GRODYSH.org is a charitable org. helping orphans&the under-served in Haiti
WWW.GRODYSH.ORG | GRODYSH INT'L INC. | Group Dynamic for the Survival of Humanity- Haiti
Claude Reginald "Reggie" Jean has been helping children in Haiti since 1980. In 2011, after moving his family to the US, he formed GRODYSH Int'l. Inc. - the Future Of Haiti Organization with Leslie Person Hobbs. Years of experience as a college teacher proved to Reggie that the brilliant minds of young Haitians were being wasted due to lack of opportunities. He decided to take on this challenging situation, and change it.
Leslie wrote the following to describe how she got to know Haiti and became involved with GRODYSH Int'l. - the Future Of Haiti Organization, helping orphans and children in Haiti:
I had never come in close contact with a true humanitarian until I met Haitian-born Claude Reginald Jean in the fall of 2010. He had brought his family to Florida after the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January of that year. I recruited him for a home-based business, not knowing that I was about to embark on a history lesson that would change my life.
I have to admit that history was my worst subject in school. So I really knew nothing about Haiti at all. As Reggie was and is a teacher (he taught college in Haiti for twenty-three years), I began to learn about his country through the eyes of someone who loves it.
Reggie was fortunate to be born into the privileged class which comprises about 20 per cent of Hatians. Although his immediate family was not well off, his extended family was there when times were tough. He has two master's degrees, and spent twenty-seven years working in telecommunications as an engineer. Twenty of those years were spent in upper management.
In the late '80s and early 90's, Reggie was appointed by the government to be a Program Evaluator for technical schools and colleges. He was in charge of reviewing the curriculum and ensuring that all other requirements were met, in order for the school to be authorized and licensed by the government.
Even as a child, helping others came naturally to Reggie. So when he saw children on the street, unable to attend school because their parents couldn't afford it, he often paid for them (in total, he personally financed about 300 children's education through high school).
Reggie started three humanitarian organizations, got them running, and gave them to other people. The first one was CODEB (translated means Committee for the Development of Bainet), whose purpose was to reforest, do soil protection, and educate. The second was ASMARPENIPP, an association of fishermen, in which he supported them by buying small boats, repairing them, buying the ropes and fishing gear, and helping many fishermen establish their businesses. After that, he started EPLAKABB, an association to revitalize the production of "Haitian Blue" coffee in Haiti. All of these were officially registered, and still minimally exist, but are awaiting financing. Prior to these, there were other organizations which were never officially registered, such as a health center Reggie started with his brother Lyonel, a medical doctor, which was formed in 1987 to provide almost-free services to below-poverty-level families.
In 2000, Reggie formed GRODYSH. Although not a true acronym, it is a shortened version of GROup DYnamic for the Survival of Haiti, or in French, Groupe Dynamique Pour La Survie D'Haiti. Formed as a non-profit organization in Haiti in 2000, and formally incorporated in 2008, GRODYSH was started as an organization whose purpose was to help orphans, children, and below-poverty-level citizens of Haiti. Originally started by Claude Reginald Jean in Croix-des-Bouquets, he utilized his own resources and those of his brother, agronomist Harry Jean to pay for hundreds of children's food and schooling. They ran a reforestation program, planting trees to help combat the dwindling tree supply in Haiti. The motto of GRODYSH is, "Survival is not a personal thing. It's a collective activity."
In January of 2010, Reggie had a dream. Actually a nightmare. In it, he saw the city crash down. He saw himself picking through rubble to find people. The next day his nightmare became reality.
Reggie had driven to Cazale to check on some properties he owns there. He told the guard about his dream, and the guard joked that finally, the country would be totally destroyed, and they laughed. Reggie then drove back to his land by the airport, where he had a truck-repair shop/garage. He and a customer were discussing the price of a repair, when the ground started shaking. Reggie said that it was as if an underground railroad was travelling beneath the surface of the earth, cutting a path as it went. He didn't know where to place his feet, as he was afraid the ground might open up, so he was jumping up and down, Across the road, he heard the screams of children from a school in a three-story building. As he looked up at it, the building collapsed, he saw dust, the screams stopped and there was silence.
Like many other Haitians, Reggie immediately tried to phone home to make sure his children were OK. He was unable to get through for what seemed like an eternity, as the phone lines were jammed from the heavy traffic. When he finally managed to reach his house, he discovered that aside from being shaken up (literally and figuratively), the children were fine and his home had suffered almost no damage. He was very lucky.
Once he was satisfied that his household was fine, he turned around and went back to help in the relief efforts, using his pick-up truck to transport broken bodies to overcrowded hospitals.
A few days later, Reggie brought his children to Clearwater, Florida, where friends had offered to take care of them, so that he would be free to fly back and forth to continue helping in the relief efforts.
Prior to the earthquake, Reggie had supported several orphanages, bringing food and clothing to them regularly, He was known by the children as "Papi Reggie." Three of these orphanages collapsed in the earthquake. Reggie and his GRODYSH staff ran through the streets, finding 130 children who had been displaced, many of whom Reggie had known before the earthquake, and brought them to Reggie's land by the airport where he had the garage, to create a makeshift orphanage. A few days later, the orphanage was moved to Reggie's large home in Croix-des-Bouquets, and the Future Of Haiti Orphanage was born. Manned by volunteers who had come to help after the quake, Reggie was able to travel back and forth to the US to see his kids. The volunteers found financial support, but when they had to leave in July of 2010, so did the money.
After months of struggling, in January of 2011, Reggie and American friend Leslie Person Hobbs decided to form a non-profit organization to help fund not only the Future Of Haiti Orphanage, but also other orphanages and projects to help Haiti become self-sustaining. They called the organization GRODYSH Int'l. Inc. - the Future Of Haiti Organization, and received 501(c)(3) status from the IRS as a charitable organization in May 2011.
The overall goal of GRODYSH Int'l. Inc. - the Future of Haiti Organization is to revitalize and rehabilitate Haiti to how it was in the 50's and 60's - the Pearl of the Antilles, a major tourist destination, flourishing and prospering.
One of the ways GRODYSH Int'l. intends to do this is by alleviating the problem in Haiti of approximately 200,000 abandoned children living on the streets. The plan is to get these children into self-sustaining orphanages and providing them with shelter, food, love, education, and a trade in order for them to be able to support themselves and their own families.
GRODYSH Int'l. also wants to offer education alternatives to kids who dropped out of school and have no money to continue their education.
GRODYSH Int'l. is currently working with inventor Bill Loftus and his company Environmental Building Technologies. Their purpose is to offer decent affordable housing to the work force of Haiti and thereby eliminate tent cities and shanty towns. Loftus has come up with a way to recycle the rubble from the downed buildings, combine it with a plant called kenaf, bind it with cement, and form large Lego-type blocks which can be used to build a 3-bedroom house for about $17,000. Loftus has a video on YouTube of three children assembling this house in one day. GRODYSH Int'l. has acquired approximately 240 acres of land close to the Dominican Republic, where they are planning to build an "ideal village" which will include an internationally-accredited university.
Another colleague, Cory Brennan, is helping GRODYSH Int'l. by training them on various methods of permaculture, another method of achieving self-sustainability. GRODYSH Int'l. also has projects planned which will reinstate and expand production from natural resources in Haiti to be exchanged within Haiti and produced in enough quantity to be exported.
Recently, GRODYSH Int'l. has opened an office in the Miami area. Jasmine Jones, Small Business Development Manager, has recently become a member of the Board of Directors, as has Judith Paris-Beck. They have brought on board Leslie Cadet, a Haitian entrepreneur and well-respected businessman, as an advisor, as well as Margaret Mitchell Armand, Ph.D.
They are currently looking for financial support in any amount, as well as technical support. More information can be obtained by visiting their website at http://www.grodysh.org where a Paypal link has been set up.
They also have a blog which is frequently updated: http://grodyshint-foho.blogspot.com/
Contact can be made directly through info@grodysh.org[[Category:]]
