School of Choice

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EmilyCaldwell

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Jul 3, 2010
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Hi all,
I'm embarrassed to admit that I play the zynga games (farmville) on Facebook. However, they seem to do quite a bit of fundraising for Haiti. Right now they have an event going on where they're trying to raise US$100,000 to help build the School of Choice in Haiti. Supposedly it's a school for poor children who can't go to the private schools in Haiti, which apparently make up the majority of schools there. I don't really know anything about this but figured someone here might. Is this a good school built by reputable people? Is it true that 80% of the schools in Haiti are private? Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Emily
 
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Have you considered volunteering to save the the Whales in Bahia Samana?
 
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BIGBOY21

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.Well as I am sitting here in Port-au-Prince Haiti right now I can tell you this, yes it is true that 80% of schools are private due to the lack of public schools obviously, therefore schools in Haiti are in reality a good business and quite expensive for the average Haitian to afford, with this said about this fund raising and this school they are building, it is hard to say, right now this place is like a feeding frenzy and everyone wants a piece of the pie, a lot of these organizations pretending to be helping and building things collecting money and so on are just cons, no real help just here to make profit, on the other hand some of them do actually do good work and mean well on small levels ,so I guess if a few 100 kids could get an education that would be great, so my advice is if you really want to help give contributions to the big organizations which have experience, the equipment, logistics, and man power to make a real difference such as the Red Cross, OXFAM, UNICEF etc. these guys are all over the place and that way you know its legitimate, and also a lot of smaller NGO's are funded by some of those lager ones, so if you want to make sure your money goes to the right place that?s what I suggest.
 
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EmilyCaldwell

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Well, basically the game is free to participate or you can donate if you want, but they have these "school supplies" you can give as free gifts to other players, and if the players collect 400,000,000 of them (as in, everybody playing the game together collects that many) then Zynga donates $100,000 to building the school. So it's not like I'm really donating anything, I guess I was just curious if anyone knew anything about the school.

Sad to hear that kids can't go to school if they're poor in Haiti. And I agree, the Red Cross is probably the best one to donate to. But since this game is free and could raise money, I figured I'd participate. But I am concerned that maybe the money isn't going to the right places....it's hard to know.
 
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BIGBOY21

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Well if its free and you have fun playing then why not cant hurt anyone,so go for it!!
 
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AnnaC

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BIGBOY21 said:
.Well as I am sitting here in Port-au-Prince Haiti right now I can tell you this, yes it is true that 80% of schools are private due to the lack of public schools obviously, therefore schools in Haiti are in reality a good business and quite expensive for the average Haitian to afford, with this said about this fund raising and this school they are building, it is hard to say, right now this place is like a feeding frenzy and everyone wants a piece of the pie, a lot of these organizations pretending to be helping and building things collecting money and so on are just cons, no real help just here to make profit, on the other hand some of them do actually do good work and mean well on small levels ,so I guess if a few 100 kids could get an education that would be great, so my advice is if you really want to help give contributions to the big organizations which have experience, the equipment, logistics, and man power to make a real difference such as the Red Cross, OXFAM, UNICEF etc. these guys are all over the place and that way you know its legitimate, and also a lot of smaller NGO's are funded by some of those lager ones, so if you want to make sure your money goes to the right place that’s what I suggest.
Click to expand...


Zinga is collecting 25 farm cash which if one doesn't have they may purchase for $5.00 US real cash and it's to support construction of L'Ecole de Choix K-12 school and community center for children and their families in Haiti.
In addition to this and as a side fun game when members have gathered 400,000 school supplies from each other Zinga will donate an additional $100,000 US toward school supplies.

If you've heard anything of this construction please let us know.


Found the link http://apps.facebook.com/onthefarm/seedsforhaiti.php
Thanks
 
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mountainannie

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I know the folks behind SEEDS FOR HAITI - they are based in the States - but headed by the brother of Chavannes Jean Baptiste. I saw nothing about the school project on their web page (which is out of date now) nor was it clear about the link on FARMVILLE except what Anna posted ...(

I am a regular contributor to them - and I do not think much of lots of projects there as many of you know)

BUT this does clear up the mystery of why so many of my grown up Haitian contacts on Facebook are playing this game!! (I thought it was really ODD!)

So, Emily, THANKS for this link and I will now have another way to spend my time ......

(See you have already DONE something great for the ISland!)
 
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mountainannie

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OK revision - just spent some more time on the Farmville site... and it is not linked to Bassim Zim but to FATEM FATEM - Press Corner

I saw that it has the prominent support of Senator Edmunde Supplice one of the most prominent and well respected Senators. She is, I think, the only woman in the Senate (or was -- before the last election)

anyway -- there is certainly a great group behind this project...
 
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AnnaC

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mountainannie said:
OK revision - just spent some more time on the Farmville site... and it is not linked to Bassim Zim but to FATEM FATEM - Press Corner

I saw that it has the prominent support of Senator Edmunde Supplice one of the most prominent and well respected Senators. She is, I think, the only woman in the Senate (or was -- before the last election)

anyway -- there is certainly a great group behind this project...
Click to expand...

I thought so but it's nice to get a second opinion from someone like you MA.;)
 
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EmilyCaldwell

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Jul 3, 2010
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Thanks all for the feedback. Now I feel more comfortable trying to get all my friends to participate, knowing that it's a good cause run by reputable people. I was so disappointed to hear about all the money that's being STOLEN by the likes of Wyclef Jean and other rich people trying to profit off Haiti's misery. What a shame...I thought better of Wyclef.
 
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AnnaC

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You don't need to leave home to be of help to others Amily

I donated my farmcash last night and won this lovely Seeds for Haiti tractor. I've donated to seeds for Haiti before as well.


59330_428974452764_556122764_5269522_6473434_n.jpg
 
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mountainannie

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EmilyCaldwell said:
Thanks all for the feedback. Now I feel more comfortable trying to get all my friends to participate, knowing that it's a good cause run by reputable people. I was so disappointed to hear about all the money that's being STOLEN by the likes of Wyclef Jean and other rich people trying to profit off Haiti's misery. What a shame...I thought better of Wyclef.
Click to expand...

Wyclef is a great Haitian - he just had some very bad advice... he did indeed mis- invest some his money - BUT he also was on the ground - both in Cite Soleil and Gonaives - for months and months..and got aid into places where the UN troops could not even go. An accounting error does not make one a thief.

Wyclef has a diplomatic passport and serves his country as a roaming ambassador.
There are, indeed, many many people who are profiting now, as they have in the past, from the misery of Haiti and other places.

There are high rolling international aid groups who have VERY GOOD accountants and VERY HIGH standards of living (by that I mean that they live FAR better when on overseas assignments than they would at comparable jobs in their home countries) and get NOTHING done.

Wyclef's Yele Foundation is not one of them

further reading

Amazon.com: The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (9780143038825): William Easterly: Books
 
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EmilyCaldwell

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Jul 3, 2010
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mountainannie said:
Wyclef is a great Haitian - he just had some very bad advice... he did indeed mis- invest some his money - BUT he also was on the ground - both in Cite Soleil and Gonaives - for months and months..and got aid into places where the UN troops could not even go. An accounting error does not make one a thief.

Wyclef has a diplomatic passport and serves his country as a roaming ambassador.
There are, indeed, many many people who are profiting now, as they have in the past, from the misery of Haiti and other places.

There are high rolling international aid groups who have VERY GOOD accountants and VERY HIGH standards of living (by that I mean that they live FAR better when on overseas assignments than they would at comparable jobs in their home countries) and get NOTHING done.

Wyclef's Yele Foundation is not one of them

further reading

Amazon.com: The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (9780143038825): William Easterly: Books
Click to expand...

Hmmm...I wish I remember where I read this, but I remember an article saying that some of the Yele Haiti money went to Wyclef's recording studio in NYC, and a couple of other high priced items that had nothing to do with Haiti and that made me pretty angry. I was actually shocked because Wyclef's music has had a lot of social and political content in the past and it always seemed he cared about poor people in general, and Haiti's poor in particular. So hearing that he'd stolen money from the charity didn't sit right. I'd hoped it wasn't true. I will see if I can find the article I'm talking about. Maybe it was old or not from a reputable source.
 
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EmilyCaldwell

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Also I just wanted to let everyone know that Farmville users have already donated $550,000 since I last posted, and we've surpassed the goal of 400,000,000 school supplies sent between users. So that's $650,000 that will be donated to the School of Choice ($100,000 from Zynga itself), and if Farmville users send 1 billion supplies total then zynga will throw in another $100,000. We may well reach $1 Million if it continues to grow like this. :)
 
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mountainannie

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EmilyCaldwell said:
Hmmm...I wish I remember where I read this, but I remember an article saying that some of the Yele Haiti money went to Wyclef's recording studio in NYC, and a couple of other high priced items that had nothing to do with Haiti and that made me pretty angry. I was actually shocked because Wyclef's music has had a lot of social and political content in the past and it always seemed he cared about poor people in general, and Haiti's poor in particular. So hearing that he'd stolen money from the charity didn't sit right. I'd hoped it wasn't true. I will see if I can find the article I'm talking about. Maybe it was old or not from a reputable source.
Click to expand...

Don't bother to research it - it is true that money was misused. Wyclef apologized - the head guy from Yele said they were getting a new accountant. BUT as corruption goes down here;, it was pretty mild.

Everyone, except Sean Penn, has probably forgiven him,

And lots of folks are just relieved that he won't be running for Prez since he would clearly win

And OMG he does not even SPEAK FRENCH!! (which is how the elites know that they are the elites!! what would happen if the President did not even speak French?)
 
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AnnaC

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Update

Thank You Video from Children in Mirebalais, Haiti

by Zynga.org (videos)
0:07

Zynga players? ongoing commitment to Haiti raised over $1.2 Million to support building The School of Choice in Mirebalai
 
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