The mission of Soley Leve is to work to help the citizens of Cite Soleil take their lives into their own hands with their own resources. But Soley Leve is not an organization, or an NGO, or a project – all these words have been spoiled by too many years of heavy-handed intervention in Cite Soleil by NGOs and the UN. Soley Leve is a konbit. Haiti has a strong tradition of labor exchange: in the countryside, when a task is too great for one farmer, he will call konbit, and his neighbors will come and help him. There is no expectation of money: just the expectation of some music, perhaps some rum, and that the farmer calling konbit will come and help when someone else is in trouble. In Haiti’s largest slum, we have taken this rural seed and planted it in an urban environment: when a neighborhood runs into a challenge that is too hard for them, they call other neighborhoods to help.

Bon kouraj!!!