Jean Cadet Restavek Foundation

The Jean R. Cadet Restavek Foundation: Earthquake Crisis Update

Background:

On Tuesday night, Haiti was hit with a catastrophic earthquake, rippling through the capital city of Port-Au-Prince and the hillsides of the surrounding area. At the time, The Restavek Foundation was running operations to aid children enslaved in restavek from our office in Port-Au-Prince. Approximately 450 children and 25 schools were being served via our education and child sponsorship programs at that time and the vast majority of those were in the earthquake-effected area. In addition, ten staffers were in the Port-Au-Prince area, including two US citizens, our President, Ray Conn, and Executive Director, Joan Conn. Our founder, Jean-Robert Cadet, immediately left the US for Haiti as soon as the news hit.

Assessment of Our Situation:

Our first step has been to locate and bring together our staff. At this time, we have located eight of the ten. Contrary to initial reports, we have also learned that our Port-Au-Prince office survived the quake and aftershocks. We are extremely thankful for this development, as we had just received a large food and blanket shipment from the US on Monday. “Joan and I are thankful we happened to be here and in a position to do what we can,” emailed Ray Conn this morning. “Fortunately Joan had gotten the entire food shipment to our office the day before the quake. Joan and I have been able to touch base with most of our staff and we are already getting things in motion.” “I believe we have witnessed a miracle”, emailed Joan Conn this morning in reference to the fact that our offices are still standing. Although the office is standing, the area surrounding it is still highly dangerous.

FAQ's on Relief Efforts of our Staff and Children.

Our Next Steps:

The Foundation will operate out of the church complex, setting up a small clinic, attempting to coordinate relief efforts with other agencies and beginning the task of finding our children. “We have started developing a plan to provide direct relief to the schools where our children attend”, Ray emailed from Port-Au-Prince, “Water is our biggest challenge. We will be working with other relief agencies as well. The problem is that most people are living in the streets and there is no real way to find the people whose homes were destroyed. Let's hope we are able to find them.” As the Haitian staff continues to move forward and assess the best ways they can provide relief, we will continue to update our site and supporters.

How the Public can Help:

The absolute best way the public can help is through funding. The relief efforts will be enormous and 100% of funds donated will be used directly for supporting relief efforts of the Restavek Foundation. We cannot take individual donations of good or volunteers on the ground, as the situation is far too complex. The foundation is urging individuals interested in helping to donate and allow us to determine the best use of those funds on the ground in Haiti. You can do so in one of two ways:

1. Immediate relief donations can be made to our website: http://www.restavekfreedom.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donate.start&destination=G

2. Individuals can help us raise relief funds by forming a group and inviting friends and family to help:

http://www.restavekfreedom.org/event/restavek

Last, everyone can help raise awareness by sharing our latest news and following us on:

Twitter Page: http://twitter.com/restavekfreedom

Blog Updates: http://restavekfreedom.tumblr.com/

Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Restavek-Foundation/102979020431

Media Contact & Interviews:

Jean-Robert is currently in Port au Prince, he is available for interviews, but we ask that you contact us in advance to schedule a time for an interview. For in-depth or live interviews, please contact David Fatherree at the US Foundation offices: 513-475-3710.