We Can Build An Orphanage

Adventures in Haiti Part 4

We were finally getting settled into Haiti today and we had quite a few meetings to get through. We started with Art Creation Foundation and it was awesome to see what the kids were doing. I would equate it to a Boys and Girls Club in the US. They do not go to school there but they eat and have a creative outlet, the work born from this opportunity is awesome. It was quite an inspiring place to see.

Adventures in Haiti Part 3

Friday was an early start, and was non stop! The first thing we did was head out to the orphanage to watch the triplets during their in-house school for a bit. It was wonderful to see what a positive experience school is for them. When the school day was finished for the girls they decided to sing a song for us, what a treat!

Adventures in Haiti Part 2

Wednesday morning we had the pleasure of meeting with a man named Jonas, the Haiti representative for Hollywood Unites for Haiti, Jimmy Jean-louis’ new Haiti program. He was such a nice man. Not only did he take the time to meet with us, but he also arranged for us to visit Father Rick’s organization called “Our Little Brothers and Sisters,” in Tabarre. This place was an amazing compound. They have a Hospital and special ed school, plus they have another facility off site with an orphanage. It was clean and well built, and by Haitian standards it is extremely nice. After our visit with Phadoul, the hospital director we were off to Jacmel.

Adventures in Haiti

OK over the next few weeks I thought I would share some experiences and opinions from my recent trip to Haiti, I hope you enjoy my thoughts. I am going to start off from the beginning, our first day in Port-au-Prince.

Off to Haiti

Today part of the Topanga WeCanBuildanOrphanage.com crew is off to Haiti, on a Haiti Unites mission (you can see some of the organizations we will be visiting on our Haiti Unites page). We are traveling all over Haiti over the next few weeks and will be sure to keep you updated on all of our trip details as they occur.

I know what you may be thinking, but don’t worry Gala will be in Topanga, holding the fort down, and keeping the ball rolling on our exciting Oktober Family Fest. Be sure to check out our Oktober Family Fest page and see all of the people involved so far. We are pumped, and we hope you will join us.

Soccer at KROMA

Since Lia’s return to the orphanage from Holland the kids have been begging to go out in her car, especially Yakime and Luckson. So yesterday we went to visit KROMA (a local Jacmel home for street kids) to play soccer with the kids. Some of the kids are getting really big, a few of them are already 16 and 17. The crazy thing is, Lia has known these kids since they were 10!!

On the way back tfrom KROMA we stopped at Hotel Florita for a coke. After playing soccer all afternoon the kids were really thirsty. Lia realized it was time to go home when Yakime and Luckson started to dance on the table.

Visiting the Sisters of Charity

Earlier this month Lia found some time to go and visit the Sisters of Charity. She decided to take the triplets and Ambroise with her. As you may remember from the story about the Sisters of Charity visiting us at WeCanBuildanOrphanage, all 3 of our girls have spent time with the Sisters, and they all remember them fondly. The Sisters were very complementary and said, “the girls look so good and healthy,” and one of the sisters even said, “they did not look this good when they were in our care.”

Hollywood Unites For Haiti Benefit

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending an event for Hollywood Unites for Haiti (HUFH) at the Kress Night Club. As many of our readers know I have been speaking with other Haiti organizations to find ways to join forces to promote greater change, and HUFH is one of them. The Heroes actor from Haiti Jimmy Jean-louis heads up the HUFH team and hosted this wonderful event, promoting awareness.

Jimmy Jean-louis, Jeannette, Won-g

It was quite an event complete with raper artist Won-g, another Haiti native. It was wonderful to see everyone show their support and ideas for the future of Haiti and I am so glad that the WeCanBuildanOrphanage.com team was able to attend.

Haiti Orphanage Built by a 7 year old (Isabelle Redford)

Wyclef’s Hope For Haiti

As a child, Wyclef Jean immigrated to the U.S. and grew up to live the American dream as a gifted and famous musician. As Scott Pelley reports, Jean is now using his talents and wealth to help his native Haiti.

Visit from the Sisters of Charity

As part of our outreach to other Haiti organizations we at WeCanBuildanOrphanage.com reconnected with the Sisters of Charity, the Mother Theresa order that has an orphanage in Jacmel, across the street from Hopital St Michel. You may remember a few of our blog posts in the past where we spoke about them, some of our kids came from their organization.

The Sisters of Charity

After we reconnected a few of the sisters decided to visit us, the older woman is sister Aba who has been in Haiti for 32 years and the other is sister Adu who has been in Haiti for 16 years. Sister Adu remembered all 3 of our “triplets” as all 3 of them at some point have been in the sisters care.

Food for our Kids

Some of our readers may remember our story early this month about finding ways of “Helping our Budget” (click the link to find out more). Well this week we got some good news. Thanks to our exceptional staff in Haiti thinking outside the box we got a visit from the WFP (World Food Programme). There visit was to see if we would qualify for their food aid.

photo by: David Gross

After we filled out their form, and had a very nice meeting. We were able to show our guests from WFP  our orphanage and the available storage area we had for food. The meeting went wonderfully and they even complimented us for what we are doing, and how we were doing it!