Our social initiative follows a multi-pronged model that has created an impressive synergy that touches all sectors in the community. The impact of this approach has gotten a lot of attention as a promising community development model. We have increased the number of visitors to an estimated 4,000 over the past 4 years; Instituted and hosted four annual festivals since 2014; held Arts/craft fairs since 2014; trained women in doll making. Socially, started a youth club focusing on education (scholarships); health, art, toy distribution, environment protection; and sports.
In terms of infrastructure,
Our interventions have spiked a new-found interest in the town that have stimulated a small economy especially for women during the annual 5-day annual festival. We have anecdotal evidence and reports of small merchants making enough money during the festival to pay tuition for their children. Our most prided achievement is the revitalization of the town and the reenergization of its people.
We renovated a total 4 major landmarks; planted trees along the main road; held awareness campaigns for tree preservation on May 1st observation activities; improved the access road to the swimming hole at the Cotard water fall and the path to Forts Ramiers sites; successfully built a clean water system in rural area of Brostage that serves tens of families;; advocated for clean water, environment and infrastructure improvement such as roads and electricity. Solar street lights were installed in the summer of last year.
ODID Sports programs focuses on developing the fundamentals and skills of different sports to young children through fun and positive activities.
The success of these programs requires the involvement of parents. These programs offer training to all participants so that everyone can learn techniques that will benefit future athletes throughout their lives.
Young children (for 7-11 years)
Our Division of Sports and Recreation, offers basketball, soccer, volleyball and karate for boys and girls. The goal is to teach the game through a healthier environment while building the foundations that prepare sport athletes who want to learn, develop and excel in their sport.
Youth (for 12-16 years)
The programs are supervised by responsible coaches. It offers regular sports instructions to children, and activities for improving their basic motor skills, adding components of training and competition, all in an atmosphere interactive and fun.
The program aims to incorporate education of good nutrition, fitness and the importance of family support in the development of a healthy athlete.
Positive impact for the players:
Substantial improvement of physical, cognitive and social Introduction of positive social experiences through fun physical activities
This is a great place to tell your story and give people more insight into who you are, what you do, and why it’s all about you.
ODID has enrolled hundreds of young people in sports and civism activities. It offers dozens of scholarships annually. It runs a soccer youth league. It hosts 3 major track and Field events every year and identifiies athletes that represent Dondon in "Cayes marathon" in April
Karate: Our karate program is open to girls and boys aged 8-12 years. For financial reasons, we have decided to make karate a seasonal sport. The program currently train more than 15 youth currently including 3 girls.Football: ODID Football League trains more than 100 youths and comprises of 5 teams representing the five rural sections of the city including the "centre ville". The annual championship starts at the beginning of the year with playoffs in July to coincide with the annual festival in July. Brostage team was crowned champion in 2015.
Volleyball: There are many girls very interested in Volleyball. Unfortunately, we are still looking for a coach to lead the volleyball program.
.Basketball: The basketball program began in 2014 but was discontinued due to lack of monitors,
Track and Field: Is becoming a very popular sport for the town. ODID holds 3 major events during the year. Two of our athletes represented Dondon in the first "Cayes Marathon" in 2018 and preparing a team of 5 for the second edition in April 2019.
HEALTH
The population of Dondon is 35,000 with the size of 121 km2 divided into 5 rural juridictions (Brostage, Laguille, Matador, Haut-du-Trou and Bassin-Caiman) and the town's Central area. Health care is inadequately rendered through a dispensary and a health center located in the town where a physician visits 2 days a week. In the rural areas where most of people live, healthcare is non-existent, leaving people susceptible to otherwise treatable diseases. ODID's Health division goals is to improve access to healthcare to the Dondon community. Our Health committee is composed of members from New York, Miami, Georgia, Dondon, Cap- Haitien and Port-Au-Prince.
OUR Approach:
• Recruit a pool of Health practitioners, particularly those from Dondon at the local, national and the Diaspora to volunteer their services
• Organize medical health missions to complement the provision of health services
• Establish relationships with leading pharmaceutical and medical supply companies, to deliver medical supplies and medications
• Forge strong institutional partnerships to complement our pool of potential volunteers to implement our programs effectively•
forge a partnership with the Ministry of Health•
Maximize impact of our efforts by leveraging international partners strengths, working collectively toward shared goals
ODID Sante
ODID has seen more than a thousand patients annually
Activities of Focus
Provision of health services: In partnership with Cap-Haitien Health Network, ODID has so far held clinics at a Health center in rural Dondon since May 2015. Another two-day mobile clinic at the main square during the town's festival in July. The extend of the need has convinced us of a more sustained health program throughout the community by: 1) Holding monthly health clinics; 2) Holding 2-3 day mobile health clinic in the center square of the town at the annual festival in July;.3) Hosting one mobile clinic at each of the rural section (4 total) to coincide with the patron saint celebrations of each of the rural areas.