Help for Orphans

Help for Orphans International is a non-profit organization which goes beyond simply feeding and housing orphans. They provide superior education facilities and materials for orphans around the world to help orphans achieve their goals and become the leaders of tomorrow. Patrick and I spent the day with Help for Orphans and went to five different orphanages around Haiti. Here are a few of the shots we took for them.

 

  

  

  

  

 

                                  Check out their site at HelpforOrphans.org

Day of Mourning

Friday was an official day of mourning in Haiti. We took the day to go downtown and be a part of the ceremonies. In center of town thousands of people including earthquake survivors on crutches and in wheelchairs mourned the more than 200,000 Haitians killed by the earthquake one month ago. Everyone gathered under the shade of mimosa and powderpuff trees and flooded the streets of the capital in prayer, climbing atop the rubble of destroyed churches and spilling into parks where they stretched their arms to the skies. Hymns reverberated throughout the shattered city.

 

  

  

 

Exploring

Yesterday we had one of our Haitian drivers take us around the city. He took us all over Port Au Prince and some other surrounding areas. It's intense destruction, and Port Au Prince wasn't even hit as hard as other towns.We visited the Presidential Palace, the Great Cathedral and some smaller villages outside of PAP.

 

  

 

We have to wear masks throughout most of the cities because of the dust, car fumes, and bad smells. The image above me shows Haiti's only cathedral. 

Out and About

Sorry it's been hard to keep this blog updated. The only internet connection we can get is at the UN, and some days even that doesn't work. Here are a few pics to see we are happy and well.

 

This is the camp where we sleep. Not so bad.

Patrick at a local Refugee Camp

Patrick playing b-ball with some kids at another Refugee Camp located on a college campus. 

Feeding babies! This baby is one years old, although he looks like he is only three months. He has wrinkly skin from all the months of malnutrition. So terrible, but he is happy to see me and get some healthy food. 

Sugar Cane

There is an obvious lack of food in Haiti, so like the Haitians we don't have many options. The only source of food we have is the protein bars we brought and Military MRE's- Meal Ready to Eat. These are prepackaged military meals in a bag. Not so tasty. So, when are on our way to refugee camps we try to stop as much as we can and pick up mangoes, tangerines, etc. from street vendors. One of Patrick's favorite things to stop and get is sugar cane. You chew it and a delicious sweet liquid fills your mouth, then you spit out the rind. It is soo yummy and refreshing!

 

 

These beautiful girls are from the Ministry of Health in Haiti. They are volunteering with us while we are here. They all lost their homes and live on the street. They don't even have tents. I don't know how they stay so clean and lovely. We are going to become pen pals. I am helping them by trying to get them tents for their family to sleep in as well as more food. They've been teaching me Haitian songs, and I've been teaching them English.

At the orphanage

The Volunteer Ministers set up an orphanage outside of Port Au Prince this week. It already has 85 children in it. They are all so beautiful and happy to have food and water every day. They are living in tents until their new orphanage can be build. Patrick and I brought our cameras, and they had so much getting their picture taken and taking pictures themselves. While we were there, I also took headshots of the children so we can hopefully find parents who want to adopt them, or at least sponsors (sponsors give $200 a month until the child turns 18. This covers their food, schooling and medical). Many of the Volunteer Ministers here have sponsored at least one child.

As soon as we pulled up in the van. all the children came running. They were so excited to see us. They jump on us and don't want to let go. Here are some cute pics from the day.  

 

 

  

They love wearing our sunglasses:) 

Refugee Camp

Today we went to another refugee camp to give medical aid and other necessary help. The camp had 1500 people in it- it is one of the smaller refugee camps, unfortuntely. The people are all really hungry, so it is hard entering the camp and having to tell them we have "no munga"- no food. They also really need medical help, which is what we brought. I gave more tetanus shots and helped many babies. Most of them have ring worm and severe skin rashes from sleeping on the ground in the dirt. We treat this with hydro cortisone cream but they really need to have it daily, and we can only see them weekly, if that. We gave out baby food and diapers to mothers which they really appreciated. There were some newborns only weeks old. Two of the mothers asked me to take their babies for them. It was really hard. Their moms love them but cannot feed them and know they would be better off with us. I wish I could take them all. Here are some photos from the refugee camp. It is called Marassa Pont and is close to the center of Port Au Prince.