Cape & Islands News

Wellfleet to Matenwa, the Cape Cod to Haiti connection

From one little town to another

   One of the women artists hand-paints a scarf. All images courtesy of the Haiti Project.

By Samantha Pearsall

Three artists.

With this week’s devastating earthquake hitting Haiti, the local fundraising and advocacy group in Wellfleet, called The Haiti Project, is all the more essential to the small Haitian village of Matenwa that they support.

“It’s very shocking for everyone at this point,” said Sky Freyss-Cole, a leading organizer of The Haiti Project, “It’s really overwhelming, but we also know there’s going to be life beyond this earthquake and any major challenge. We need to plan for that future and help equip our friends.”

Freyss-Cole and others involved with the Project have many close companions in Haiti who they have still been unable to communicate with this week. Chris Low, a friend of the group and director of a community school in Matenwa, reported the village has experienced some damage but still little is known at this time.

As the most impoverished and underdeveloped country in the western hemisphere, Haiti’s infrastructure was already weak and access to necessary natural resources was very difficult. Now the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, has been flattened by the quake killing what has been estimated at thousands and adding more struggle to the country, including Matenwa.

Bernis and Wozlin visiting RaRa for the first time.

Members and supporters of The Haiti Project hope their efforts will help. The Project began 12 years ago after Ellen LeBow, an artist from Wellfleet, traveled to Haiti and fell in love with the community of Matenwa where her friend, Chris Low, was a teacher. A musician and high school teacher at Nauset Regional High School, Lisa Brown is the other founding member of the Project. The two have made repeated trips to the rural community that’s located in the mountains of Lagonav, an island off the coast of Haiti. The project is centered around music, art, and literacy.

“We connect on basic levels through art and music and self expression,” explained Freyss-Cole. “I grew up [on Cape Cod] and I know for myself it has helped me to become the person I am. International relationships make an impact on how we view ourselves and the world around us,” she said.

RaRa: The Matènwa artists' first retail store in Wellfleet.

The Haiti Project and Nauset Regional High School have been collaborating over the past several years to involve students and even bring them on regular trips to visit Haiti. Many students continue to travel to Matenwa well after their high school years.

Freyss-Cole has made three trips to Matenwa, with her first three-week endeavor coming when she was just 15 years old. “I was in Lisa’s (Brown) world music class. When she returned from her trip to Haiti she told all her students. I remember after class I went up to her and she just said: ‘You want to go don’t you?’ I wanted nothing more,” she said.

“Now I’m hooked on experiencing the world beyond Cape Cod and my own reaches,” Freyss-Cole said. She also traveled to South Africa when she was 13 years old and has been studying abroad for the past six years.

Cape Codders have certainly found reason to support this small, rural Haitian community. “This project exists because of our community, we are supported by Wellfleet and the Cape in general,” Freyss-Cole said. “We are creating fundamental sustainable change in a small community from one little town to another.”

Bead and sequined banner: "La Sirenne".

The group accepts donations, holds annual fundraisers, and opened a storefront last June to sell artwork created by the women of Matenwa. RaRa, as the retail shop is called, is located on Commercial Street in Wellfleet right next the The Juice restaurant. The Haitian artists are paid for their work, which is silk, sequin, silk-screened and embroidered, and the profits from RaRa help to cover the cost of materials and art supplies to keep more art coming. This summer The Haiti Project received a grant from The Mangrove Fund to cover rent for the entire season.

The store is not just about the money though. “We’re having conversations about what we’re doing and how we’re creating positive social change,” Freyss-Cole said.

This Saturday, Jan. 16 the 8th Annual Merci D'Avance Dance (Thanks In Advance Dance) will be held at the Messina Restaurant on Route 6 in Eastham. The annual fundraiser begins at 6 p.m. and includes a buffet style diner, raw bar, a silent auction, handmade Haitian artwork by the women of Matenwa, and of course Carribean music and dancing. Tickets at $20 at the door which includes two raffle tickets. For more information or to donate online visit www.artmatenwa.org.

    A home in Haiti.

Samantha Pearsall is a recent college grad with a background in journalism and marketing. As a lifelong Cape Codder, she of course enjoys the beautiful beaches, the friendly people, the fresh seafood, and all that makes our seaside community so unique. She is a freelance writer and photographer (www.escapecod.net) and also works in fundraising for the Community Health Center of Cape Cod (www.chcofcapecod.org).