The first workers were trained on Sunday (14 Feb) to take over the core process of Mission 4636: translating, categorizing and geo-locating the messages. 47 workers were trained in total – they are smart, motivated and were ready to begin immediately.

The workers are part of an NGO called 1000 jobs for Haiti, who had signed a partnership with Samasource just minutes prior to the earthquake. We are very happy that Mission 4636 is able to start providing jobs for people within Haiti, especially because they are needed now more than ever.

Lukas, Martial (director of FATEM in Mirebalais) and Leila conducting the training session in Mirebalais

The new center is in the town of Mirebalais, just outside Port-au-Prince, where the workers were trained by Leila Janah of Samasource and Lukas Biewald of CrowdFlower. The program director is Anar Simpson and the local project manager is Frednel Isma, working with Jacky Poteau and Martial Marcellu of FATEM.

A robust permanent internet connection is still being established. From Sunday, 5 workers were able to join the volunteers in the process, and as of today (Feb 20) 15 workers are now able to work at once. When the center has a permanent reliable connection (which will happen very soon) 100 workers will be able work at any one time. This will be a powerful labor force providing a secure income for the workers and their families, while allowing the great work of the whole Mission 4636 effort to continue.

This was part of a long trip for Leila – see her blog entry also: Giving Work – Europe, Haiti, and Beyond, and photos/videos from both Lukas and Leila: Photostream from Haiti.