The Tufts University students' work in Balan is an ongoing project (http://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org/news/2009-04-30-respe-history-and-timeline) that was jump started by the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts. PeaceTones joined their work by asking to make Haiti a PeaceTones pilot and by making a connection to the Christian Haitian Entrepreneurial Society (CHES) based in Boston which, in turn, made a local connection to nurses near Balan who have joined Ashley and Val on their trainings; for their part, the Tufts students introduced PeaceTones to community leaders from Balan several months ago, who, in turn, arranged for us to meet and record musicians and meet with lawyers on our current trip.
As soon as we arrived, we met with a local attorney, Watson, who took a copy of the proposed IBO/artists contract and promised to read it and get back to me with comments by this evening. We met with 9 musician groups shortly after that, and, they had many questions about PeaceTones. Fortunately, Val had arranged to translate key portions of our brochure into creole, and our RESPE:Balan hosts served as leaders/translators for this first music community meeting in Balan. Within two days, we had our first recordings. Tomorrow, we are set for a second round of recordings. We also visited with our CHES friends at a nearby university which was hosting a music camp, where we met an incredible young bass player, Wester Desamours. We plan to record Wester tomorrow as well.
PeaceTones would like to see the health clinic become a beneficiary of our collaboration; but, of course, that is up to the community. Val, Ashley and their team will train more than 100 people during the week they are here, covering sexual health and hypertension. They have brought down an incredible horde of materials/dvds to share as well - and, lots of supplies.
An auspicious beginning...
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