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.

BUNKBEDS

Youseline, Melinda, Estania and Chidlie who came for a sleep-over this past weekend

Well before our move into the new house our kids cribs were starting to get to small for the younger kids, They are really growing up fast. So for the new house we have made bunk-beds for all of them with the help of a group of volunteers from Calvary Chapel

Dave Bird came early with his group and all the materials to put them together directly in their bedrooms.

After 15 months a real house again!!!!

Fantastic news, we have found a house to rent for Kay Angel. The rainy season is just days away. Our campsite has suffered a lot by the elements, sun, rain, dust. Everybody is really exhausted by the way we have been living for the last 15 months.

Our construction, delayed by all kinds of circumstances, will start in April. But it will take at least 6 to 8 months before Kay Angel will be realized at Sacrifice.

The coolest new classrooms for our kids school S.O.S Enfants

The 44′ dome in the back yard of S.O.S Enfants school

Right after the earthquake last year Pacific Domes had donated a 36′ and 44′ dome to Kay Angel for our shelter. Unfortunately, transporting those domes from Oregon to Jacmel via Los Angeles, Miami and Port-au-Prince took over seven months despite the help of some very dedicated people, among them Deanne LaRue from the Meridian Foundation, the folks at Operation USA, Andy Watson and others at Airline Ambassadors, Michael Rettig, and last not least the Haitian Rotary Club.

Jan 12th 2011 One year later……………………….

The public playground at the village square of Jakmel

I can hardly believe it is already one year ago the devastating earthquake of January 12th 2010 hit Haiti. To me it still feels like it just happened. Maybe because we are still so busy with the aftermath. Rebuilding in general has not started yet, even worse most of the rubble has not been cleared yet. Too many people are still living under very difficult circumstances in tent cities, a daily reminder of the earthquake of January 12th. Our own process of rebuilding, even though we are working on it very intensely, is advancing just very slowly due to all kinds of obstacles on the way.

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

March 4th, 2010

As some of you may already know Martin, his mother, three volunteers and myself recently went to Haiti.  The plan was to come down so that we could build some emergency shelter for our kids that had been donated by Pacific Domes.  Unfortunately due to shipping complications we have not received the domes yet and none of us were able to complete the job that had originally brought us down.  For some of us this trip would be much more then helping out at the orphanage and one of our neighboring organizations,  it would be a trip where we got experience Haiti and how amazing this country is.

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.