KIRWIN INTERNATIONAL RELIEF FOUNDATION

KIRF Field Report: Thomas fire families we helped in Ventura County, California in 2017

2018-03-04T21:00:00.001-08:00

Original date: March 4, 2018

As the flames lit up the night sky on December 4th, we watched with horror as a massive wall of red flames burned up over the ridge line above our town to the east and quickly consumed one home after another in rectangular bursts of fire across on our darkened hillsides, blown by unseasonably hot and dry Santa Ana winds. The aftermath of that night, and for days later as the fires continued to eat up acres of land across two counties, was a calamity that touched all of our lives. Everyone knew someone who had lost his or her home. By the time the fire was completely extinguished a month later, over 281,000 acres had burned making it the largest fire in California’s recorded history. Two people lost their lives. Thousands of people lost their homes. Over 1,000 structures were destroyed in Ventura County alone.

KIRF has been able to help 58 of these families (over 145 people), most with children and renters, get through the experience of losing their homes and belongings in the Thomas fire. Most of the people we helped did not have fire insurance or were underinsured. When we met them, they still seemed in shock. Most owned only the clothes that they were wearing and what they could carry when they were evacuated. They lived in various areas of Ventura County: Ventura, Ojai, and unincorporated areas such as Wheeler Canyon, Adams Canyon, and Upper Ojai.

Each of the families we helped are special to us. They include some of our community’s kindergarten and high school teachers, farm workers, writers, artists, photographers, and musicians, as well as college students and service workers, horse trainers, daycare providers and in-home caregivers. We helped several small business owners with employees to support. The people we helped also included a home architect, a large equipment operator (who helped clean up debris after the flooding in Montecito), a lawyer, and a biologist as well as the people who make us feel and look better: a hair dresser, athletic trainer, and two yoga instructors. Some of them help keep us safe for a living such as the EMT and police officer we helped.

A hundred percent of every donation went to directly to help each of these families in the form of a gift card or supplies that they requested. Since our funds were limited (several times we ran out of money in the first few weeks), people who were renting and/or did not have sufficient insurance were sought out. Parents of school-age children and retired senior citizens were prioritized, too. Each person KIRF helped was referred to us from friends, family members, acquaintances, neighbors, and other Thomas fire disaster survivors. Over 50% of the Thomas fire survivors who we helped ended up referring us to other people who they knew personally and who had also lost their homes. Several people told us that by helping other victims of the Thomas fire, it helped them, too. They included the following amazingly caring people: John, Veronica, Phillipa, Margaret, Julie, Katie, Michael, and Dan.

KIRF’s aid for this disaster has mostly been in the form of $500 gift cards to Target or Walmart. Most of the people we helped did not yet have a permanent place to live and store donated items. We, in turn, referred aid recipients to other aid groups and humanitarians in an informal aid network during the disaster. Local organizations who gave aid to Thomas fire disaster relief recipients through our referrals included Our Lady of Assumption Church, Mission Church Ventura, and Downtown Lions Club. A few local businesses gave merchandise to KIRF aid recipients such as Mile 26, Barrel 101, and Betty Belts to name just a few.

However, Mark and I could not have of done this emergency disaster relief without the hours of volunteer efforts by an informal aid network of volunteers here in Ventura. They spent hours meeting Thomas fire survivors with us and helped us purchase and deliver donated items to many of them. Thank you again for your help Steve, Greg and Sarah, Courtney, Ed, Mike, Miguel, Richard, Erin, Brian, Josh and Jen, Nile, and Kai. We also want to thank our newest KIRF volunteers who took hours of their time to locate, interview, and introduce us to Thomas fire survivors who lost their homes. They include Adrienne, Karen, Barbara, Ken, Linda, and Jeannie. I want to thank two people who connected two of the musicians we helped with new instruments: Suz and Janet. Finally, thank you Cathy for introducing us to Fr. Leon of Our Lady of Assumption Church who gave emergency funds to many of the renters we helped before FEMA and other aid funds became available.

Below are some of the public social media postings (minus the photos for now--ARK) that helped us raise more funds during the disaster period. The first post was a few days after the Thomas fire started on Dec. 4, 2017. Most of them were shared as public posts on KIRF’s Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/KIRFaid/). Each post was made with permission from each KIRF Thomas fire aid recipient.

DEC. 9 2017

We gave another gift card today to a widowed mom with two daughters, 1 yr & 4 yrs. She is trying to stay positive. The photo below is what is left of her house in Wheeler Canyon (between E. Ventura & Santa Paula, north of Hwy 126).…

DEC. 10, 2017

We just got back from giving out two Walmart gift cards for $500 each for two people this morning: Kendra and Alton. They both said I can use their names and photos. We met them with our new friend Dan who lost his home and business equipment in the Thomas Fire. Kendra is a recent college grad who works in a HR dept at a company in Carpinteria. She asked not to share the photo of her burned rental house since it belongs to a well-known local doctor and his wife. But below is a photo of Kendra and I. She is so grateful...!

The other gift card we gave to [is] a wonderful man named Alton who is a retired photographer and remembers Hurricane Camille in 1969 in MS! He’s married to a Cajun lady who grew up hunting and fishing in LA. Loved this guy. Below is a photo of him at his house right after the fire. He is so grateful for the gift card. I a week or so the disaster services and free donated items will be gone but his family will still need things.

Dan (guy we helped on Sat with a gift card), Alton & Kendra have family who are members of Temple Beth Torah. From them we found out that the local evangelical Mission Church Ventura, Catholic Assumption and Temple Beth Torah here in Ventura are helping each other out with sharing donated water and helping each other’s members. Dan, an recent MBA grad who started a business recently & lost all his business equipment in the fire, told me that one of our friends referred him to Assumption. He showed up yesterday ready for the Father to say religious words to him (he’s Jewish). But the priest just handed him a check and said he hopes Dan is doing all right. He was there for less than five minutes... And you can better believe he’s a fan of that local religious community now. But, of course, there are politicians who won’t ever repeat that reality of the people in different faith communities all working together with love ...! But now you and our other donors know. Love wins

DEC. 11, 2017

Thank you KIRF donors so much! We gave another gift card tonight to Erik & Sarah who lost their rented house, no insurance. Erik is an artist who [recently graduated from UC Santa Cruz] and also works for a local organic farm and lost his art and art supplies. Sarah lost everything, too. Thank you for helping this young couple out.

DEC. 12, 2017

Thank you KIRF donors! We gave a $500 gift card to a sweet lady named Joannie who is a retired first grade teacher and world traveler. She lost her apartment, one out of 53 units, in Hawaiian Gardens [Hawaiian Village Apartments] Monday night (Dec. 4). Steve Doll referred her to us. She is really grateful.

DEC. 13, 2017

Hannah, a graduate student in Clinical Psychology at Pacifica, and her daughter Lily escaped the Thomas Fire in Ojai but their rented home did not. They are couching it at a relative’s house now. We were able to help them with a $500 WalMart gift card to replace some things they lost in the fire…

DEC. 15, 2017

This wonderful human standing in between Mark and I was referred to us by his neighbor Katie who lived on the same property above Foothill in Ventura. He tried hard to save both of their rented houses by staying behind and hosing them down and putting out embers during the fiery windstorm late Monday night. He thought he did, left briefly, and came back to both homes burned to the ground. Lost everything. We used the last $500 in donations we had yesterday to get him a gift card. It’s not much but at least he would be able to replace some things after he finds a new home for himself and his two children… PS: The wonderful human/brave dad’s name is Michael.

DEC. 15, 2017

Mark talked to Robby today about his experiences in the Thomas Fire. He and his girlfriend Lexi narrowly escaped the fire as it descended into the Hawaiian gardens [Hawaiian Village Apartments] and the apartment they were renting there. They were running from flames 30 feet high. Lexi ran through the falling embers in her bare feet…

DEC. 15, 2017

Thank you KIRF donors. Today your donation helped a Thomas Fire refugee and hero named Tanner. He is a paramedic who was off duty and sound asleep when he got a panicked call from an elder care client who told him that he and his wife’s trailer home was was surrounded by fire. He saved the elderly couple and their model home in a park in upper Ojai. Unfortunately, he lost his own home right next door. He was referred to us by fellow Thomas Fire refugee Michael. Below is a photo of Tanner with Mark and a picture of his Jeep on the night of the fire.

DEC. 16, 2017

Hannah and Landon lost their home in the [Harbor View] apartments that burned above Hawaiian Gardens [Hawaiian Village Apartments]. Nothing left. Thank you KIRF donors for helping this nice young couple. 100% of each donation is going by to purchase gift cards or requested home supplies for Thomas fire refugees.

DEC. 19, 2017

At my right shoulder (left side of this photo) is an angel named Phillipa. After the Thomas fire unexpectedly burned down her house in the hillsides of Ventura she asked for help for her preschool students’ families who she knew had lost their homes in the massive brush fire. I met Phillipa through my friend Adrienne at the Ventura Land Trust. I’ve known Adrienne for a while now and if she says someone needs help, I believe her.

Which leads me to mention the other sweet lady on my left: Amber. She’s a busy speech therapist and mother of two energetic little boys who loved to race around their mom’s car in the parking lot when I met them today. She and her husband Nate’s rented home near two trees (now one tree? No tree?) burned down. The fire destroyed everything they owned except their clothes, cell phones, and IDs that they evacuated with. They did not have renter’s insurance…

DEC. 19, 2017

Thank you KIRF donors for making a difference for this lovely and entertaining couple: David and Veronica. Referred to us by Steve, their apartment on the first floor of Hawaiian Gardens burned up was crushed into the ground by the other two stories above it. They were on a travel righting assignment in Cuba and only had with them their passports, warm weather clothing, bike shorts, and a few other things. Veronica lost her grandmother’s heirloom jewelry. David lost two back up drives of digital images of photos he’s taken for the past twenty years of assignments and of his children, etc. The fire was a devastating loss for them both. Unfortunately, all we could do is provide some words of care and a gift card. We referred them to a local religious community who helped them some more. They found an apartment but will need to fill it…

DEC. 21, 2017

It was another emotional night last night meeting these two incredible kind and resilient people: Linda and John. Their apartment in Hawaiian Village, decorated with a lifetime of memories, burned to the ground during the Thomas Fire. Linda seems to be coping well by staying incredibly busy with her work at Granite Construction Since the Thomas fire destroyed about 150 homes in Ventura, I expect she’s going to get even busier. John is retired and I expect dealing with all the paperwork involved in recovering from a disaster—dealing with utilities, insurance, and fema plus medical bills— [that] will keep him busy, too for a while.

I wish we could do more for them. We gave them a $500 Target gift card for some essentials…

DEC. 21, 2017

We visited the Wheeler Canyon Trailer Park, a property owned by Limoneira Company, on Wednesday night (12/20/17). Ten families lost everything they owned when their trailers caught fire and burned into the heaps of charred steal and ashes in the fiery inferno that swept through the canyon carried by the Santa Ana winds on December 4th. Here's a short description of one of those families. [edit added 12/23/17 - ARK]…

It was about dinnertime when we met them at a neighbor's trailer. Ernesto told us in Spanish that their trailer that burned was a new one and they had nice furniture in it and his fish tank. He had raised tropical fish in it for seven years. Gesturing with his hands, he showed us that when he started, his fish were tiny and grew big. He had to get a bigger tank. Now it's all gone. It made me sadder still to hear that the dignified grandfather still has to get up at 4:30am every morning to work in the fields and gets home around 5pm. His wife’s schedule isn’t much easier: she gets up at 6 and gets home around 7pm. They lost nearly all their material possessions but at least, they told us, they still have their jobs and worked earlier that day. Broke but not even close to broken, they were so kind and invited us in and would of fed us dinner, too if we could of stayed.

KIRF donors paid for a Target gift card for this farm worker family. I know that many volunteers from several organizations are working hard to help their hard working community…

DEC. 23, 2017

Today we accepted an invitation to the Christmas party for the farm workers at Limoneira Company. After quietly giving each family who lost their home in the Thomas fire a Target gift card, I learned their story through the Spanish interpreting done by a lovely lady with a beautiful name: Elodia. …Limoneira Company quickly found new housing for them in some vacant trailers in the park.

Unfortunately, for Maria and her family, the fires destroyed her passport and H2A guest worker papers. Her daughter and granddaughter were born here. Even today, two weeks after her home burned down, she seemed scared about what was going to happen next. I don’t blame her frankly. There were counselors from Ventura county behavioral health, LULAC, Red Cross here today to help her and the other families here though. The outpouring of care for these families who work hard, before dawn to dusk, [picking and packing] the produce that we eat is tremendous and reassuring…

DEC. 31, 2017

Today we gave disaster recovery aid in the form of a $500 Target gift card to a young couple, Mikayla & Jake, whose apt in the Harbor View Apts was destroyed by the Thomas fire. The gift card won’t replace the special things but it will at least help them get back on their feet with some essentials. Thank you KIRF donors so much for making a real difference to a young family who lost everything. Thank you for being there for them during what may have been their worst holiday season ever.

JAN. 7, 2018

We were able to help four more former residents of Hawaiian Village apartments yesterday. This was due in part to the generosity of a local farming family with a long history in Ventura County. Each person we helped told us a harrowing story of escaping the fire through smoke and burning embers blowing over them, just ahead of the flames that lit up our hillsides a fiery red and orange.

Each person we helped is connected to a family member or a close friend who also lost their home that night. Left to right are photos of Mark and I with some of them: Angela and her 14 yr old son Walter (they are still living in a hotel), Ryan who lost everything in the fire that he owned since he was busy helping the other residents escape, Patricia who is also living in a hotel with her roommate, and Alex who lost everything except her snowboard and Patagonia gear, a gym bag stuffed with undergarments, and one Ugg boot. None of them had insurance.

We referred them to other disaster services in town and retailers we know who are still donating new clothes and other items to people who lost their homes in the Thomas fire. Each one of them thanked us and our donors.

Each person is dealing with their loss differently: stoicism, keeping extremely busy, feeling numb or waves of grief at different times.

Each person told us how incredibly generous some people who they hardly knew have been to them with free things, a place to live, and cash. They also told us about support of Red Cross, United Way, Our Lady of Assumption, Mission Church Ventura, etc…

JAN. 8, 2018

I thought that the Thomas fire donations would stop coming in after New Years but I was wrong. Sometimes it’s great to be wrong. Yesterday we were able to give a care package of gift cards and cash to the best yoga teacher … Maura.

She used to teach the Wednesday noon yoga class at Patagonia. I was told that she taught this class upstairs in the firehouse building for 25 years. I was also told that she was an amazing yoga teacher. The few times I took her yoga class I became instantly relaxed by her soft-voice as she moved us through the asanas [yoga poses coordinated with breathing] that gently lengthened and soothed our sore muscles in time with our breaths. Her yoga classes were the only time I could truly relax at work …

JAN. 12, 2018

Thank you again KIRF donors! Because of your generosity we were able to help out a dear former co-worker of mine from my years at Patagonia long ago. Margaret and her husband lost their rented home and one of their cats to the Thomas fire in Adams Canyon, which is just past Wheeler Canyon near where the fire started. She sent me before and after photos of their home. They had only about ten minutes to evacuate so they grabbed a few things and their pets, three dogs and the two of their three cats that they could find.

A photo below is all she has left of her jewelry from the fire other than what she was wearing at the time. I looked up the melting temperature of silver on Google. It is 1,763 degrees Fahrenheit. Everything else inside their home was reduced to charred metal and ashes.

Since they lived on county land near Ojai but not in it, they have been denied aid by [some] organizations there. The most aid they got, other than some renters insurance and help from their adult children, was from Mission Church Ventura (no questions asked, just love and aid), Red Cross, and us.

JAN. 24, 2018

Ever meet a couple who are so genuine, so real, and yet so full of positivity and light that you just want them to succeed? I met a couple like that today named Sarah and Eddie. I only spoke with Eddie on the phone but he coordinated a meeting with his wife Sarah.

We were referred to them by my friend Margaret who also lost her home in the massive Thomas fire. I met Sarah tonight after work at Whole Foods near where I teach at College of the Canyons. Sarah and her musician/entrepreneur husband Eddie lost almost everything they owned and Eddie’s work equipment when the Thomas fire burned their rented home to the ground in Upper Ojai. Since they live about a minute from Saint Thomas Aquinas College, near where the fire started and it’s namesake, they had about 15 minutes to get their four children, two cats, and their things in their trucks. They had to use the lights on their cell phones to see after the electricity went out.

They have three little boys who are 9 months, 2 years and 3 years, and one big 11 year old boy who goes to San Antonio Elementary. Their big boy just wants to go back to his old school and is having a rough time his mom told me. He’s in six grade and they hope that they can find a place in or near Ojai so he can finish out the year there. They are currently staying in a spare room at relative’s house in Valencia. Eddie lost his acoustic and bass guitars and his work equipment. They both lost years of their children’s artwork and everything you can think of in a typical house. Sarah worked and got academic-scholarships to pay her way through UCLA and now teaches kindergarten and preschool. Family and friends, have helped them with clothing and bedding etc. [We gave them two Target gift cards worth $1,000.] Now they just [need] a place to stay until this summer at least....

FEB 8, 2018

Thank you KIRF donors! Tonight you made it possible for us to give a $1,000 [worth of] Target gift card to a family who lost their rented home during the Thomas fire here in Ventura and everything in it. It was a devastating loss compounded by the fact that [Guto and Fernanda and their two sons had] just moved to Ventura, far away from the support of family and friends back in their native country of Brazil. They were renting a small back-house on a property along Foothill Ave. with no fire insurance. We met them through our friend Stephen Doll and our new friend Leslie [Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett’s wife] who is hosting them at her and her husband’s home until they can find their own place…Guto was a famous professional motocross athlete in his native Brazil. He and his wife moved to Ventura less than two years ago and started a business. Already their boys are doing great in school speaking fluent English, play on their school’s soccer team, and the older brother plays the tuba. Thank you again for helping this beautiful family during a very hard time for them.

As of now, three months after the Thomas fire started, many of the people who we helped are still trying hard to recover. Ventura County is an expensive place to live. Parents are still helping their children deal with the emotional shock of losing their home and having to move away from their friends and their old school—all the while they themselves are trying to keep things together. People without small children are trying to recover from losing things like their mother’s jewelry, their laptops and backup drives, road bikes and surfboards, their cats, furniture, family recipes, a sense of stability.

The Thomas fire disaster destroyed too much. But survivors will never forget that there were people in this community who stepped up to help them after they lost their homes. The disaster created many unsung heroes and a community of people who have been brought closer together. We have heard several stories of neighbors who risked their lives during the fire to save the lives of their neighbors before first responders arrived and, in the meantime, lost their own homes and belongings. We have heard stories of neighbors putting out spot fires with shovels of dirt and keeping the roofs of their neighbor’s roofs wet after they evacuated during the hot windstorm that blew burning embers hundreds of yards ahead of the flames, igniting trees and brush. We heard stories about people saving their neighbors’ horses and livestock, while their own homes burned to the ground. We have also heard stories about people who, after the fire, tracked down their neighbors who had lost their homes so they could help them. Some of them shared their own homes with victims until they could find an affordable place to live. I have heard of at least two musicians who donated their guitars to musicians who they didn’t know but found out about through mutual friends. We heard stories of women giving their Thomas fire survivor friends some of their jewelry since they had lost theirs in the fire. We even heard a story about a friend who took off her sneakers and gave them to a friend who lost her home. She had rushed out of her house so fast that she forgot to pack her shoes.

These Thomas fire survivors will never forget the many heroes in our community. These are average people who took action to help. We certainly will not. After over 10 years of doing disaster relief in different communities all over the world, it’s a humbling experience to have our own community—our own friends, neighbors and loved ones--suffer a terrible catastrophe and lose their homes. To those who helped out, you have made our whole community better and stronger. Thank you!

Angela R. Kirwin, M.A.

Vice President

KIRF Field Report: Hurricane Harvey Relief in Houston, Texas 2017

2017-12-30T14:00:00.000-08:00

It’s always hard to make a choice of who to help when disaster strikes. While driving to work one day, I heard interviews on NPR of survivors who had experienced the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. The pain in those voices and the dire circumstances of the victims helped us decide to do a relief trip to Houston. Yet, as we were planning the trip, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico causing many deaths, knocking out the island’s electrical grid, and destroying thousands of homes. After Maria, one person asked me where we were going. I replied that were going to help the folks in Houston. Why? Because KIRF had made a representation and commitment to people in Houston that we were coming to help.

“HUD is now collecting rent in September….” “The flood waters were 14’ deep destroying our home.” “ I slept in an attic with an axe before I was rescued.” “An elderly woman stayed in her flooded house for five days before her daughter could rescue her.” “A barista who lost his job due to the floods and has been living in an overcrowded hotel, with loud noises and dogs barking all night, only getting two hours of sleep each night.” These were parts of the stories I heard as we assessed the damage and needs the first day in Houston.

While we were assessing damage and interviewing people in the Clear Creek and Frendwick districts of South Houston, we met the Noe, the pantry manager at the Interfaith Caring Ministries in League City. He told us that they had plenty of donated food but still needed cleaning supplies.

We next met Jeanne, the Coordinator for the Prevention and At Risk Services for the Clear Creek Independent School District. This school had converted one of their gyms into a temporary housing facility for the flood victims and the other gym was used as a donation center for clothes and cleaning supplies. Jeanne told us that about a 100 students and teachers in their elementary school classes had lost their homes. What some of these people needed the most was Walmart gift cards because they did not yet have a place to live and store stuff. They were still living in temporary housing or in hotel rooms six weeks after the hurricane's flooding ruined their homes.

Later in the day we interviewed people at University Baptist Church. Chis told us that the church volunteers had “mucked out” (ripped out all the moldy drywall) 175 homes. Also, that they had just received a semi-truck loaded with drywall. They had enough support to purchase screws, tape and drywall mud to re-drywall the homes. However, he knew of families who were food insecure. He put us in touch with a parishioner, Sujata, who had been feeding these families out of her own pocket in the badly flooded area of Bayridge. She emailed us wish lists created by these families who had been hit hard by the hurricane. They needed nutritious food items, cleaning supplies, toiletries, feminine supplies, and baby products.

So, wish lists in hand, we took our trusty Penske rental truck to Home Depot, Walmart, and finally Costco and purchased items based on the wish lists and our own assessment interviews. We also purchased Walmart gift cards for the students and teachers of the elementary school who were still living in temporary housing. Once the truck was completely filled with supplies we drove to the University Baptist Church. After we finally unloaded the truck, we had a late dinner and a beer at 1:30am early Saturday morning.

We started again later that same morning at 9:00am by meeting more volunteers from the Space Center Rotary at the University Baptist Church. We unloaded the truck and with the wise advice of Fausto, the Church facilities director, using a large meeting room in the Church to stage filling our "relief bags" with the above items on the wish lists. Each relief bag consisted of a construction grade large 50 gallon plastic sack, packed full. We were helped by patrons from this church and other churches to stuff the bags. Then we loaded the truck and drove to a neighborhood in Bayridge and began a long day of knocking on doors and handing out our large relief bags of supplies. We helped about 60 families in this community.

During our delivery of aid to a flooded neighborhood, a volunteer with us knocked on a door to ask if the occupants needed food or supplies. An elderly woman answered the door leaning on a cane. The smell of mold was overwhelming as she opened the door. We asked if she needed help. She invited us in to look around. A pile of her personal belongings was in the center of her living room. Drywall was cut off of the walls from the floor to 3’ high and the studs were black with mold. She was 92. We asked her why she was still in the house because it smelled so bad. She said she was waiting for FEMA to assess the value of her destroyed goods. Hurricane Harvey had struck six weeks ago.

After Bayridge we drove to Dickenson. It was devastated. The streets reeked of mold and rot and were devoid of people or cars. Not one person seemed to be at home. We drove around for about an hour and finally saw a small church that was accepting donations. The Lighthouse Baptist Church’s hours of disaster relief assistance for the community had been cut back because of a lack of donations. So, when we showed up, the man in charge, Rick, was very happy to see us. We unloaded approximately 60 more relief bags for distribution in Dickenson and Rock Port- two very badly damaged areas.

In total, we provide aid to approximately 200 families who were displaced or still living in badly flood damaged homes in Houston, Texas. We could not have performed our 48 hours of disaster relief, September 15-17, 2017, in Houston without the dedicated, hard working, and always-ready-for-good-laugh Rotary volunteers Greg and Courtney. Greg was our fearless flatbed truck driver and Courtney kept us laughing after 20 hours straight of non-stop relief work. Our success would not have been possible without the generous support of KIRF’s generous donors, the Rotary Club of (Downtown) Ventura, and Lion’s Club of Ventura, and the tireless work and incredible hospitality of members of the Rotary Club of Space Center in Houston, Texas.

KIRF Field Report: Flooding in Baton Rouge, Louisiana 2016

2016-10-17T09:00:00.003-07:00

Ruined trailer park flooded near the Comite River, Louisiana.
Photo: Mark Kirwin

Louisiana Relief 2016

As we were driving down roads stacked high on each side with ripped out drywall, furniture and moldy house hold goods, an elderly gentleman told us that the flood waters covered more area than the state of Delaware.

It is hard to believe the magnitude of the flood that hit Baton Rouge Louisiana in August of 2016. It has been estimated that the damage caused by the flood was the worst in US History since Hurricane Sandy. We saw the results of what overflowing rivers and record rainfall did to the communities of the parishes such as Denham Springs along the Comite River.

The locals told fellow Rotarian and KIRF volunteer Steve Doll and I that if it were not for the “Cajun Navy” many more people would have lost their lives during the flood. The Cajun Navy was a group of local fisherman who used their boats to rescue people from rooftops during the worst of the downpour and flooding that put much of the town under water and ruined thousands of homes and businesses. It was news of the Cajun Navy that originally inspired me to plan this KIRF relief trip in partnership with the Ventura Downtown Rotary, Ventura Rotary East, and Ventura’s Downtown Lions Club. The financial partnership of these organizations made this relief trip a huge success.

Working out which families need help and the
quantity of cleaning supplies, house hold living supplies
and food to purchase at The Arc. Photo: Steve Doll

We were fortunate to be able to accomplish a large part of the need assessment with the tireless help of a team of local volunteers: fellow Rotarian Mike H. from Baton Rouge Sunrise Rotary, Charlene M. from the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, Samuel S. from the Mid-City Development Alliance, Lisa H. from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and Charles D. from the Church of Immaculate Conception. Once we were on the ground in Baton Rouge, Steve and I could not have accomplished so much so quickly without the amazing stamina and guidance of Laura D. from the Sunrise Rotary and Charles D. Father Thomas Clark was of great assistance in locating elderly people who needed assistance; as well as Barry Meyer, from The Arc of Baton Rouge. He organized his team to help us shop for and deliver requested supplies. Thank you also to Sam, Angie and Laura for putting us up in their houses during our time in Baton Rouge.

We were on the ground for three days. Our first day started with a Rotary meeting at Sunrise Rotary (friendly bunch if you ever get the chance to have breakfast with them!). Then we were off driving the communities around North Baton Rouge with Charles to observe the damage and discuss the present needs of the people affected by the flood.

Still cleaning up house debris.
Photo: Mark Kirwin

Later that day we met with Barry at The Arc and went over lists of what The Arc’s clients and employees with flood damaged homes needed. Basically, many lost everything but the clothes on their backs.

After a long day of needs assessment, we found out what was needed. So day two was spent in Walmart and Cosco purchasing the requested products. A special thanks to Walmart manager Fred and his awesome staff for helping us purchase need items for 96 Arc clients and employees. We purchased cooking and eating supplies, plates, towels, sheets, cleaning and bathroom supplies, and gift cards so folks could purchase clothing.

We were able to purchase 6,000 cans of nutritious tuna and chicken breast meat for the Food Bank. The Food Bank lost all of its food and most vehicles as a result of the flood waters.

Steve lining up the shopping carts with supplies requested by
families who lost their homes. Photo: Mark Kirwin

We worked most of the day with volunteers loading up cans of chicken from Costco. Tuna was purchased at discount through the kindness of Associated Grocers.

The Food Bank is supplying much needed food for those stricken by the flood. We purchased a pallet of cases of food for families with children and elderly people who lost their homes and are food insecure.

Our work ended the following day when Father Clark and his congregation delivered supplies to 30 elderly couples whose homes and contents were badly damaged by the flood waters.")

Thank you to all who helped with this relief trip to Baton Rouge!

Mark Kirwin, Esq.

President and Co-Founder KIRF

Have fun and help raise funds for KIRF's Disaster Relief in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

2016-09-09T12:31:00.001-07:00

KIRF Co-founders Angela Kirwin and Mark Kirwin are volunteering this weekend at the Ventura Marathon. It begins and ends at the Ventura Pier and runs along the coast.

Feel free to register for one of the races or fun walks--or just to say "Hi!"-- if you're around. Since we're getting up Sunday morning at 3:30 AM, you may see one of us at Starbucks at the Harbor Blvd Vons in Ventura several times that morning! We are delivering water to the many water stops at select mile markers along the 5K, Half and full Marathon courses.

The Ventura Marathon race directors are donating a portion of their race entry fees to KIRF.

You can still register for Sunday's 5K, Half, and full marathon (Sunday, September 11, 2016 and yes there will be a remembrance) --or tomorrow's 30-mile ride, Metric and Century Bike Rides and Kid Fun Walk and Beach Adventure Obstacle Race (Saturday, September 10, 2016).

The Beach Party is free and includes food by Pizza Man Dan, coffee by Ojai's Coffee Connection, and fresh local beer by MadeWest Brewery (pizza, coffee, and beer are not free, sorry)

Not in running shape? Do the Kid Fun Run/Walk....

Photo: Courtesy of Ventura Marathon.

KIRF'S LOUISIANA FLOOD DISASTER RELIEF:

KIRF Co-founder Mark Kirwin and Steve Doll are volunteering for KIRF doing disaster relief in Louisiana. They are taking funds donated (so far) by Rotary Club of Ventura East, several local and Valencia-based businesses, and individual donors, to help families who lost their homes in and near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Over 85% of these families had NO flood insurance, don't have "extra" money to live in hotels, etc. and really NEED help. Over 55,000 families made homeless, 6,000 businesses closed, and look-- it's not even a headline in the news anymore. Though I did find a September 7, 2016 update on the flood's destruction in the New York Times.

To donate to buy supplies for the flood-affected families in Baton Rouge, you can make an online donation (using a credit card or a PayPal account) by clicking on the button "KIRF DONATE" : http://www.kirfaid.org/donate/index.shtml

Or, you can write a check to "Kirwin International Relief Foundation" or "KIRF" and mail it to:

Kirwin International Relief Foundation

℅ Mark Kirwin, Esq. at Lehr Lemmon Kirwin Francis

789 S. Victoria Ave., #200

Ventura, CA 93003

This is a 100% volunteer disaster relief project and donated funds will go directly to purchasing supplies requested by the families we help in Baton Rouge. Kirwin International Relief Foundation is a registered non-profit 501(c ) 3 organization in the State of California and monetary donations to it are tax deductible.

Thank you to those who have made a donation recently!

Have fun and help raise funds for KIRF's Disaster Relief in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

2016-09-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

KIRF Co-founders Angela Kirwin and Mark Kirwin are volunteering this weekend at the Ventura Marathon. It begins and ends at the Ventura Pier and runs along the coast.

The Ventura Marathon race directors are donating a portion of their race entry fees to KIRF.

The Beach Party is free and includes food by Pizza Man Dan, coffee by Ojai's Coffee Connection, and fresh local beer by MadeWest Brewery (pizza, coffee, and beer are not free, sorry)

Not in running shape? Do the Kid Fun Run/Walk....

Photo: Courtesy of Ventura Marathon.

KIRF'S LOUISIANA FLOOD DISASTER RELIEF:

Or, you can write a check to "Kirwin International Relief Foundation" or "KIRF" and mail it to:

Kirwin International Relief Foundation

℅ Mark Kirwin, Esq. at Lehr Lemmon Kirwin Francis

789 S. Victoria Ave., #200

Thank you to those who have made a donation recently! <3 nbsp="" p="">

KIRF Field Report: Guatemala 2015/2016

2016-04-12T19:15:00.004-07:00

On November 12, 2015, KIRF President, Mark Kirwin journeyed to Guatemala with fellow Rotarian Marty Armstrong to deliver medical supplies purchased by the members of the Rotary Club of Ventura to a Clinic that provides medical care and nutritional therapy to families in need. After arriving at the airport we traveled for hours to the remote town in the Highlands of Guatemala called Santo Tomas la Union in the state of Suchitepequez.

The Clinic is funded and managed by a Guatemalan based non-profit organization called Ajkun pa le Qatinimit (APQ), which is also known as Clinica Medica Cristiana. APQ receives support from its sister non-profit, NGO, the 501(c)(3) approved U.S. based organization Wachalal (wachalal.org). Local Ventura emergency medical doctor Zachery Self manages the clinic. He works in hospitals in Ventura from time to time to raise funds for the Guatemala Clinic.

Mountain view from the roof of the clinic
Photo: Mark Kirwin

On Friday, our first full day in Santo Tomas La Union, we found out that Dr. Self and his Clinic is helping the local communities in their battle against child malnutrition. After witnessing Dr. Self examine a listless 3 year old boy suffering from malnutrition, he and I talked about ways that KIRF could assist in treating this condition that affects too many of the young children in this mountainous region of Southwest Guatemala.

Dr. Self advised us that in Guatemala, the face of poverty and hunger is young, indigenous and rural. Guatemala has the fourth highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world and the highest in Latin America and the Caribbean. This country faces a serious challenge to reduce chronic undernutrition, which is currently at 49.8% among children under 5 years old. Chronic under-nutrition in indigenous areas averages a shockingly high 69.5%. Fifty-three percent of the population lives in poverty, and 13 percent in extreme poverty in Guatemala.

Guatemala has a population of 14.7 million and ranks 133 out of 187 in the 2012 United Nations Human Development Index. The Gross National Income per capita each year is US$2,740. With a Gini index of 53.7, Guatemala is one of the most unequal countries in the world.

In order to address the local malnutrition crises, Dr. Self uses his non-profit medical clinic in Santo Tomas la Union to target the marginalized, impoverished population with tenuous food security. Specifically, it focuses on children from ages 0-5yrs, pregnant and nursing women, and chronically ill adults. In their first year of operation last year, they treated approximately 50 people. Here is the link to their blog regarding the nutrition program: https://ajkunpaleqatinimit.wordpress.com

With KIRF’s aid, Dr. Self will be able to purchase additional nutrition food supplements to address this rural tragedy that is causing young children here unnecessary misery that includes reduced vitality, stature, as well as the the long-term effects of reduced immune function and developmental delays from the inadequate intake of protein and other nutrients.

Bars the clinic previously used made specifically to assist the
treating malnutrition. With KIRF’s aid, the clinic is working
with more local sources to make the nutrition supplements.

On Saturday in Tomas de la Union we asked Dr. Self if we could visit the local schools to see if we could help with supplies. Dr. Self introduced us to several teachers from the area. We visited the first school and found out that it lacked necessary workbooks and other study materials.

Some of the local children waiting for a festival at the school. Photo: Mark Kirwin

Later that morning we drove about 45 minutes out of town on very rough roads full of gullies from the recent rain’s run off to visit a second school. The primary school we visited was in another impoverished area called San Pablo Jocopilas. A teacher there, Senora Ovalle, who assisted us with the assessment, told me that the primary school had 150 students. The students did not have any study materials to complete their assignments or tests. With funding provided by KIRF, and volunteers organized by the medical clinic, the needed study materials were purchased locally and distributed directly to the students just before the beginning of the Spring semester in January 2016. Now, through KIRF’s help, these students have the necessary workbooks, pencils, pens and Spanish dictionaries to help with their lessons for the rest of the year.

Above photos: Mark Kirwin

It is only with your very kind donations that KIRF was able to assist the Clinic’s nutrition program and provide these students with the study materials they needed to receive an education and have opportunities for a better life.

Thank you,

Mark
President, Co-Founder KIRF

KIRF's assistance with Nepal disaster relief continues: School to rebuild in Majhguan, Nepal

2015-08-14T12:38:00.004-07:00

Badly damaged Shree Majhgaun Lower Secondary School
in Nepal after the April 2015 earthquake.

We are still assisting with the earthquake disaster relief efforts in Nepal. KIRF has now partnered with Classroom in the Clouds to help rebuild of a severely damaged Lower Secondary School located in Majhgaun, a small village in Mirge VDC in Dolkha, Nepal. This school is located approximately 180km from the capital city of Kathmandu. The school is one of seven schools that serves the population of approximately 3,500 villagers in the surrounding Tamang, Chhetri and Dalit communities. Classroom in the Clouds was founded by Dawa Geljen Sherpa and a few Everest mountaineers in order to help local children get access to a good education in their remote villages in the Himalaya so they can live a better life. For more information about Classroom in the Clouds, please see their website: classroomsintheclouds.org

We are $7,000 short of the total necessary funds to rebuild the school.

Any donations for this effort are most appreciated.

You can make a donation to Kirwin International Relief Foundation (KIRF) at our website: kirfaid.org/donate.

Field Report: Nepal Earthquake Relief, May 2015

2015-06-08T22:30:00.002-07:00

As we approached the airport in Kathmandu, after many hours of travel through London and Delhi, I got two impressions: (1) Why were there pallets of what appeared to be aid stacked on the side of the airport, and (2) The city was still standing- maybe the devastation was not so bad….? Unfortunately, my first impression was based on reality. After we landed, we were advised that much well intended aid had not yet made it out of customs to assist the earthquake victims.

Tragically, I found out over the next few days, that my second impression of the city was not based on reality. I had only glimpsed a few areas that were not that badly damaged. My co-KIRF volunteer and fellow Rotarian, Steve, and I came to realize that the devastation to Kathmandu and Nepal is immense, affecting most of the city and the countryside in the region.

The earthquake’s massive destruction became apparent on the first day of assessment work, when I went for an early morning jet-lagged run through the Pashupantinath Shiva Temple next to the Hotel Indreni where we are staying. Sadly, like many of the older structures throughout the Country, it had suffered severe damage from the earthquake.

The night before we had a meeting with people from the local Rotary Club of Bagmati, such as the charismatic Akhil, and a member of the Kathmandu Lions club, Anoj (our lead contact, and brother of the very generous supporter of this trip-Anup, the owner of our local Ventura restaurant Himalaya). We decided at that meeting that their Rotary Club past president (who turned out to be a very kind and generous man in is how measure for the local community- assisting the poor with education and micro finance for local women) Bidur would be our guide to help us assess some rural hill villages about 2 ½ hours outside of Kathmandu.

The next day, Friday, May 15, Bidur drove us, and another Bagmati Rotarian, Bijay, on dirt roads through the steep hillsides and sub-tropical forest area just outside of Kathmandu, using four wheel drive to access the villages. After several hours of driving, we stopped on the side of a hill because a slide had blocked the road. This is where we met Mr. Shakya who told us that most of the 55 houses in the village of Hille were destroyed by the quake.

In Hille we walked through the village, meeting families and talking with the men and women who had suffered great losses as we assessed the damage and found out what they needed. Next we traveled to another village nearby named Kharse where 50 houses had been severely damaged.

Again, through our local interpreter we spoke with the men and women of the village and then, after being offered tea, we discussed their roofing material needs.

From these assessments speaking with the earthquake survivors, we learned that they did not need food, clothes or water. Unanimously they told us they needed shelter: the monsoons were only six weeks away. (!) We discussed their needs with them and they told us that they could reuse some of the materials from the destroyed houses, and acquire wood from the forests if needed. However, they desperately needed building materials for roofs. They decided that the most economical and safest shelters they could rebuild would be one story homes with wood walls and zinc (corrugated sheet metal) roofing. Each new home would take about six days to build. Each house needed 12 sheets of 12’ x 3.5 feet zinc or two bundles of zinc which are sold locally in groups of six sheets. We determined that they needed more hammers, tin snips and nails to build the structures.

The photos below are of one such structure that one of the elders built after the earthquake in Hille village.

We decided that we had enough donated funds to purchase enough zinc to rebuild the roofs in the villages of Hille and Kharse, or a total of 105 homes.

The next day, May 16, we traveled to what we were told was the low cast community of the Putuwar family which lives in Ichngo. As I have seen on many previous trips, it is often the urban poor who suffer the most from disasters because of the do not have access to food as the day labor jobs cease. This was especially true in Nepal with back to back major earthquakes. Over half the city population had left Kathmandu after the second quake because safty fears and to be with their families in the country.

Ichango had about 100 homes, 68 were totally destroyed.

According to the people of Ichango , the best aid that we could provide them was enough rice and soy protein to sustain one family for a week and some waterproof tarps for temporary shelter. This area was very close to a government station and we were told that the residents hoped that they would be able to secure the badly needed zinc through their government representative (who helped us assess needs in the bottom right picture).

Later that day we visited the village of Champi, about an hour drive from Kathmandu. In this area, the local wildlife and the villagers routinely come into conflict in tragic ways. We were told that about four people per year are killed by leopards or tigers.

In this village I was able to interview a man (lower picture to the left, he standing to the far right of photo) who was 94 years old. He told me that he was living when the last big quake hit Nepal approximatly 84 years ago. He told me that the the houses were only one-story then and less lives were lost due to falling walls. A story that many Nepalese repeated to me. I also heard from local people that the death toll of the current earthquake disaster was well over 10,000 people, with many people tragically still missing underneath the rubble. In the photo below the man to the left is pointing to where the sister of other man, standing to the right, was killed. He is still wearing his white mourning clothes.

Yet, there is still much hope for the children.

The next few days were spent negotiating prices for rice, soy protein, zinc, nails and tools.

We then delivered the rice and soy protein to the village of Ichngo. The Bagmati Rotarians and Roteracts delivered the zinc to the villages later after some serious on-site negotiations regarding distribution!

Many thank you's to all who helped and partnered with KIRF to make this Nepal relief trip a success!

Mark

P. Mark Kirwin, Esq.
Founder, President KIRF

School Report from the Shekhwara Village School: A Good Harvest

2014-11-13T17:38:00.002-08:00

The Shekhwara Village School (formerly known and founded as the Kirwin James International School) is doing great!

As the Fall season is upon us here in the United States, it is always a healthy mental exercise to be reminded of how much we have to be thankful for. And, it is also important to recall how our good deeds have helped others. I call that having a "Good Harvest" as in the adage "you reap what you sow."

Even small things done with love can make a huge impact in another person's life: a few words of support to a friend, a smile of encouragement to a young student, a small online donation to a cause you feel is worthy, or a forgiveness of a small debt. Each small deed, each good act that helps another, adds up to a Good Harvest.

Below are a few examples of our donor's Good Harvest this Fall with their support of KIRF's "Shekhwara India Project." The Shekhwara India Project helps support the educational and health care programs that are free for local families in need at the Shekhwara Village School in rural Bihar near Bodhgaya. The school was founded in 2009 as the Kirwin James International School.

We are grateful to each donor of KIRF's ongoing "Shekhwara India Project."

The Shekhwara India Project is currently helping provide a high quality academic education for nearly a 100 rural kids who live in villages without electricity or indoor plumbing near Bodhgaya, India. Without donor support of the Shekhwara Village School these kids would not have access to a superior Indian-standards based academic education. And, they especially would not be getting it (as well as their textbooks, educational supplies, sports equipment and school uniforms) for free.

Please read on for a brief report from the school's on-site administrator in India:

"Our School is running very well.
The big festival season is over now.
About 90 to 95 students are coming everyday.
They are coming to the school regularly and studying very hard and carefully. They are all local rural village students who understand the importance of education.
Many have gone to the local government school as well as our KIRF school. Some younger students said that our school education is better.
Each of our four teachers work very hard and enjoy teaching our students carefully and heartily.

Snacks - Students get snacks everyday in lunch time. Some of them experience food insecurity regularly so the food is received with gratitude.

Sweaters - Winter session is started here. We distributed the donated sweaters to 95 students. They are very happy to get their new sweaters.
They give thanks to all of the donors who are continuing their generous support of our school.
We all are very grateful to all of you."

And, he wrote in an earlier report:

"Our sewing center is running very well. About 25 to 30 girls come every day.
Some new girls are also coming after the Fall admission in their sewing class.
Some older girls have since been married and they are no longer coming. Their lives are with their husband's families. But they are still sewing at their in-laws and are earning money according to their families' reports.

Thanking You,
Taj"**

In addition, the local wells funded by KIRF, a crucial source of water for many of the local families in nearby villages, are being maintained regularly and are in working order per our last "well report".

The school's KIRF Sewing Centre vocational training program for young and married women is going strong with the new sewing machines purchased this year and supplies and excellent sewing instructor.

Local families are still able to get health assessments and basic care on the weekend's at the school's on-site Kirwin International Health Clinic.

From all of us here and in rural Bihar, India...

Thank you and Namaste!

Angela R. Kirwin
Co-Founder
Kirwin International Relief Foundation

Scroll down to see more recent photos taken at the Shekhwara Village School:

**We received the above school report from the administrator of the Shekhwara Village School on November 13, 2014. It was edited for brevity by KIRF's Co-Founder, Angela R. Kirwin.

KIRF awarded Red Cross Hero and Good Samariton awards for local community-led volunteer disaster relief

2014-05-20T18:35:00.001-07:00

Mark and Angela Kirwin receiving the Red Cross Hero and
Good Samaritan awards on behalf of KIRF and its
disaster relief volunteers.

On April 30, 2014 we were honored to receive the Good Samaritan Heroes award from the American Red Cross for our years of volunteer disaster relief and support of educational programs for children in need.

We also received Good Samaritan awards from the Ventura County Board of Supervisors; U.S. Congresswoman, Julia Brownley; California State Senator, Hannah-Beth Jackson; and, California State Assembly members Jeff Gorell and Das Willams.

Mark and I received these awards on behalf of the volunteers and donors of the non-profit charity that we founded, the Kirwin International Relief Foundation (KIRF). We founded this 100% volunteer, donor-supported, and disaster survivor needs-directed charity after our lives were spared in the Andaman Sea tsunami disaster of 2004. After helping other survivors get aid during the tsunami disaster we realized being in a natural disaster is an awful experience but also that anyone can make difference if they wanted to. We realized that even a small thing like helping someone get connected with a family member overseas, or connecting them with a local leader who can get them food and water, or a roof over their heads, or building materials so they can re-build their fish farm, or a school scholarship for a little boy or girl orphaned by the disaster... can literally change a life and, sometimes, save a life.

By working with locally respected community leaders in a disaster zone, assessing needs with them, and delivering aid with their help, we have proven repeatedly the value of the bottom-up, community-led disaster relief approach for Stage II disaster relief (also known as "disaster recovery"). The long process of disaster recovery occurs after the aid organizations and first responders are gone and it is up to the neighbors, local business owners, farmers, educators, health workers, spiritual leaders, and local secular leaders--the local people-- to work together to re-build. KIRF volunteers work with these local leaders for a sustainable relief that strengthens communities.

We received these awards but they honor the efforts of every volunteer and supporter of KIRF's global network of local leaders and altruistic volunteers who help relieve suffering and help others have a better future.

One of my favorite quotes is this:

“We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place--or not to bother."

It's by Jane Goodall, DBE and I take it as an inspiration and a challenge.

Thank you, Salamat, Gracias, Mèsi, Karpkhun Kah, Asante sana, Arohanui, and Namaste,

Angela R. Kirwin, MA
Co-Founder of KIRF

Field Report: Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) Disaster Relief in the Philippines

2014-01-17T13:40:00.002-08:00

A girl with her census of families who lost their
homes and people missing after Typhoon Haiyan
Photo: Mark Kirwin

Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines on November 8, 2013. We watched its approach via the internet, fearing for the people of the Philippines as the super storm created 150 mile an hour plus winds and pushed huge waves towards the islands. Unfortunately, although people were told to evacuate, many did not because they did not understand the severity of damage that this violent typhoon would bring. They did not know that the storm surge would send tsunami-sized waves crashing through the coastal communities destroying everything in their path. Many died and many more lost their homes and livelihoods as a result.

On December 11, 2013, KIRF’s founder and President, Mark Kirwin, landed in Iloilo, on the island of Panay in the Philippines with fellow volunteer, Dr. Thomas Fiutak, to make an assessment of the typhoon disaster and provide relief to its victims. This island was directly in the path of Typhoon Haiyan and coastal communities on the windward side of the island suffered catastrophic damage. Mark is also a member of the Rotary Club of Ventura. Ventura Rotary’s financial assistance made this trip possible. In addition, KIRF received aid from the Filipino community in Minnesota. We would not have been able to run such a effective relief trip without the invaluable assistance of Dr. Ted Robles, his wife Angel and other wonderful volunteers and alumni from the Central Philippine University (CPU) in Iloilo.

With transportation and interpretation kindly provided by CPU, KIRF was able to assess damage and assistance needs for two communities in the Province of Iloilo, North Panay Island. The first was the Barangay of San Diego in the municipality of Lemery. A “barangay” is the native Filipino term for village, district or ward. Although, this barangay was more inland from the storm, it suffered severe damage to the community’s houses, especially the roofs. The second area we assessed was the coastal community of Barangay Borongon, municipality of San Dionisio. This coastal village suffered catastrophic loss of most of its homes and fishing boats. Of the approximately 174 homes in the village, all were destroyed except for 30, which had significant damage.

Small boats that were not destroyed or lost at sea
were carried far inland by the typhoon's tidal surge,
which also ruined coastal rice crops.
Photo: Mark Kirwin

The village of Borongon also lost nearly of their fishing boats, which provided income for the community. The villagers thought that the storm surge would be like a normal typhoon but after the first wave they realized that the tsunami-size waves were over 20 feet tall and were obliterating their village. They then fled to the top of a nearby hill to watch their village destroyed and their fishing boats crushed or carried away by the storm.

After assessing the two communities, we were advised that the most need we could provide was roofing materials for the houses. KIRF then worked with CPU and purchased sheet metal roofing, nails, sealant, tarps and wire and tools to assist with rebuilding the roofs of 226 family dwellings destroyed by the super storm. The city of Iloilo kindly donated a dump truck and driver to help KIRF deliver the aid to the villages with CPU. With the help of local volunteers we portioned out the building materials we purchased into individual packages for each home. With the volunteers’ help and the loan of the dump truck and driver we delivered and handed out the aid to the individual villagers on December 13, 2013.

The people of barangay Borongon say "Thank you!"
Photo: Courtesy of Dr.Ted Robles

KIRF wishes to again thank CPU for all of its kindness and hospitality. The Rotary Club of Ventura who’s partnership made it possible to provide as much relief as we did; and the Filipino’s in Minnesota who supported this trip financially and logistically; as well as all of the other KIRF donors who made this trip possible.

Thank you.

In Peace,
Mark

President
Kirwin International Relief Foundation

This map published by Relief Web shows the devastating path of super Typhoon Haiyan as it crashed through the north east tip of the island of Panay, Philippines:

The path of super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) crossed right over the
north east tip of the island of Panay wrecking buildings and flooding
barangays and local crop land with its tsunami-sized tidal surges.
Graphic: ReliefWeb

Here are a few more photographs from KIRF's disaster relief on the island of Panay, Philippines:

Before Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) there was a house
here. Near Lemery on the island of Panay, Philippines.
Photo: Mark Kirwin

Another destroyed home on the island of Panay,
Philippines. Photo: Mark Kirwin

Truck and driver donated by the City of Iloilo for KIRF's
disaster relief in nearby coastal barangays. Photo: Mark Kirwin

Young boys play by a boat that was damaged by
Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) on Panay Island.
Photo: Mark Kirwin

A little girl with a big smile who survived
Typhoon Haiyan on the north east coast of Panay Island.
Photo: Mark Kirwin

Children of barangay Borongon looking at us who are
looking at them. Photo: Mark Kirwin

Families who got temporary roofs from KIRF in barangay San Diego.
We wish we could of helped more families rebuild.
Photo: Mark Kirwin

Happy baby, happy mama in barangay Borongon.
Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Ted Robles

Many people returned to their family homes to help with the
disaster relief such as this young lady helping out in barangay
Borongon. Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Ted Robles

The Kirwin International Relief Foundation (KIRF) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in the state of California. Tax deductible donations can be made on our website (KIRFaid.org), via phone, or mailed to our office:

Kirwin International Relief Foundation
c/o Kirwin Becker Law Group
4480 Market St., Suite 804
Ventura, CA 93003 USA

Telephone: (805) 650-1088
info@KIRFaid.org

Happy New Year from the KIRF's Sewing Centre in Rural Bihar

2014-01-13T10:59:00.000-08:00

Recent graduates of the Sewing Center's
vocational training program

Our vocational training program for women, the KIRF Sewing Centre located at the Shekhwara Village School is located in rural Bihar in India. The Sewing Centre's longtime teacher serves as both a mentor, confidant and sewing instructor for students: local young teenage girls and women who walk over to the school from their rural homes near Bodhgaya in Bihar, India. The Sewing Centre's afternoon classes are held on campus at the Shekhwara Village School. Sewing skills are especially valued in this area where many families struggle to get enough food to eat much less "extra" cash for things such as clothing, mobile phones, transportation, housing materials and medical care. There is no electricity or indoor plumbing in these rural villages. Distances are traveled by foot by most.

The KIRF Sewing Centre was founded and first funded by the Kirwin International Relief Foundation in 2009 with a modest investment that paid for several non-electric sewing machines, textiles and supplies and a stipend for a local professional seamstress to instruct the young women. We have been told that this program is extremely popular with local families because it teaches the young women how to earn valuable cash by sewing in this cash-poor rural economy of mostly rice farms with small family plots for growing food. In a culture where "good marriages" require that a girl's parents to either pay their in-laws a generous dowry or provide them with a bride who can earn an income, the vocational training is a great asset for the local young women. It gives them an opportunity to have a better marriage and better life by being able to help provide more food and resources for their families.

Here are some highlights about the KIRF Sewing Centre from last week's report from the school's administrator:

About 15 to 20 students are attending these sewing and tailoring classes every day
The girls who are attending the sewing center's classes are uneducated and say that they need to earn money to take care of their families
The sewing center's program has attracted new students from nearby villages recently but it does not have enough resources to purchase sewing supplies and textiles for everyone who wants to attend
Some senior girls who have completed their one year sewing certificate are continuing to come to help teach the new students at the Sewing Center
Due to a shortage of supplies, some sewing students have brought their own cloth to use to learn how to sew in class
KIRF India continues to maintain the sewing machines, provide some supplies and pay the instructor
The sewing teacher is well-liked and reliable and she comes to work each day to teach her students
Some of the senior girls who have completed their one year sewing certificate are now earning an income for their families by sewing

The sewing center is providing a popular and valuable service that is really changing lives right now. This program is made possible by donations made to the "Shekhwara India Project" of the Kirwin International Relief Foundation (KIRF).

If you would like to help some young women who are living in poverty to provide for their families so they have a better future, please consider making a donation to our "Shekhwara India Project" at the website of the Kirwin International Relief Foundation: KIRFaid.org

It feels good to help a young woman without an education and living in poverty become a valued wage earner and provide for her children so that they can have a better future. Below are some photos taken of the students at the KIRF Sewing Center last week (Jan 10, 2014).

Update on Typhoon Haiyan Direct Disaster Relief on Panay, Philippines.

2013-12-13T16:22:00.001-08:00

THEY DID IT!

We delivered roofing supplies for over 200 houses
in the coastal village of Borongon so local kids
like these now have a roof over their heads.
Panay Island, Philippines. Photo: Mark Kirwin

Thank you to the many people who donated to KIRF's direct disaster relief fund for Typhoon Haiyan stage 2 (sustainable relief of re-building/capacity building) disaster relief. Volunteers Mark Kirwin and Tom Fiutak were able to purchase, package (with volunteers) and deliver trucks of re-building supplies to several coastal villages. It was a hectic week assessing needs, getting supplies working until late each night with other volunteers, but they pulled it of.

Thank you Rotary!

A huge thank you to the members of the Rotary Club of Ventura. Your donations literally will put a roof over people's heads this holiday season with KIRF's purchase of roofing materials (corrugated metal sheets, nails, wire, etc) and emergency plastic tarps for about 200 homes for a few coastal villages on the island of Panay, Philippines. The success of this relief trip was due in no small part to our newest KIRF volunteer Dr. Tom Fiutak, who has academic colleagues at the Central Philippine University on Panay island. Through his informal aid network working with local community leaders and local village volunteers at the disaster sites, KIRF's delivery of aid to these families was respectful of the local culture and politics, responsive to the people's needs, and efficient.

A field report with more details and photographs about this disaster relief effort will be posted soon.

In the meantime, updates and photos will be posted on our social media pages:

Facebook.com/KIRFaid
Twitter.com/KIRFaid

Muchas gracias!
Maraming salamat po!
Thank you very much!

KIRF is going to the Philippines to deliver Typhoon Haiyan disaster relief

2013-11-12T16:49:00.001-08:00

Satellite image of "Super" Typhoon Haiyan
hitting the Philippines on Nov. 9, 2013.

KIRF Director Mark Kirwin will be going to Philippines to deliver disaster relief supplies with a volunteer with family connections in the devastated country. "Super" Typhoon Haiyan which battered several islands last weekend has been the most devastating storm to hit the archipelago nation yet after years of increasingly severe typhoons battering the country. Unfortunately for the people living in the Philippines provinces of Cebu and Bohol, the typhoon came only a few weeks after a 7.5 earthquake hit and leveled homes and businesses. The thousands of homeless there had no protection when the typhoon came through last weekend with winds powerful enough to uproot palm trees and flood coastal towns with storm surges from the sea.

Mark, who is attending the UN climate talks in Warsaw, Poland right now as a volunteer mediator with Mediator Beyond Borders, told me that there is a feeling of great concern for the people in the Philippines right now at the conference. The news of Typhoon Haiyan's devastating impact and the humanitarian crises unfolding in the Philippines has had a "sobering" affect on the mood of the UN COP19 climate conference with representatives of 192 countries attending according to a news report on Yahoo.com.

Mark Kirwin, Esq. and Dr. Tom Fiutek
will be delivering aid
in the Philippines after COP19.

Mark reported that the delegate from the Philippines announced yesterday at the conference that he was going to go on a hunger strike to emphasize to the other countries' delegates the catastrophic effects of what climate change is doing to the people of his country right now. According to a CNN report, the UN delegate from Philippines went on hunger strike to pressure delegates to agree to "concrete pledges" of financial support for to the Green Climate Fund-- an international fund to help developing nations to reduce their emissions and adapt to climate change impacts like Typhoon Haiyan. The increasingly severe typhoons to hit the Philippines since 1990 are the direct effects of anthropogenic climate change scientists believe.

KIRF is working with a network of humanitarians in the Philippine community here in the United States as well as others to raise funds for a Stage II disaster relief trip to the affected area. Since communication is very difficult in the disaster zone with our local contacts there (cellular service is still down as is electricity and Internet), details of KIRF's relief trip will be posted here as they are available.

In the meantime, I will post updates about the conditions in the disaster area from reliable news accounts and our contacts who have loved ones and work colleagues in Philippines. These news updates and KIRF disaster relief updates will be at Facebook.com/KIRFaid and Twitter.com/KIRFaid

Donations for KIRF's Philippines Disaster Relief can be made online:

KIRFaid.org/Donate

For donations made on our website KIRFaid.org, in the Paypal checkout, please specify that the donation is going to "KIRF" (and not "KIRF INDIA"). Donations going to "KIRF" thru the month of November will automatically be set aside for disaster relief in the Philippines. Please leave your email address if you would like to received emailed updates about the disaster relief effort.

Donations can also be sent by mail:

Kirwin International Relief Foundation (or "KIRF")
c/o Kirwin Becker Law Group
4480 Market St., Suite 804
Ventura, CA 93003 U.S.A.

Checks should be made out to “KIRF" or "Kirwin International Relief Foundation".

Donations sent to KIRF are tax deductable. The Kirwin International Relief Foundation (aka "KIRF") is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in the state of California Tax I.D. # 27-3431829.

The Kirwin International Relief Foundation is a humanitarian organization dedicated to helping others help themselves in a respectful and environmentally sustainable manner through our dual mission of disaster relief and education. Our on-the-ground disaster relief is done by experienced volunteers who pay their own airfare and work with humanitarians native to the area. Your donation can make a difference.

Thank you,

Angela R. Kirwin

Co-Founder of KIRF
KIRFaid.org

KIRF Fall Report: Much to be Thankful For in USA, India & Nicaragua

2013-11-09T18:55:00.003-08:00

With pumpkins still growing in many of our local Ventura fields, and Thanksgiving just around the corner, Fall is upon us as the air gets slightly cooler with those hot intermittent Santa Anna winds. These changes give me cause to reflect upon the work that KIRF has done this last year: Helping people change their own lives with better education, health, sanitation and job skills.

It seems like only yesterday when KIRF, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Venture, made a trip to Brooklyn, New York to work with the Occupy Sandy volunteers in New York City to provide food, cleaning supplies, and infant needs to many who were still in need of assistance from Hurricane Sandy. You can read more about our Hurricane Sandy disaster relief in last December's field report.

KIRF volunteers also made several trips to Nicaragua this past year, once again partnering with the Rotary Club of Ventura and our new local Nicaraguan community service partner in Playa Gigante: Project WOO. Project WOO (WOO stands for "Waves Of Optimism") is a local non-profit founded an international network of surfers and humanitarians who wish to give back to the economically disadvantaged coastal community of Playa Gigante through environmentally sustainable education, job-creation, and health programs. To make sure they they were really helping the local Nicaraguans, Project WOO formed a local village community health committee. Through door-to-door assessments, the health committee discovered that the community needed a local health clinic. Once a local land owner donated a portion of his land, the design and procurement of funds for the new Gigante Community Health Center began shortly after. In the past year, KIRF and the Rotary Club of Ventura have worked with Project WOO and have purchased the materials and labor to drill a well and install a water tank for the clinic. After Project WOO secured funding for the clinic's first year of operational costs, and got partial building funding from their own fund raising online and from local Nicaraguan businesses, KIRF and Ventura Rotary assisted the health clinic project by purchasing the labor and materials to build and install the clinic windows and doors. We also purchased the septic tanks, sinks, toilets and pluming for proper sanitation, and roofing materials.

With a local health clinic in Playa Gigante, people from community would not have to travel over 2 hours for emergency medical treatment of injuries and disease. KIRF is collaborating with Project WOO and the Rotary Club of Ventura to complete the construction of the new Gigante Community Health Center. This local health clinic will also provide preventative medicine education, including hygiene, and health care education and treatment for women. You can read more about KIRF's support of the construction of the new Gigante Community Health Center in our field report.

KIRF continues to support the women’s sewing center at the Shekhwara Village School in rural Bihar, India. The sewing center has been a huge success since we started it in 2009 with a modest investment in non-electric sewing machines, textiles and a small stipend that pays for a local seamstress sewing instructor. The Sewing Center is educating local young women in the skills of making clothing using sewing machines and materials we purchased. We have a dedicated teacher who has seen graduates of the program make and sell their clothing which helps support their rural and poor lower caste families. Several years ago, I had the pleasure of walking from the Shekhwara Village School (then called the Kirwin James International School), which houses the sewing center and weekend family health clinic, to the surrounding villages where the students live in their traditional homes of mud walls and thatched roofs. The kindness of the people, the cleanliness of their mud huts, and the vibrancy of their colorful saris, will remain a wonderful life-long memory. Since that visit the school has grown and a field report on its growth is coming. In the meantime, you can learn more about the Shekhwara Village School and it's free family Health Clinic and Women's vocational training at the Sewing Center in a 2012 field report, or for more recent updates with lot's of photographs, our Facebook page Facebook.com/KIRFaid.

KIRF has moved!

We are pleased to announce that KIRF has a new home at the law firm Kirwin Becker Law Group, located at 4480 Market St., Suite 804, Ventura, CA 93003. You can reach us during office hours Monday thru Friday c/o Kirwin Becker Law Group at (805) 650-1044. Updates about our current disaster relief delivery and on-going education projects are posted regularly online at Twitter.com/KIRFaid and Facebook.com/KIRFaid.

So, we give thanks this fall season for all of the wonderful work KIRF has been able to do this last year. Our work could not have been done without your very kind and generous support. Thank you very much for helping KIRF help others in need. Please feel free to send donations for disaster relief or KIRF India and other education projects to KIRF at the above address. You can also donate online at KIRFaid.org. Your donations are deductible because KIRF continues to be in good standing with its 501(c)(3) public charity IRS classification.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and holiday season!

From all of us at KIRF,

Peace,

Mark

President, Director
Kirwin International Relief Foundation
KIRFaid.org

Field Report: Assessing Conservation Tourism Potential in Playa Gigante, Nicaragua with Trail Mapping and a Howler Monkey Census

2013-08-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

While we were in Playa Gigante in June this year helping out with the construction of the new Gigante Community Health Center, we wanted to see if there were any eco-tourism opportunities in town to help out the local women getting vocational training and education assistance through our friends' humanitarian non-profit SweetWater Fund. And, we wanted to support the community-driven development efforts of the group of international surfers who helped the local people realize their dream of local medical care with the Gigante Community Health Center, Project Waves of Optimism (also known as "Project WOO").

Part of KIRF’s mission is to help communities undergoing social and economic change through education—including vocational training programs and conservation education. This field report is about my attempts to assess local conservation tourism opportunities in Playa Gigante during the week I spent there in June 2013. Since I didn’t have enough time to foster new relationships in the community or conduct extensive interviews–things more fitting for a person trained in cultural anthropology, I decided to use my GIS skills to map some scenic trails I had discovered in my previous visit and locate the group of howler monkeys I observed earlier and hopefully find any other groups of wild primates in the area.

Seeking mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata)
in Playa Gigante's rainforest patch. Photo: AR Kirwin

After reviewing the literature on howler monkeys before the trip and interviewing a primatology graduate student with field research experience, the simple task of "locating the local monkey groups for a future guided nature tour" conservation tourism assessment project morphed into a larger project that included a formal primate census of the local mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata palliata) population. Fortunately for me, I had a Spanish-speaking volunteer who grew up in Mexico with a great sense of humor. And, the local people are friendly to outsiders in general and were pretty tolerant of us: two foreign women armed with binoculars and other equipment (with an occasional family member in tow) walking along their town's dirt foot paths and tromping through the rainforest behind their small farms looking for monkeys. "¿Dónde están los monos, por favor?"

This tourism conservation feasibility assessment ended up with five research questions related to mapping the local scenic trails and doing a census of the local wild howler monkeys.

What species of howler monkeys live in Playa Gigante?
Where do the howler monkeys live?
What are the demographics (number of individuals, sex and age categories) of the observed monkey troops?
What do the monkeys eat (which tree species should be protected)?
Where are some scenic hiking and running trails in Playa Gigante that are publicly accessible?

But before I give a summary of the results of our findings for those questions, I will give a brief background on the social and economic changes that are challenging the local residents of Playa Gigante–-the reason why we were there in the first place.

Playa Gigante: Recent Social and Economic Changes

A typical neighborhood street in Playa Gigante.
Photo: AR Kirwin

"Giganté" as Playa Gigante is known by the locals, is a small town is carved out of the rainforest along its northern and southern dirt access roads in a U shape with the short bottom part of the “U” being town’s short coastal road paralleling its beautiful crescent-shaped bay. The north and south sides of the “U” are 5 to 7 km from the town’s coastal road connecting to the Salinas-Tola Highway. The center part of the U, in between the roads and the bay, appears to be mostly secondary (previously developed) rainforest patches in between developed properties approximately 1 kilometer from the beach. In 1991 a tsunami destroyed the buildings for about a kilometer inland of the low elevation coastal areas of the town. Old home foundations and other pieces of torn up buildings are still under the canopy trees in the secondary forest fragment in town in between its two access roads. Further inland are corridors of primary rainforest along the town’s two creeks and along the steeper parts of the mountainsides. In the flatter areas, small family homes with agricultural plots are line the access roads and, increasingly, vacation homes with ocean views can be see on the forested hillsides.

A few years ago Playa Gigante was a remote fishing village of several dozen families who caught, grew and raised much of their food and lived in modest hand-built homes under the tall rainforest canopy. In addition to the local natives, there were visiting backpackers and surfers who stayed for several weeks to several months at time and rented rooms at the local surf lodge and youth hostel. The town was surrounded by rainforest with the only year-round access being by boat. The dirt road that connected the town to the main highway that is now being paved, used to be 100% dirt and pot-holes and was known to wash out three months of the year during the rainy season. Named after “Giant’s Foot” (Pie de Gigante), the rocky foot shaped prominence jutting out on south side of bay, Playa Gigante is about a three and a half hour drive from Nicaragua’s capital city of Managua. When the town was small and relatively isolated from the rest of Nicaragua, everyone knew everyone else, most people fished for a living, and crimes such as burglary or assault were rare.

Some people still fish for a living in Playa Gigante
but surf tourism and land development are taking over.
Photo: AR Kirwin

But Playa Gigante is changing fast. From a former small fishing village and agricultural community in the past few years it has morphed into a popular surf tourist destination. The average native in town, skilled in fishing, agriculture or simple construction, only makes about $5 to $7 a day. This is not enough in a new tourism economy with higher prices for food, less land and sea access, and a labor market that favors those with more education.

Each year a few more property parcels are sold to outsiders and new vacation rentals, restaurants or other tourism-related businesses are being built and staffed. These changes are being accompanied by a local population surge as outsiders come to Playa Gigante looking for jobs and a safer place to live than the urban areas. According to a census taken by local non-profit organization, Project Wave of Optimism (“Project WOO”), the population of Playa Gigante has grown to 481 people in 2011–-a 13% increase since the last census in 2008. During this time tourism related employment had shot up 400%. Playa Gigante's traditional economic foundation of fishing had seen a decrease in employment by 30% during the same period (Fox 2011).

According a 2011 survey by Project WOO, the top five priorities for local residents during this time of dramatic social and economic changes included two things related to our conservation tourism assessment project:

The need for more formal education opportunities for local children and for adults in the form of vocational training programs (including conservation education, English and entrepreneurial skills) so they can work in the new service-based tourism economy
The need for more tourism activities in town that provide local residents with more tourism jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities

With these needs in mind and my experiences during a previous visit to Playa Gigante, I wanted to help Playa Gigante remain a safe and beautiful place for the local families and visitors. The town is a place where you see piglets grazing under the trees in a patch of rainforest across the road from the beach and a great beachside café. It's mornings offered a a new great trail run to explore it’s scenic coastline through the rainforest or over a rocky prominence on the coast to a another crescent-shaped pristine bay with coral sand beaches, over-head surf and not a soul around. It's family-owned cafés on the sand offered visitors simple meals of gallo pinto (Nicaraguan beans and rice) with fish caught that morning off the coast and served with locally grown salsa or salad ingredients on homemade tortillas. These restaurant owners “served local” not out of choice, but because that is all they had to serve.

Playa Gigante is about an hour's drive north
of San Juan Del Sur on the
southwestern coast of Nicaragua

On my last visit it occurred to me that the charm of Playa Gigante, such a new town that it wasn't on any of the road maps we purchased, was not it's great tourist amenities or surf (though the surf is awesome), it was it’s lack of formal development and its small town feeling. Next door to the popular Dale Dagger's Surf Lodge, where we were stayed on our first visit, a family’s laundry was drying on lines strung over the sand next their small fishing skiffs. Chickens pecked around in the sand and between the homes and everyone knew the black'n'white floppy eared dog who patrolled around the fishing boats for scraps. I remember jogging under the canopy trees on an old dirt trail by the beach in the bay just south of the town called Playa Amarillo. As I cautiously skirted around a herd of grazing cattle (being careful to avoid getting too close to the big one with horns) and stoped in awe as a troop of wild howler monkeys casually moved over my head through the trees, making their soft warning vocalizations “Woo! Woo!” Another magical moment happened during my last trip: While waiting for the several dozen local volunteers to organize themselves to raise the water tower for new Gigante Community Health Center (about a mile from the ocean up the dirt road towards the highway), I saw a horse galloping towards us. On it's bare back were two smiling and laughing little girls in simple dresses and wind blown hair holding on the obliging pony's rope halter and being followed by a bunch more little kids and dogs running after them.

This may sound naïve, but I think that both people and the environment can be helped at the same time. Since the town was united enough to get land and labor to build its new health and community center we were funding, I felt that they would unite together to control growth and protect the natural resources with protected rainforest areas in Playa Gigante if they could. They already had regular trash disposal and recycling programs initiated in the last few years and the town temporarily halted the construction of some new vacation rentals until the owners built a proper sanitation system. I was hoping that a conservation tourism program would make the magic of this place that I was experiencing last longer.

Photo of a local Maasai surveying the Ngorongoro Crater
NCA in Tanzania Photo:africangametreksafaris.com

Researchers have long documented how environmental conservation initiatives in poor rural areas where people are dependent on natural resources (such as fishing and agriculture), have reduced poverty through an increase in education and capacity building. In places famous for their natural biodiversity such as Tanzania and Costa Rica, with “green” development, conservation tourism initiatives, and local capacity building through education and vocational skills training, poor people who live in areas close to ecologically protected areas, in general, have benefited from new revenue opportunities if they are allowed to provide services in the growing tourism economy. Also, as recent reports from Costa Rica and other tropical areas suggest, the poor enjoy greater security and quality of life in rural areas near ecologically protected areas than in urban areas (Estrada 2013; Hoffman 2013).

I knew that wild monkeys are popular tourist attractions due to the popularity of Ometepe Island and its Biological Field School and wildlife sanctuary with pricey ecologically built tourist lodges in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. According to the multitude of fliers advertising “rainforest tours” that I have seen at the airport and in local hotels, and our own enjoyable experience exploring the rainforest and cacao plantation on the ChocoMuseo (Granada's Chocolate Museum's) Plantation Tour just outside of the Spanish colonial city, it seemed probable that a rainforest eco-tour business could work in Playa Gigante. That is if there were wild primates left in the local rainforest patches and corridors and publicly accessible scenic trails to hike on and to observe them.

Trail Mapping and Primate Census Research Parameters

The tourist and expat center of town: Party Wave
(11°23.374'/86°02.965')Photo: ARK Kirwin

I defined the trail mapping and primate census research area as a two-mile radius from what seems to be the tourist center of town: a beachside café with WI-FI called Party Wave(11°23.374’/86°01.965’). Since I was only going to be in Playa Gigante for a week, I would attempt to locate at least one new troop each day during our early morning searches from 5:530 AM to 8:00 to 9:00 AM (depending on primate activity). Locations of wild primates would be documented by taking a GPS waypoint of the tree they were feeding or resting in. Abiotic data such as air temperature, humidity, and altitude was collected with an Altimeter/Temperature guage. Time of day and number of monkeys, sex and age categories were determined via the naked and eye and aided by viewing through binoculars and the telephoto lens (70-200mm) of my Cannon SLR. The times of sightings were noted, photographs of the trees were taken and leaf and fruit samples of the foods the monkeys were eating were taken and later photographed for identification.

I knew that wild howler monkeys lived in Playa Gigante because I heard their howls and every morning and I observed a troop of them in the trees about two miles north of Party Wave in the next bay called Playa Amarillo. When I described their appearance to a local resident, he told me in Spanish that the los monos(“monkeys”) that I saw were monos aulladores (“howler monkeys”). Even through they are called “howler monkeys,” their loud vocalizations in the dawn and dusk hours sound more like guttural roars of very loud and very disgusted primates: “ughhhhh!”.

After I go over my background research on howler monkeys, I will summarize what we found out for each o the five research questions I mentioned earlier. Finally, I will conclude with issues we discovered and recommendations for future research.

In follow-up field reports I will go into more detail on our research methodologies, lessons learned and equipment we used to help future researchers and people who want to help.

Conservation Tourism Assessment Preparation

The goal of this conservation tourism assessment project was not to generate new scientific data on social change, land use or the local wild howler monkey population in Playa Gigante. It's goals are simply practical ones: assess the natural resources of tourism potential in the area and publish our data in the hopes of protecting them and providing a means for local residents interested in protecting the local environment to earn a living.

Research tools included a Garmin GPSMap 62, Bushnell binoculars,
a humidity/temperature gauge, Canon RebelXS SLR with 75-300
telephoto lens, waterproof WetNotes, ziplock bags, a pair of
rainforest worthy Clarks leather flip-flops, Sherpani fanny pack,
and a lot of 3M UltraThon Insect repellent. Photo: AR Kirwin

I began to prepare for the primate census endeavor in the six months leading up to the project in June 2013. I took two courses at the local community college on using a GPS receiver to mark waypoints (GPS locations) and GIS (Graphical Information System) data analysis systems such as ArcGIS and Google Earth. I re-freshed my Spanish language skills with Rosetta Stone. I interviewed a primatology graduate student friend on research tools and methods she used while working at a research station in the rainforest in Ecuador. I memorized the basic taxonomy, physical traits, ecology, social behaviors and research methods for studying atelids (the family of New World monkeys that includes howler monkeys and spider monkeys that live in Central America) that I found in my former graduate advisor’s textbook called Primates In Perspective (Campbell 2010). I also reviewed every recently published (in the last 10 years or so) peer-reviewed research article that I could find on mantled howler monkeys in English on the Internet (about 34 articles). Good sources of free scientific research articles I found included the IUCN/SCC Primate Specialist Group website , Tropical Conservation Science website, Biodiversity Science website and the National Center for Biotechnology Information. I tried to follow the best practices for primate research and minimize my ecological impacts by abiding by the recommendations in “Reducing the Ecological Impact of Field Research” published in the American Journal of Primatology (Bezanson 2013).

Tourism Assessment Research Status and Outcomes (so far):

1. Species of wild howler monkeys that live Playa Gigante

Alouatta palliata family in the secondary rainforest
patch behind the Blu Sol Guesthouse. Photo: MR Kirwin

The species of wild monkeys we observed were brownish black mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata paliata). The adult females appeared to have darker pelts than some of the older adult males who had a lighter brown saddle of fur on their backs. These monkeys are native to the southwestern coastal areas of Central America according to my sources: several primate research articles, Campbell’s Primates in Perspective, and The Mammals of Costa Rica: A Natural History and Field Guide by Mark Wainwright (Arroyo-Rodriguez 2011; Campbell 2007; Chavez 2013; Graaf 2913; Wainright 2007).

About Mantled Howler Monkeys

Mantled howler monkeys are named for their mantle of fur around their neck that distinguishes them from other species in the howler genus Alouatta. Their genus name means “another that moves using the tip of its tail” in Greek and their species name palliata is Latin for “mantled” (Wainright 2007). As primates they are in the Atelinae subfamily which are a monophyletic group (descended from a common ancestor) and are known for having muscular prehensile tails which they use like as a fifth limb to grip branches and move through their aerial pathways in the high rainforest canopy (Campbell 2010). Howler monkeys are sexually dimorphic in that males are significantly larger than females, they are the largest atelines with adults about 50 cm long (20 in) and weighing 3-5 kg (about 8-11 lbs) (Wainwight 2007). Mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta paliatta) live in cohesive groups of usually 10-20 individuals led by an alpha male with usually one male and one female of reproductive age in the group. Both male and females typically disperse from their natal groups with more females more often dispersing than males. Juvenile males live alone until around four years of age or until they can evict a resident dominant male and take over his group. A lot of lone males in an area may indicate a declining howler monkey population due to loss of habitat or predation (Campbell 2010; Chavez 2013). Reproducing female howler monkeys have one offspring about every 22 months and are of reproductive maturity in about three years. Their lifespan in the wild is 20-25 years (Schoville 2013). Howler monkeys are ecologically important for rainforests due to their roles as seed dispersers and nutrient cyclers for dung beetles which help renew nutrients in rainforest soils (Schoville 2013)

Two howler monkeys getting ready for their all day nap
in Playa Amarillo. Photo: Christina Rust

Unlike other atelines, and all other New World monkeys, howlers are folivorous—they subsist on a diet of mostly leaves. Since leaves are difficult to digest for mammals with their high cellulose content and relatively low nutritive value per weight, howler monkeys take a long time to process their food and spend a large portion of their day resting (66-80%) (Campbell 2010). As primates go, they are relatively slow moving and mellow animals unless threatened and sleep most of the day in between their early morning and dusk feeding times. This may be because they must first ferment the leaves in their hindgut before they can digest them and access their energy. While watching the howler monkeys in Playa Gigante socialize and feed in the canopy each morning and then slow down to nap the rest of the day until dusk, their daily schedules reminded me of the visiting surfers and their early morning and dusk surfing and eating schedules with the rest of the day spent mostly lazing around. I could go on and say that their fermented plant-based diets are similar too-- except the howler monkeys brew their own in their hindguts.

The howler monkey’s capacity to sustain themselves on a wide variety of plant species and on such an abundant resource as leaves seem to explain their resilience to human development and their ability to survive in smaller fragments of rainforest than other wild primate species (Chaves 2013; Wainwight 2007). The IUCN Red List designated howler monkeys as “Least Concern” (Schoville 2013). However, howler monkeys do not build nests, need a large enough range area to support the metabolic needs of average troop sizes of 10-20 individuals and need to rest in a different tree every night. Each group is dominated by a single alpha male, who is obvious to see by his larger size and conspicuous white testicles.

Mantled howler monkeys live in dry deciduous forests to moist tropical forests in a range that extends from southeastern Mexico (the states of Veracruz, Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca and Tabasco), throughout Central America to Colombia and northern Peru west of the Andes (Campbell 2010; Wainwight 2007). They live in primary and mature secondary (formerly developed but recovering) tropical forests from sea level to around 3,000 m (8,200 ft) (Schoville 2013; Wainwright 2007).

Methodology

I determined the species of the monkeys we observed by observation and matching their appearance to descriptions found in primate research journal articles and a regional mammal field guide) as well as from asking local people in the area what kind of monkeys they thought were living in their trees (Campbell 2010; Wainwight 2007). In my interviews with English-speaking expats, surf tourists and local Spanish-speaking children in Playa Gigante, almost everyone I spoke with told me that the local wild monkeys were howler monkeys. The exceptions were the reports by expat residents of Playa Gigante and Aqua. A surf lodge manager in Playa Gigante told me that she saw a lone spider monkey while she was running on the dirt easement road in between Playa Gigante and Aqua Resort about two weeks before we arrived in Playa Gigante on June 25^th. A tropical wood craftsman who lives near Aqua told me he used to see a "huge monkey with red fur" in the rainforest near Aqua Resort about three years ago. He hasn't seen anything but howler monkeys in the same forest for the past few years though. Finally, one of the staff members at Aqua Resort told me that there used to be spider monkeys in the forest a few years ago but now they are gone.

2. Locations of howler monkey groups in the Playa Gigante area

We found three different groups of howler monkeys within two miles of the center of Playa Gigante (Party Wave Café): the "Giganté Group" in the secondary rainforest fragment behind the Blue Sol Lodge, the Playa Amarillo's "Amarillo Group" in the forest about 100 feet elevation above the north end of the beach over the dirt road to Playa Colorado, and Aqua Resort's "Aqua Group" located exactly one mile from Playa Gigante in the trees on the north side of the road before the Aqua Resort and in the trees above the cottages of the resort itself. I hope to post a map of the gps locations of the howler monkey groups on an aerial photo in a follow up field report.

Here are the GPS locations where we observed each howler monkey group:

Giganté Group (11°23/86°01) In Playa Gigante, they were in the trees behind (west) of the Blue Sol Lodge above two concrete abandoned home foundations in the secondary rainforest in the center of Playa Gigante’s U. I observed the same group again on two later days further inland: About 100 meters south and across the southern access dirt road behind the new lime green house and the flooded pond in between it and the beach road; and further inland about 100 meters northwest in the trees just behind the row of houses across the street from the white church along the northern access dirt road.
Amarillo Group (11°24/86°02) At the northern end of Playa Amarillo, we found this group above the trail that goes over the hill to Playa Colorado. Six months earlier I saw what seemed to be the same group about 200 meters south in the flat secondary rainforest fragment along the dirt road, about 100 meters inland from the sand.
Aqua Group (11°/22/86°01) On the northern side of Aqua Resort, we observed this group on two successive days at the end of the dirt easement road where it connects to the road to Aqua Resort's beach. The dirt easement road is open to foot traffic and connects the two bays: Playa Gigante and Aqua Resort's bay.

Finding and identifying howler monkeys was a tougher project than I expected. Other than the tropical heat of the rainforest (it was in the mid-80's by 8am), the rain, and the squadrons of mosquitos waiting to swarm us as soon as we set foot in the forest (when it wasn't raining), I was un-prepared for how fast the monkeys would disappear into the upper reaches of the rainforest canopy. Also, from 10-20 meters away, identifying of each of the dark brown furred monkey's age and sex category was a challenge. Especially, when they were silhouetted against a bright morning sky in the tree branches. My camera’s telephoto lens became an essential tool in howler monkey sex determination. By the second morning of of the howler monkey census we knew we had to be quieter and faster in order to get more certain age category and sex identifications. By the third morning of the census project, we quietly stalked the monkeys once we located them in their trees, trying to get a count of the number of individuals in each tree before they started moving away. Once the monkeys started moving into each other’s trees and climbing towards higher branches, it became difficult not to accidentally count an individual twice or get the wrong sex and age category.

A juvenile moving from one tree to another about 10 meters
above my head in Playa Gigante. Photo: AR Kirwin

The last two days of the census project I did alone. The disadvantage was that I didn’t have another person to confirm the monkeys counted in each tree. The advantage was that the monkeys seemed less alarmed and didn’t flee the area when they saw me. I felt I could observe more naturalist behaviors, too. On the second to the last day, in the Giganté group, I saw a few juveniles engaged in what appeared to be a game of chase above me. This went on for a few minutes until what appeared to be the group’s alpha male cruised over and told them to stop rough housing and then left. The two juveniles stopped playing their game.

On the following mornings, we found the howler monkeys by following the sound of their characteristic howls each morning and asking local construction workers and residents where they had seen them (“Buenas dias! …Señor, estamos buscando para los monos. ¿Dónde están los monos por favor?”)

3. Demographics (number of individuals, sex and age categories) of the observed howler monkey groups

The “census” part of this project was more challenging than I expected. It is not easy to gauge the sex and age group of dark-brown furred silhouetted monkey climbing through the top canopy's branches 10-15 meters above your head. I considered tracking 12 age/sex categories or five age/sex categories that were used in research articles I found, but found it too difficult due to the similar dark brown pelt color of adults and juveniles of both sexes (Juarez 2005; Pavelka 2003). The categories we ended up using were three: Adult Male, Adult Female, Juvenile [of either sex] and Infant. We made contact with the troops for approximate 2-4 hours each morning for 6 days.

The first day we located the Giganté Group in Playa Gigante we counted 12-13 monkeys, the last two days in the same area I counted 14 and 6 monkeys respectively. I estimate that 12-14 howler monkeys live in the secondary forest fragment in the center of the "U" in Playa Gigante.

We searched for monkeys in the forest in Playa Amarillo one morning. We counted 12-16 monkeys in the Amarillo Group: 1-2 Adult Males, 3 Adult Females, 6-7 Juveniles, 2 Infants. The count this visit seemed consistent with the number of monkeys I first saw in this forest six months earlier when I was on a trail run.

Adult male mantled howler monkey at Aqua Resort.
Photo: AR Kirwin

Our two mornings searching for monkeys in Aqua Resort yielded 19 monkeys and 25 monkeys counted respectively for the Aqua Group. The first morning we identified 1 Adult Male, 8 Adult Females, 4 Juveniles, and 6 Infants. The second morning we came up with these demographics: 3 Adult Males, 10 Adult Females, 6 Juveniles and 6 Infants.

Aqua Resort has probably the nicest field conditions any primate researcher could ask. The local howler monkeys move through the trees and on top of the cottages and walkways for easy viewing. The resort’s developers seem to have invested an extraordinary amount of effort to not cut down the canopy trees by designing the resort's guest cottages, plunge pools, and walkways to go around the trees, thus protecting the habitat of the resident howler monkeys and other native fauna and flora. In a follow up report I will publish a spreadsheet showing the age and sex categories of each howler monkey group in more detail.

4. Plant species of foods that howler monkeys eat in the area

To identify what types of trees are most important to howler monkey survival as food sources, I gathered samples of the leaves we observed the howler monkeys eating and asked two local residents (Ramon and Maria) their lay names in Spanish. Here are their lay names in Spanish with a short description (corrections were made to this section on 9/23/13):

Hojas de alimentos de monos aulladores (Food leaves of howler monkeys):

Madroño (Arbol nacional de Nicaragua)
Tiquiloté (Arbol con frutos blancos; Estan Buenos si los monos estan dehydrated)
Orrillo
Arbol de Poroporo
Arbol de Nin
Jacoté Jobo
Nanci Wité (aka: "Nanciguisté)
Mango (hojas y fruita)
Aquacaté (fruita, “Avocado”)

I also took photos of the leaves the howler monkeys were eating for later identification by a neotropical plant specialist I know. I am hoping that more people would be interested in this project and help protect the howler monkey’s food supply and canopy trees in Nicaragua.

Leaf samples of what we observed the howler
monkeys eating with their Spanish lay names.
Photo: AR Kirwin

According to the literature, howler monkeys are mostly folivorous with 64% of their diet consisting of leaves but prefer young leaves and certain types of leaves during parts of the year and prefer leaves in certain parts of the plant (Chavez 2013). This is according to a meta study of other researchers data on howler monkey dietary preferences done by Chavez et al in 2013. Howler monkeys may have dietary flexibility in that they can adapt to new ecological conditions and eat a relatively abundant food supply (of leaves instead of fruit like spider monkeys), but they can not eat any kind of leaf or be restricted to one type of tree species. Brown howler monkeys have been observed to feed from 402 plant species with the average number of plant species for each group sample being 42 according to the meta study by Chavez et al (2013). The majority of the top plant food species consumed by howler monkeys are leaves from trees (84.8%) (Chavez 2013). The most commonly consumed types of tree leaves across howler monkey habitats studied belonged to Ficus, Zanthosylum, and Eugenia species (Chavez 2013).

5. Scenic hiking and running trails in Playa Gigante that are publicly accessible

While taking waypoints (GPS locations) of each tree we found holding howler monkeys, I also tracked the GPS coordinates of our hiking routes on the scenic trails we took to find the monkeys. These trails ran along the coast and in the publicly accessible rainforest areas in and around the town of Playa Gigante and neighboring Playa Amarillo and Aqua Resort. In a follow up field report I hope to publish some of these trails so more people can enjoy them and protect the area's natural beauty. I'm testing various online map display options that are compatible with mobile devices. Earlier this year I published some running trails in Ventura, California using ArcGIS Explorer Online by ESRI and published it on my anthropology blog AnthroMama.com.

Playa Gigante looking north after walking through the
rainforest trail from Aqua Resort. Photo: AR Kirwin

In a later field report I hope to publish these hiking routes after I map them using ESRI’s ArcGIS mapping software and any available aerial photos and contour maps that I can find of our study area in Rivas district of Southwestern Nicaragua. (If you know of any, please contact me at info@KIRFaid.org). As southwestern coastal Nicaragua has been discovered by surf tourists, intrepid expats and luxury resort developers, there is a tremendous need for the area’s natural resources and rainforest biodiversity to be mapped and surveyed in order to protect it. As world renown chimpanzee primatologist and conservation activist Dr.Jane Goodall, DBE has said, and I’m paraphrasing: If people know about something then they can care about it, and if they care about it, they will be motivated to take action to save it. With those thoughts in mind, I hope this online field report works.

Conclusion

Our conservation tourism assessment in Playa Gigante has revealed that there are three wild howler monkey groups living within walking distance of the tourist center of Playa Gigante. It also revealed that there are several publicly assessable trails that go along the coast and through the rainforest. These trails offer people spectacular views of the coastlines and allow them experience the vibrant living (and loud) biodiversity of a tropical rainforest first hand.

By publicizing the land-based treasures within walking distance of Playa Gigante, a place known internationally for its great surf, I hope to create more awareness of the conservation tourism opportunities for local residents and business owners. I hope the local communities further protect their natural resources and public access to the rainforest and beaches for future generations.

Nicaragua’s southern neighbor Costa Rica has shown that by protecting 32% of it’s land (compared to 26% of the land which protected in the United States) in ecological protected areas, that there is a decrease in poverty in bordering rural areas. Costa Rica’s conservation-orientated tourism industry takes in about $1.9 billion dollars a year. When environmental conservation is combined with ecologically sustainable development, rural poverty is reduced and standards of living increase in those areas (Estrada 2013). Everyone wins: the monkeys, the trees and the people.

As Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE has also famously said, “We have a choice to use the gift of our lives to make the world a better place” (Jane Goodall 2013).

Resources

Bezanson M, Stowe R, Watta S. 2013. Reducing the Ecological Impact of Field Research. American Journal of Primatology, 75:1-9.

Campbell CJ, Crofoot M, MacKinnon KC, Stumpf R. 2010. Behavioral Data Collection in Primate Field Studies. In: Campbell C, Fuentes A, Mackinnon KC, Panger M, Bearder SK, editors. Primates in Perspective. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, p 358-367.

Estacion Biologica FUNDECI.GAIA 2013 Animals of Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve: Order Primates – Golden-Mantled Howler Monkey Alouatta Palliata. Available online at: http://www.gaianicaragua.org/howlermonkey.html

Estrada A. 2013. Socioeconomic Contexts of Primate Conservation: Population, Poverty, Global Economic Demands, and Sustainable Land Use. American Journal of Primatology. 75:30-45.

Estrada A, Butler R. 2013 Social dimensions of tropical conservation. Conservation Tropical Science, 6(2):i-iv. Available online at: http://tropicalconservationscience.mongabay.com/content/v6/TCS-2013_jun_editorial.pdf [accessed July 11, 2013]

Fox, Bo 2011 "Gigante Census Status Report" Project Wave of Optimism (ProjectWOO.org), p. 4. You can also find data from Project WOO’s 2008 and 2011 census and surveys on their website: http://www.projectwoo.org/about-woo/projects/2011-census-key-findings-2008-survey/

Goodall, Jane 2013 “Jane’s Favorites” Electronic document: http://www.janegoodall.org/study-corner-reading-listretrieved on August 25, 2013.

Graaf, M 2013 Howler Monkey Photography by Mark de Graaf. Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua. Available online at: http://lagunadeapoyo.blogspot.com/2011/07/howler-monkey-photography-by-mark-de.html [accessed June 20, 2013]

Hoffman, David M (2013) “Taking Another Look at Protected Areas and Migration: What do Migrants Think?” Anthropology News, July/August, P.25-26.

Schoville, Sean 2013. “Alouatta palliata mantled howler monkey,” Animal Diversity Web, University of Michicagn. Available online at: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Alouatta_palliata/ [accessed June 20, 3013]

Juarez CP, Dvoskin R, Fernandez-Duque E. 2005 Neotropical Primates. 19-22.

Pavelka, Mary S. M. 2003 Group, Range, and Population Size of Alouatta pigra at Monkey river, Belize. 11(3):187-191.

Wainwright, Mark 2007 Monkeys (order Primates). The Mammals of Costa Rica: A Natural History and Field Guide. Ithica, New York: Cornel University Press. P. 142-173.

KIRF Field Report: Gigante Community Health Center in Playa Gigante, Nicaragua

2013-07-29T17:51:00.003-07:00

Volunteers pushing up the water tower for the
Gigante Community Health Center.
Photo: Angela R. Kirwin

It is always amazes me how fast our summers go by. It seems like just yesterday that we were in Nicaragua working with Project WOO and The Rotary Club of Ventura to help build the Playa Gigante Community Health Center! For the last year, KIRF has partnered with WOO and Rotary to help make a community’s vision for a local health clinic and educational center a reality. Now that the health clinic and community center construction is underway, the residents of the village of El Gigante know that soon they will no longer have to travel long distances for emergency medical care or health services. This means a lot to people who don't have access to a car in an area without regular public transportation. The building is projected to be completed within the next 8 months.

A significant portion of the funding for the health clinic project has come from local businesses in Nicaragua. These businesses are also committed to the sustainability of the project through financial commitments for its future operational costs.

The community has hired a local contractor to build the clinic using as much environmentally compatible, local materials as possible. For instance, the walls will be made using earth bags. The earth bag construction technique uses natural soils from around the area to fill bags used for walls construction. When we were digging the footings for the retaining walls, we helped sift the larger rocks from the soil so the soil could be reused to fill the earth bags.

KIRF Co-Founder Mark Kirwin with Bo Fox of Project WOO
purchasing doors in Rivas. Photo: Kai R. Kirwin

Part of our work on this trip to Gigante was to purchase doors and windows for the health clinic. We negotiated window and door dimensions, product installation, costs, and warranty work with a local carpenter in Rivas. The carpenter told us that the wood he will use to build the windows and doors is called “laborel.” The laborel would is sourced from trees planted on a cacao plantation located near the border of Costa Rica.

We also negotiated labor and steel costs with a local welder and artist named Kenny in Rivas to build aesthetic security bars for the windows to protect the supplies and equipment within the health center once it is completed. This is the same welder whom we had previously hired to build the health center’s huge well tower for the water tank. The well, well tower and tank were purchased during our last trip to Gigante in April of 2013. Under the project supervision of Project WOO’s Nicaragua Director, Bo Fox, the well was dug by local well expert, Ramon, and the tower was built by the Rivas welder, Kenny. During this last trip, we helped community volunteers to raise the well tower in its footings. The raising of the well tower was an exciting event with the town’s community leaders present.

Little boy getting a bucket bath down the road
from the Gigante Community Health Center.
Photo: Angela R. Kirwin

KIRF and Rotary have always been supporters of clean drinking water. Having safe and clean water not only prevents gastro-intestinal illnesses, it indirectly protects against de-forestation since it does not have to be pasteurized (boiled) before drinking over a fire in households without electricity. The well was the first step in helping to provide clean, local water for the clinic. The well water will be filtered on site for easy access and safe drinking.

Another step to preventing water-borne illnesses and obtaining clean water is proper sanitation. To that end, KIRF and Rotary purchased all of the sinks, toilets and plumbing for the health clinic. We also purchased a two-tank septic system for the clinic to protect the ground water from being contaminated.

We are looking forward to returning to Gigante once the health clinic is finished to help provide medical equipment and supplies for it’s operational needs.

Please let us know if you or your organization would like to help provide medical supplies for the Gigante Community Health Center: info@KIRFaid.org.

KIRF Co-Founder Mark Kirwin with Rotary volunteer Christina Rust,
local Gigante Health Center Construction Site Manager Modesto, and
Bo Fox of Project WOO. Photo: Angela R. Kirwin

Many thanks go to Bo Fox, fellow Rotarian Christina Rust, the Gigante Health Committee, and fellow KIRF volunteers Angela, Kai and Makani, and other volunteers who are helping with the project: the Rotary Club of Ventura, and the kind donors of KIRF who all helped make the Gigante Community Health Center a reality.

Peace,

Mark

President, Co-Founder
Kirwin International Relief Foundation
KIRFaid.org

KIRF Field Report: Women's Sports & Health in Playa Gigante, Nicaragua

2013-02-01T17:16:00.002-08:00

Playa Gigante, Nicaragua

We returned to Playa Gigante, Nicaragua in December, this time with our kids, to help out two local non-profits that are doing a lot to keep this part of the world beautiful and the locals healthy and economically self-sufficient: Sweet Water Fund and Project WOO. We also came to enjoy the still pristine tropical beaches with world-class surf breaks and the see the native flora and fauna. The native fauna include flocks colorful squawking parrots and at least one troop of wild mantled howler monkeys who live in the tree canopy above the town.

Women's Sports

We ended up doing all those things. We started by helping the Sweet Water Fund's project supporting the local women's softball team, Las Estrellas de Gigante. We purchased building materials needed for their field's dugouts and trucked them back to Playa Gigante. For me, going out and purchasing building supplies in Spanish (I'm not even close to fluent), without a car, in a city an hour away that I've never been to, and on New Years Eve was an interesting challenge. New Years is a big holiday in Nicaragua that is noteworthy for its exuberant revelry, effigies of "Año Viejo, and fireworks. This "mission impossible" was made possible through the loan of Dale Dagger Surf Lodge's ancient-but-indestructable-4x4 truck and its Spanish-speaking American expat/local surf tour guide/dirt road commando and Sweet Water Fund volunteer Shawn. He got us thru the crowded (with venders, ox carts, goats, chickens, children, family motorbikes) streets of downtown Rivas to a friendly Spanish-speaking building materials shop called Ferromax. With his guidance, and our son's help translating, we were able to get the building materials we needed for the softball field.

Kai, Shawn & volunteers loading up
our donation of building materials in Rivas

KIRF is helping out the local women's softball team because being a part of a sports team can help women help each other through team spirit and solidarity, thus helping them get a better future for themselves and their families. Sports also has the incredible ability to bring people together and increase understanding among people from different backgrounds. As Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said,

Sport is a universal language. At its best it can bring people together, no matter what their origin, background, religious beliefs or economic status. And when young people participate in sports or have access to physical education, they can experience real exhilaration even as they learn the ideals of teamwork and tolerance. (Annan 2005)

Playa Gigante is going through profound social and economic changes right now as it transitions from a small fishing village accessible only by a dirt road into an international surf and tourist destination. Its local families, who for generations have relied only on fishing, farming and each other to live, will need all the help they can get to adapt to a new cash economy based on tourism.

New Softball field dugouts built with materials
provided by KIRF in December 2012.

Competitive sports have the ability to increase group solidarity while at the same time, increasing tolerance for diversity and an atmosphere of trust among its players and fans according to several recent studies in contexts of social change (Barrio 2009; Jarvie 2007; Jonsson 2001) As "hard cultural forms" competitive sports also teach their values of team work, personal accountability, achievement and leadership to players through its rules and particular sport culture (Appadurai 2010). KIRF has a history of supporting sports programs and physical education since our first donation of soccer balls to devastated communities in coastal Thailand after the Andaman Tsunami and our support of free athletics programs for street children and the rural poor in Bihar, India since 2006.

Family Health

We also came to check out the piece of property that was donated by a local landowner for the town's first Community Health Center. A 2011 census and needs assessment survey produced by Project WOO, indicated that not only has the town's population increased 13% since 2008 (to 481), but that tourism-related employment has jumped 400% during the same period. According to the same report, the top three community development initiatives desired by local residents are:

Access to health care: The closest health center is over 15 kilometers away–too far away for many of the local residents who get around by walking or biking; there is no emergency medical care for local families and no pre- or post-natal care available to women in town
Education: The local residents desired better education options for their children as well as continuing education options for adults such as English, arts, environmental sustainability, health and family planning
Community center: A communal area for residents to meet, learn, and celebrate traditional festivals, performances and other events together

Future site of the Gigante
Community Health Center

We aim to help out with the new Community Health Center working in partnership with the people of Playa Gigante and other non-profit organizations. KIRF has a dual mission of disaster relief and of helping people help themselves thru educational programs, which foster economic, health and environmental sustainability. In Playa Gigante, locally needed educational programs include physical education through their local women's softball team and health education at the new Community Health Center. Working with other non-profit organizations like the Rotary Club of Ventura, we feel that Playa Gigante has a chance to remain a beautiful and friendly place to visit as well as a great place to live for local "Nica" families. Part of our time in Playa Gigante was to work on behalf of the Rotary Club of Ventura to assess the location donated by a generous local landowner for the community well and for the future Gigante Community Health Center (GCHC).

Architectural drawings of the future
Gigante Community Health Center

We came to the remote fishing village of Playa Gigante, accessible only via two dirt roads that meander to the coast from the main highway through verdant hills covered in rainforest and dotted with occasional small single-family farms and orchards wanting to experience for ourselves its natural beauty and help out two local non-profit organizations. We left wanting to help the people keep their town a great place to live. We hope that the people of Playa Gigante can keep their little town by the sea free of the cycle of poverty and hopelessness we saw plague some other communities in Nicaragua. In these places we saw street children begging, garbage in the streets and littering the hillsides, fouled streams, and young boys passed out from drug use. We also hope that in the years to come, Playa Gigante and the other picturesque towns along the Pacific coast, will remain a great place to live for it's plentiful wildlife as well. Colorful parrots, howler monkeys, sea turtles, spider monkeys, translucent-winged butterflies, all kinds of tropical sea life and other treasures call this part of the world home, too. It is my hope that with what we know now about environmental sustainability and social change, that we can keep little towns like Playa Gigante awesome.

Thank you,
Angela (co-founder of KIRF)

* Here are a few resources that I cited about how sports participation teaches values of team work and increases group solidarity, tolerance of diversity and peaceful adaptations to social change in communities:

Annan, Kofi (2005) "International Year of Sport and Physical Education", United Nations, http://www.un.org/sport2005/index.html (February 1, 2013)
Appadurai, Arjun (2010) Modernity At Large, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 90.
Barrio, Maria (2009) "Herramientas Para Promover el Interculturalism en Contextos Postbelicos, en el Marco de la Cooperacion Para El Desarrollo. Un Proyecto Realizado en Guatemala (Centroamerica)" (English: "Tools for Promoting Interculturalism in post-conflict contexts, in the framework of development cooperation. A project in Guatemala (Central America)")
Jarvie, Grant (2007) Sport, Social Change and the Public Intellectual," International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 42(4): 411-424.
Jonsson, Hjoleifur (2001) "Serious Fun: Minority Cultural Dynamics and National Integration in Thailand," American Ethnologist 28(1 ):1 51 -1 78;

KIRF Field Report: Hurricane Sandy Relief in New York City

2012-12-12T14:34:00.001-08:00

On Friday, December 7^th, Mark Kirwin, founder of KIRF and member of the Rotary Club of Ventura, with Steve Doll, who is also a member of the Rotary Club of Ventura, traveled to New York city to help the on-going Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. After landing at JFK, they met up with KIRF board member Patrick Rea, a resident of New York. Patrick had been doing on-the-ground assessments of post-Hurricane Sandy relief needs was ready to help.

That Friday night we visited several shelters in Brooklyn and found out that they were no longer providing aid to Hurricane Sandy victims. The people at the shelters suggested that we travel to the hardest hit areas: Staten Island, the Rockaways, and Coney Island–areas where there was still a lot of need. According to the New York Times, most of the flooding and deaths from Hurricane Sandy occurred in these areas. Of the people who died from Hurricane Sandy in New York City, 34 of the 43 deaths were elderly residents on Staten Island.

On Saturday morning we met with local volunteer relief workers at the area’s Occupy Sandy headquarters. Occupy Sandy is a New York City-based disaster relief group of local citizens, humanitarians and tech-savvy volunteers that has been quick to to deliver relief supplies directly to Hurricane Sandy victims. When we arrived we saw a logistically well-organized relief effort being run by an Occupy Sandy volunteer group headed by a relief worker named Kelly. From what we understood, the Occupy Sandy group had volunteers working in different neighborhoods of the region’s storm ravaged areas. These volunteers worked with local resident councils who advised them on their most pressing needs. The councils then distributed the provided aid to their residents who made the requests. Many thanks goes to the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew for their incredible kindness in offering the Occupy Sandy group a safe and secure place from which to direct their volunteer disaster relief.

We purchased relief supplies that were requested by the resident councils of two areas devastated by extensive flooding: the low-income housing complex of Ocean Towers on Coney Island and the Red Hook neighborhood in Brooklyn. After purchasing the relief supplies for the Ocean Towers complex, we delivered them directly to their resident council. The supplies they requested included baby food, diapers, and wipes, toiletries such as shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes and feminine sanitary products, and cleaning supplies: mops, construction gloves, sponges, garbage cans, construction garbage bags, bleach (for cleaning the mold from the water surge); and school supplies such as pencils, crayons and lined paper. And, we purchased non-perishable food items that were requested such as canned soups, tuna fish, and stews. We then purchased and delivered similar items requested by the resident council of the flood damaged Red Hook neighborhood with the assistance of Occupy Sandy relief workers.

There are piles of ruined furniture and garbage from cleaning out water-damaged homes lining the streets in the coastal neighborhoods we visited.

It still amazes me as to how much aid is still needed even five weeks after a major disaster, especially for low income families with children and the elderly, in a major American city like New York.

A special thanks goes to the Rotary Club of Ventura who partnered with KIRF to provide the funds to purchase the aid for this disaster relief effort. We also thank the manager of the Brooklyn Path Mark grocery store who gave us a discount when we purchased relief supplies. Our relief effort would not of been possible without the tireless efforts of the people of Occupy Sandy, including Kelly, Lev and the rest of the volunteers. These people made the efficient distribution of aid possible from the private sector. Five weeks after the disaster, they continue to get aid to families still suffering from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. And, last but not least, I thank Steve and Patrick for volunteering their time and joining me in this effort.

Peace,

Mark Kirwin
Founder of KIRF (KIRFaid.org)

Empowering Young Women Through Softball in Playa Gigante, Nicaragua

2012-12-11T12:56:00.004-08:00

Mark Kirwin at Playa Gigante

Surf nomads discovered the perfect surf breaks of the west coast of Nicaragua about 30 years ago. From Playa Colorado to Playa Popoyo, surfers from all over the world have made the Pacific coast of Nicaragua a popular surf destination in the past decade. Some people are concerned that the traditional small farms and fishing villages on these still pristine beaches and hillsides will be overwhelmed by the influx of tourists and unskilled outsiders looking for work–or easy targets for crime. What the locals do not want is to lose their beautiful sandy beaches to gated tourist lodges and luxury homes surrounded by crime, garbage and poverty.

In the coastal community of Playa Gigante local residents and two non-profits are working to make sure that it doesn't happen there. There are several community-wide development projects in the works that aim to help the local people adapt to the new tourist economy in a way that is socially, environmentally and economically sustainable. The feeling of the town reminds me of the Hawaiian concept of ‘ohana, in that the small town is like an extended family and that no one should be left behind. The town, at about 450 residents, is small enough that everyone knows everyone else but is big enough to require its own school and a healthy economy to support it's local families.

Assessment work in Playa Gigante
for Ventura Rotary Club

Mark Kirwin, founder of KIRF, came to Playa Gigante as a volunteer field worker for the Ventura Rotary Clubto help them with their project assessments of the aid requests to help the local families of Playa Gigante. To read more about the Ventura Rotary Club project, please see the Rotary website post "Three Ventura Rotarians Conclude a Successful Trip to Nicaragua." After meeting with local community leaders and visiting project sites while working for the Ventura Rotary Club in August 2012, Mark realized that his own foundation KIRF could make a difference, too. Mark met with the inspiring founders of two local non-profits in town, the Sweet Water Fund and Project WOO, that are actively working with the town’s leaders to improve education, health services, and create economic opportunities in the surf tourism economy for local families. The result of those meetings was KIRF's sponsorship of the Estrellas de Gigante, Playa Gigante's women’s softball team, with its donation of new sports equipment. Baseball is the national sport of Nicaragua and many towns have a local team. Playa Gigante's local women's team has not only been a source of pride for the women, it has strengthened their social ties within the community. The team was also founded as a means of improving local the women's health and fitness. So far, it’s been a great success!

Outfitting the Playa Gigante Women's Softball team:
Ben and Kassidy (Sweet Water Fund), Ed McCombs
(Ventura Rotary) and Mark Kirwin (KIRF)

Sports equipment purchased by KIRF included new bats, balls, bases and new softball mits for each player including a left-handed mit for a pretty young lefty named Martita. The softball field still needs a lot of work including a "real" dugout and stands for spectators but we hope others will come forward to help out these amazing young ladies and their team soon. To see photos of Playa Gigante's women's softball team with their new sports gear, please checkout the Sweet Water Fund's post "KIRFaid.org outfits the softball girls".

Mark Kirwin with Bo (Project WOO) and
Ed (Ventura Rotary)

We are looking forward to returning to Playa Gigante in December and visiting the inspiring folks at Sweet Water Fund and Project Woo. While there we will assess other needs (such as a well and a health center) and see what more we can do for a community that has been so generous with its natural gifts of smiles, delicious meals, and, of course, those perfect waves.

KIRF Field Report: Oranges de Bainet, Haiti

2012-07-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

Mark Kirwin at the unfinished primary school in Oranges de Bainet, Haiti

Right after the 2010 earthquake, KIRF helped supply food staples to a remote village in Haiti called Oranges de Bainet. Since that relief trip, I have been in contact with people from Oranges. They have told me that a non-profit had built them a new school, but it was not finished. And, although they had a partially competed school, there were no school supplies to use to teach the students. Further, as a mediator and conflict resolution professional, I have often wondered if Haiti needed any conflict resolution assistance or training because of all the tragedy and possible civil unrest from the tragic earthquake. It is for those reasons we returned to Haiti earlier this month.

With KIRF volunteers Patrick Rae (a member of the KIRF board), and Dr. Thomas Fiutak (whom I have worked with for a number of years at the United Nations Conferences on Climate Change regarding conflict resolution and mediation) we returned to Port-Au-Prince on July 16, 2012.

The first thing I noticed that was different from our trip in 2010 was the absence most of rubble on the streets. And, that many of the tent camps we saw during our last trip were gone. The tent camps near the airport are still there, but many of the vacant lots and parks around Port-Au-Prince no longer have earthquake-homeless living in them. I also noticed that just outside of town, to the North, where many people fled and had constructed simple temporary living shelters on the dry hills after the earthquake, the government was building a reservoir to supply that new community with water.

I talked to many people while in Haiti about the current state of affairs. As with any set of interviews on a subject, there were a variety of opinions on what needs to change in order to get the economy going stronger. But unanimously, each Haitians I spoke with wanted me to let the world know that Haiti is recovering, that the people of Haiti do have hope, that there is a good labor force in Haiti that wants to work, and Haiti is ripe for investment to start new businesses with it's new government and a sense of stability.

Inside a classroom at the new school in Oranges de Bainet, Haiti.

Once again, we experienced a lot of generosity and a willingness on behalf of the Haitians to assist us in helping their fellow citizens. After arriving in the late afternoon, on Monday the 16th, we left the next morning at 4:30 a.m. for the long drive to Oranges, via the road to Jacmel. Several local people volunteered their time to assist us with this project–of which we are very grateful. As one drives over the mountains to reach Jacmel, we took a left off of the paved road for a dirt road that went to Bainet. A two wheel drive vehicle would be hard pressed to travel this very rough and rocky dirt road. After several hours of winding through the mountains, with beautiful vistas, and street markets full of people selling all manner of produce and other foods, we finally arrived in Bainet. It took about 2 minutes to pass through Bainet when our dirt "road" dropped down into the bed of the Oranges River. That is where our four wheel drive was absolutely essential.

We drove up along the Oranges River for hours, crossing the river bed at least 15 times, with water rushing up past the bottom of the vehicle doors. Then, finally, we were there: Oranges de Bainet. The town was a small community of houses, with a church and partially constructed school. We were met at the school by Father Maxis who has worked in this community for the last three years. The priest explained to me why education was so important for the children of the village. Not only does it educate the children for better jobs and a better future, but it gives them a sense of pride and will benefit the community. Hopefully, when children get an education and go on to college, they will return to the community to work and share ideas on how to make it a better place for all to live. Education also helps reduce violence in the community the priest said.

Father Maxis and lumber for the new school.

After we were given coconuts from which we drank fresh coconut juice, we toured the recently constructed school. It has a roof and walls for six classrooms and a room for teachers, but it did not have any finishes including windows. It's rooms are empty: no seats, desks, or black boards. And, it did not have any supplies to use to teach the anticipated 150 students who will attend. And, the latrines had not yet been constructed before the money ran out. Father Maxis had it wired with electrical outlets should electricity every reach the area (or someone donates solar). He also had the walls reinforced so that is earthquake safe, and so that a community center could one day be built on top of the school. Simply put, Father Maxis is a forward thinking, very bright individual who believes in the power of education to help raise the community out of poverty. It was indeed an honor to meet and to work with him.

So after this assessment, we returned on the long and windy road to Port-au-Prince. The next day, it was decided that the best way to help Oranges school was to provide Father Maxis and the community with the needed school books and teaching materials for grades K-6. We worked with many kind Haitian businesses who sold us the educational materials at a discount since supplies were for the new primary school in Oranges de Bainet. We also purchased raw wood and building supplies for the community to use to build the desks, benches and chalk boards to fill up the now empty and unfinished classrooms.

Haiti's future: A beautiful young girl in Oranges de Bainet.

Father Maxis is still looking for donations so he can hire some full-time teachers for the school. Right now, he teaches the classes himself with help from some people in the community. However, he is looking for trained teachers to run the school. We estimated that with room, board and salary, $2,000 would be sufficient to pay for one teacher for one year. However, now that the school is finished enough to teach classes, and they have the books, Father Maxis is hopeful that he will be able to receive the funds to hire the teachers.

Dr. Fiutak and I also met with community leaders in Port-Au-Prince who discussed issues of gender equality and climate change as well as the need for mediation training to assist them with conflict resolution in their communities, especially in some of the poorer parts of the city and outlying communities. We are looking forward to working with these folks in the future regarding these issues.

Thank you for all who get out there and make it happen- in any way you can!

Peace,

Mark Kirwin
Founder of KIRF (KIRFaid.org)

KIRF's Sewing Centre in Shekhwara Village in Bihar, India

2012-07-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

Most people understand that the best way to help people who are in economic need is to help them in a way that allows them to help themselves become financially self-sufficient. Doing things this way not only assures that the economic goals are the same for both the giver and the recipient of aid, there is also a means and intention by the giver to truly help others become less dependent on them and, ultimately, have a better future. It is for this reason that KIRF strives to do long-term and sustainable relief through education for families in need. KIRF's mission is not only to help people help themselves in a disaster with disaster relief, it is also to help people have a better future through education.

The KIRF Sewing Centre in the rural village of Shekhwara in Bihar, India is an example of an annual in-kind grant and educational project that was founded by KIRF. The Sewing Center is located at the Shekhwara Village School. The school is about 10 km from World Heritage site and Buddhist pilgrimage temple called the Mahabodhi in the ancient town of Bodhgaya. The KIRF Sewing Centre school is primarily a vocational training center for young mothers who need to earn an income to feed, clothe and care for their children. In rural Bihar, many women are left alone with their children at their in-laws for months at a time while their husbands are working for months at a time as migrant laborers elsewhere. When these women are able to earn an income or offer a valuable local service such as tailoring, they are not only helping themselves and their children, they are helping their entire extended families. The KIRF Sewing Centre serves between 20 to 25 students, many of whom have no formal academic education. In addition to sewing and embroidery, they are taught basic literacy skills and given social support.

We started the Sewing Centre in 2009 with a donation of three non-electric sewing machines, sewing supplies, textiles and a small stipend for a part-time sewing instructor. Today, dozens of young women have graduated from the KIRF's sewing program with a moneymaking skill and a high status certificate of ability that is proof of their ability. The program is a popular one in the rural village where it is located and there is a waiting list to attend.

The Sewing Center is located at the Shekhwara Village School, a free school established by Diane Kirwin and several local Indian humanitarians in 2009. This school is the only quality academic education available to its 100 to 110 students in the area. Some students walk as far as 3 ½ kilometers (about 2 miles) to school each day. There are currently five classes at the school and snacks are provided five days a week for the students. There is also a Saturday yoga class. The Shekhwara Village School also hosts the Kirwin International Health Clinic that is open on Saturday mornings at the school. The clinic provides free health and medical services to families of the school’s students. Each week, about 30-40 patients, mostly women and their children, get treatment.

Snack time at Kirwin James International School. See KIRFindia.org

To support KIRF's Sewing Centre at the Shekhwara Village School or the Kirwin International Health Clinic, please contact us or make a donation at KIRFaid.org/donate. Please indicate that the donation is specifically for the "Shekhwara India Project". Thank you. :)

Below are recent photos of the Health Clinic at the Shekhwara Village School in Bihar, India.

Refugee, migrant and IDP children in Burma get school supplies from KIRF

2012-07-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

KIRF has been getting needed school supplies and some food aid to IDP (“internally displaced people”) children in conflict areas in the Eastern Karen State of Burma and to child refugees in northern Thailand since 2008. We have been able to do this through an aid network coordinated by the Community Schools Program. This non-profit organization based in northern Thailand has provided access to education, medical care and basic necessities to refugee and migrant families from Burma as well as IDP families in Burma since 2001.

The local community-run schools we are supporting are the only source of formal education to their young students. Resisting regime pressure to shut down, they rely on international support through the Community Schools Program to prevail in the conflict areas of eastern Burma. Every year since 2008 we have been helping these kids have a better future through education with the help of the Community Schools Program. The first two photos (top left and bottom right) of this article were taken in a few months ago at an IDP school inside of Burma. As you can see, it is easy to fall in love with these kids!. We try to support them and their teachers as much as we can.

In 2006 the Community Schools program was recognized by the World’s Children Prize Foundation of Sweden and received funding for 25 of their community supported schools. As part of this recognition, a formal needs assessment was done that identified the action areas of child abuse in the Eastern Karen State of Burma. According to the "Activity Report of the WCPRC in Burma - May 2011" report published by the Community Schools' Program, here are those areas of concern:

Parents cannot afford the children to go to the schools due to poverty.
In Burma there is still a civilian war with killing and displacement; many children are threatened and the Burmese regime has burned down houses, community schools and have killed innocent families
Children have been forced to become child soldiers
Child trafficking that includes forcing the children to work as housemaids, market workers and in brothels is occurring
Due to poverty there is the lack of the opportunity for studying when children can attend school
There is often no local school in the home village of children and parents cannot afford the transportation to schools in other villages
In some schools, children are beaten for infractions such as not doing their homework

In response to the needs assessment and report, formal workshops to provide basic child rights training for teachers and a global vote for the World's Children Prize was organized in schools in Burma and in Thailand migrant schools and schools inside of refugee camps by several organization. Unfortunately, some IDP schools in Burma could not safely participate for security reasons due to conflict. For many children (excepting the ones in the conflict and refugee camp schools), the global vote was the first time they have ever left their village and became aware of a global community that supported their rights.

We have wanted to publish more photos about KIRF's support of Community Schools a long time ago but didn't due to our concern for the safety of thir many volunteer aid workers and the teachers inside and outside of Burma. The photos above are being published with permission of the Community Schools Program. More news and photos from this non-profit will be available online once their new website goes live.

In 2008, KIRF co-founder Mark Kirwin purchased and helped deliver school supplies, food aid and basic living supplies to migrant and refugee children from the Eastern Karen State of Burma. The photos below were taken in 2008 and were chosen in order to not reveal the identities of these migrants from Burma.

IHC fiscal miss-management has hurt hundreds of non-profits, including KIRF India

2012-02-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

[KIRF India's students and staff at Kirwin James International
School, Shekhwara August 2011]

We are very saddened to hear of the sudden closure of IHC (International Humanity Center) and the tragic consequences for hundreds of non-profits; including KIRF India.

Please note that our non-profit KIRF is a separate and distinct organization from IHC and KIRF India. KIRF is not affiliated with IHC and has its own registered charitable institution status – 501(c)(3) – with the Federal government and the state of California.

KIRF is also a completely separate organization from KIRF India with it's own board of directors and financial management. As such, our non-profit is not affected by the IHC closure. KIRF India, a registered Indian Charitable Trust with its own local Indian management and staff, entrusted IHC as a fiscal sponsor to manage donations and accounting in the United States. KIRF India provides free education and health services for lowest caste under-privileged children and women in rural villages near the ancient city of Bodhgaya, a World Heritage site, in the state of Bihar, India.

We are proud of our independent support of KIRF India's programs in Bihar including the popular Sewing Center program at KIRF India's Kirwin James International School located in the rural village of Shekhwara. The free school is the only educational option for lowest caste under-privileged children in the area. KIRF is also proud of its support of water well construction and repairs, which has provided safe drinking water for students and families at KIRF India-supported educational centers in several villages as well as our in-kind donations of high quality text books and other educational materials for the children of KIRF India supported schools.

The sudden closure of the IHC has been financially devastating for KIRF India. It has also been a betrayal of trust for KIRF India's supporters and donors as well. KIRF India is not alone in this situation as hundreds of other non-profits have entrusted the IHC as their fiscal sponsor to handle donations and book-keeping for a fee. We are looking forward to a quick and just resolution of this matter. In KIRF India's case, it will be the young students of the Kirwin James International School and the families that rely on KIRF India's free health services that will be the most hurt by the financial miss-management by the IHC.

Field Report: KIRF’s Earthquake Relief in Christchurch, NZ

2011-04-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

On February 22^nd this year a 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch, New Zealand. The earthquake destroyed or rendered un-inhabitable most of the downtown commercial district in Christchurch and the neighboring harbor city of Lyttelton (where it toppled the once famous Volcano Café).

Destroyed businesses in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Photo: Kai Kirwin

KIRF, through its director Mark Kirwin and volunteers Kai Kirwin and Totaea Rendell (KIRF’s South Pacific Representative), assisted Christchurch’s earthquake relief efforts from April 1 to April 9, 2011.

Our first day of assessment showed us the immense devastation the earthquake had caused to the city. Block after block of the commercial and community center of Christchurch was destroyed. This area was the heart of Christchurch supporting much of its business and tourist attractions. Business owners and residents had still not been allowed back into their shops and homes since the earthquake to retrieve good and personal items due to the danger of further building collapse. In fact, we felt three aftershocks during our relief work efforts!

We saw house after house and business after business with major structural damage and a red “UNSAFE” Earthquake Inspection sign. The red signs indicated that the buildings were not only un-inhabitable but residents and business owners were not allowed to enter them for any reason.

During the first few days of assessment we interviewed business owners and residents regarding how they were coping with the effects of the quake. Many businesses had been forced to shut down and residents were living with friends or relatives. The government had installed port –a- potties along the streets and large tanks of water. The sewer and water lines had broken throughout the earthquake zone causing the drinking water to be contaminated. Much of the sewer run-off was, by unfortunate necessity, directed to open water such as the ocean and the various creeks throughout the city.

We were advised by the government earthquake relief center in Lyttelton (RAC Center) that the eastern suburbs needed the most help. We were told that many people in poverty lived in these areas. We were also told that we were the first Americans (Kai and I) who had come to the center to offer aid. Through our contacts we were able to set up a meeting at The Pacific Hub, which provides community services for the Maori and other Pacific Islanders in and around the eastern suburbs of Aranui and Wainoni. The Pacific Hub is a small organization supported by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs.

Christchurch Cathedral destroyed
by the earthquake. Photo: Kai Kirwin

Through meetings with the kind folks at The Pacific Hub we found out that the last food aid available to the Pacific Islander families, donations from the Salvation Army, had just ceased. Even though these families would be without adequate food, there was no more non-profit-provided aid expected for them. As you can well imagine, the local government is overwhelmed with the assistance effort, trying to repair the sewer /water lines and provide temporary housing for the displaced as well as rebuild the commercial zones.

We learned that many Pacific Islanders in the area had lost their homes and were living in cramped quarters with other families; one home had 29 people in it. Respiratory infections were becoming a health concern because so many people were sleeping on damp floors caused by the liquefaction mud and water that came up through the surface of the ground right after the quake. Many people had lost their jobs and had no income because of the quake damage to the commercial sector.

We found out these residents needed food, blankets, wind up torches (flash lights), water, generators, raised beds and other basic needs. So, off we went to find out how KIRF could help with some of these items.

Through the generous support of several New Zealand businesses, such as the Wainoni Pak N’Save (where we purchased food), clothing manufacturer MOKO (who supported the travel and hotel costs for this trip as well as donated supplies) and MOKO’s suppliers: Texco International (where we purchased discounted blankets) and Headwear Specialists (where we purchased beanies at a significant discount). We were able to provide the needed and requested food supplies, blankets, socks, and beanies for 100 impoverished Pacific Islander families who had been severely affected by the earthquake.

After purchasing the food items and other relief supplies, we worked with police officers, who had been transferred from Auckland to help with the recovery effort. Together with them, a local police officer and more people from The Pacific Hub, we were able to create care packages for each of the families. All of these people provided a tremendous help to us and were very kind and generous in their own time and efforts to help out the local community.

As special thank you goes out to MOKO who provided the relief volunteers with some cool t-shirts and a generous sponsorship for this relief trip. We thank our anonymous donor from Canada, and others from the US, who all made this relief trip possible.

Thank you.

Mark

Director and President
Kirwin International Relief Foundation, KIRFaid.org

KIRF's earthquake relief volunteers and their new friends at
The Pacific Hub after helping out families who lost their homes.