Kevin Scobie

This is Kevin Scobie from Florida. He'll be with us for six months. Kevin is an artist, a welder, a mechanic, heavy machine operator and videographer. We welcome him and wish him well.

Appreciation Night

Doctor Cynthia

Doctor Murphy
Doctors Cynthia (Maine) and Murphy (North Carolina) at the appreciation night festivities. What a blessing to have these doctors as friends. Kids have been checked for TB and HIV.

Appreciation Night

Here are Jean-Ourdy, Alexandre, Daniel and Delince dancing to show their appreciation to the doctors and visitors.

Greensboro visit

Reverend Neil of the First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro, NC is here visiting with Jack Reynolds, my brother-in-law and President of Theo's Work. They are both standing in the dining room waiting on lunch.

New kitchen space

Maselle, our senior cook, gets to work at 5 AM every day.

All the above ladies work like crazy preparing the food for our boys, girls and staff. They work long hours every day. We've just moved them into the former dining space which is better ventilated and has lots of natural light.

Medical Visit

Doctor Drew, a dermatologist from Greensboro, examines one of our boys while a medical student looks on.

Our medical director, Doctor Cynthia, writing a prescription for one of her young patients.

Dr. Jerry testing a child for diabetes. Jerry is from Anchorage, Alaska. Boy, is he far from home. We are truly blessed to have these 'angels of mercy' helping us out this week.

The new Sun House

Two photos of Honel painting the sun on the Earth Bag House which we now refer to as the Sun House or Kay Sole (in Creole).

TiKapi

Could not decide which photo to post so I put them both. TiKapi used to live with us but was returned home as his mother moved closer to us. He attends our kindergarten and eats three meals a day with us..

Gate

No, that's not St Peter at the gate. It's our own Bertrand inviting Dickenson to come in. Doesn't the gate look grand?

Here is the crew that made the gate and have just finished installing it. Each panel was cut from a large sheet of metal and then hand-hammered--my ears are still ringing. Our guys are extremely proud of their work and they should be. Thanks, Tom C. Your generosity has allowed this to happen.

Earth Bag House

Some detail trim work painted white near the foundation adds an aesthetic touch to the house.

Once the Arts and Crafts' guys finish the sun on the house the exterior will be done.

Preschool

Here's a shot of our little people just before school this morning. The teachers gather them all together and have them sing, clap hands and recite prayers priming them for classroom work.

Gate

Djimy and his partner,

Robenson, seen painting the gate this morning.

Here's the finished gate before the painting started. Kinda looks nice this way, I thought, but the rust would soon take over.

Referral

This is John. He was referred to us by our friends at AVSI, the Italian Volunteer Organization. They have a feeding program and came across a family that needed help. The single mother is mentally handicapped and she has nine children. John, three years old, is one of them. There are no institutions or social services for the mentally or psychologically challenged. John has a good chance of recovering from the malnutrition and we will do all we can to help him. He ate lunch with me today (ate everything on his plate) but would not speak. After a nap this afternoon, he came up to see me. He still was not speaking. He sat on a stool and watched me post his photo on the blog and all of a sudden started crying for his mother... would not be consoled with words, crackers or a Hot-Wheels car. Can you imagine how he feels?
Will keep you posted.

Our newest

Jean-Marc

Junior eating a peanut cracker

Seven year old Jean-Marc and his brother, Junior, who is five joined our family today. Their mother died of AIDS a few weeks ago and her brother took in the boys but couldn't afford to clothe them or send them to school.

Tailors

Two of our tailors trying to finish the enormous task of getting the school uniforms done for over 600 children. That's George up above and Patrick below him.

Arts and Crafts

Honel brought his son to work today.

Sammy working on another creation that will transform the old metal drum into a piece of "art".

Raymond and Michel. Raymond is wearing the bag he is currently creating.

Jonas in a quiet moment.
So you see, Paige, the boys are still at it so you can relax and enjoy your time with the family. They send their greetings.

Neighborhood Wall

Outside

Inside

Preparing the columns for the gate which has to be well anchored.

Flour

The cost of flour was $180 per bag last week. Yesterday it rose to $280. People are scared and manifested their confusion and displeasure. Customers cannot afford the sharp increase that bakers must charge to make the same little profit. It is the poor who suffer this the most. I don't know the why nor the wherefore that could explain the increase in price. The phrase "give us this day our daily bread" suddenly takes on a whole new meaning.

Cerrule

Here's Cerrule, the boy who drew the "Dining Room" below.

Arts and Crafts

Jonas and Raymond holding their "crochet" creations: a handbag and a small backpack. Both are made entirely of cotton string. They are lightweight, super flexible and all natural.

St Boniface

Here are two of the ladies of a group of five from St Boniface in Fond des Blancs who came by to visit this afternoon. Always good to see them.

School Daze

All the children were gathered in the "church" to get the latest scoop on what is going on with the school. It was chaotic at first but they settled down when Joel Vital, our principal, started the session with a song and a prayer.

New teachers were introduced and old ones applauded.

Anxious to get started and happy to be here.

The new kindergarten school uniform being modeled by three pretty young ladies.

Cerrule's 'Dining Room'

Cerrule, one of my artistically-inclined, overheard me say that I needed a picture of the dining room with kids praying. What I meant was a photo but he understood drawing and so he gave me this after church this morning. What a great kid!

Arts and Crafts

Paige with over 200 sandals that her crew made for our little guys. Her room was getting a little cramped so she decided that now was a good time to give them away.

Paige with a very happy Matante as she receives the badly needed sandals.

Kevenson's baptism

You can see that Kevenson was not all that pleased with getting some cold water poured on his head but he held it in and was a trooper.

From left back: me, Matante (godmother), Frankel (godfather), Jameson (father)
Front: Alexis (altar server), Sanitte (mother) holding Kevenson.

Cleaning time

Jean Robert cleaning his new sneakers so they are bright white for church tomorrow.

Upper six acres

If you were a farmer you'd be able to identify the sweet potato plants, the corn and the cedars that we've planted on the six acre patch just north of Castel-Pere. Once mature, the cedars could sell for as much as $500 a piece. The idea is to manage these six acres so that they continue to produce year after year.

Saturday morning

Ronald and Jean-Ourdy washing down the showers.

Boys cleaning up the inside of the neighborhood. We'll be planting small veggie gardens in this area. Saturday morning is a great time to get some extra help from the children. Helping out this way saves us money and gives the kids a sense of ownership and pride.