Sunday in Port

It was a busy day. We attended services at Quisqueya Chapel. Had lunch at HIS Home - the customary grilled cheese sandwiches. I assisted in filming Carmel talking about House of Love. This will be uploaded for viewing on the internet within the next week or so. I didn't verify via photography, but I am happy to report that the 4 chickens are still flourishing, but still no eggs. We then drove over to Hospital Espoir (Hope) and checked in on Baby James. We attended a Bible study conducted by the pastor emeritus of Q. Chapel. Finally we had dinner at a local hotel.

However, upon our return to the guesthouse we learned that Dottie's handyman, Dineau,  had passed away very unexpectedly last night. He was reliable and trustworthy and she has depended upon him for years. Last Sunday afternoon, I had met him when he was installing a new ceiling fan in one of the bedrooms. He had very graciously listened to my rudimentary attempts at Creole. He was around 40 and leaves a wife and 4 year old daughter. Please pray for his family and for Dottie, who has been devastated by this news.

We leave Port-au-Prince tomorrow on a 1:40 pm flight and are scheduled to arrive in Chicago around 8:30. It's been a great trip: we were able to visit with amazing people and witness tremendous mission work. Much has been accomplished, but there is much yet to do. 



This is fairly typical metal work that you can find in Haiti. This piece is hanging on the wall on the second story patio at Dottie's Guesthouse. I love the vibrant colors.




Taken this morning from the second story patio looking to the north. It's been hazy all week so it's hard to capture the full impact of the looming mountains.




Obligatory group photo. Front: Kris with Cherdinor & me, Back (L to R): Steve, Tony & Geoff. Geoff had to fly out this morning and by this point in the evening should be back in the snows of Michigan.




This is Hospital Espoir.




Chris Nungester, director of HIS Home for Children is holding Baby James who is 4 months old and very sickly. Each child at HIS Home is cared for with an abundance of love no matter his/her condition.




Linda's Animal of the Day is the parrot at the hotel restaurant. The kids tell me that the Creole word for parrot is Jacko.

 


Here's our group at dinner. Hal and Chris Nungester at the the far end. The three girls from HIS Home are on the left. It is very likely that this is the first time that at least 2 of the girls have ever been in a real restaurant.  Being teenagers, they adjusted quickly. They are good kids and it was fun to include them in our evening.




A closer shot of dinner plates. There were several orders of kabrit (goat). I ordered Creole Chicken which was very tasty. I had a nibble of the kabrit. Not bad.



Hanging around on a Saturday

Today we focused on finishing the sponsorship package materials with several of the kids who weren't available until today.Played a little soccer and tossed a football with several of the boys.  Made the rounds in the neighborhood. Here's some photos from today:

This is Madame Lariche, a resident at the House of Love. She wanted a photo with Mimi, the resident cat.

Yes, the chickens are still alive and well at the House of Love. I suspect that their longevity will depend on their egg laying results.



Here's the art photo of the day. Lots of lush flowering climbing bushes grow up the security walls around residences. This photo was aimed through the razor wire that sets on top of most residential security walls.




Here's an apartment house in our neighborhood. Wanted to show that everything isn't destitute in Port-au-Prince. I really liked the architecture of this building.




Here Geoff is speaking with Karen, a missionary who among other things, provides an afternoon community center for the local children. She has a heart for the handicapped and works to obtain medical treatment for them. Geoff's daughter, Grace, was found in a trash heap near Karen's mission, Coram Deo, and Karen was instrumental in getting Grace to HIS Home and ultimately to Michigan.



This is a "creek" that runs through Karen's neighborhood. Just upstream is a tent camp and so this really operates as a sewer. Grace was found near here.



Julie arrived today from NYC. She brings down large supplies of baby formula several times a year. When it looked like Loubencia was going to die last year, Julie flew down to be by her side. What a joyous reunion.



This afternoon we are up on the balcony. Hal is in his glory with tons of children about. Behind him is Emanie who is giving us a concert on her new violin. The Taubel family that I wrote about last Sunday brought 80 violins with them. One was given to Emanie. After 3 lessons this week, she is able to play the first half of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. I couldn't get a close up of Emanie as Joclene had fallen asleep on my lap so I just held up the camera and clicked.


Another joyous day in Haiti.

Part 3: WVU in Port

Photos from 2/25/11

I didn't get any photos at the clinic as my hands were literally full. But here is a photo in the waiting room of the photography studio where some of the little ones were smudging up the mirror.

Steve with Hangy. He is quite a live wire with irrepressible dimples.

This is Loubencia and Jocelene.  Loubencia (on left)came close to death earlier this year. She has stage 4 AIDS. I met her last year and have really grown to love her beautiful heart. Jocelene is one of the girls that we sponsor.

And finally, here is my art shot of the day. It's some flower by the front door at Dottie's Guesthouse. Dottie has no idea what type of plant this is. 


That's it for today. God Bless!

Part 2 - Mounties in Port-au-Prince

Let's continue to upload today's photos:



This is Kris, fellow team member who has already adopted 2 children from HIS Home with Dieulando, age 2 months.




Some of the toddlers at HIS Home.



OK. I'm being blocked from uploading any more. Will try Part 3.



Not everyday that one hears the WVU fight song in downtown Port-au-Prince

I just can't tell you how much I admire Chris Nungster, Director of HIS Home for Children. What she gets accomplished is just amazing. Today Chris had to take 10 children for adoption physicals and needed an additional adult to help with the little ones. We all piled into a 4 door pick up truck (seats 5 Americans). It's called a TaTa, made in India. Might need to mention that rules like wearing seatbelts or child safety seats are unheard of here. So Kristin and I (adults) are in the back seat with 8 kids and Chris and Junior, the Assistant Director at HIS Home are in front. Chris has 2 toddlers on her lap. We bumped down the roads to the clinic in downtown Port-au-Prince - about a 25 minute ride. We spent 3 hours in the waiting room while the children were being seen by the pediatrician. It was pretty surreal when we first got there. The television in the waiting room was showing a Bollywood movie. Viewing from there went down hill until the final show was some American vampire and zombie movie - not the selection that I might choose for a room full of children, but I digress. Tasha got the prize for being the Drama Queen - she's a little under 2 and was not pleased with pretty much anything. She was screaming so I took her outside into the driveway. After about 45 minutes of her starting to cry every time I tried to walk back into the waiting room, I tried singing her to sleep. First was a rousing rendition of the WVU Mountaineer fight song, followed by Brahms lullaby. Tasha slumped into slumber and I was able to sit down and watch where the good vampires beat the bad vampires. After 3 hours at the clinic, we piled back into the TaTa and drove to the photography studio for passport photos. That only took around 30 minutes. Other than a couple of the young children crying, these kids were just so good. And I don't think it was just because of the exciting vampire movie.  Spent the remainder of the afternoon at the orphanage with the kids. Another very satisfying day.






Three of the girls at HIS Home prior to walking to school this morning. My red sunglasses were a big hit. I've lost count as to how many different children have tried them on.

Three other girls. The drill is that you take the photo and then let the kids see the shot on the camera. Lots of little finger prints on my camera screen.



OK, I have 6 more photos I'm trying to upload but something is not going right. I'm going to try a Part 2 and see if I can get them uploaded.

It's all about the glitter

Today was the day that the kids at HIS Home for Children were to do a craft project to send to their sponsors. I brought precut cardboard stars for them to decorated with colored marking pens and glitter. Then I will paste a small photo of each kid on their star and it will be included in the package sent to each sponsor. Things went pretty well, although by the afternoon I had decided that we'd had enough with the glitter and I'll add some finishing touches once I get home. It is always a joy to be with these children. Gotta to say that I am looking forward to showering off all the excess glitter in a little bit.

Between "glittering", we visited with our friend Carmel at her House of Love and met 5 of the 6 elderly women that now reside there. She  will soon have 8 women residents. She has searched out the poorest of the poor who had no family or home and have provided them with a safe place to stay and 3 meals a day.  Dottie tells us that abandoning the elderly is not unusual here.

We also stopped by the Apparent Project Artisan's House and met with Shelley Clay who runs this project. It has grown exponentially from a year ago. I have a couple of photos of the place. If you are interested in more information, go to http://www.apparentproject.org/

It's been another hot, but satisfying day in Port-au-Prince. Here are some photos:

This shot of a coconut tree was taken this morning from the 2nd story deck at Dottie's Guesthouse.



Here are some of the elementary students working on their star craft. They are in the pre-glitter stage.




This is Jessica with her finished star. A photo will be placed in the square. I met Jessica last year.



Here are some ladies making paper mache beads for jewelry at the Apparent Project artisan house.



This is the front courtyard of the Apparent Project artisan house. Not only do they recycle cereal boxes to make beads, they are currently making beads out of presidential campaign posters. Pretty resourceful. As I mentioned earlier, those campaign posters are everywhere.




A wall of necklaces at the Apparent Project store. We were told that an actress, Maria Bello, was visiting there this morning.




Sequel to yesterday's taxi ride with the chickens. They are now clucking about Carmel's front yard.



These are 5 of the residents at the House of Love. Carmel, the founder, and Michelle, the director, are standing behind them.

This is the front door of the House of Love.

Here are 2 of the girls at HIS Home for Children. They wanted a photo together as they are best friends. His Home operates out of 3 different houses within the same neighborhood. The third house was set up for primarily teenage girls who needed a safe place to live. Tent cities just provide no safety for these children. Just this week, a pregnant 12 year old girl was brought here. Currently, there are 24 residents of which 3 are pregnant. Haiti Social Services requires that these girls must give up their children for adoption if they wish to remain in such a residence as HIS Home. Plans for several vocational training programs are currently in the works. With job skills, these girls will have a chance.; 

This is one of approximately 4 million goats in Haiti. Actually, I have no idea how many goats are here, but they are almost as plentiful as campaign posters.  Within the city, the goats roam free; while in the countryside, they are all tied with about 10 feet of rope.



 

Today I met Susan. She is from New York state and is adopting Ernst, age 15. Everything has been approved and they fly out tomorrow morning. Susan is holding Justin, a special needs child. She and her husband are also in the process of adopting Justin.  I met Ernst last year. He is such a terrific kid and he is very happy to finally having a permanent family.



Chicken & Tilapia

Today we took a taxi 45 minutes out of Port to Double Harvest. It's a farm ministry started by an Dutch American family 30 years ago. It has about 200 acres that are farmed. They keep 2000 laying hens which they sell to Haitian women for a low price. These women then sell them out in their neighborhoods for double the price. There is a school K through 12 with 500 students. There is a new dining hall that feeds lunch to the 150 employees and 500 students. They also farm tilapia. Not sure of all the particulars but their website is http://www.doubleharvest.com/.  In the afternoon we spent several hours photographing the babies and special needs children.  Here are some photos from the day.

These are chickens from Double Harvest. They keep 2000 laying hens.

 This is one of the tilapia tanks at Double Harvest.

Here is one of the fields at Double Harvest. I loved the mountain backdrop.

Here I am with a student from the Double Harvest.

Here are the live chickens that we had in back of our taxi. Carmel wanted really fresh chicken so they'll run about her yard until needed for dinner at the House of Love (home for elderly indigent).

This is a tap tap which is the primarily mode of public transportation. There are probably 14 people sitting on 2 benches in the back of this truck. Round trip costs about 25 cents. They are privately owned vehicles that usually have established routes.

Typical street vendor scene.

Here's Steve with several of the toddlers at His Home for Children. This is in the backyard by the laundry and outdoor kitchen.

This is Dachecka, one of the girls that Mike and I sponsor. She is 3 years old. Dachecka and her older sister, Jocelene, are available for adoption. HIS Home has a policy that siblings must be adopted together.

I just can't remember this little girl's name but she's one of the toddlers and very engaging.

Two Days in South Haiti

I spent Monday and Tuesday driving through southern Haiti. We left Port-au-Prince at 5:30 am and drove for 4 hours to the Les Cayes area where we visited 2 schools run by local Baptist churches up in the mountains. Our friend, Carmel Wagnac, had started a charitable organization called Nelly's House that currently feeds lunch to 500 school children in 3 schools in this area. Many children walk up to 2 hours from their homes to school and then another 2 hours home. Carmel discovered that most of these children were not eating lunch as their families could not afford it. This program was initiated 4 years ago. If you google Nelly's House and Haiti, you should be able find the website.  After we visited the schools, we drove over to Port Salut and enjoyed the beach. We spent the night at the home of a friend of Carmel, Marie-Lucie. Such wonderful hospitality. This morning we drove back through countless market days. A couple of bridges along the route had been deemed unsafe for traffic and so there were detours where the cars, vans, & trucks drove down the river bank, through the stream and then up the other side. One learns to just accept these things. One final stop was at the school of another friend of Carmel. The quake last year totaled the 3 story school and church building that he had just completed. The next day, January 13, 2010 the 67 year old pastor was out clearing the rubble to rebuild. I mention this because the new classrooms are made out of container boxes - those big metal container boxes that you see loaded into ships and on top of railroad cars. Apparently, it is cheaper to just leave them at their destination than to pay to transport them back, so there are plenty of container boxes at this town just west of Port-au-Prince. This school now has 6 new classrooms made out of 4 container boxes each. Very cool. I've included a photo below. So here are a dozen photos from the past 2 days.








This is the face of insomnia in Haiti. These stinking roosters are everywhere and here's news for all the city folk out there, roosters don't just crow at dawn. These busters crow on a 24/7 basis. Oh, and not surprisingly, there are no ordinances against chickens in the city. In fact, in the streets around where we are staying, once finds chickens, goats, and cows wondering about.

These ladies are preparing the meal for the school children at Bon Fin, the first school we visited. It was a big bowl of corn mush with bean soup poured over it. The food is prepared over charcoal fires in an outdoor kitchen directly behind the school. The program also provides these women with employment.

These are school children at the Bon Fin school.

At Bon Fin, we were served fresh coconut. A man climbed the tree, picked the fruit, hacked off the top so that we could each drink the coconut milk (more like water) and then used his machete to chop it in half so that we could scoop out the fresh coconut. It was very tasty. This is a shot of one of the ubiquitous hens pecking at one of the left over coconut halves. I don't think I mentioned that the mountain scenery was spectacular.,

 This is the school at Maniche. It's over the mountain and in a valley.

Here Carmel is speaking to a class in Maniche while they eat their lunch of rice and beans. We ate lunch here and it was very tasty.

These were 2 of the younger boys at Maniche who followed me from one classroom to the next volunteering to model for photos. Typically, when I photograph children, I'll let them see the image. My view finder was smudged with many fingerprints as they would point out their face.

Here's my award winning shot at the Maniche school. This young girl was also part of group that followed me about. By the way, I am told that in Haiti gap teeth are considered very attractive.

Sunset at the Port Salut beach.

These were my traveling companions (from left to right):  Marcel, the world's most fearless driver; Michelle, who is the director of House of Love in Port; Tony Scott, who convinced me to go along on this wonderful adventure; Carmel; Mary, Carmel's cousin; and Steve, fellow traveller from Joliet. Taken on Port Salut Beach. Note campaign poster on tree behind Tony. Those posters were just everywhere.

Here are 3 of the classrooms made out of shipping containers. You can see the windows on the sides and the tin raised roofs that provide venilation. There is enough room for about 30 children per classroom.

And finally, is Andre. He provides the souvenier crafts for Dottie's guesthouse where I am staying. I bought several things from him last year. He stopped by right before dinner this evening. As I had explained to me today, he does not paint (and laughed at the thought when I asked) but he does the woodwork. I bought this beautiful mortar and pestle from him and I was pleased that he agreed to a photo.