We Can Build An Orphanage

TUESDAY JUNE 21st 2011 WATER-PUMP INSTALLED.

Today Leon Miller and his assistant from “Water for Life” came to install the water-pump. In this picture you see them testing how much water is being pumped up.

DAY 1 OF CONSTRUCTION OF KAY ANGEL ON SACRIFICE

TUESDAY MAY 3RD

After a lot of preparation and planning we finally really started the work on our new land today.When I woke up at 6 AM this morning I could hardly believe it is finally all really happening. It was a very special feeling of joy, relieve and of-course anticipation as well, since the next 6 to 8 months will be very intense for me.

Hurricane TOMAS passed…and cholera is spreading

Now that electricity is back on and the internet signal back in the air,I can send you all a sign of life from Jakmel, Haiti.

We have been extremely lucky that TOMAS changed it’s course and passed us much more to the west. At first the prediction was that he would come straight over Jakmel.

New Land: “SACRIFICE”

Sacrifice in French or in English is the name of a beautiful piece of land that we were able to purchase with great financial help from our donors in The Netherlands. This is where we will rebuild our orphanage. The expectations are that it will take years before the clean up in Haiti is completed, and buildings will be rebuild. So it is really fantastic that we found this piece of land just outside the city of Jakmel to rebuild our orphanage.

Sacrifice was owned by a very good friend of mine, Reginald Turnier, who “sacrificed” it to us for a very reasonable price.

Kay Angel Orphanage’s New Temporary Home – Jacmel, Haiti

In 2 days, on Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 May 2010 we build a temp house with the help of Dave Bird from  Calvary Chapel and his group of 12 volunteers.

For weeks now the rainy season is in full gear. Lots of heavy rains, wind and too many problems for all of us who are living in tent camps. There is mud everywhere, the water with mud enters our Unicef tent every-time it rains.

The plastic roof that covers our daytime area does not hold up under the heavy rain etc etc.

A New Car For the Orphanage

Thursday 29 April 2010:

I am madly in Love……………………….

with our new car:  A great Toyota Granvia minivan, diesel, 4 cylinders, 3 liter engine, imported straight from Japan by a local car-dealer, year 1996, only 80,000 miles on it   This car makes such a difference in our life, makes life so much less stressful, gives us freedom and a little more normalcy in life again, even-though the orphanage still lives in tents.

Toyota Granvia minivan

Martin’s Trip To Haiti Report

Visiting Haiti has never been easy.  After a few trips, though, I had gotten used to the nation’s peculiar blend of chaos and charm.  Post-earthquake, the recipe has changed.  “Now with Extra Chaos!” is the unfortunate, new reality in Haiti.

You would think that the flood of media images would have appropriately set my expectations, but they couldn’t suppress the visions of the suffering witnessed by buildings like these:

There are tents everywhere now.  On fields, by the side of the road, and even on median strips of major city streets.  Three feet and a thin sheet of Coleman Nylon is all that separates people’s “bedrooms” from honking, speeding, diesel-spewing, 24/7 traffic.

New Unicef Tent for Haiti Orphanage

Tuesday 2 March 2010:

This morning the team from Unicef came at 7 AM to set up the 42 square meter tent they had given us last saturday. It is quite a big structure and it took a whole team to set it up. They anchored it in the ground at several places to make it a safe  sturdy home.

We then created a ground cover with tarps and moved in our school, dining room, tv room and playroom / afternoon napping-time room. It feels so good to be “indoors” again.

Generator Donated by Friends of Cine Institute Jacmel Haiti

Sunday 28 February 2010:

Last night my very good friend Andrew Bigosinski from Cine Institute called me to tell me that there is a whole crew made up of gaffers and grip that came in from New York with a container full of donated generators and other electrical equipment. They call themselves Friends of Cine Institute, and are donating and installing full electrical systems to those who are in need for that. Andou (his Haitian nickname) asked me if we could use one.

New Kitchen For Haiti Orphanage

Sunday 14 February 2010:

Happy Valentine’s day everybody.

We spend the day today working very hard to give our kitchen staff a better workplace. Since the earthquake made our home unsafe, we had moved our kitchen outside into the front-yard, and the area was covered with a big piece of tarp. But wind and rain really created many problems for our staff to cook the meals to feed our children and staff.

New FilterPure Water Filters From TCAT

Sunday 7 February 2010:

Today we were visited by a group from TCAT. Through my friend Joe Duplan they had heard about us and donated 5 FilterPure clay water-filters with special silver lining baked into the clay to the orphanage.

Please check out their website at: http://www.filterpurefilters.org

We will now be able to filter any kind of water to drink. We will also start using the filtered water to bathe our children with, since they have compromised immunity systems due to their HIV + status. The air and ground is full of dust, germs and microbes.

A Surprise Visit

Saturday 6 February 2010:

Over the last 2 days I received many calls from my Dutch friend Geert van der Kolk, via a satellite phone from a boat. He is a journalist, writer who lives in Washington DC. He is also a very good sailor, and has made many trips to Jakmel on his sailboat in the past.

He asked for my help, because he was on his way to Jakmel on a big sailboat / schooner with as captain Jared Talarski, and was unable to get in touch with any of his local contacts, or the mayor’s office to receive them.

They were coming in on saturday morning around 10 AM. They had left Miami 8 days ago and had sailed non-stop to reach Jakmel with all sorts of aid.

If you would like to follow their journey check out their blog  http://www.libertyschooner.com