Never Give Up

Rising from the rubble comes a tale of true heroism

Words by: Nakita Ardern

On January 12, 2010, at 4.53 p.m. local time, Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake; the country’s worst earthquake in over 200 years. The epicentre of the quake was just outside the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. The magnitude was that which hit Christchurch in September 2010, but the death toll was about 300,000. That’s the same as if we lost everyone in Christchurch in 30 seconds. Over one million people were left without homes – that’s roughly the population of Auckland becoming homeless overnight.
Nelson-based Emily Sanson-Rejouis lost nearly everything in the disaster, but now she’s rebuilding her life and the lives of those left in the rubble.
Emily and her family were based in Port-au-Prince with the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission. Sadly she lost her husband, Emmanuel (39) and daughters, Kofie-Jade (5) and Zenzie (3) in the disaster, and despite search and rescue teams saying it was too difficult and dangerous to attempt a rescue, Emily persuaded a group of young men to help her and between them they worked to save the lives of three people.  One was her youngest daughter, Alyahna (1) who, amazingly, was rescued badly cut, bruised and with a broken leg after 22 hours under the rubble of their collapsed apartment building.
A week later Emily came up with the idea to set up the Kenbe La Foundation (which translates to ‘never give up’ in Haitian Creole) and Purple Cake Day. She admits that may seem quick, but assures the initiative was “extremely intuitive and reactive”.
“I needed to create a foundation to fulfil the dream of my husband, which was to give educational opportunities to children living in poverty in his native country, Haiti,” she explains. “Child poverty was an issue we were both passionate about and had experienced in many of the war torn and post-conflict countries we worked in.”
Emily first met Emmanuel in Nigeria in 1998, where they were both working independently as United Nations volunteers coordinating international elections observations. It was love at first sight and the intercontinental couple were married in Nelson in 2003. Emmanuel Rejouis was remembered as a man who gave his all to helping the disadvantaged throughout the world in his roles with the United Nations – a passion he shared with his wife.
After completing a law and politics degrees at Otago University, Emily backpacked around the world before meeting up with her parents who were serving as VSA volunteers in Cambodia.
“Upon visiting them I saw first hand what an impact you can have working with communities living in poverty. I signed up with the United Nations programme there and then and haven’t looked back.”
Using nearly a decade of experience with the United Nations and the International Rescue Committee, Emily set up the Kenbe La Foundation using her knowledge of processes, global objectives and systems.
“Our initial goal was to raise funds and awareness to help the children of Haiti. We had a project from the start to support a particular school of 120 children that had been destroyed by the earthquake. It was important for us to have a focus for where we were going to help because we would have been overwhelmed by the amount there was to do. We sent over emergency funds and resources to help re-establish their school and community, and we have now established connections with two more schools.”
Emily created Purple Cake Day on 1 March, which became the Trust’s day of celebration, education and action to raise awareness and funds for children in need. It has been inspired by Kofie’s compassion for street children and by Zenzie who wanted not one, but two purple cakes for her 4th birthday. The earthquake struck a week before she turned four.
Purple Cake Day is now a day of celebration for children globally. There are opportunities for everyone to get involved through song, art, wearable art, cupcake sales, mufti days, garage sales – the list goes on.
On March 1, 2011 purple-themed celebrations were held across schools and communities in over 10 locations worldwide, including New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Singapore, Japan, the United States, Nigeria, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Australia and Haiti.
“There are hundreds of individuals who support the foundation,” Emily says with pride. “There are people who want to do something for me personally because of the tragedy that I’ve faced. The foundation has given me a sense of purpose and a reason to get up in the morning – to channel my energy and not go off the rail.”
More than $30,000 was collected on Purple Cake Day through small fundraising activities, done mainly by children. Funds have been used equally to support education programmes at the Children of Haiti Project School and psychosocial programmes through Save the Children’s Journey of Hope Programme in Christchurch.
Proceeds from fundraising activities were initially planned to provide educational opportunities to children in severe need in Haiti, however only a week before Purple Cake Day launched children in Christchurch experienced their own terrifying earthquake. Families, friends, homes and schools were also lost – children in Haiti and New Zealand were suddenly connected.
The Kenbe La Foundation has now partnered with the Children Of Haiti Project (COHP), which provides schooling to children from a tent camp in Port-au-Prince. With $15,000 of last year’s Purple Cake Day fundraising children are now receiving an education, a hot meal at lunchtime and medical care. The COHP school was established just weeks after the earthquake, and provides learning opportunities to children with limited or no access to formal education. In April 2011 Emily returned to Haiti for the first time since the earthquake to see its progress.
“It was a trip I knew I had to do,” she says. “It was extremely difficult to be back in that environment amidst the destruction and devastation. Within 24 hours we had evacuated the country after the earthquake and I was in a state of shock. It was also an important trip for the work of the Foundation. We met with people within the education sector in Haiti and visited projects to learn and understand how to be most effective.
“This is all part of my personal recovery; to bring my 10 years of humanitarian experience and what’s happened with the tragedy to go forward with my new life with Alyahna, who will be turning four in April. Thankfully she didn’t come out with any long term physical injuries, but as she becomes more aware of what she’s been through I will need to continue to support her emotionally and answer any questions she has.”
Emily plans to return to Haiti again in April to build a school, with a team that includes builders and educators, and three 20ft shipping containers of furniture, educational resources, a school building and medical supplies.
In 2012 Purple Cake Day aims to double its fundraising target to $60,000 to continue to sustain its education projects in Haiti and extend into Nepal as a new ‘country of focus. A comprehensive Education Resource Kit has been developed for the Purple Cake Day programme and is online for schools and community groups to learn about and get involved with.
Education projects in Nepal will be delivered in partnership with First Steps Himalaya, In Time Trust and the Himalayan Trust, established by Sir Edmund Hillary. The collaboration plans to establish an early childhood education centre, provide educational resources and training to schools, build and equip a library and provide student scholarships to children in disadvantaged rural communities.
For more information about Purple Cake Day 2012, how to get involved and how to donate visit www.purplecakeday.org

Setting up a charitable trust
You must first establish what your objectives are going to be. It was clear for us that would be providing educational opportunities to children living in hardship. If children are educated they have a chance to achieve their potential and direct their future – it’s a road out of poverty.
Establish the trustees and the charitable objectives. We formed a board of trustees including New Zealand-based and international trustees.
Register with the charities commission and then start fundraising and raising awareness.
There is enormous potential to grow a charity with social media. Fundraising pages on Facebook and Twitter are a great forum for people to share ideas with a common interest. comments powered by Disqus