Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The views and opinions expressed in the following programmer those
of the speaker and don't necessarily represent those of the station.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
It's staff, management or ownership. Good morning, you'll find out
with Pete the Poe Cold.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm Peter Leonard and I'm the poet Gold.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And we're on the air this morning with people from
the Haiti Project. That's Vile the Mead and Lily Mead.
The Haiti Project is familiar to you because you might
remember it as the Vasa Haiti Project, but no longer
is the Haiti Project. Before we get to all the
new innovations going on with the Haiti Project, we're going
to go right to the poet Cold for her weekly
prayer poem incantation on Cold, let it roll.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Thank you, Peter.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I'm going to read this morning the baron nothing is
ever truly barren, Avoid empty space. Time commences the same
place it stops. Dry land was once fertile ground, glistening
with morning. Do Darkness offers the gift of introspection, a
heart broken hold within its crevice, a seed of healing.
(01:00):
The universe is full of dreamers, even if they can't
always see the stars. Nothing is ever truly barren. Avoid
empty space.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Into space, interstellar spaces, and into human spaces, right, I
have to avoid them. Let's go. I'm really eager to
catch up to some of the events with the Haiti
project now I know. It was just a couple of
weeks ago you had an event celebrating several decades of
the Haiti Project, and that was a very successful event,
(01:32):
concentrating on some of the students who have had over
the years at VASA who went into the medical field
because of their experience in Haiti with you and the
project that you and your husband found it. I'll give
us a sense of that. I would like you for
the whole thing away in the question.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
You know more about our project than I do, Peter,
But anyway, I will tell you it was a wonderful success.
The ardent soul Gallo. It was our thirteenth year of
doing it, and we raise funds for a year of
medical care for over three thousand patients in Haiti. Over
(02:09):
the year. We pay the doctor salaries, we pay the staff,
the nurse and the other staff, and then we also
pay for medications for the for the patients. And patients
come from forty seven villages to our clinic because it's
the only healthcare that is available in the in the region.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, I don't know more about the Haiti Priducces than
you do, but what I am on a bayish in
other words, I'm not modest about things the way you are.
And what the Haiti Project does that buys are in
Haiti at a fair market price and sells it in
America at a fair market price and with the profit
(02:52):
between the two countries. The Haiti Project has built a
clinic five hours outside the port of Prince two hours
up the mountain was basically the jungle. So yeah, you know,
a medical clinical education.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Thing, kids, primary school, yees and.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Women's group, as well as planting over fifty thousand trees.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Now I also know that you have a loan program
for the women. Can you talk about how that actually works.
I love that you asked that thought. We just started.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
We've been working with the women because women in Haiti,
they say women are poto Mitan. They are the backbone
of society and they're very, very strong, and so we've started.
When we used to go to Haiti, we can't. We
haven't been for six years because of the gang violence,
and we would be a target if we went so
(03:53):
so we haven't been able to go. So we've been
trying to think of new ways of supporting the women.
And what we did was a test program for fifteen
women who already have like little businesses. If I say business,
you're thinking of, you know, like a store. Here this
is they're selling fruits and vegetables from their gardens, or
(04:14):
shoes or that they've made, or something very rudimentary. And
we gave five thousand dollars to this group of fifteen women,
and we gave them five months to pay back the
money that we lent them. Each woman got between one
hundred and five hundred dollars depending on when they need
(04:35):
on an interview with them, yes, and we met with
them over zoom. We met the women and we had
a translator and we spoke about, you know, how important
this program was and that it was a test and
if they were paid the loans, then you know, we
would you know, offer more money to more people. And
so here we are six months later, the women, the
(04:58):
fifteen women have replaced repaid all their loans, and now
we're going to do the next phase, which is another
fifteen women. So we're going to have thirty women. Now
we're going to give the initial five thousand dollars back
to the first group, and then we've raised another five thousand,
we're going to do that with the second group.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
That's wonderful and so if individuals wanted to contribute to that, Yes,
they can go to your website as a way, Yes
for them to donate.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Yes, just click that little donate button and just put
you know, for your reason, you know, to donate to
the women's cooperative.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Now, logistically in Haiti, where are the women selling their products?
Because I know that it's hard now to get into
the city areas because of the gang.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Yes, that's right. So where our village is, our main
village that we support, Sumat it's two hours up the mountain,
as Peter said, So they're all living on little pieces
of proper and they're growing vegetables or they're doing whatever
they're doing. So they walked down the mountain across seventeen
(06:07):
riverbeds to the marketplace and that marketplace is open three
times a week.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You know, we're lucky enough to have Lily with us today.
And Lily has an absolutely distinct perspective on this because
her parents started the Haiti project. How many years ago
on like twenty three.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Years ago, twenty three years ago, twenty three.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Years ago, And so you must have been a little
kid when they were starting, and so you grew up
with this educational project and human develop international human development projects.
And I just wonder if you have any thoughts on
how that affected you as a kid growing up around
(06:54):
on such an ambitious and successful project.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
Oh yeah, certainly. I was nine years old when the
project started. It was just after nine to eleven, and
my mom and dad wanted they said, it's it's time,
we really want to make a difference in the world.
And they set just such a wonderful example for my
sister and I of what true transformation is and what
(07:21):
it takes, the hard work that it takes. They both
have full time jobs. My dad works a faster and
my mom has her own business, and they both did
this outside of that. So they you know, they were
up at six am and they were in bed at
eleven pm. They just worked around the clock every day
tirelessly because they really wanted to, you know, be the
(07:42):
change they wanted to see in the world. And of
course it was just it was inspiring to both my
sister and I My sister works for a nonprofit now,
and I also want to go into wildlife conservations, so
I think I think it had a good effect.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Yourself.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
I did. Yeah, I went with my dad in twenty fourteen.
We went in January twenty fourteen, and it was something
I'll never forget. I've been many places around the world,
but I'll never forget what it was like being in Haiti.
And we went to the village up to Shrimet, and
(08:20):
I actually got really sick on the trip. Once we landed,
I had this horrible throat pain and it turned out
to be tonselatus and it just kept getting worse and worse.
Thank God, there was a medical clinic and girl Morn,
which is the last kind of big village before you
can go to Shrimet, which is just very remote, and
(08:44):
we were still in the process of building our clinic
at that time. So thank God for that access to
medical care that I had. I was able to get
antibiotics and get better. It was just really a true
demonstration of how critical and crucial the clinic that we
built ourselves is, because now all those villagers can actually
(09:07):
go to a clinic.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
And yeah, if you're just tuning in.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
You're listening to finding out with Pete and the poet Gold,
and I'm the poet Gold. And we're here with Lylah Me,
the founder of the Haiti Project, which is located now
with the Family Partnership Center.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Correct, that's correct.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
And we're also here with her daughter, Lily, who is
now working with the Haiti Project as well. So you know,
I grew up in a nonprofit environment. My mom too,
worked with a nonprofit during my formative years, and I
know that it had such a great impact. You know,
you recognize that as you reflect and wind up in
certain spaces how much those formative years what you were
(09:42):
surrounded with and your leadership and Andrew's leadership in developing this,
this nonprofit. So you're going to go into wildlife conservation.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Yeah, that's the dream. I ended up doing my bachelor's
degree in marine science and biology and my master's as well,
and in science research. I'm applying for PhDs and I've
done research in fish community ecology and coral refrustation. So
(10:13):
my dream, and who knows if I'll ever reach this,
but my dream is to work on coral refrustoration in
underdeveloped countries that have coastal communities which really rely on
the well being of coral reefs for fish, for sustenance,
for income for the fishermen, and also coastal protection because
(10:35):
coral reefs mitigate wave of action and provide actually really
life saving care for coastal communities in many, many ways.
So that's just.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
My takes yourself right, what you give us the audience
a sense of when a young person is and I
have that.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Well, dreams.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Just I'm going to say this, just make sure you
have a plan, and obviously you do, you know, and
h and execute the plans. I was working on my
book last night that I'm wrapping up, and it's called
Be the poem Living Beyond Our Fears and and one
of this one of the sections I talk about how
I don't but there are certain idioms I don't. I
don't support. I think that undermine, you know, our direction
(11:23):
in life. And one of us chase your dreams. And
you think about the word chase. You know, I people
say chase your dreams. Chase your dreams, Well, you know
you're in pursuit of something right, which is which is good.
But chasing doesn't necessarily imply that you're going to catch it,
you know you you bring it up a level and
make a plan for yourself and execute and decide what
dream you want to manifest, and then the odds are
you're going to get that dream.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
You're not just chasing it. Create your dream right, creating
it right exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Well, this is the more severous side of gold. You
don't chase anything your plan and you get no goal denial.
Who have known each other over the years very similar
in that way, the mild disposition melts away, vanishes when
(12:10):
accomplishment as possible.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Let's get into action and do it it. Don't tell
us all the problems, just make it happen.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Well, that's honestly. That's how you get a project like
this with so much success, is that you don't stop
taking actions even when you're met with failures and setbacks.
You never stop going after because you know you're doing
the right thing and people depend on you too.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
So yeah, and I noticed when you chalked about your
own illness when you were in Haiti, which is, you know,
being sick in a foreign country is like a complete nightmare.
But said before our clinical was finished, before we built
our clinical, use the word we and so you've felt
a part of, you know, the founding and the excution
(13:00):
of the clinic all the way along. So I mean
there's a way in which you're already a very successful
international developer.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
She actually was the birth of the idea of building
a solar lab. So where this, where these villages are,
there's no electricity, and so the doctor, you know, he
looks at you and says, oh, I think you have this,
you know, with no diagnostic tools. So we were able
with rotary to build a solar lab. And we're just
(13:35):
accumulating all the machines for that right now. But that
was Lily's idea when she went she said, you need electricity, right,
what did you say?
Speaker 5 (13:45):
It wasn't a few until a few years later. I
was at the University of Miami and I was in
a sustainability course and we had to come up with
a product with an idea and how you would implement
it in order to provide some sort of sustainable action
in a place that needed it. And I it was
very obvious to me what my project and what my
(14:08):
idea was going to be. And so that was what
h planted the seed. Anyway, and now the solar panels
are installed on the roof of the clinic. And I mean,
just think of all the different kinds of medical care
that have now been expanded thanks to electricity access in
the clinic itself.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I mean, I've never been to Haiti and I'm not
going to go. But two things has struck me about
this the Haiti project is One is how genuinely remote
it is. I'm like, if you have to walk up
a hill for two hours to get to the clinical,
not a hill, it's a mountain, okay, Yet that.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
We have hills in valley, so.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
You really, you know, way out there up a mountain
in Haiti and they're a little village. And what does
a village comprise me?
Speaker 4 (15:11):
I know, we don't have a paradigm for it. Actually,
it's very hard to explain. Actually the school is now
the center of the village because it's just a scattering
of houses. You know, there's no main street, there's no
it's just people living in homes in the mountains.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
That's that's a fair How many kids you have in
school though.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
In the school we have it fluctuates between one hundred
and fifty and two hundred and fifty.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Now this year it's a little bit less because parents
are afraid to have their children go out because of
the gangs.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
You have a school and a medical clinic up there
that has you know, real doctors in it, and the
medical community in the Hudson Valley has been very generous
with their time, money and expert Yes.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
So, yeah, we have a medical advisory board of about
ten local physicians who help us. They oversee the clinic
on some level, because really the people in Haiti are
experts about you know, what Haitian people need, but they
also confer with Western technology and information medical information. But yeah,
(16:26):
these doctors have helped us raise a lot of money
every year to support the clinic, and that clinic is
very very important. Actually in the history of the vass
Or Haiti project. Seven of the students who went to
Haiti are now actual physicians, and many some of them.
(16:47):
I remember Sarah Oliver sitting on the floor of the
clinic saying, Lila, I think I want to be a doctor.
And you know, at that moment and now she's an
obg y N and just joined our board of directors,
she'll be my boss pretty soon.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
And you made a reference that you know, it's in
Haiti some of the those medical background understand what the
Haitians need, you know, I'm sure there may be a
component and then correct if I'm wrong. Of natural path
natural medicines that are used in conjunction with Western medicine.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Yeah, they use many different They use voodoo medicine, they
use lots of natural remedies as well as Western medicine.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
A pre electrical.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
Method, yes, yeah, but they get you know, we spend
every quarter eight thousand dollars buying medications for the for
the It's very very expensive.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
I mean, that's not what we pay here in America.
But you know every year it used to be five thousand,
and then it was six thousand, you know, for the
same amount of medication. So the price is going up,
and so that's a big part of what our revenue
ghost stores. It actually goes more in medicine than in
the staffing. The doctor is really paid very little compared
(18:12):
to what our doctors are paid. But he's not doing
it for the money. I'm sorry, he's not doing it
for the money. I was going to say, it's it's
a passion.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yeah, you know, it's when you when you have projects
like this, so you start nonprofits. It's it's a different
place in your your heart that that wants to take
care that's right of others beyond here's the nail on
the head, you know. Yeah, I get that. I get that, Lily.
So so what are you doing now with the Haiti project?
(18:40):
I know your mom talked about the solo project that
that you contributed to, implanting the seed of what's happening
with you now.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
So I like to say I fill the role of
executive assistant to my mom. There are so many details
day to day that go into running a project, like
and my mom has just mountains of speaking of mountains,
she just has mountains of work to do, and so
(19:09):
I help her with whatever she may need on any
day to day basis, Like right now, we're working on
getting taxi seats out to everyone who was a sponsor
and who was a part of the Art and Soul gala.
And yeah, just.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Did a presentation at Rotary.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
We did a presentation for the Millburg Rotary Club for
micro finance, for the microfinance program and I.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
Think they're considering it. So that's exciting.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah, well you got to Millbrook. We get the micropot Okay, They've.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Been such a support supporter of us. They are a
real club that really does you know. They put their
mouths where their money is, or their money where their mouth.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Is utter running international organizationsches and getting the phrases right.
One of the things that I've you have to do
so many things well to have a project that's so
successful at this, and one of the things you do
(20:16):
is the art work itself captures something that's important. I mean.
So it's not like the art work is tangential to
the spirit of Haiti, nor is it tangential to the
spirit that drives you. Do you want to tell about
your own relationship to the art in Haiti?
Speaker 4 (20:35):
You know, I think every Haitian has art in the
art genes running in there through their systems. There's so
such amazing artists, and they've always relied on the tourist
trade to sell their art. And if you're an artist,
you're not only getting the money, but you're feeding your
(20:56):
whole family with that money. So it's not just like
you're not thinking of some artists from Soho in New York.
You know, this is people who are These are people
who are feeding their families. So we've found it very
very important to keep putting the art, even though it's
a tremendous amount of work, but keep putting the art
(21:17):
up front because we want these artists to keep painting.
And if we stop buying, they're going to stop painting
because they need to find another livelihood. And we actually
just built a school for an art young artist. His
name is Benoi Profulous, and he keeps sending us pictures.
He has about fifty students in his classroom and he's
(21:38):
teaching them how to paint.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
That is absolutely wonderful.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
If you're just tuning in, you're listening to finding out
with Pete and the poet Gold and I'm the poet Gold,
and we're here with Lilah me, the founder of the
Haiti Project, and also with her is her daughter Lily,
who is the executive assistant.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
They get there right, sure, Yeah, I'm gonna give you
a title.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
She's not paid very well.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Okay, it's okay, We're gonna love.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
And one of the things that goes right with uh
the art in Haiti. I mean, Haiti is the poorest
country in the Western Hemisphere. It's suffering a lot of
you know, political.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
But richest in spirit. Okay, okay, we don't always just
want to say poorest country.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yes, yeah, I had a commentative, and I guess, uh,
you know, I've got right to the point. The spirit
of Haiti is so vivid and it comes out in
the art work. It's the artwork is very fanstistful. You're
flying giraffes and and the colors are very vibrant, and
(22:45):
so you have this fantasy, uh, depictions of actual human
hope and so, uh, it's something that we need more
of in America. And when you sell Haitian art, I
have that a deal of it in my house. It
brings more not only hope, but action to it.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yes, it's something, and you know, it's what I call
joy as a form of resistance. You know, despite the blight,
joy is resistance. These out of that place, you get
an awakening, you know, from that place you get the ideas,
the creativity how do we move forward? But it comes
(23:32):
from that that that seed of joy, which has more
peace to it. You know, it's hard to think of
resolutions in a place of chaos unless you can sort
of calm down.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
You know, that's beautiful and i'd like to, uh, you
have you will really tell us you know how to
get information on your project. And what I mean by
information if you look at the website or the literature,
it's also beautifully done. I mean, how do you do
that too? You know, building a client like is one thing,
(24:03):
but getting the brochure is something. So how people can
find out about you and if they want to write
a check, you know where they can write a check too.
And if you don't want to write a check, what
else are you doing with that check? I mean, you
know it's really a little criminal there, but maybe give
us a sense of how to get in touch with you.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
Our website is the Haiti Project dot org and you
can find all the information there. There's a donate now
button you can click, or if they want to mail.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
A check, Lila, yep. Our po box it's on our
website PO Box two nine eight five, Poughkeepsie one two
six o three. And how do we do this? This
little thing takes about I don't know fifty hours to
put together. Our are our newsletter, which is like our
(24:57):
report card for the for the year, and we use
a lot of Vassar College alumni who've been part of
the Vassar Haiti Project and of our work over the years.
And and Walter is uh researching robots in Seattle, Washington,
(25:18):
but he's still maintaining our website. And Shrust is in DC,
and so we have lots of people all over the
world helping.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
And what we want to say is, you know, we
want the Haiti Pride to thrive and Poughkeepsie it's the
Family Partnership Center. Yes, to thrive and Haiti up that mountain.
So thanks very much for being with us.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Lily, and thank you once again for listening to finding
out Pet and Poe Gold. We appreciate you and we
hope to have you back.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (25:46):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
And this is Peter that is coming back and admitting
his mistake.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Did you hear my son kicking you out?
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Listen for thirty years, I've done this show for it
twenty five minutes and now it's thirty minutes.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
I sorry, so, but I did want to now that
we know that we so long, I did want to
mention to the listeners that you can get the newsletter
by going on to the website.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Yes, there up leaving an email and this way they can.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
It's actually right on our opening page.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
It is.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
Yeah, we're very proud of it.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Yeah, no, I'm looking at it's a beautiful newsletter.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
Yeah, thank you and thank you.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
A lot of content and lots of colors.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I wanted to mention about the art, Peter, when you
were speaking about, you know, how colorful the art is.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Their stories, they are stories, the artist storytelling.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
You know, it's the artists paint their hopes and dreams.
And that's kind of what you were just talking about
of the joy and you know, they may be hungry,
and they know that if they paint this painting, you
know that it's going to be a source of sustenance
for their family. So it's it's very you know, it's
(27:01):
just it's beautiful, it's alive, it's very real, and it's
very fantication.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
It's an income and it is it's an income.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
And you know, in a really I think sometimes people
don't get as artists and Peter and I we discussed
this because I've I've always been a person who believed,
at least for me, my art is my income. It's
not a hobby, you know, And so so that's okay
that they do art for an income and in the
process they beautify the world. They get people to think
(27:35):
about the world in which they live in. They take
on the role of the artivism, so to speak, you know,
through their art, by activating the heart through their art.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
And so I think it's a it's a great thing.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
Yeah, it's awesome. Makes you happy.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
Sometimes you walk into people's homes and I think, oh,
they need some Haitian art in here.
Speaker 5 (27:59):
Our house is basically a Haitian art gallery.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Yeah, every year for thirty years we've been collecting.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
So but one of points out is, you know, the
Haitian spirit is just so alive in the art. And
one of the places you see. A couple of weeks
so we had UH an interview on the radio here
with Sabrino Matsuka, who was born in Haiti and was
educated there, and she's, you know, a board member of
(28:28):
the Haiti Project, but she's also the commissioner of the
Dutchess County UH the Department of Community and Family Services.
But when I asked her what what the essence of
human service was, she said, oh, it's love, all right,
which is a very different thing for a county official
(28:50):
to say. And my and you know, Sabrina as good
as at the paperwork. I mean, she's a lawyer, she's
has a massine in public house, she's good at stuff.
But for her human services is about love. And I
couldn't help but thinks that that was part of her
Haitian spirit speaking, which is now infused into her work
(29:13):
in Dutchess County.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
So but now, unfortunately we're going to wrap up and
I'm going to thank you guys for being with us
once again.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Leilah and Lily, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Hope to have you back into our listeners. Thank you
once again for listening to finding out with Pete and
the Poel Gold. We truly appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
And I will say with thirty seconds earlier on that time,
we never messed it up like this. But you know,
the combination of the Haitian spirit with the American spirit
is exemplified in the work that Lily has witness over
the last thirty years as the Haiti Project. So everybody
(29:49):
stick with it and we were all for it. So
thanks very much for being with us.
Speaker 4 (29:53):
Thanks thank you for having us
The views and opinions expressed in the following programmer those
of the speaker and don't necessarily represent those of the station.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
It's staff, management or ownership. Good morning, you'll find out
with Pete the Poe Cold.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm Peter Leonard and I'm the poet Gold.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And we're on the air this morning with people from
the Haiti Project. That's Vile the Mead and Lily Mead.
The Haiti Project is familiar to you because you might
remember it as the Vasa Haiti Project, but no longer
is the Haiti Project. Before we get to all the
new innovations going on with the Haiti Project, we're going
to go right to the poet Cold for her weekly
prayer poem incantation on Cold, let it roll.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Thank you, Peter.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I'm going to read this morning the baron nothing is
ever truly barren, Avoid empty space. Time commences the same
place it stops. Dry land was once fertile ground, glistening
with morning. Do Darkness offers the gift of introspection, a
heart broken hold within its crevice, a seed of healing.
(01:00):
The universe is full of dreamers, even if they can't
always see the stars. Nothing is ever truly barren. Avoid
empty space.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Into space, interstellar spaces, and into human spaces, right, I
have to avoid them. Let's go. I'm really eager to
catch up to some of the events with the Haiti
project now I know. It was just a couple of
weeks ago you had an event celebrating several decades of
the Haiti Project, and that was a very successful event,
(01:32):
concentrating on some of the students who have had over
the years at VASA who went into the medical field
because of their experience in Haiti with you and the
project that you and your husband found it. I'll give
us a sense of that. I would like you for
the whole thing away in the question.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
You know more about our project than I do, Peter,
But anyway, I will tell you it was a wonderful success.
The ardent soul Gallo. It was our thirteenth year of
doing it, and we raise funds for a year of
medical care for over three thousand patients in Haiti. Over
(02:09):
the year. We pay the doctor salaries, we pay the staff,
the nurse and the other staff, and then we also
pay for medications for the for the patients. And patients
come from forty seven villages to our clinic because it's
the only healthcare that is available in the in the region.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, I don't know more about the Haiti Priducces than
you do, but what I am on a bayish in
other words, I'm not modest about things the way you are.
And what the Haiti Project does that buys are in
Haiti at a fair market price and sells it in
America at a fair market price and with the profit
(02:52):
between the two countries. The Haiti Project has built a
clinic five hours outside the port of Prince two hours
up the mountain was basically the jungle. So yeah, you know,
a medical clinical education.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Thing, kids, primary school, yees and.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Women's group, as well as planting over fifty thousand trees.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Now I also know that you have a loan program
for the women. Can you talk about how that actually works.
I love that you asked that thought. We just started.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
We've been working with the women because women in Haiti,
they say women are poto Mitan. They are the backbone
of society and they're very, very strong, and so we've started.
When we used to go to Haiti, we can't. We
haven't been for six years because of the gang violence,
and we would be a target if we went so
(03:53):
so we haven't been able to go. So we've been
trying to think of new ways of supporting the women.
And what we did was a test program for fifteen
women who already have like little businesses. If I say business,
you're thinking of, you know, like a store. Here this
is they're selling fruits and vegetables from their gardens, or
(04:14):
shoes or that they've made, or something very rudimentary. And
we gave five thousand dollars to this group of fifteen women,
and we gave them five months to pay back the
money that we lent them. Each woman got between one
hundred and five hundred dollars depending on when they need
(04:35):
on an interview with them, yes, and we met with
them over zoom. We met the women and we had
a translator and we spoke about, you know, how important
this program was and that it was a test and
if they were paid the loans, then you know, we
would you know, offer more money to more people. And
so here we are six months later, the women, the
(04:58):
fifteen women have replaced repaid all their loans, and now
we're going to do the next phase, which is another
fifteen women. So we're going to have thirty women. Now
we're going to give the initial five thousand dollars back
to the first group, and then we've raised another five thousand,
we're going to do that with the second group.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
That's wonderful and so if individuals wanted to contribute to that, Yes,
they can go to your website as a way, Yes
for them to donate.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Yes, just click that little donate button and just put
you know, for your reason, you know, to donate to
the women's cooperative.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Now, logistically in Haiti, where are the women selling their products?
Because I know that it's hard now to get into
the city areas because of the gang.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Yes, that's right. So where our village is, our main
village that we support, Sumat it's two hours up the mountain,
as Peter said, So they're all living on little pieces
of proper and they're growing vegetables or they're doing whatever
they're doing. So they walked down the mountain across seventeen
(06:07):
riverbeds to the marketplace and that marketplace is open three
times a week.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You know, we're lucky enough to have Lily with us today.
And Lily has an absolutely distinct perspective on this because
her parents started the Haiti project. How many years ago
on like twenty three.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Years ago, twenty three years ago, twenty three.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Years ago, And so you must have been a little
kid when they were starting, and so you grew up
with this educational project and human develop international human development projects.
And I just wonder if you have any thoughts on
how that affected you as a kid growing up around
(06:54):
on such an ambitious and successful project.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
Oh yeah, certainly. I was nine years old when the
project started. It was just after nine to eleven, and
my mom and dad wanted they said, it's it's time,
we really want to make a difference in the world.
And they set just such a wonderful example for my
sister and I of what true transformation is and what
(07:21):
it takes, the hard work that it takes. They both
have full time jobs. My dad works a faster and
my mom has her own business, and they both did
this outside of that. So they you know, they were
up at six am and they were in bed at
eleven pm. They just worked around the clock every day
tirelessly because they really wanted to, you know, be the
(07:42):
change they wanted to see in the world. And of
course it was just it was inspiring to both my
sister and I My sister works for a nonprofit now,
and I also want to go into wildlife conservations, so
I think I think it had a good effect.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Yourself.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
I did. Yeah, I went with my dad in twenty fourteen.
We went in January twenty fourteen, and it was something
I'll never forget. I've been many places around the world,
but I'll never forget what it was like being in Haiti.
And we went to the village up to Shrimet, and
(08:20):
I actually got really sick on the trip. Once we landed,
I had this horrible throat pain and it turned out
to be tonselatus and it just kept getting worse and worse.
Thank God, there was a medical clinic and girl Morn,
which is the last kind of big village before you
can go to Shrimet, which is just very remote, and
(08:44):
we were still in the process of building our clinic
at that time. So thank God for that access to
medical care that I had. I was able to get
antibiotics and get better. It was just really a true
demonstration of how critical and crucial the clinic that we
built ourselves is, because now all those villagers can actually
(09:07):
go to a clinic.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
And yeah, if you're just tuning in.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
You're listening to finding out with Pete and the poet Gold,
and I'm the poet Gold. And we're here with Lylah Me,
the founder of the Haiti Project, which is located now
with the Family Partnership Center.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Correct, that's correct.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
And we're also here with her daughter, Lily, who is
now working with the Haiti Project as well. So you know,
I grew up in a nonprofit environment. My mom too,
worked with a nonprofit during my formative years, and I
know that it had such a great impact. You know,
you recognize that as you reflect and wind up in
certain spaces how much those formative years what you were
(09:42):
surrounded with and your leadership and Andrew's leadership in developing this,
this nonprofit. So you're going to go into wildlife conservation.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Yeah, that's the dream. I ended up doing my bachelor's
degree in marine science and biology and my master's as well,
and in science research. I'm applying for PhDs and I've
done research in fish community ecology and coral refrustation. So
(10:13):
my dream, and who knows if I'll ever reach this,
but my dream is to work on coral refrustoration in
underdeveloped countries that have coastal communities which really rely on
the well being of coral reefs for fish, for sustenance,
for income for the fishermen, and also coastal protection because
(10:35):
coral reefs mitigate wave of action and provide actually really
life saving care for coastal communities in many, many ways.
So that's just.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
My takes yourself right, what you give us the audience
a sense of when a young person is and I
have that.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Well, dreams.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Just I'm going to say this, just make sure you
have a plan, and obviously you do, you know, and
h and execute the plans. I was working on my
book last night that I'm wrapping up, and it's called
Be the poem Living Beyond Our Fears and and one
of this one of the sections I talk about how
I don't but there are certain idioms I don't. I
don't support. I think that undermine, you know, our direction
(11:23):
in life. And one of us chase your dreams. And
you think about the word chase. You know, I people
say chase your dreams. Chase your dreams, Well, you know
you're in pursuit of something right, which is which is good.
But chasing doesn't necessarily imply that you're going to catch it,
you know you you bring it up a level and
make a plan for yourself and execute and decide what
dream you want to manifest, and then the odds are
you're going to get that dream.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
You're not just chasing it. Create your dream right, creating
it right exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Well, this is the more severous side of gold. You
don't chase anything your plan and you get no goal denial.
Who have known each other over the years very similar
in that way, the mild disposition melts away, vanishes when
(12:10):
accomplishment as possible.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Let's get into action and do it it. Don't tell
us all the problems, just make it happen.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Well, that's honestly. That's how you get a project like
this with so much success, is that you don't stop
taking actions even when you're met with failures and setbacks.
You never stop going after because you know you're doing
the right thing and people depend on you too.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
So yeah, and I noticed when you chalked about your
own illness when you were in Haiti, which is, you know,
being sick in a foreign country is like a complete nightmare.
But said before our clinical was finished, before we built
our clinical, use the word we and so you've felt
a part of, you know, the founding and the excution
(13:00):
of the clinic all the way along. So I mean
there's a way in which you're already a very successful
international developer.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
She actually was the birth of the idea of building
a solar lab. So where this, where these villages are,
there's no electricity, and so the doctor, you know, he
looks at you and says, oh, I think you have this,
you know, with no diagnostic tools. So we were able
with rotary to build a solar lab. And we're just
(13:35):
accumulating all the machines for that right now. But that
was Lily's idea when she went she said, you need electricity, right,
what did you say?
Speaker 5 (13:45):
It wasn't a few until a few years later. I
was at the University of Miami and I was in
a sustainability course and we had to come up with
a product with an idea and how you would implement
it in order to provide some sort of sustainable action
in a place that needed it. And I it was
very obvious to me what my project and what my
(14:08):
idea was going to be. And so that was what
h planted the seed. Anyway, and now the solar panels
are installed on the roof of the clinic. And I mean,
just think of all the different kinds of medical care
that have now been expanded thanks to electricity access in
the clinic itself.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I mean, I've never been to Haiti and I'm not
going to go. But two things has struck me about
this the Haiti project is One is how genuinely remote
it is. I'm like, if you have to walk up
a hill for two hours to get to the clinical,
not a hill, it's a mountain, okay, Yet that.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
We have hills in valley, so.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
You really, you know, way out there up a mountain
in Haiti and they're a little village. And what does
a village comprise me?
Speaker 4 (15:11):
I know, we don't have a paradigm for it. Actually,
it's very hard to explain. Actually the school is now
the center of the village because it's just a scattering
of houses. You know, there's no main street, there's no
it's just people living in homes in the mountains.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
That's that's a fair How many kids you have in
school though.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
In the school we have it fluctuates between one hundred
and fifty and two hundred and fifty.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Now this year it's a little bit less because parents
are afraid to have their children go out because of
the gangs.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
You have a school and a medical clinic up there
that has you know, real doctors in it, and the
medical community in the Hudson Valley has been very generous
with their time, money and expert Yes.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
So, yeah, we have a medical advisory board of about
ten local physicians who help us. They oversee the clinic
on some level, because really the people in Haiti are
experts about you know, what Haitian people need, but they
also confer with Western technology and information medical information. But yeah,
(16:26):
these doctors have helped us raise a lot of money
every year to support the clinic, and that clinic is
very very important. Actually in the history of the vass
Or Haiti project. Seven of the students who went to
Haiti are now actual physicians, and many some of them.
(16:47):
I remember Sarah Oliver sitting on the floor of the
clinic saying, Lila, I think I want to be a doctor.
And you know, at that moment and now she's an
obg y N and just joined our board of directors,
she'll be my boss pretty soon.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
And you made a reference that you know, it's in
Haiti some of the those medical background understand what the
Haitians need, you know, I'm sure there may be a
component and then correct if I'm wrong. Of natural path
natural medicines that are used in conjunction with Western medicine.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Yeah, they use many different They use voodoo medicine, they
use lots of natural remedies as well as Western medicine.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
A pre electrical.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
Method, yes, yeah, but they get you know, we spend
every quarter eight thousand dollars buying medications for the for
the It's very very expensive.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
I mean, that's not what we pay here in America.
But you know every year it used to be five thousand,
and then it was six thousand, you know, for the
same amount of medication. So the price is going up,
and so that's a big part of what our revenue
ghost stores. It actually goes more in medicine than in
the staffing. The doctor is really paid very little compared
(18:12):
to what our doctors are paid. But he's not doing
it for the money. I'm sorry, he's not doing it
for the money. I was going to say, it's it's
a passion.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yeah, you know, it's when you when you have projects
like this, so you start nonprofits. It's it's a different
place in your your heart that that wants to take
care that's right of others beyond here's the nail on
the head, you know. Yeah, I get that. I get that, Lily.
So so what are you doing now with the Haiti project?
(18:40):
I know your mom talked about the solo project that
that you contributed to, implanting the seed of what's happening
with you now.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
So I like to say I fill the role of
executive assistant to my mom. There are so many details
day to day that go into running a project, like
and my mom has just mountains of speaking of mountains,
she just has mountains of work to do, and so
(19:09):
I help her with whatever she may need on any
day to day basis, Like right now, we're working on
getting taxi seats out to everyone who was a sponsor
and who was a part of the Art and Soul gala.
And yeah, just.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Did a presentation at Rotary.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
We did a presentation for the Millburg Rotary Club for
micro finance, for the microfinance program and I.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
Think they're considering it. So that's exciting.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah, well you got to Millbrook. We get the micropot Okay, They've.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Been such a support supporter of us. They are a
real club that really does you know. They put their
mouths where their money is, or their money where their mouth.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Is utter running international organizationsches and getting the phrases right.
One of the things that I've you have to do
so many things well to have a project that's so
successful at this, and one of the things you do
(20:16):
is the art work itself captures something that's important. I mean.
So it's not like the art work is tangential to
the spirit of Haiti, nor is it tangential to the
spirit that drives you. Do you want to tell about
your own relationship to the art in Haiti?
Speaker 4 (20:35):
You know, I think every Haitian has art in the
art genes running in there through their systems. There's so
such amazing artists, and they've always relied on the tourist
trade to sell their art. And if you're an artist,
you're not only getting the money, but you're feeding your
(20:56):
whole family with that money. So it's not just like
you're not thinking of some artists from Soho in New York.
You know, this is people who are These are people
who are feeding their families. So we've found it very
very important to keep putting the art, even though it's
a tremendous amount of work, but keep putting the art
(21:17):
up front because we want these artists to keep painting.
And if we stop buying, they're going to stop painting
because they need to find another livelihood. And we actually
just built a school for an art young artist. His
name is Benoi Profulous, and he keeps sending us pictures.
He has about fifty students in his classroom and he's
(21:38):
teaching them how to paint.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
That is absolutely wonderful.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
If you're just tuning in, you're listening to finding out
with Pete and the poet Gold and I'm the poet Gold,
and we're here with Lilah me, the founder of the
Haiti Project, and also with her is her daughter Lily,
who is the executive assistant.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
They get there right, sure, Yeah, I'm gonna give you
a title.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
She's not paid very well.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Okay, it's okay, We're gonna love.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
And one of the things that goes right with uh
the art in Haiti. I mean, Haiti is the poorest
country in the Western Hemisphere. It's suffering a lot of
you know, political.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
But richest in spirit. Okay, okay, we don't always just
want to say poorest country.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yes, yeah, I had a commentative, and I guess, uh,
you know, I've got right to the point. The spirit
of Haiti is so vivid and it comes out in
the art work. It's the artwork is very fanstistful. You're
flying giraffes and and the colors are very vibrant, and
(22:45):
so you have this fantasy, uh, depictions of actual human
hope and so, uh, it's something that we need more
of in America. And when you sell Haitian art, I
have that a deal of it in my house. It
brings more not only hope, but action to it.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yes, it's something, and you know, it's what I call
joy as a form of resistance. You know, despite the blight,
joy is resistance. These out of that place, you get
an awakening, you know, from that place you get the ideas,
the creativity how do we move forward? But it comes
(23:32):
from that that that seed of joy, which has more
peace to it. You know, it's hard to think of
resolutions in a place of chaos unless you can sort
of calm down.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
You know, that's beautiful and i'd like to, uh, you
have you will really tell us you know how to
get information on your project. And what I mean by
information if you look at the website or the literature,
it's also beautifully done. I mean, how do you do
that too? You know, building a client like is one thing,
(24:03):
but getting the brochure is something. So how people can
find out about you and if they want to write
a check, you know where they can write a check too.
And if you don't want to write a check, what
else are you doing with that check? I mean, you
know it's really a little criminal there, but maybe give
us a sense of how to get in touch with you.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
Our website is the Haiti Project dot org and you
can find all the information there. There's a donate now
button you can click, or if they want to mail.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
A check, Lila, yep. Our po box it's on our
website PO Box two nine eight five, Poughkeepsie one two
six o three. And how do we do this? This
little thing takes about I don't know fifty hours to
put together. Our are our newsletter, which is like our
(24:57):
report card for the for the year, and we use
a lot of Vassar College alumni who've been part of
the Vassar Haiti Project and of our work over the years.
And and Walter is uh researching robots in Seattle, Washington,
(25:18):
but he's still maintaining our website. And Shrust is in DC,
and so we have lots of people all over the
world helping.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
And what we want to say is, you know, we
want the Haiti Pride to thrive and Poughkeepsie it's the
Family Partnership Center. Yes, to thrive and Haiti up that mountain.
So thanks very much for being with us.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Lily, and thank you once again for listening to finding
out Pet and Poe Gold. We appreciate you and we
hope to have you back.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (25:46):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
And this is Peter that is coming back and admitting
his mistake.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Did you hear my son kicking you out?
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Listen for thirty years, I've done this show for it
twenty five minutes and now it's thirty minutes.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
I sorry, so, but I did want to now that
we know that we so long, I did want to
mention to the listeners that you can get the newsletter
by going on to the website.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Yes, there up leaving an email and this way they can.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
It's actually right on our opening page.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
It is.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
Yeah, we're very proud of it.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Yeah, no, I'm looking at it's a beautiful newsletter.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
Yeah, thank you and thank you.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
A lot of content and lots of colors.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I wanted to mention about the art, Peter, when you
were speaking about, you know, how colorful the art is.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Their stories, they are stories, the artist storytelling.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
You know, it's the artists paint their hopes and dreams.
And that's kind of what you were just talking about
of the joy and you know, they may be hungry,
and they know that if they paint this painting, you
know that it's going to be a source of sustenance
for their family. So it's it's very you know, it's
(27:01):
just it's beautiful, it's alive, it's very real, and it's
very fantication.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
It's an income and it is it's an income.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
And you know, in a really I think sometimes people
don't get as artists and Peter and I we discussed
this because I've I've always been a person who believed,
at least for me, my art is my income. It's
not a hobby, you know, And so so that's okay
that they do art for an income and in the
process they beautify the world. They get people to think
(27:35):
about the world in which they live in. They take
on the role of the artivism, so to speak, you know,
through their art, by activating the heart through their art.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
And so I think it's a it's a great thing.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
Yeah, it's awesome. Makes you happy.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
Sometimes you walk into people's homes and I think, oh,
they need some Haitian art in here.
Speaker 5 (27:59):
Our house is basically a Haitian art gallery.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Yeah, every year for thirty years we've been collecting.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
So but one of points out is, you know, the
Haitian spirit is just so alive in the art. And
one of the places you see. A couple of weeks
so we had UH an interview on the radio here
with Sabrino Matsuka, who was born in Haiti and was
educated there, and she's, you know, a board member of
(28:28):
the Haiti Project, but she's also the commissioner of the
Dutchess County UH the Department of Community and Family Services.
But when I asked her what what the essence of
human service was, she said, oh, it's love, all right,
which is a very different thing for a county official
(28:50):
to say. And my and you know, Sabrina as good
as at the paperwork. I mean, she's a lawyer, she's
has a massine in public house, she's good at stuff.
But for her human services is about love. And I
couldn't help but thinks that that was part of her
Haitian spirit speaking, which is now infused into her work
(29:13):
in Dutchess County.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
So but now, unfortunately we're going to wrap up and
I'm going to thank you guys for being with us
once again.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Leilah and Lily, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Hope to have you back into our listeners. Thank you
once again for listening to finding out with Pete and
the Poel Gold. We truly appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
And I will say with thirty seconds earlier on that time,
we never messed it up like this. But you know,
the combination of the Haitian spirit with the American spirit
is exemplified in the work that Lily has witness over
the last thirty years as the Haiti Project. So everybody
(29:49):
stick with it and we were all for it. So
thanks very much for being with us.
Speaker 4 (29:53):
Thanks thank you for having us
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