On April 2, 2011, Tranquility set sail from Miami to Haiti, laden with 7 tons of relief supplies and 18 solar panels on the back deck. Aboard were Cam & Leighia, owners of Tranquility, Ali, a veteran of the first trip to Haiti, Ted and BJ who had signed on only a week before, and Bonnie and Holden who were headed to Haiti to work on another project. During the nearly month-long stay on LaGonave, an island just off Port au Prince, Cam and crew installed a working solar system on the rooftop of a school in the town of Anse a Galet, complete with electronics and battery array that provides power for the school, from lighting to a bank of computers. (Power arrived just in time. During our stay the town generator that had provided power from 6PM to 11PM most nights stopped running alltogether.)

While the system was being installed, the rest of the crew also worked with the children planting a garden, cleaning up and decorating the grounds, repainting the front of the building, and exchanging English lessons for lessons in Creole, the preferred local language.

Though it wasn't without challenges, the trip was a success thanks to the generosity of the many benefactors who support Sailors Without Borders and the tireless efforts of Cam & Leighia.

"SAIL AID TO HAITI"
April 8, 2010
"Sailors without Borders" delivers much needed AID to the forgotten Haitian Island of La Gonave in their first of many "Sail Aid To Haiti" relief missions.
Sailing Vessel (S/V) "Tranquility" and her crew arrived back in Key West Florida, a few days ago, from a Relief mission to the island of Ile de la Gonave an island situated 18 miles from the main land of Haiti. A sailing family of four and three extra crew took the AID to Haiti to a whole new level by hand delivering AID to the coastal community of Anse a Galet. The island had clearly been forgotten by Haiti's Government, even before the devastating earthquake of January 12th.
A collaboration of foundations and business such as Endangered Planet Foundation, Art Miles Mural Project "Shoes of Hope", Trans Marine Pro and The Conch Republic Navy (CRN)brought together a grass roots effort from Key West, South Florida; Laguna Beach California, Hawaii, and as far away as Cairo, Egypt to hand deliver four (4) tons of cargo. This included Medical Supplies & Canned beans from the Alton Group Miami, eight (8) - 7.2KW Generators and childrens clothing, food goods from Sun Electronics Miami, 2000 pairs of "Shoes of Hope" hand painted from the Bridgepoint Education Center, San Diego California, and the much needed and asked for baby formula and powdered milk from James Bourlet Inc., New York. Working along side of Association Amis des Enfants de L'ile de La Gonave (AAE) (www.aaenfants.org) S/V Tranquility unloaded in Anse a Galet directly into the hands of the AAE's (three schools) President Nadal Damour and Vice President Samuel Michael, whom were the most gracious hosts and had only our safety and enjoyment of this beautiful island at heart, while providing secure access to the areas of the island for us to collect the much needed information for this reconnaissance mission.
After unloading the aid, the "Tranquility" crew were invited to see the first of three (3) school's in the center of town. The school comprised of a rented building and a plot of land with two wind generators and a solar panel. There was one computer and a couple of tables, for all the children they teach there, it
isn't nearly enough. Nadal and his volunteers do the best that they can with their limited resources and strong faith of making a change in the young minds of their pupils for a brighter future for educating the youth and therefore will result in a change in Haiti's infrastructure. These bright and intelligent men are dedicated to the children and are not asking for hand-outs, but, a HAND-UPS for a long term rebuilding relationship between the AAE and partners that can see the same vision of making positive changes in the world. They believe that the future lies in our children and all blood runs red no matter the colour of our skin.
The AAE are working with over 200 children divided up into three school areas, the school in the town of Anse a Galet is for the children between the ages of 5-17 here they learn computer science, French, English and receive one hot meal a day. They are in desperate need of more computers and a overhead projector for the lessons which run on Friday's and Saturday's there is also a demand for desks and chairs. These needs were seen throughout all three schools that we visited, the two schools in the countryside which took us 2 hours to get to, by rented 4wd trucks, didn't have any books paper or pencils. The outside classes were filled bursting with children, sitting on wooden planks, wanting to learn and only having the chance one day a week. Since the teachers were volunteers, there is a shortage of school instruction. Nadals vision is to have school in the countryside 5 days a week with funds allocated to hire good teachers and provide schooling supplies to all children. The AAE was founded in 2002 by Nadal Damour and Samuel Michel. Their commitment to the children and the growth of their country was evident in the early days as they would walk the 2 hour trek into the countryside to check on the community and provide any small amount of relief they could. We didn't even have bicycles Nadal stated, now we rent a truck and motorcycles to get up into the hills each week. S/V Tranquility would like to be able to deliver at least four dirt/street motorcycles and/or ATV's next season when we return to continue helping with the rebuilding efforts. It is most important that Haiti's coastal communities of La Gonave do not get forgotten now that the devastation of the earthquake is not being shown daily by the media. Many of the people in the 1st world countries have gotten donor fatigue and are now carrying on with their lives. Let's not forget that Haiti is one of Americas neighbors soaked in a rich history of Americas past and present future.
Lack of fresh water on the island is a big problem. The school in the countryside has one well that has broken again after the AAE has fixed it three (3) times already. To fix it again they will need steel and construction materials that are not available to them on La Gonave. This means that the villagers in this community now have to trek another 2 hours to another well, collection of water becomes a daily event for a lot of children instead of learning in school. Annual precipitation ranges from 800-1,400 mm, hand dug wells provide water in coastal areas. Few productive wells have been drilled deeper than 60 meters. With Captain Cameron's expertise and contacts in the marine industry we
can help to put together affordable desalination units to provide fresh water access in the town which is situated right beside the harbor. At this time there are seven (7) wells that are currently inoperable, to repair these the AAE has estimated that each well will cost an average of $2,000 USD.
La Gonave is truly a beautiful island with a huge amount of potential, not only the land and it's richness up in the hill sides, also the spirit of the people with their shinning faces and bright smiles even in the face of adversity there is a faith and compassion we haven't seen for along time. There are no funds allocated to La Gonave by what's left of Haiti's government so working on the construction of water bores, roads and sewage, means the people are dependent on foreign aid getting to them through any means possible. So far very little aid has been delivered to the island by the leading NGO's since the earthquake and now it is struggling with an extra influx of 40,000 people that have returned from Port au Prince. The only aid we witnessed what was arriving by local fishing boats from the main land was stamped US AID "not for resale" We weren't sure if it was going to another local NGO, but we did hear that rice on the black market out of Port au Prince could be sold for up too $100 USD for a 100 pound bag of rice.
The AAE has a future vision that includes using renewable energy for harnessing the islands wind and sun to power their homes and schools. There is no power on the island and the cooking is done by making their own coal. You can see the burning of the trees in underground smoke pits on the hill sides, adding to the impact on the land and creating rainy season mud slides. There is constant wind and sunshine in La Gonave year round thus making wind and solar power the most economical choice at the present time. The AAE has two wind generators and one solar panel on their Anse a Galet school house but unfortunately the regulator burnt out so they are no longer producing power. The generators that S/V Tranquility delivered will now power the computer for schooling the children but this is a temporary fix as fuel is very expensive. S/V Tranquility would like to return, and with Trans Marine's Pro expertise in Renewable Energy, can make a difference in setting up renewable energy platforms to power their computers, drive the pumps for their wells and provided lighting and some power for cooking.
The AAE wants to purchase a piece of fertile land up in the countryside that will provide the foundation for their future mission of building a school and equip it to be self sufficient. There they hope to teach the children how to care for the crops and be sustainable in their own back yard, this piece of property is not much in American dollars, perhaps as little as $4,500 USD, It would mean so much to them to be able to build a school for the community and teach five (5) days a week.
There were so many grateful people that came up to us to thank S/V Tranquility and crew for making the sea voyage to deliver this aid and that with the AAE made sure to distribute it to all the children and families not just the ones whom were in their schools.
One boy I remember that shined the brightest was during the handing out of the handpainted "Shoes of Hope". He came in with shoes that had holes in the soles and were falling apart at the seams his delight at receiving a new pair of shoes was displayed through his happy smile, even though there was a language barrier I got the message. "...Thank you all for your donations, help support and love. You brightened the life of many children..."
S/V Tranquility and Trans Marine Pro are committed to the future of La Gonave and its children by giving our time and skills to help with the construction of building a strong partnership with the people of Haiti through "Sail Aid To Haiti", and Sailors Without Borders, AMMP and "Shoes of Hope" and Endangered Planet Foundation.
DONATE HERE www.endangeredplanetfoundation.org
384 Forest Ave. • Gallery 13 • Laguna Beach • California • USA
949.497.5690 phone • EndangeredPlanetFoundation.org • 949.497.6106 fax
Endangered Planet Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization #20-5931830

We would like to thank all those involved who have supported us in this first of many relief missions to La Gonave, Haiti:
• Trans Marine Pro & S/V Tranquility - www.TransMarinePro.com
• Conch Republic Navy - www.ConchRepublic.com/the_beginning.htm
• Joan Conover - Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) www.sv-growltiger.com
• Donna Lange - OceansWatch Executive - www.OceansWatch.org
• Boot Key City Marina - www.ci.Marathon.fl.us/index.aspx?NID=26
• Endangered Planet Foundation - www.EndangeredPlanetFoundation.org
• Scott V. Murray - Super Color Digital - Irvine, CA - www.Supercolor.com
• Joanne Tawfilis - Art Miles Mural Project & "Shoes of Hope" - www.ArtMiles.org
• Bridge Point Education - www.BridgePointEducation.com
• Volunteer San Diego - www.VolunteerSanDiego.org
• Sun Electronics - www.Sunelec.com
• James Bourlet Inc. - Specialty Art Moving - New York
• Schooner Liberty - www.LibertySchooner.com
Sailing Vessel "Tranquility's" Crew Consisted of -
• Cameron Murray - Captain & Renewable Energy Specialist
• Leighia Murray - Wife, Admiral & Teacher
• Maya Murray - Daughter & Swab
• Fynn Murray - Son & Engineer
• Ali Scheier - Deck Hand & Translator
• Meryl Sarty - Security Officer & Translator
• Sandy Sarty - Agriculturalists & Translator

OceansWatch.org members and sailing vessels from Florida, Eastern US and the Caribbean are working together to establish a network of boats delivering aid to Haiti. We call it Sail Aid to Haiti.
SV Tranquility and Trans Marine will be leading the secound flotilla leaving from South Florida end of Feburary - March. We are concentrating on the organization of attain Aid and delivering to the coastal communities that need it.
To contact us if your interested in joining the Flotilla please email me directly at www.info@transmarinepro.com
We can all get behind the effort together delivering Aid to Haiti.

One of the logistical challenges in helping the people of Haiti is that the three main ways of getting relief supplies of food and medicine into the country (by land, air and large ship), all create a bottleneck in Port au Prince, with much of the aid sitting in warehouses or under guard while people are starving. Also, the primary aid distribution centers are in and around Port au Prince, so not enough aid is being delivered to small islands and remote villages, where many refugees have fled to get away from the awful mess in the city. They are cut off and removed from aid and receive very little if any at all. They are hungry and lacking the basic necessities of life: food, shelter and medical care.

Another serious issue is that corruption and inefficiency mean that somewhere between 50 to 90% of every dollar collected for aid to Haiti is wasted and never reaches the people in need. Even from the most honest, established and trusted organizations, overhead, administrative expenses, salaries, marketing, promotion, advertising and shipping eat up a huge percentage of every dollar donated. Greed, corruption, bribery and outright theft by gangs in Haiti siphon off a huge amount more. Food is scarce, medical supplies are scarce, gasoline is selling for $125 a gallon on the black market, and bottled water is selling for $10 a gallon, even if it was donated or purchased with money donated for relief to Haiti.

What can be done? Deliver aid directly to the people in need on sail powered boats. OceansWatch is an all volunteer organization with no salaries, overhead, or administrative costs, all donations we receive go directly on sailboats with volunteer crews delivered to the small islands and coastal fishing villages in Haiti.

Donate to OceansWatch and we promise that every dollar you give will be used to purchase food, medicine and supplies delivered by an all volunteer crew on a wind powered sailboat directly to the people in need on the coast of Haiti.

Please go to www.OceansWatch.org