Sucre Ethique - Mission Ryan to aid sugar cane plantation workers, Haitian orphans

vendredi 24 septembre 2010

It’s not their poverty that drives Dr. Julian Choe to want to help the sugar cane plantation workers in the Dominican Republic. It’s the hopelessness of living with poverty and oppression.

"There is no place else for them to go," said Choe, a Frederick internist and president and CEO of the nonprofit Mission Ryan. Most of them are Haitians who were "recruited" and illegally trucked to the neighboring Dominican Republic to work on the plantations. "Once they start working as sugar cane cutters, the (monetary) resources are just not there to get out." Even the workers’ children born in the Dominican Republic are considered "illegals," but do attend government-run schools.

"They speak Spanish, so they can’t go back to Haiti because they don’t speak Creole," Choe said. "They can’t function in the Dominican Republic because they are considered Haitians."

Workers must get permission from the plantation owners to plant crops or to raise livestock. Plantation-owned stores sell food and supplies at what Choe describes as "amazingly high prices." Potable water is trucked in, and "the workers have to buy the water. They can’t run out to buy the food" anywhere else, he said.

Premature coronary disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the Dominican Republic, Choe said. Untreated hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes, along with poor nutrition and stress lead to heart disease. HIV is also rampant, he said.

Choe and the board of directors of Mission Ryan will travel to the Dominican Republic and Haiti Oct. 6 to 14 for a final assessment of the four villages he and Mark Zimmerman, assistant executive officer of Mission Ryan, have tagged to receive aid. Choe said there are hundreds of villages on the plantations and, with the assistance of the Rev. Onelys of the Dominican Republic, they have identified about 20 villages the mission team will aid over the next several years. Choe and Mission Ryan have been working with the pastor for about four years.

"I know what needs to be done," said Choe, who has visited the area multiple times. "The (Mission Ryan) board needs to see it, too. Hearing and seeing are two different things."

Choe and Zimmerman will return in January for 40 days to begin work in four villages, as well as an orphanage the organization has adopted in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. At each location, the goal is to improve sanitation, provide potable water, treat those with HIV and health problems that lead to heart disease, and eradicate intestinal parasites.

Sabana Torsa is the "worst village," Choe said. The most important need there is safe drinking water and bathrooms or outhouses. Choe estimates projects for this village to cost about $10,000. Rebuilding a bathroom in front of the church in the village of San Jose will cost about $7,000. Repair of the existing nonfunctioning water system in Carmona will cost about $10,000. Primary and secondary medical care are the priority in the mountain village of Descublerta. Choe said about $5,000 is needed for the work there. Mission Ryan has raised the funds to start these projects, he said.

The fifth project, Foyer des Enfants de Demain orphanage (Home of Children of Tomorrow), is the Haitian orphanage. While the structure was virtually unscathed in the earthquake, Choe said about 70 percent of the surrounding buildings were destroyed. The orphanage houses 43 children and three adults : Madam Rose, her daughter Claudine and son-in-law Edrins.

The orphanage is a two-story house, which the children fear sleeping in because that’s where they were when the earthquake hit. Now all sleep crammed into a small, dirt floor storage room attached to the house.

The mission of the nonprofit initially focused on the sugar cane plantation workers, but as Choe and Zimmerman were to begin their seven-year mission project in the Dominican Republic in January, neighboring Haiti was hit by an earthquake. Providing assistance there was added to the organization’s mission and the 7-year plan now begins in January 2011.

"It was not planned to go to Haiti but that’s when we found this orphanage," Choe said. "Port-au-Prince is like an orphanage town." Most have support from outside the country, but Foyer des Enfants de Demain did not have continual assistance. "They were scavenging for food wherever they could find it," said Choe. "This particular orphanage is run by a Christian family. We found it through (Pastor Onelys)."

In June, Mission Ryan Child was added to the overall mission. Sponsors can support one of the 43 children, known as Ryan’s Children, for $25 a month. That will provide the child with food, water, education and medicine ; and letter-writing correspondence with the sponsor. "We also need to find sponsors for the family members (who run the orphanage)," Choe said.

The program is coordinated by Lisa Macintosh, who will be traveling with the board in October. Each sponsor’s photo and an accompanying letter will be posted at the orphanage and each child will choose his or her sponsor. "It’s a way to give the kids a sense of regaining control," Choe said.

Over the next seven years, Choe and Zimmerman plan to travel to the Dominican Republic and Haiti to complete and establish new projects for Mission Ryan. They will return to the U.S. for short periods of fundraising between each 40-day visit. Another physician will fill in for Choe at his practice while he is away.

"We are planning short-term visiting mission teams every summer and visitation of the sponsors to the orphanage, if they choose to go," he said. The cost is about $1,000 for airfare and land fees, which would all be at the traveler’s expense. "Mission Ryan would coordinate accommodations in a hotel or tent, and we would eat whatever we can find," Choe said. "Once we cross into Haiti, we have to bring our own food and water."

A benefit golf tournament for Mission Ryan will be held Oct. 4 at Worthington Manor Golf Club in Urbana. For information, call 301-874-5400 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 301-874-5400 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or visit the Mission Ryan website.