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.

The Canadian navy has visited us several times this week, to come and scout the need for toilets.  We do need that very much, so they located a good spot across the street from us and marked the area.  The next day a big bulldozer came by to dig the hole.

The day after, today they came back to install our new toilets.  There is no room for it, so we will find a solution for that, because we do have a lot of rain these days. The hole is also not very deep, it is just a temporary solution they said. I think our kids will fill it up in no time

Arjan van der Veen of the Commercial Boats sailing from Den Helder we got the offer to be shipping goods to Haiti, with the schooner brig “Tres Hombres”.

Soon the 28th day because they would all leave. Lia had been specifically stated that we currently need them and so we had power to collect from all beaten. Resulting in a large trailer full of diapers, vitamins, soap, footwear, apparel and stationery, and some surprises. Wednesday we got this stuff on board and took up about 2.5 m3 cargo space. Tents had already Lia of the Marines, so that we could strike action.

Meanwhile it the “Tres Hombres” and absent when the wind changes, they will leave the ocean. The anticipated time is approximately 4-6 weeks. Advantage of this method of transport is the stuff that the crew itself will solve the port of Jacmel and delivery, it is faster than we stuff through a container with an ordinary freighter would send and then the spot would still have the problem how at the orphanage to get. Except for the Lia “Tres Hombres” is about 50 m3 of supplies on board for a hospital and orphanages.

A special initiative of Captain Arjen van der Veen and commercial vessels sailing the foundation which we are very happy. More information about “Tres Hombres” and sailing on Commercial Boats: http://zeilendehandelsvaart.homestead.com/Algemeen_Tres_Hombres.html

When the earthquake hit, she was at the park at the Town Square with five children.  Just before 5PM she decided to head back to the orphanage.   “That’s when everything turned upside down,” she tells us.

Timing was everything.   Had she left five minutes earlier she would have been getting the kids in the car.  Her car is no more, as the quake landed the Hotel La Place on top of it.  She and the kids walked  safely through the streets back home.

Sunset at the Town Square, Sept. ’09

At the orphanage, as the ground shook, bricks flew off the wall in the playroom where some of the children slept.  Idoris, a child with Microcephalis got hit, though only has a small lip injury.  Another, sleeping child Zael, got hit in the back and has only some minor scratches.

Lia explained that during the quake you couldn’t move, it was like being on a rocking ship in a storm.  You could only stand there until it stopped. Once it did the staff got the children out safely and all escaped the quake unharmed.

Their staffs’ families are safe and most of their homes are still standing (though not all).

Everyone in town is sleeping in the street and are not allowed to go back to their houses, even if they are standing because the tremors continue.

Lia went to the Minustah (a UN aid peace keepig group) and asked for a tent to sleep in. They had none to give, so she begged a Scotsman working there for a large piece of plastic and fashioned it into a tent like shelter.

The kids handled the earthquake without panic and are not afraid, except for Sylvaince who told Lia during a tremor “I am afraid of the earth!”.  As the tremor’s continued one of the older girls, Youseline threw her hands to the sky and called out in protest ”Jesus, WHAT are you doing?!?”

Reality is harsh.  There have been many deaths.  Downtown and the beach area destroyed.  Lia’s friend Flo had grabbed a sandwich at the Peace of Mind of Hotel.  The word is that she forgot her computer upstairs and ran to get it.  The earthquake struck while they were in it and she and her companion have died.

The Mayor of Jacmel is driving around in his big yellow Dodge Ram full of people,  looking important, but not stopping for anyone.  “He must be busy, but I have tried to talk to him.  I would like to get information from him, but he won’t stop,” said Lia.

She calmly explains that they are ok with food and water for a week, then both will run out.  “Where is the aid?  There is no one here helping”.

The back walls of the local hospital have collapsed so the facility is useless.    Patients are being treated outside but there are too many people.  There are not enough doctors, bandages, pain killer, disinfectants, antibiotics.  Patients are seeking out Lia and our staff as we have two nurses.  They are helping bandage and treat people as they can.

The orphanage needs to find a new home.  For now they may be able to use the nannies’ houses for temporary shelter, and Lia’s house which survived.

The World Food Program (thanks, guys!) has been providing them with food in the past.  She hopes this can continue.  She needs to get a new car to get around and get supplies, and medication for the kids.

“I don’t need you to send those replacement window switches for my broken car windows”, she jokes.  And we are relieved that she can joke.

There is no passage yet from Port au Prince to Jacmel, only by combination of bike and walking. And even then it is daunting.

The only helicopter she has seen was airlifting the Danish ambassador (Jürgen whose house collapsed) — the UN flew him to the Dominican Republic (DR) by helicopter, she tells us.  We find out later, from someone here that it was actually Jürgen’s son who hired a helicopter from the DR to rescue his 72 year old dad whose beautiful and palatial house had collapsed.

Lia, Martin, Jürgen’s Groundskeeper, Youseline, Yakime, Sylvaince & Melinda in front of Jürgen’s Villa in September ’09

Pazapa, school for the handicapped, run by a woman named Marika is closed.  The kids’ kindergarten is destroyed.  “Public schools are closed and will be for a long time,” she tells us.  “How will we get these kids educated?” her voice is deep with concern.

Lia, Marika and Jeannette at Pazapa, September 2009

Children in the courtyard of Marika’s Kindergarten, September 2009

In La Vallee (rural area in the hills) there are lots of deaths and no resources for rescue, like in Jacmel where there is no sign of outside help.

They have been completely cut off from the world, so they don’t even know how bad the damage was in Port Au Prince, how big or long the earthquake was, or how much or little attention the world is paying to the disaster.

She is surprised when we tell her of the money and relief efforts pouring in from all over the world.  While none of that is helping them in Jacmel, she seems relieved to hear that help is in Port Au Prince.

The recent cold front has made its unusally cold at night, but they do have some blankets.  The evenings are almost always in the 70′s. But the sudden change meanst that it is now too cold to go without blankets.

We ask what they need most, “The kids need need shoes and clothes,”she says.  We may need cribs after this, though we got a couple out of the house.  Things are getting very expensive, and the bank isn’t functioning.  She wonders how she will get the money we wired over the day after the disaster.

She starts to recount that they have lost their furniture and dishes, “well, nearly everything”, she realizes.  I guess we will buy everything when this is over in a few weeks.  From the viewpoint here, it doesn’t seem like this will be over anytime soon…

Lia at first thought a bomb exploded.  She was next to the World Trade Center during 9/11 and narrowly escaped.  Being in the market place during the earthquake reminded her of that.  But, she reacted very calmly, driven by adrenaline.  Now she’s amazed at how this has brought out an extreme kindness and patience in her.  Haiti is a very frustrating place to live for someone who is used to smooth infrastructure, and functioning systems like in the West.

There was no panic, just a sense of doing what needs to be done.

Some of the  downstairs orphanage walls have collapsed and those that remain are full of holes and cracks — opening more with every aftershock. The garden walls may come down too, so they have moved away from the house and garden awaiting more aftershocks today that have been predicted.  They sit a safe distance away and wait for it.

Lia braved three trips inside the house and upstairs in between aftershocks and creaking sounds as she dashed in.  With help, she took out food, a fridge and stove — she was scared, but braved going in, and even upstairs several times.

The adrenaline has worn off and now she doesn’t have the nerve anymore to go inside and retrieve anything.

There are those still trapped under rubble.  One family of seven got trapped under their house.  People fed them water and finally managed to cut them out with a concrete saw, but 5 of them had died.  The other two are badly injured.

Someone recently asked Lia “Hey, blanc (White), why are you here?  After the hurricanes and now the earthquake, you’re leaving, right?”

She is not, her commitment is stronger than ever toward these 13 children, and this country.

People are singing and praying all night and Lia wants to say “can’t we just be quiet?”  She is exhausted.  The three oldest girls (known as The Triplets) wake up at night too and pray with the other people, loudly singing Hallelujah.

“This sounds strange”, said Lia but we are happy.  They are embracing the spirit and bonding that comes with an ad hoc, tight-knit community of almost joyful survivors.

Lia recently hired a Boss (this is what they call a carpenter/repair-man in Haiti) named Frito for some repairs around the orphanage. While she had access to Frito she decided to see if she could strike a deal with him to build a true school bench for the triplets. They have been working so hard since their new school uniforms that we thought it was time they had a true school bench to attend school in.

Just like any kids they were outgrowing their small tables and chairs, so the timing could not have been more perfect. After some key negotiating by Lia, she was able to strike a deal with the Boss and construction on a new school bench began. It took 2 days to complete and it had to be tilted over the front balcony, it was to big to fit through the stairs.

The girls could not be more thrilled and with materials and labor Lia was able to have the bench built for $67.81! Wow…go Lia.

If you would like to learn more about how you can get involved with our orphanage, please come back to our blog: WeCanBuildanOrphanageBlog.com. You can also help pay for this expense by clicking the donate button on the right, every little bit helps.

Oktoberfest Program

Silent Auction

We can’t wait to see you all!!! And you can still purchase tickets on the Oktoberfest page, or you can but them at the door.

Tickets are on sale for our Oktober Family Festival and are limited, so get them while you can! You can pick your tickets up in Topanga at Waterlily, Mimosa, and the Saturday Abundant Harvest pickup, we can’t wait to see you:)

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.

If you would like to learn more about how you can get involved with our orphanage, please click here: WeCanBuildanOrphanage.com. You can also donate by clicking the donate button on the right.

As you may know by now WeCanBuildanOrphanage.com is hosting their first annual Oktober Family Fest, October 18^th, and we thought this would be a good time to introduce you to some of our musical acts. Fist off, Meet the Polsky Band! This amazing local family loves to get everyone in the mood for dancing with their old time bluegrass and fiddle music.

Next up is Peter Alsop who we all had the pleasure of meeting in last week’s blog.

Then you can rock out to Rick Ellis. This Topanga local has toured all over the world with his band. Get ready to for some great blues and classic rock, know one can resist Rick Ellis!

We can’t stop there, meet the boys in Philip Boon’s Band. We have Angelo the Banjelo on you guessed it…the banj. Charlie Hale rocks the piano, Steven smith on bass, Scott Izumida on drums, and of course Philip Boone in the flesh. This wonderful Folk Rock band will have you spinning around the dace floor. Be sure to Scott’s “mad skill,” he has also donated drum lessons in our silent auction!

Last but definitely not least, meet Tyson Kelly, Dylan Corin, Jake Shearer, and George Krikes the boys of King Washington! “Saturated in complex harmonies and intelligent chord progressions alike, the music of King Washington is a throwback to when rock n’ roll was a songwriter’s game. The Los Angeles-based band, heavily endowed with musicality, is promptly seizing opportunities and capturing the attention of music lovers at a startling rate.”

This is just a taste of what you can expect to experience at the Oktober Family Festival, you definitely don’t want to miss it!!! If you are interested in participating in this event please contact us here: CONTACT US.

On August 7^th of this month we had the exciting opportunity of being the featured non-profit at the Topanga Film Festivals Friday night screening at “Trust Ranch” (the founder of WeCanBuildanOrphanage.com house). Not only did Urs and Sara, the founders of the Topanaga Film Festival Feature us, but their kids dressed up and sold candy with information about WeCanBuildanOrphanage.com on it. They were the best volunteers ever!

We gave a quick talk about the Orphanage during the beautiful night. The film “What About Me?” in collaboration with Project Butterfly was awesome. The film was shown in the same place where our October Family Fest will be held, so it was great to see how the Film Festival set up for their event, and what a success it was.

In the end they help raise $287 for our kids in Haiti. That means there uniforms and school supplies are paid for!!! We are sooooo excited! Thanks Topanga Film Fest, can’t wait for next year.

If you would like to learn more about how you can get involved with our orphanage, please click here: WeCanBuildanOrphanage.com. You can also donate by clicking the donate button on the right.