Pazapa

Established in Jacmel in 1987, the mission of PAZAPA (Step by Step) is to support the treatment, education and development of children with disabilities and to integrate them into their communities.  During the earthquake, the PAZAPA School was damaged beyond repair.  PAZAPA has since acquired new land and established temporary structures within which to continue classes.  Both the special education school and the school for the deaf are functioning.  Fortunately, none of the PAZAPA staff were hurt and stipends were provided to help them rebuild their homes.  Below are excerpts from PAZAPA’s recently completed 2010 Annual Report.      

While being a child in Haiti is hard enough, being a disabled child is much more so. There are few organizations providing the health, education, and vocational support that disabled children and their families need. PAZAPA, based in Jacmel, has been supporting programming for deaf, blind, and developmentally disabled Haitian children since 1982.  We first wrote about PAZAPA on October 13th.  Below is an update. 

Disabilities are part of the human condition.  It has been said that any of us lucky to live long enough will experience a disability.  However, disabled children and their families have unique needs that often go unmet, especially in the developing world.  PAZAPA is a school in Jacmel that provides support to more than 300 disabled children. On Saturday, November 8th a fundraiser will be held from 2:00 - 5:00 at  3181 Porter Street, NW 20008 in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington DC.  If you can come, please RSVP to Anne Grimmer at aegrimmer@aol.com.  If not, please take a look at the PAZAPA website and consider donating to this unique organization.