To whom it may concern,
I am the project manager for a musical orchestra program that is currently running in Haiti, Jamaica and St. Lucia. We are contacting private and public foundations across the country and asking for instrument donations for our program in Haiti. Our music school was completely destroyed by earthquake.
Our project:
The
Orchestra Program for Youth at Risk in the Caribbean is a development project launched by the Organization of American States. It initiated last year in three countries (Jamaica, Haiti & St. Lucia). The program targets youth at risk, mainly from marginalized neighborhoods which have been impacted by criminal activity and internal conflict. Our program provides children and youth the tools to develop their full potential through music. This program teaches social values and self-respect through a methodology that emphasizes the value of collective work. Individual classes are rare, since our focus is on ensemble practice, peer to peer learning and collective efforts.
Our situation:1. Our Orchestra Program in Haiti has experienced a major setback, since our host school was destroyed during the earthquake and we lost all of our string instruments, which were stored inside the school.
2. All of our music instructors are safe, but we haven't being able to account for all of our students. We had 80 students enrolled in the Haitian program.
3. In the aftermath of the earthquake we have been contacted by Viva Rio, an international organization which is responsible for running 12 internally displaced camps inside Port au Prince. They have heard from our program and are in desperate need to provide music and social activities for the hundreds of kids that are now in their camps, many unaccompanied and traumatized.
What we are doing:1. We have contacted all of our music instructors and have asked them to create a mobile unit to teach music in each of the 12 camps.
2. We have identified the necessary funds to pay for their work.
3. We are cooperating with Viva Rio, the PADF and other relief agencies on the ground.
Our Need:As explained above, we have lost all of our string instruments. We believe in the power of music, and we know that teaching music can help kids and children in a situation as dire as the one that shook Haiti in the last week. We are asking Charity Music to donate musical string instruments for our program in Haiti. As explained, we have all the operation in place and only need the instruments to start with the mobile orchestra program. In the meantime, we will begin our program this weekend, with choral group lessons for children. It has been proved that music help ease the pain of traumatic events and we are not going to sit and wait while we can do something about this. Please join us in our efforts!
Please feel free to contact us at any time. Here our contact information:
Mariano Vales,
Music Program Coordinator,
202-458-3173,
mvales@oas.org
http://www.museum.oas.org/en/oasis/
Annette Martinez Orabona
Program Manager
787-565-8175
Here, I share with you our some press releases covering the launching of our program:
http://www.oas.org/OASpage/press_releases/press_release.asp?sCodigo=E-185/09http://www.oas.org/en/news/in-depth_article.asp?df_sCodigo=3860http://www.zimbio.com/Wyclef+Jean/articles/ng0CVoncNpS/Yel+Haiti+Wyclef+Jean+OAS+cole+de+Musiquehttp://www.thevoiceslu.com/cannels/2009/october/17_10_09/Marchand_Youth_Orchestra_Choir_Concert.htmThe OAS declaration and establishment of several programs related to youth, including the Orchestra Program:
http://www.moas.oas.org/English/MOAS_HS_2009/28thMOASHS-Declaration.pdfThe Orchestras Program for Social Inclusion, is the website for the OAS Orchestra Program:
http://www.museum.oas.org/en/oasis/Thank you. We hope to hear from you soon!
Annette Martinez
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Annette M. Martínez-Orabona, Esq.
MALD, International Public Law & Human Security
