schools,children's centers, clinics, you
name it and so, for the firsttime, in many of the communities
that we are, the children hadaccess to internet for like the
(10:15):
first time ever.
Oh, wow, it was really great.
Chris Baker (10:19):
Oh, wow, that's awesome.
On the other side of thecollaborations is sometimes
there's some challenges.
Of the collaborations issometimes there's some
challenges, either communicationor, you know, getting the right
resources to make everythinghappen.
So what are some of thechallenges that you've faced,
either working with otherorganizations or the lessons
that you've learned togetherwhile you're collaborating so
(10:42):
that you can do more benefits?
Andis Tamayo (10:44):
Well, I mean one of the main problems or issues
that we have had access to beingable to visit Haiti, especially
because I mean at the beginning, when I started going to Haiti,
I was there two or three weeksat a time every other month or
something like that.
Sometimes I spent a whole monthin Haiti.
Then, after a while, after thepandemic, I was only able to go
(11:09):
like four or six times a year.
Now I haven't been able to gosince last year, and that's been
a while.
Things are so chaotic right nowNot in the area that we are.
The city where we operate iscalled Jackmel.
It's like the fifth largestcity in Haiti.
Nothing is going on there.
It's very peaceful.
It's very safe.
(11:30):
There are no problems, noissues, no one is killing people
.
There's no gangs.
It's absolutely very safe.
But to get to the city I haveto fly into Port-au-Prince, and
that's where everything ishappening.
All the chaos is happening.
Chris Baker (11:43):
So it's the connection city.
Andis Tamayo (11:49):
So usually what I do is I fly from Port Lauderdale
to Port Prince and then I flyout to Jack Mill and that's not
a problem.
But since lately the flightshave been canceled, there's no
way for me to get there.
Chris Baker (11:58):
So that's the main issue, I know, okay.
Andis Tamayo (12:00):
But usually if we have flights, then we could just
go.
You know, fly to Port Prince,then fly to Jackal.
Chris Baker (12:06):
So how are some of the ways that you could navigate
that?
Or you could ask for assistanceto hopefully get you there.
Andis Tamayo (12:14):
Yeah, I mean if we can get like a private plane
that was straight to Jackal thatwould be great.
Chris Baker (12:21):
Yeah, no, that would definitely be the cure-all
for everything, absolutely.
But hopefully maybe some of youknow the viewers and people
that are watching the show rightnow.
You know what are some otherways that you can think of that
they could collaborate.
That may not just be donordollars, it may be other ways of
getting supplies, or maybe it'sa service that could help, you
(12:45):
know, in some other way.
Right?
Andis Tamayo (12:47):
or maybe it's a service that could help in some
other way, right?
So most of the biggest NGOs orbiggest organizations in Haiti
are in porpoise, not in theareas where we are Very few,
like, for instance, I know AHFit's in Jack Ryle but they're
already collaborating with uswhen it comes to medicine,
(13:07):
things like that.
That's usually what thedifficulty that we have
regarding Haiti, because most ofthe NGOs, most of the
organizations, are in thecapital and everything is closed
down.
And you know it's very hardWith Starlink.
I mean, we have the opportunityto be with Starlink, that you
(13:28):
know.
We can communicate with ourteachers.
We're going to communicate withour executive directors there.
We're going to communicate withthe students, whatever it is
that they need.
We could do Zoom calls and talkto them and everything, but
right now we're a little, youknow, limited to that what we
could do, going to edu yeah, forthe travel piece of it.
Chris Baker (13:49):
That's a little kind of a standstill at the
moment.
Um, so organizations likestarlink and that kind of
program that they've kind oflike helped you add in.
What other companies orpotential ideas could you think
of that could help in that samemanner?
Andis Tamayo (14:09):
I mean any organization that can help with
medicines, or any organizationthat can help with education,
any organization that can helpwith, I mean school systems that
could, for instance, teach ourstudents English.
That's one of the things thatwe do Teachers that want to join
and do a Zoom classroom orsomething like that.
(14:32):
We can help, we can get, we canuse that, because we have
started it now.
Things related to, for instance, one of the things that I
wanted to implement and Ihaven't been able to implement
is the PayPal program, wherechildren in the United States
can communicate with thechildren via Zoom in Haiti.
Okay, Kind of like a videoPayPal thing.
(14:54):
I mean things like that.
Those are things that we candefinitely use and collaborate
with other people.
Chris Baker (15:02):
I think that's a good ask, especially if that's
something that you were tryingto achieve.
Bringing that out and askingeven here on this show is a good
way to future project that intoreality, because hopefully
somebody that's listening mightbe able to go.
Oh, I know how I can help makethat happen.
Andis Tamayo (15:20):
The other thing that we can do is do telehealth.
Maybe a hand doctor in theUnited States that are willing
to see our patients there in theclinics.
That will help as well.
Chris Baker (15:31):
Yeah, I mean even just a couple hours a month.
Every little bit helps.
I like that that's an easierask, I think for just saying,
hey, doctors, come on If you canhelp one hour a month.
If you have 10 doctors, that's10 hours a month.
That's a huge, huge assistance.
So, through your education andyour health care services that
(15:54):
you're offering, can you shareone of the success stories that
really stand out that made adifference in one of these
child's lives?
Andis Tamayo (16:05):
Actually, the reason why I implemented the
dental program when I went toHaiti was because it was very
beginning.
I was out in the communityvisiting families filled in
children's, which is somethingthat I used to do all the time
when I was in Haiti and we'revisiting one of our kids from
one of our families the neighborwho was not one of our kids
(16:27):
from one of our families, theneighbor who was not one of our
families.
I saw the kid that was sittingin their porch their kid sitting
in their porch and this kid wascrying.
He was not happy at all.
And I saw that his cheek wasswollen and I asked you know?
We asked the parents what'sgoing on and said oh yes, he has
a tooth infection.
I requested the case managersthat worked for me to take the
(16:52):
kid to the dentist and I toldthe parents I'll pay for it,
just make sure that you take himto the dentist in town.
Yeah, mind you, we're talkingabout.
These families are in the ruralpart, not in town so right far
away from town and so I saw thekid that day, and then I went
back and then the next day Icame back to the united states.
Well, a week later I?
(17:14):
Um my camp managers called meand when I asked them about the
kid, they said, oh, the kid diedfrom a tooth infection.
And I was devastated.
I was like kid.
They said, oh, the kid diedfrom a tooth infection.
And I was devastated.
I was like, oh my God, I couldhave saved this kid.
He was only five years old andso as soon as this happened, I
mean I spent like a whole monthtrying to figure out how can I
avoid this from happening again.
(17:34):
And so I called a friend of minewho was a dentist in El
Salvador and he was working fora dental office in Jacksonville,
and I said, I told him we haveto implement a dental program.
We cannot, we cannot do thisanymore.
So he put a group together andwe went to Haiti uh, three times
, four, five times um withdentist, dentists, denturogynist
(17:58):
, and every time that we wouldgo we would see, you know,
hundreds of children, not onlythe children in our, in our, in
our, under our program, but alsochildren in the community.
And then we'll see families,their parents and stuff like
that.
So we implemented this dentalprogram and, even though I'm not
bringing dentists right now,what?
(18:18):
What we have done is we hired alocal dentist from town and
then they're coming to ourcommunities to provide dental
service.
Chris Baker (18:27):
Oh God.
Andis Tamayo (18:28):
And it's funny because yesterday the managing
director in Haiti took pictureson Facebook.
I already put them on my faceon Facebook and it says it was a
person, a gentleman from thecommunity, who walked 10
kilometers to go to our clinicto be seen by our dentist, and
(18:51):
the dentist told our managingdirector I would have charged
him $400 in my private clinic tosee him and here, with the
Renown Foundation, he's beingseen and he's not paying
anything for it.
So that's huge, huge, hugethings that has happened now.
All the things that we aredoing.
I mean the fact that we areable to provide one meal a day.
(19:13):
Most of the kids in ourcommunities.
They don't eat every day.
In fact, the way that familiesin Haiti, because they don't
have money to buy everything.
What they do is, for instance,mom in the morning make a pot of
fries or a pot of beans orwhatever, whatever they have
available, and then every timesomeone in the family is hungry,
(19:37):
they come and they grab onespoon and then they eat one
spoon or two spoon from the potand then they walk away and then
two or three hours later, whenthey're hungry, they do that.
So they, these people's, doingit every day when they do it,
the day is little by little.
Yeah, they entertain in,they're not hungry.
So one of the things that weimplemented is we all our
(19:57):
children's in our school and ourchildren centers they get one
meal.
The things that we implementedis we all our children in our
school and our children'scenters they get one meal a day.
That's amazing.
A lot of the food that we buy,a lot of the vegetables,
plantains, whatever, meat,whatever that we give them, we
buy them from the local farmers.
So not only are we providingfood for our kids, but we're
(20:20):
also fomenting the economy ofthe local farmers.
Some of those families are thefamilies that we also help the
kids with.
Chris Baker (20:28):
So that's amazing.
It's a nice circle coming backto help.
Yeah, that's awesome.
So, looking ahead, what aresome of the strategies that your
foundation is actually lookingto empower the unprivileged
children in Haiti and how canyou expand that impact a little
(20:49):
bit further?
Andis Tamayo (20:50):
Well, I mean, right now we have two elementary
schools and three children'scenters.
Our vision for the future is tobe able to build a secondary
school, middle school, highschool and then eventually to be
able to build a trade school.
I mean, that's the main finalgoal, right?
Yeah, we can take the child allthe way from kindergarten to
(21:13):
they graduate, and we're notthinking about a university,
we're just thinking about thingsthat they can actually practice
in Haiti, like you know, be amechanic, mechanic, a
cosmetologist, a barber, thingslike that.
Things that they can actuallygraduate and then go and work
and earn a living out of thatright, oh, awesome, I like that.
Chris Baker (21:34):
Having a trade school giving them a full round
education, okay, awesome,awesome.
So, as we wrap up the episodehere, one I'm going to ask this
first, how do people getinvolved?
So how do they reach you to?
You know, assist these childrenand the foundation itself.
Andis Tamayo (21:53):
Well, we do have a website, renownfoundationorg.
We also have a phone number.
People can reach me at my phonenumber, 954-558-8895, via email
, atamayo at renownfoundationorg.
My team of people here is verysmall.
Most of the people that workfor the Renown Foundation are in
(22:16):
Haiti.
I personally designed it likethat, so you know I have it's me
.
Now there's a new executivedirector coming up and then we
have a director of operations asour team here and, obviously,
our board of directors.
We are also looking for toexpand the board of directors.
Okay, we can get more peopleinterested in becoming members
(22:39):
of the board of directors andjoining us.
That would be great.
We're also looking to expandour advisory committee, which is
people that help us with theirfundraisers, with the gala and
things like that, sure, soanyone who wants to be involved
with that would be great.
Chris Baker (22:57):
No, yeah, Building a board is very important and
expands your resources and helpsa lot, so all right.
So my favorite question that Iask everybody that's on the show
is what is the legacy you hopeto leave through your work for
future generations?
Andis Tamayo (23:15):
I mean.
I think that more from apersonal perspective.
I know that I came to thisworld to make a difference in
the world, and so that is thelegacy from my personal
perspective, with thegenerations that I'm touching in
life.
I'm hoping that these kids inHaiti get to transform their
(23:37):
country and make a difference intheir country as well transform
their country and make adifference in their country as
well.
I hope that at one point in thefuture there are not more rest
of X in Haiti.
Chris Baker (23:55):
I hope children in Haiti can have the same freedom
that all the children in otherparts of the world have.
No, that's a beautiful legacyto envision and I think you are
making huge steps towards thatand we really appreciate it.
So thank you so much for beingon the show.
If you're looking to get moreinvolved, please reach out to
the Renard Foundation and jointheir board.
So thank you again for comingon.
(24:17):
Thank you Appreciate it.
Thank you for joining me onthis episode of Visual Eyes.
We hope that the inspirationand practical insights can help
you foster stronger connectionsand meaningful change.
Don't forget to subscribe,share the episode and leave us a
review.
To learn more about Visuals byMomo and how we support
(24:38):
collaboration and storytelling,visit visualsbymomo.
com.
A huge thank you to everyoneout there listening.
Until next time, remember,collaboration fuels change and
your connections can inspire theworld.
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