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.