Good treats for a good cause

U of W student bakes every month to help orphans in Haiti

U of W student Sarah Yachison sends all the money from her monthly bake sales to the Haitian Education Project. Janine Kropla

Sarah Yachison is the definition of dedication.

At 21, the fifth-year psychology student at the University of Winnipeg heads a local organization to help combat the genocide in Darfur.

Also, since the beginning of the year, she has held a bake sale at the U of W on the first Monday of every month to raise money for an orphanage in the small, poverty-stricken city of Cap-Haitien, Haiti. The orphanage, called Foundation Bon Secours, is run by a part-time policeman and his wife.

Yachison first encountered the orphanage when visiting Haiti in the spring as part of humanitarian efforts orchestrated by the Florida-based non-profit Haitian Education Project (HEP).

At first Yachison’s parents were reluctant for their daughter to stay in a region often plagued by civil discord and violence.

“We were very proud and excited, but my wife and I were both very concerned for Sarah’s safety,” said Dean Yachison, Sarah’s father.

While the Canadian Embassy advised Sarah not to visit the country, her parents eventually agreed to the trip after realizing the legitimacy of HEP.

“It was a way for me to directly help the situation because my previous work [for Darfur] had been indirect,” said Yachison.

Over a nine-day period in May, six volunteers and four HEP staff taught English and volunteered support for Bon Secours.

“It was amazing what our presence did for people,” said Yachison. “It was as if our presence alone gave them hope.”

Yachison has raised over $200 through her two bake sales. The money goes to HEP president Laude Saint-Preux and right back to the underfunded orphanage.

One of the key projects undertaken by HEP was in the direction of agricultural and economic sustainability.

Yachison and other HEP volunteers and staff planted over 500 banana trees over 100 acres of land in Cap-Haitien, along with over 150 fruit trees in a neighbouring impoverished mountain community.

The agricultural initiatives were done to both encourage local growth and nutrition but, more importantly, to teach responsible farming techniques.

“Agricultural efforts are absolutely necessary in Haiti,” said Rose Woodard, a HEP volunteer who attended the trip to Haiti. “I do not believe that the Haitians themselves know enough about the need for improved agricultural systems and I believe that non-profits could focus more on this area.”

Over 60 per cent of Haiti’s workforce is employed through agriculture, with around 30 per cent of agricultural production contributing to the national GDP.

One of the largest economic problems in Haiti is that so much of their food is imported from the United States and other countries, driving up prices so that the average Haitian finds regular food completely unaffordable, Woodard said.

Check out next week’s issue of The Uniter for more on Canada/Haiti relations. To read more about Erik, a little boy in Cap-Haitien and other information about Sarah’s visit, go to Ethan Cabel’s blog.

Published in Volume 64, Number 9 of The Uniter (October 29, 2009)

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