I spent the six month anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti discussing donations, distribution and the state of Haiti at this juncture with Claudinette Jean.
After running a toy drive, I still had some donations I was trying to get to Haiti. I had been frustrated that, even amongst my contacts, no one seemed to have a method or suggestion as to how I could get the toys down there safely, with guarantee they would reach the children of Haiti and not be stolen or lost.
So despite the heat, I loaded boxes in my car and drove to the Yéle Haiti Foundation Donation Center in South Orange, New Jersey, where they ship donations to Haiti every other week.
Wyclef Jean might be the bigger-name behind Yéle Haiti Foundation, but I can guarantee you that his wife, Claudinette, is the sweat, determination and heart of the operation.
The distribution center is housed in a space that was once Claudinette's design store. Remnants of elaborate signs and display shelving are still visible, but the majority of the space is stacked high with boxes and shipping containers in all sizes and stages: empty ones stacked and teetering, half-filled sorting boxes clearly labeled indicating specific items such as women's clothes, boy's clothes, shoes etc. The majority of the boxes, though, were filled with items most of us take for granted: toothbrushes, feminine hygiene products, soaps and shampoos.
All these items end up sorted into more boxes filled with color-coded Yéle bags that are cleverly designed to be reusable. Each color corresponds to male, female or children's items. I opened a few and found a new pair of jeans in the men's, and diapers and toy cars in the children's bag. They were "goodie bags" for survival, and just looking at the process was overwhelming.
Claudinette and I sat on the one office chair and an upside down plastic tub. Claudinette insisted I take the chair. Patricia Fontaine, the manager at the donation center, sat on the floor near us, typing away on a laptop.
There is a small office in the back, but it seemed to me that everyone wanted to gather wherever Claudinette was. She is a warm and genuine woman who can rattle off the statistics for every project she is in charge of while still keeping one eye on her young daughter who bounced enthusiastically around the space.
To me, Claudinette seems liked any busy suburban working mom, juggling family life and work. But later, after I left the center, I thought that it must be a heavy burden to carry the weight of an entire country that looked to her family for support and to be their voice due to the international success and popularity of her husband. She shared with me that she travels to Haiti two or three times a week, and I realized she must live in a constant state of confused time-zones and with dreams of catching up on sleep. I wondered how she did what she did with no end in sight.
I wish I could say Claudinette had an optimistic opinion of where Haiti was at six months after the devastating earth quake, but, as I suspected, the donations and volunteers she was overwhelmed with in the weeks after the earthquake have slowed to just a percentage of what they once were. My toy donation was as enthusiastically accepted as if I had donated a million dollars. I felt a great burden lifted off of me as we all carried the boxes in from my car and the toys were neatly nestled next to children's shoes and toiletries, bound for Haiti next week.
The Haitian landscape has not changed much since the earthquake. Rubble still lines the streets of Port-au-Prince, Cité Soleil, Jacmel as well as many, many other towns. There is still not enough food, schools or homes.
Claudinette is pretty tough on NGOs in general, and it is apparent she sees Yéle as a personal offshoot of her family's connection to Haiti:
For more information call the donation center at 973-378-3330 or visit the website at http://www.yele-haiti.org