Boys in Red

What do you mean my hair is messy? I brushed it just a few minutes ago. This is Elcide, a terrific soccer player and very good older brother to the little guys.

Alphonse eats with us, goes to school with us, benefits from our medical clinic and receives clothing and shoes when we have them. He sleeps at home, a shack, on rags spread out on the dirt floor. We could take him in but who would help out his mother with chores?

Dave

Soem kids just love having their photo taken. Dave certainly falls in that category.

Mami and Memories

This is Mami. She comes by every afternoon to collect the food our cooks set aside for her. She shows her appreciation by picking leaves for an hour or so. When I asked to take her photo she said that she used to be pretty. That reminded me of the song "Memories" from the musical "CATS". I took her hand and she smiled. Andrew Lloyd Webber was right on target with his lyrics.

Two good men

Both of these boys are named Bonhomme which means "good man". They aren't related but they both have brothers here. The bottom Bonhomme was reunited with two brothers here after being a restavek (a child servant) for five years.

Meet Blan

This is Blan (Whitey). He's been with us ten years now, is a daily church-attendee, a good student, a helpful big brother to the little guys and loves bicycles.

Arts and Crafts

Above are the latest addition to our Arts & Crafts inventory. They are baked-clay crosses inscribed with various qualities in Creole. The three above are (from left) wisdom, hope and love. They come is different shades of dusty rose, green, blue and gold. Started Christmas shopping, yet?

One on one

The professor helps out Naomie with her assignment. Our tailor/seamstress class in going very well. The profs share the workload as they are doing the basics at this point. They'll separate later on when the boys focus on making trousers and shirts and the girls work on dresses, skirts and blouses.

Business Management Course

Here's a shot of some of the Vocational Training School students attending Business Management Training class. We want them to know how to manage a small business, to do inventory, assure quality control, prepare budgets, determine fair prices...

Church bound

Evens BienAime (name means Beloved) heads to church this morning with his new bible. Evens is a member of the newly formed Kominote Espwa, the Hope Community.

Ready for church

These two little girls are the daughters of one of our female employees. She takes excellent care of them as is obvious. Both attend our school and benefit from our food program. Mom must be very proud!

Sunday best

Jean-Robert Pierre all decked out for church this morning. Have no idea where he got that tie.

Kominote ESPWA

Here's a photo of the ESPWA Community. These young men have expressed an interest in religious life so we have decided to start a community and give them the chance to experience it first-hand. They are living in two homes in the northern neighborhood and if things work out we'll plan on building a community house for them. Their objective is to care for the spiritual needs of the children here. Please pray for them as they begin this courageous adventure.

Angel

I asked this little girl her name but could not make it out so I call her Angel. She is waiting for all our children to eat in hope that there will be leftovers. There weren't any this morning so Matante gave her and her friends some crackers.

Breakfast

Ebel Pluviose (Asst. Food Manager), Matante and Michel Adme prepare to serve breakfast

This has been a long time coming. The children ate scrambled eggs and bread this morning. What is special is that the bread was made here in our solar ovens and the eggs are fresh from our chickens. A positive step towards sustainability.

Kominote Espwa

Here is the first dinner with half the members of Kominote Espwa, the Hope Community, at my house at Castel-Pere. For several years now a number of young men from our group have expressed an interest in living a life dedicated to our mission of helping the poor children. We are exploring the possibility of forming a religious community. Pray for these young men as they discern their vocations.

Fegen

Fegen spends most of his day with us. He's usually the first in line for the soup kitchen. I asked him where home was and he answered, "Not far. Can I stay with you here?". We'll look into it but this is not the time to consider taking in more children. The global economic crisis has hit us and our finances do not allow us to expand at this point.

Laundry time

Here's MacDonald washing a white shirt he'll be wearing on Sunday. All the older children do all their own laundry and do it well.

Rainy season

The kitchen (yellow) and the Guest House (aqua) share the little pond created by another thunder storm yesterday. It is the rainy season after all so the area is filled with large puddles and lots of mud.

Prisoners' Day

After church yesterday, Nancy, Peter, Claire and I headed to town to participate in Prisoners' Day celebrated on the last Sunday in October here in Haiti. Lots of fancy speeches and promises by local and international dignitaries. Thank goodness this was followed by a wonderfully typical rice, beans and chicken dinner for all prisoners.

A new bonnet

The original container which we have been using as storage for cement, rebar and tools started leaking recently so we covered it with two by four framing and local sheet metal. The wood and metal roofing come from other projects and were not being used. A+ for recycling!

Portable dental equipment

Thanks to the devotion and generosity of our dentist, Dr. Charles Tozzer, from Tustin, California we now have dental equipment so that when dentists come visit they have all they need to work their wonders. The collage does not look like much but inside those boxes and cases is everything necessary for three dental suites. Thank you very much, Dr. Tozzer. May God bless you and yours.