Dear Family,

Today at 4:53 pm marks 6 years since the unforgettable day that the earth shook and heaved and tore open a massive wound across Haiti, swallowing the lives of 300,000 human beings and forever changing the lives of a million more.

Ayiti Resurrect was born its wake- an effort to address the invisible but palpable layers of trauma endured by its survivors. The project emerged from a tiny seed of an idea, of how Haitians in the diaspora could partner with Haitians in Haiti to harness our resources for collective healing, and grew to a collaboration of more than 70 Black healers, artists, farmers, educators and community organizers partnering with an incredible community called Komye. Read more about the history here.

What we have accomplished over the last 5 years speaks to the limitless possibilities born when people come together in true partnership with one another!!!

Check out the report backs here summarizing Ayiti Resurrect’s accomplishments!

Just as we were formed to address a particular need, we are making the decision to metamorphosize to honor this specific time. We are choosing to dissolve Ayiti Resurrect as we know it in an ethical and responsible way over the next 2 years. In Western culture, nonprofits become self-justifying; the usual model is continued growth and ending is usually considered a failure. Our model has always been different from the NGO model. We have grounded the work as solidarity and exchange, not dependency, with the goal of the work continuing without us with leadership from the community.

Core Collective member Angelique Nixon is in Haiti right now, and Ayiti Resurrect will return in June of this year to drill a new well to provide increased access to fresh drinking water for our extended family. This year will involve a huge capital campaign to raise funds to make this possible.

We are planning for a final delegation in January 2017 (which we intend to be the most powerful yet!) commemorating the 7 year anniversary of earthquake, 7 years of building with Komye community, and celebrating the strength, beauty, and resilience of Haiti.

We are consulting with our partners on priority goals for our last delegation, which will invariably include all 5 of our focus areas [art, health, agriculture, education, and women’s power] and uplift local knowledge and resources for long-term sustainable initiatives. We see 2017 as an end to only one aspect of the community organizing that will continue in Komye led by our community partners and leaders.

Beyond 2017, Ayiti Resurrect is committed to continuing to connecting farmers in Komye to farmers movements in different parts of Haiti and internationally, and writing and publishing a series of articles about Ayiti Resurrect’s work, disseminating best practices and sharing with others what we have learned through this unique journey carving alternatives to international aid through people-to-people diasporic solidarity.

We want to build an All-star team for the the final January 2017 delegation, so  let us know if you are interested in being considered! We also need volunteer support in this final stage with fundraising, grant research and writing, social media and web management, Kreyol training and translation, art sales, and community organizing.

We are so grateful to each of your for all of our years of working together and all that we have shared. We look forward to making this closing chapter beautiful, powerful, and filled with integrity and healing.

Naima Penniman

Leah Penniman

Beatrice Anderson

Angelique Nixon

CORE COLLECTIVE