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.

The pump is made of stainless steel and has a capacity of 20 gallons per minute. The left part of the pump is the engine, and on the right you see a couple of rings/filters through which the water will be pumped. The pump itself is quite heavy.

On the top of the pump a black tube will be attached through which the water will come up. Attached to the tube are the electrical cables that will connect the submersible pump with the electricity source above ground.

A special cord is attached to the pump in order to lower it into the well, and at any given time we can pull the pump back up this way again.

Very slowly the pump is lowered into the well.

Here you see clearly how long the tube is, 144 feet in total.

Now the top of the well is being sealed of completely, with a tap sitting on top of it for the water to come out.

Since we do not have electricity yet on Sacrifice, Leon came with a generator in order to be able to test the pump.

The first 10 minutes the water wasn’t clear yet, the well needed to be cleaned out first so to speak, but after that beautiful crystal clear water was coming out.

Leon Miller, who has been living in Haiti for about 20 years drilling wells, and his assistant both drank from the water to test the quality. According to their expertise this water is totally drinkable the way it is. Of-course I couldn’t resist myself and drank from the water as well, and surprisingly enough I have to say it tasted really good. We will of-course have this water tested in a lab before we let the kids of Kay Angel drink from it.

Our next step for the well is to build a huge water-reservoir underground that will be filled up with water from the well and from there distributed to our buildings. We are also planning to make a pipeline with a tap, sitting at our fence that we will open at set times for the people in our neighborhood, so they can come and fill up their buckets, rather than them having to walk with their buckets on their heads for miles to get water.

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.

When the kids came home from school at 1.15 PM a great surprise was waiting for them in their bedroom.

Youseline, Melinda and Estania decided right away that they all 3 were to sleep upstairs and without any hesitation ran up the special made “stairs” at the end of the beds. Just to see the happiness and excitement on their faces made it worth while to have these beds made.

We have 7 girls and so now 1 bed extra, so that Chidlie, a girlfriend from our “old” neighborhood  St Helene can come for sleep overs any time she wants to.

Of-course we had to buy all new big mattresses for all the kids right away.

The boys bedroom has 2 bunk-beds, Yakime and Luckson sleep upstairs, and Sylvaince and Zael who are younger, sleep downstairs. Martin will stay in his crib with extra protective cushioning around for his safety, since he is severely handicapped and not able to sleep in a bunk-bed. Soon we will have to find a special handicapped  bed for him.

We have passed on our old cribs to “Hands And feet”, another orphanage in Cyvadier, Jacmel who still has a lot of young children and could use some extra cribs

Dave was so kind to deliver them for us with the big Calvary Chapel truck.

And then it was time to make nice decorations to dress up the bedroom.

That in itself was a big party for the “triplets”

The painting the girls once had bought together with Martin Schmitt had survived both, the earthquake and move and was given a special place on the new bedroom wall. That made the girls bed-room complete. The ladies promised that they will soon start to work on decorating the younger boys’ bedroom as well.

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.

Too long for us to continue living the way we have been living. The solution of course is to find a suitable and affordable house for rent. The availability of houses for rent in Jacmel is very limited. The earthquake has destroyed or severely damaged most houses.

But we got really lucky. I found a great house all the way at the other side of Jacmel, that recently became available for rent again. This house was spared from damage by the earthquake, and came out of the inspection by the city of Jacmel as being totally safe.

The house has a beautiful front-yard, a great space for our kids to play their little hearts out. A big kitchen, a huge living room, enough bedrooms for all of us. The garden is filled with trees, most of them grow something that we can eat, coconuts, bananas, plantains, breadfruit, papaya and almonds.

We are a lot closer to the school of our kids, and won’t have to cross the city of Jacmel anymore while taking them to school and back.

And that is not where our luck is ending. The house could use a fresh coat of paint and some adjustments to our needs. It just so happens that Dave Bird from  Calvary Chapels has all these groups of volunteers these next couple of weeks, and his group of this week has already started with the painting and other home improvements. Next week thursday March 31st Dave and his next team will help us move Kay Angel with their big truck.

In the pictures you see the first coat on the walls in white, the final color will stay a surprise for now.

Our kids are super happy and excited to be living in such a great house soon. It’s all they talk about since I took them to meet the house last friday

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.

By the time the domes finally made it to Jakmel we had already constructed a temporary home for our much needed shelter with the help of Dave Bird from Calvary Chapel.

So with no immediate use for these beautiful domes anymore at Kay Angel we recently passed the domes on to 2 other great causes. The first being the school that 6 of our kids attend: S.O.S Enfants in Cyvadier. This is a great school, tuition-free, run and financed by the owners of Hotel Cyvadier Margaret Kohlbrenner and her son Christophe Lang. 4 of their classrooms had been completely destroyed by the earthquake.

Since they don’t have the funds yet to reconstruct these classrooms the school had been teaching their students in 2 shifts in a make-shift space in the court-yard. The 44′ dome now provides enough space for the 4 classrooms and the school hours are back to normal.

The 4 destroyed classrooms

We had called in the help of Grass Roots United, to set up the dome, since they are the official “certified by Pacific domes” dome builders. They have constructed many Pacific domes in Haiti already for various NGO’s GRU came with a team of 18 and under supervision of Chad Walsh the dome was constructed in 2 days on a special concrete platform Christophe had build for it.

Setting up the dome

Setting up the dome

Lifting the whole structure to attach the next row of struts

A moment to rest

A moment for fun

The team of Grass Roots United

It was a beautiful sight to see this geodesic structure erected in just merely 2 days, and how well this team of GRU worked together.  The moment the skin was pulled over it was really breathtaking.

Pulling over the skin

Fitting on the skin

The skin fits perfectly!

Once S.O.S Enfants has rebuild their classrooms the dome will continue to function as a theatre, arts, special events and community space.

Yakime and his class of pre-schoolers

The new classrooms in the dome

The new classrooms in the dome

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.

Wednesday January 12th 2011 was a day of remembering and reflection for us. For me personally it was a very emotional day, because I am just so grateful none of our kids or staff got injured or killed in the quake, yet I am very sad at the same time missing the dear friends I have lost this day a year ago.

All churches in Jakmel were filled with people praying. A long procession of praying and singing took the streets going from one church to the next, picking up more people as they went along. Several organizations had handed out free remembrance t-shirts which were worn by the participants of the procession.

A long procession of people praying and singing

In the afternoon I went around Jakmel with the 5 oldest kids, Youseline, Estania, Melinda, Yakime and Luckson to take in several activities that were going on. These are the same kids that I had taken to the playground this day a year ago. We started our outing with a visit to the playground, which still is host to a tent camp.

When Yakime, then 4 years old, saw the playground again he started talking a mile a minute about what a great time he was having there a year ago when that “stupid” earthquake happened which crashed his fun, and how we have never been back there to play. “Lia, Lia, remember how I had climbed all the way to the top of the climbing wall, wasn’t that great” he called out so happy with a big smile. That brought tears to my eyes. The strength and innocence of a child is a beautiful gift.

Before the quake we would go an average of twice a week to the playground, but we haven’t been able to go there since, for obvious reasons.

The swings now serve as extra security to the tents

Yakime’s favorite climbing wall

We visited the memorial Wall at the beach of Jakmel. This is a mosaic project of Art Creation Foundation for Children ( ACFFC ) in remembrance of the earthquake. The children of their program have been working on this wall since June 2010, under direction of several foreign artists.

The result is just beautiful.

Tree of Life

Sea Spirits

Cine Institute: preparing the stage for films to be shown next to the memorial wall

At 4.53 PM, “the time of the earthquake”, a general moment of silence was observed, which we shared with many others on the beach of Jakmel, where a remembrance mass was held. We finished our afternoon with a visit to Jakmel Ekspresyon

This is a new post-earthquake cultural centre in memory of Flo Mc Garrell. Flo, a good friend of mine, was the director of FOSAJ, a cultural center that was destroyed for the most part by the earthquake.

Flo was killed by the earthquake.

The Jakmel artists presented a special art show in memory of Flo.

Art show in memory of Flo Mc Garrell, director FOSAJ

Yakime loves all these statues

The special ‘Vevé” for Flo Mc Garrell

All in all it was a very peaceful day for us

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

Sacrifice’s location is east of Jakmel, 10 minutes by car, a little of the only paved main road in the South of Haiti, Route National 208, and nestled under the protection of a rock formation which forms the base of the mountain range Kap Wouj (Cap Rouge) On paper the land measured 47 centiemes when we purchased it, but after the official land measurement executed by Arpanteur. Jean Maxo Bazile it turned out that the land actually measures 48 centiemes.

In Haiti one measures land in Carreaux. 1 carreau equals 100 centiemes, 1 centieme equals 128 square meters. 1 Carreau equals 3.19 acres…

This system of land measurements stems from the French colonial times. In any event, the land is beautiful. The earth is made up of red clay which is very fertile. Great for our future vegetable garden.

Since the land is on a slight tilt we have a beautiful far view on Jakmel and the mountains across from the Bay of Jakmel. The sun rises behind us, and sets right across from us, so the future holds many many beautiful sunsets. Our surroundings are very green, in front of us lays an ocean of palm and coconut trees.

The land itself has several fruits trees already, like mango, lime, korosol, coconuts, grapefruit and sour oranges, which are great to marinate meat with.

Lots of children are living in this area and behind us we find many little trails  for our kids to explore in the future. A big healthy exciting difference from the dusty area where we live now in St Helene, Jacmel.

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.

To move the kids at night from the Unicef tent into the sleeping tents is very challenging and stressful under those heavy rains. So we had to come up with something better than our tent-site for now.

Obviously the construction of our new orphanage will take a few months before that will be finished. Dave Bird and his wife Darlys have moved to Jakmel post earthquake for a period of 3 years to help several projects, schools and orphanages to rebuild, be it temp shelter or permanent housing for the future.

Every 2 weeks they host and feed a group of volunteers and put them on local projects.

For 2 days and 2 nights we put our kids up in the basement of Leviya Hotel across the street from us, and worked from 7 AM till 7 PM to build this new temp house.

We took down our current camp site, and with the help of a bulldozer and many trucks of dirt mixed with rocks, we evened out our little piece of land and raised it quite a bit. After living on it for the past 3 months the whole ground had sacked, and it had never really been straight to begin with.

At first we had planned to build a strong corrugated roof over our campsite, but while building we saw many possibilities to make it more into a “real” home. Recycling materials we already had as well. What used to be our floors we now used for our new walls, and our former plastic sheet roof is now our new floor.

A week later we finished the details, like putting in  a screen to keep bugs out, but to let some air in so the house will not be too hot under the strong Haitian sun. A few truckloads with river stones to fill in our front yard and keep it mud free, and a little wall between us and the public road to keep out the muddy river that road turns into every time it rains.

The Unicef tent is now connected to this new house and is our sleeping area. The house houses our dining room, the school for Youseline, Melinda and Estania, the tv / play room, our little clinic with all medication for our kids. And this new home is so much cooler than the hot tents we had before.

We are all super happy with this new home, life has again become less stressful to us.

A big thanks to the volunteers who build this for free for us, and to all of you who have donated to us, so that we were able to buy the necessary materials!!

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

The orphanage has never had enough funding to buy it’s own car, so I have always put my own personal car to work for us, from hospital visits in Jakmel and/or PaP, weekly grocery shopping, to and from school, and of-course fun outings for our kids.

During our last “fun outing” to the local play ground in the center of town with our 5 oldest kids, last January 12th my car got completely destroyed by the earthquake. Since then life has been very difficult and challenging, living in tents, while trying to continue our life as normal as possible.

Not having a car available to you makes all of that even harder, and you realize that it is a must to have a good car to manage an orphanage with 13 little kids, of which 2 handicapped. No car means no more fun trips to the beach or playground, high expenses for a “for American standards” unacceptable car that functions as a taxi here, even before the earthquake, for our many hospital visits. Walking our groceries shopping home with a wheelbarrow all the way from the center of town to where we live. Etc etc……

But thanks to  my dear friends Gosta and Patrick and their yoga center http://svahayoga.com/ in Amsterdam we were able to buy this great family-car for the orphanage. They have specifically fund raised to replace my car, and this new car is so much better than my old car ever was.

So thank you Gosta and Patrick and Svahayoga. JAI MA. The first trip with our new car was one afternoon to the beach in Jakmel, last Monday 26 April and after that, last Wednesday afternoon 28 April we had a great birthday party for Melinda’s 8th birthday on the beach of Raymond Les Bains. We spend the whole afternoon playing in the water, playing soccer on the beach and instead of the traditional birthday cake we had fresh grilled fish, with fried plantains and piklees and lots of soda’s. The kids loved it.

When we came home later that afternoon Melinda said to me that this was the best birthday she ever had, and that from now on she wants to celebrate this way every year.

And for all our other kids these 2 afternoons away from the tents and dusty street, playing in the water, running their little hearts out on the beach, just having fun as kids, worked a miracle on their moods, they had a great time and were just so happy!!!!!

Life is still challenging for us of course, but it is a whole lot less difficult with this great new car. Mesi anpil!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On March 4^th I landed in Port au Prince with Martin and is mum.  I had not been back to Haiti since last April.  I had no idea what to expect and I was a little overwhelmed with fear, excitement, sadness, and “oh my god we are about to see the kids!”.

Customs was surprisingly fast and simple and fast.  After scooping up all 6 pieces of luggage we pushed our way out the door through the sea of cab drivers trying to toss you and your bags in one of their cabs (always so much fun, lol) and  made it across the street so that we could find our ride to Jacmel.  Once we found our ride we loaded up the car and we were off!!!!!!! 2 ½ hours and we would finally see our city and our kids!

Then the funny noise started…… our bags were heavy and the car we were in was not happy.  The back tires kept hitting the wheal wells.  We stopped the car several times to try and rearrange the weight distribution with in the cab of the car and eventually strapped everything to the roof (it really only helped a little).  Again, we were off!!!!

Driving through Port au Prince was interesting.  I recognized nothing.  There were several large tent sites set up.  Piles of rubble that used to be buildings.   Parts of the road that had been lifted up about a foot. Tinny huts that people placed in center divider of the road that were mad of cardboard and sheets.  Tons of advertisement for the various NGO’s that came down to help…..  Everything was a bit overwhelming to take in all at once and I felt really confused.

Once out of Port au Prince we Had to drive through another town called Leogan.  The driver told us that they were hit harder than Port au Prince.  Almost every house on the road was either no longer standing or condemned.  Through the mountains it was the same…fallen buildings, roads that were broken, many many tents.  After 3 hours we finally made it Jacmel and our own little tent village

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 too are the signs for help.  Some of them are simple, hand-scrawled signs saying HELP! and a phone number.  Those with more resources post more elaborate listings of their losses:

Although Jacmel wasn’t subjected to the same scope of descruction as Port-au-Prince, many landmarks are gone or shadows of their former selves:

The local Kindergarten is destroyed along with the house next to it shown above.

One of the four gas stations in and around town.

Hotel Florita, built in 1888.  Only one of the shutters remains of chambre trois, the room I stayed in during my last visit.

About 3,000 of the displaced found temporary shelter in a camp set up by the Venezualean army on a soccer field.

One of the homeless there is Tektek, a friend of Lia’s.  I happened to run into him in town and he took me to his new “village”.   His new “house” there is a 6 by 8 foot section of tent with a mud floor and a rip in the roof:

Our current digs consist of a 400 sqft. UNICEF tent and a few smaller tents arranged around a central play area, all wedged between a public road and a hotel.

While the kids are fairly healthy and content for now, as soon as the rains arrive in April and the hurricanes in August, life will become hard.  Keeping thirteen kid, many with major health issues, safe, happy, fed and educated in a tent is a major feat.  Hats off to Lia for managing the day-to-day

The staff is already stressed by the added strain

While I was there, we covered the area as best as we could with a huge tarp to keep the sun and rain out,

Relief to this situation was supposed to arrive while we were visiting.  This brings us to the major disappointment of the trip: the domes never arrived while we were visiting.  One delay after the next has kept them in a warehouse in Miami till now.

A huge positive development, though, is the fact that the orphanage secured the perfect piece of land for the orphanage:

It’s one and a half acres in a rural area just outside Jacmel, near the airport, nestled among small farms.  There is plenty of room for our dome, a house for Lia, a guest house for visiting volunteers, a garden, play area…

Here we are, celebrating the signing of the paperwork that makes the property ours (from left to right: ?, Frantz, Lia, Gala, Katherine of Bumi Sehat, Reginald, my mother Erika):

How are Rochel, Frantz and Ambroise, you ask?  Just fine, actually.  Here they are resting after a long day at work:

Our rescued dog Toutous is doing well also.  Despite her paralyzed back, she gets around and is very playful.

On Wednesday, we attended the grand opening of Bumi Sehat, a birthing clinic just down the street from us.  Reginald is the administrative director:

A part of their clinic is housed in the exact same dome that we are expecting.