Future metal-workers

Ronald Plaisime, Djimy Pierre

Walther from the local village

Went by the metal-shop this afternoon and caught a few working on honing their skills to one day become the best metal-workers in the land.

More backyard

This is Maxo, a local, who works in my garden. He's the one who does all the work and is very proud of it.

This is Nekita. She thinks she's in charge.

One of the pregnant rabbits. She has been separated from the males now that she's in family way. Seems the fathers get jealous of the new bunnies and kill them.

My backyard

One of several grenadia vines growing. The small fruit makes excellent juice which contains lots of vitamins.

Have a new crop of peppers coming in. This is really a cash crop. We'll find someone who will take them to market and sell them for us.

Special visitors

Mrs. Jean-Baptiste, one of our best housemothers, came by to visit me with a few of her charges. They seemed happy to be out and about. Wish all the housemothers were as nurturing as she is.

First Sunday of Advent

"Father in heaven, our hearts desire the warmth of your love and our minds are searching for the light of your Word" -

taken from the Opening Prayer of Sunday's Liturgy

Spektak

The children gathered this afternoon to put on a spektak to show our visitors their appreciation. Here's Daniel, the Master of Ceremonies, warming up the crowd. Thanks, Pam and Pauline, for your presence and support. Good to have you with us for Thanksgiving. Have a safe trip home.

Folk Dancers

Tama dancing for our honored guests.

Wearing traditional Haitian colors, the boys do their part.

BAOBAB-1

Evans, MacArthur, Sonson, Gilbert, Kens, Biondy, Wilson and Mackenson of the group BAOBAB performed this afternoon in honor of Pam and Pauline who are leaving us tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving

Though Thanksgiving is not celebrated here, a few of us got together today and created an oasis of gratitude in the Guest House. We had some tasty treats and followed that up with a huge turkey dinner, stuffing and all. Thanks to Linda and the Quad staff for making this day special.

We remember all of you who support us spiritually and financially.

May God bless you for your kindness.

John

Little John came by the Quad for a visit. We cleaned him up a tad and then gave him some TrailMix which he shared with his friends.

Easy Cross

This is Easy Cross, one of our singing groups. To encourage creativity and talent development we support Arts and Crafts, singing groups, dance troupes... These boys have performed locally and are a big hit. Linda is the proud group's manager.

TiOurs

TiOurs (little bear) enjoying a light moment. His Mom works as our seamstress and she lives with us so TiOurs is growing up with a huge family. He's a well-adjusted, bright little boy who is just beginning to put words together.

Ice Cream

Ti-Jean receives a cup of vanilla ice cream from our friend, Doctor Tom O'Connor. Many of the children have never tasted ice cream so this was a real treat. Doctor Tom's visit will be remembered for a very long time. Thank you, Tom, for this very generous and thoughtful gesture.

Medical visit

We were visited by a wonderful team of doctors and medical personnel this past week. Above is a photo of Doctor Ryan Venis assisted by Eileen doing minor surgery on one of our people. All the children were seen and those with needs were treated. Many of our neighbors came by and were not disappointed. Thank you very much, dear friends, for spending your vacation time with us.

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

Some 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.