Emergency relocation help for Alexis Peterson and Family!

Hello. My name is Ginette Lapalme and I’m an artist based in Toronto, Canada. I run the small gallery / gift shop called Toutoune at 998 Bathurst St, and have been creating small ceramic gifts to encourage donations to various organizations, some are locally-based while others are for organizations or funds based in other countries.

It is through this small initiative wherein I was helping to raise funds for Progression Society Art School, a Port-au-Prince arts initiative, that I first encountered Alexis Peterson.

He needs our help!

Alexis Peterson is a father of 4 young girls and he is also an accomplished artist. He worked with New Vision Art School and his children also have attended Progression Society as well.

The first fund I created for him and his family focused on helping his eldest continue her schooling. Unfortunately things in the capital have since deeply deteriorated. If you are unaware of what is currently transpiring in Haiti, it is quite grim to learn. There is absolutely lawlessness currently and untold amounts of violence from gang warfare, which first ramped up in February of 2024 when dangerous gangs orchestrated various jail breaks which unleashed a lot of fear in the populace and life hasn’t been the same since.

Not only is everyday living made near impossible, with safety issues and food insecurity rampant - the already precarious Education system in Port-au-Prince has also been under attack by gangs! This is an egregious calculated plight against children! Depriving children of their education creates an incredibly dangerous, yet planned, coordination by these gangs. They see children as disposable pawns for drug trafficking and warfare. Children as young as 10 years old are given guns and forced to fight against their will. As you can understand, the situation is very dire.

The fund I am opening now is to help Alexis Peterson and his family relocate outside of the capital. As these gangs exert more and more control over multiple neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince, it is the only way that Peterson can keep his family safe from this cascading violence.

For those who can visit my shop in Toronto, I gift ceramic butterfly brooches inspired by Alexis Peterson’s work for donations made at 998 Bathurst St.

If you really wish to receive one of these ceramic works for your donation, and you do not live in Toronto, please email me at [email redacted] with your mailing address and 'Alexis Peterson Butterfly' in the subject line so that I can calculate the shipping cost. I will then invoice you for a size-able donation (which we can discuss) with custom shipping cost added.

Otherwise, please donate whatever amount you can, any little bit helps!

We thank you tremendously.

-Ginette