World solo sailor and OceansWatch Board member Donna Lange has just completed an exploratory trip to Haiti and the Dominican Republic and is now in the Virgin Islands. This trip is to explore how OceansWatch can carry out its mission of working with the world’s sailors to undertake marine conservation projects and offer humanitarian aid to coastal communities in developing countries in the Caribbean.
This is an important step in developing OceansWatch North America. Donna is begining to build relationships with the island communities while doing OceansWatch Village Surveys and Educational Needs Surveys, in the communities she visits.
OceansWatch is building on established networks within the cruising community. Eleven years ago famous long time sailing and musician camarade of Donna’s, Michael "Beans" Gardner, created Good Samaritan Foundation( www.goodsamaritanofhaiti.com) on the small island of Ile La Vache in Haiti along with a local man Jean Phelix Joseph. For years Michael has been organizing sailors to help in Haiti. That momentum created the long awaited support he sought which has come through friends, the Tortola Rotary, Tortola Marine Association, and the community in the BVI, Michael’s music venue for the winters. This Christmas season, a sailing troupe from Tortola brought much needed small boat engines and gifts to the fisherman and families on Ile La Vache. Yet the need for clean fresh water and supplies is still desperate. Donations to build the much needed school facilities are growing. Donna knew of Michael's mission and supported Good Samaritan School as a sponsor on her sail around the world and now back. Now she is anxious to test the waters using the principles and programs of OceansWatch to allow the Cruising Community to join those helping in this poorest of islands in the Caribbean. Though the situation is desperate in Haiti, Michael has found that the people are willing and hard working, diligently using whatever resources they are given to make a better world for themselves.
On March 24th, Donna flew to Haiti from Florida and made her way across the island to the south coast. There she met with Jean Phelix Joseph, co- founder with Michael of the Good Samaritan of Haiti Foundation, who hosted her and arranged for safe transport and lodging on the small island of Ile la Vache. Donna had the opportunity to spend two full days meeting the children in the school, the community and sharing music. She distributed reading glasses and school supplies gathered in the few days before her departure. With OceansWatch surveys in hand Donna made valuable assessments and friendships, which will allow her to formulate how OceansWatch can assist this and similar communities.
We look forward to receiving updates as Donna continues on from Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where she visited the Reef Check training facility in Santo Domingo. Reef Check is an OceansWatch partner organization, and the Reef Check system has been adopted for monitoring the anthropogenic effects on reef ecosystems. While in the Dominican Republic Donna was hosted by Irish Pub "Jose O’Shay" Owner, Frank Brittingham, where she performed Sunday through Tuesday evenings.
From the Dominican Republic Donna’s next port of call is St. Thomas, where again, the Brittingham family Irish pub, Molly Malones, is hosting Donna to play 4 nights of music, from Irish to classics to her own songs of sailing and caring. On April 11th, she is to be joined by Michael (Beans) Gardner to do a Benefit Concert to raise money for the Good Samaritan Foundation. Many thanks to the Brittinghams for helping Donna finance her tour and hosting the benefit concert. She will also be joining "Beans" at Tortola’s Myettes pub in Cane Garden Bay on April 18th for a second of five benefit concerts Michael will be doing around the Virgin Islands.
Redhook, in St Thomas, is Donna’s home port and the place where her world of sailing and singing began, she looks forward to the camaraderie that has been her life line to the new world she enjoys as a sailor, musician and speaker. She is also playing gigs at local Redhook hotspots like Latitude 18, and Careggas’s in the "Boatyard" where Donna did those critical rebuilds to her boat before setting off to solo sail the oceans of the world.
Everywhere Donna goes she will be sharing the OceansWatch mantra of "Cruising for a Cause" and introducing cruisers to the ideas of OceansWatch. Any OceansWatch members who will be in these Islands or near, please contact
donna@donnalange.org
