Building #3 progress

Great progress is being made on building #3 under Watson's supervision. They had to take a couple of weeks off with all of the craziness of the elections, but now they have a roof on the third building and will be done plastering it in a couple more days.

Video

Mark Harmsen, who came to visit for a few days back in October, put this video together. Thanks, Mark!

On a side note, things have been a little crazy down in Haiti lately with the elections. Many people are questioning the validity of the results and there has been a lot of rioting. Luckily, the children at the orphanage are out and away from the worst of it, but anyone needing to go through Port au Prince to get to the airport, etc. is affected. O.E.E. is still taking precautions against cholera as it continues to spread.

Cholera

Some people have expressed concern over the cholera outbreak and asked how it is affecting the kids at the orphanage. The staff and children at O.E.E. have been trained on cholera prevention and what to do if symptoms occur. The children are washing their hands with water pumped from the recently repaired well and are only drinking bottled water brought in from a safe source. The cooks are using bleach to wash the fresh fruits and vegetables. The children and staff at O.E.E. are very fortunate to have access to these resources. Since the school (L' Espoir d' Haiti) enrolls children from the surrounding community, cholera could very easily be introduced to the orphanage and the children and staff follow prevention guidelines very strictly. So this Thanksgiving, let's be thankful for clean water!

Still Beautiful

Here are some recent pictures of some of the beautiful kiddos and volunteers at O.E.E.

The children never touch their food until everyone has been served and they've all prayed together.

Greg playing ring around the rosies.

Waiting for their turn at "avion".

The kids call this game "avion", which means "airplane". Two adults swing the kids around as they do a full loop de loop and get that roller coaster feeling in their tummies.
Here are the sleeping quarters for the volunteers that come down. Although it's nothing fancy and there's only orphan food to eat, everyone still seems to fall in love with it here.

Jenga!

These kids will steal your heart in no time.

Griyo (sp?) is a local favorite and consists of fried plantains, fried pork, and a spicy cabbage and carrot salsa.

Daphins is so shy and beautiful.

Breakfast usually consists of spaghetti noodles with a dab of ketchup and mayonnaise and sometimes beets, eggs, or carrots on the side.

Lunch is always a grain, beans, and some meat or veggies.

Rithchey!

Esther

It was a very sad moment when Katie left. The children and staff still ask about her every day and can't wait for her to return in May to kick off the English/computer program with the Sustain Haiti volunteers.

A few lucky kids got to sit in the helicopter when Jeremy came for a visit.

H.E.A.R.T.S. of Haiti: Hands-on Education thru Agriculture, Reconstruction, Technology, and Sustainability

Soccer Field and Composting Toilets

Two big improvements at the L'Espoir de Haiti school can be seen in this photo that Watson sent: The composting toilets are finished, and the soccer field has been leveled out! (in the back and to the right of the toilets.) I'll see if I can get him to send a better picture. The tractor pulled up just as we were leaving to the airport the other day.

Webathon

Thanks so much for those of you that contributed during our live web chat that took place last Friday. A special thanks to my friends that came all the way to Haiti to make it happen and to those that promoted it. (www.designmom.com, www.jordanferney.blogspot.com, and www.sayyestohoboken.com) We were able to raise over $3,600 which will be used to make a soccer field, purchase some rainwater catchment cisterns, and finish the third school building. Part of the broadcast can be viewed at www.heartsofhaiti.org Can't wait to do another one so that you can get to know the children even more!

New website is under construction...

We have a new website being built! It can be found at www.heartsofhaiti.org

A Quick Flood/Hurricane Update

Although nearby Leogane suffered severe flooding from the Hurricane (as seen in the above slideshow), O.E.E. is just far enough away (5 miles) that we made it through in relatively good shape. Everyone huddled up in the school classrooms for a big sleepover. The kids had crayons and coloring books for entertainment and were having a great time during most of the whole ordeal. There were some strong wind gusts that picked up and broke one tent and lots of muddy feet, but other than that, we came out of it pretty much unscathed.

After things calmed down a bit, a few of us went into Leogane and we were amazed to the river running at probably 50 to 100 times its normal volume. On most days you could drive a car across the river, but on Friday it was 200-300 ft. wide with gigantic rapids so big that an uprooted tree would disappear from sight as it moved from one to the next.

The streets in Leogane were like literal rivers themselves, making parts of the city inaccessible. The good news was that most of the temporary tarp shelters were still in place because the winds hadn't been as bad as expected, but people were very wet and miserable.

New Name

In order to facilitate donations and future projects, we've decided on a name for our organization and started the process of becoming a nonprofit organization (called an "NGO" here in Haiti.) Here is our mission statement, etc, that my dear friend Jared Stanley helped me write up for the website (which is under construction):

Hearts of Haiti(HoH) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that began in response to the earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12th, 2010.

Mission Statement:

HoH believes that the best way to make a long term impact in a developing country such as Haiti is through the education of future generations.

HoH's mission is to educate the youth of Haiti; our mission is accomplished in three steps:

1) We provide or facilitate access to basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter; it's impossible to focus on educational needs while dealing with survival.

2) We create and implement educational curriculum with three key areas of focus: Agriculture, Technology, and English. We believe that this process will give students the best chance to become self-reliant and become future leaders.

3) We strive to create sustainable programs that generate revenue needed to cover operating costs, keeping the facility independent of foreign aid.

Positioning Statement:

HoH volunteers are educational professionals that understand the education process. HoH is small with independent financing for our overhead, so 100% of donations go directly to funding our educational facilities; donors can even indicate specifically where their money goes to.
We are altruistic, transparent, and focused on our mission.

Current State of Operations:

In June, we found a group of 45 orphans that had been displaced in the earthquake living in a field outside of Leogane, Haiti.

We quickly directed efforts with other organizations to get these children shelter, clothing, food, and sanitation facilities. Then we arranged the purchase of two acres of land and financed and engineered the construction of three 1100 sq/ft school buildings.

We also designed the master plan for the school focusing on 100% self-sufficiency; we led the design on everything from the physical structures to the curriculum.

About our Process:

Educational:

In addition to the traditional Haitian curriculum, we focus on two other educational paths:

1. English and computer literacy.

2. Vocational training through agricultural skills and development.

Sustainable:

We use sustainable building methods and materials in addition to local resources and labor.

Structures:

HoH currently uses the earthbag(superadobe) method for building structures and foundations, using plans that were drafted and donated from The Geiger Research Institute of Sustainable Building.

We chose the Earthbag process for a number of reasons:

1. Buildings using this process are relatively inexpensive to build

2. This process utilizes readily available and/or low cost materials

3. This process is vastly more earthquake/hurricane resistant than traditional cinderblock structures

4. This process can be quickly learned and replicated by Haitians as well as volunteers.

Agricultural Facilities:

The master plan for our facilities includes a large agricultural area that will be used to help make the school and children's home sustainable including the following:

1. Livestock: students will take part in raising goats, pigs, rabbits, pigeons, and cattle as a food source.

2. Poultry: students will learn about raising different types of chickens for both eggs and meat.

3. Beekeeping: students will learn how to make an inexpensive hive and care for bees.

4. Alternative Fuels: students will learn how to make alternative fuel briquettes out of a sugar cane waste product called bagas. These briquettes save the buyer money over charcoal and help to reduce deforestation.

5. Rocket stoves: students will learn how to make a stove which increases fuel efficiency by over 50% and reduces smoke by up to 80% over traditional methods.

6. Nursery: students will learn how to start and raise trees and shrubs used for fruit and landscaping, which will be sold in the local market.

7. Aquaculture: students will take part in raising tilapia, a resilient tropical fish that is easy to feed and care for.

8. Bio-intensive Gardening: students will learn gardening methods that maximize crop production in a minimal amount of space.

Through these facilities we envision an environment where students can learn to be self-reliant as well as learn valuable trades and survival skills.

The English and technology training will open doors to employment in a changing global economy where this skill set is vital.

The hands on, agricultural related training provides students with valuable experiences that will enable them to become more self reliant while minimizing their impact on Haiti's limited natural resources.

The student body will be made up of children from the orphanage, with vacancies at each grade level being filled by children from a neighboring refugee camp.

Imagine Learning

I'm very excited to announce that Imagine Learning is going to be donating their renowned English learning software to the school. Their program is such a perfect fit for us because it is geared toward elementary school aged children and it has instructions in Haitian Creole. Each child will have his/her own personal account because the program keeps track of everything which that particular child has learned. Children automatically pick up right where they left off with their lessons the previous day and review previously learned material. One of my former principals that is using this program in her school gave it raving reviews. I was blown away with what I saw when I went into their corporate offices to meet with them. Have a look at a demo of what the children will be learning here.

We'll be starting the program up in May when we're done with construction and the Sustain Haiti volunteers return to Leogane. Their volunteers will be supervising this as well as teaching interactive, play based English classes to the kids each day.

Here It Comes

It has been raining for about nine hours solid here at the orphanage now, and it's just getting started. All of the children and staff have been moved over to the first school building to weather out the storm since it is by far the most solid structure that we have. We've boarded up the open areas between the walls and the roof with plywood. Thousands upon thousands of Haitians are out there in ragged tarps and tents right now. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers over the next couple of days.

Site Plans

The amazing Patti Stouter just finished some beautiful site plans for The Children of Hope sustainable school. The land that is shown below is the piece of property that was purchased for the school. It is divided down the middle, almost exactly in half. On the right half, you are looking at the school campus, which will include 10 classrooms (4 are finished), a cafeteria/large group meeting area (finished-the shade canopy), a basketball/mini futbol court (cement), a playground, kitchen, larger soccer field (grass), 4 composting toilets, an office (finished- on the end of the shade canopy), and a kitchen.

On the left hand side of the picture you are looking at the agricultural area that will be used to teach the students self reliance. It will also be a means to help make the school sustainable. The structures that you see are the trade school, the guest house, and caretaker's house (domes).

We'll be trying our hand at a few different things to help make the school sustainable, including raising two different types of chickens for meat and eggs, tilapia ponds, a tree nursery, rocket stoves, alternative fuel briquettes, oyster mushrooms, and beekeeping. We'll have three fenced areas (upper left) that will serve as both garden areas and livestock corrals. We'll plant each area four months apart so that we are getting more consistent yields year round. After an area has been harvested, the animals will be rotated to that area for a few months to fertilize it.

The middle section of the agricultural area will be left open for about a year so that we can determine what will be the best use of that part of the land, based on the results from our first year of operations.

We'll be collecting and filtering the greywater from the kitchen and showers and storing it in a cistern along with the rainwater collected from each of our buildings. We'd like to get a solar well and need about 16 solar panels to meet our energy needs.

There will be a short wall dividing the school from the agricultural area and another dividing the school from the children's home (orphanage) which lies to the south, or the bottom of the picture. This is to keep the children more secure at the orphanage, as other children and people from the community will use the school. There will be a taller security wall around the outside edge of the entire property (including the orphanage not pictured here) to keep everyone safe.

Here are some more detailed illustrations of what things might look like when finished.

Beach

After the teacher training, Jean Marc let Katie and Watson take nine of the older children to the beach. These kids almost never get to leave and this was a rare treat for them.

Teacher Training

After just one week of classroom observations, it was obvious that we were going to need to put in place a teacher training program. The education system in Haiti is really hurting. The children that are lucky enough to go to school have to sit and endure hours of rote memorization and repetition. They are rarely challenged to think for themselves or use problem solving skills. On Saturday, we held our first workshop. Thanks for translating, Watson!

Bebe

All of the children call this boy "Bebe" (Baby) because he can't hear or speak. He's a very smart kid and I think that he just can't hear. He tries so hard to fit in with whatever the other kids are doing. He wants so badly to communicate and he tries so hard, I hope that someday we can get him the medical attention that he needs to be able to.

I'd also like to get a dentist out for a visit someday. It seems that all of the children have visible cavities. (But they are all brushing their teeth every day now!) One little girl cried herself to sleep the other night because her tooth was hurting so bad (and these kids almost never cry.) So if you know of any dentists that would like to come and volunteer, we could sure keep them busy while they're here.

One Dream Came True This Week...

Here is Overda ready and waiting about two hours early before school started on the first day. He and the other kids were already up and dressed by when I woke up at 5:15am. Overda was one of the first children that I talked to when I first came across the children living in the field tents almost four months ago.

I interviewed Jean Marc, some of the children, and community members to find out everything that I could to assess the situation of the children so that I could determine whether or not we would be getting involved. I remember part of a conversation that I had with Overda (through a translator):

Me: What is it that you and the other children need the most? (Keep in mind that these kids were eating one meal a day at this time, had no toilet, were fetching water, and were either orphaned or abandoned by their parents.)

Overda: I would like to go to school.

Wish granted. Although he's a few years behind for his age, he's smart and a hard worker and I think he'll be caught up by the end of the year.

Building Progress

This is where we were with the second building. If it weren't for our little delay we'd have the walls up on the second building, but oh well.

Katie also proved to be a big help on the construction crew as well. She was showing up a lot of the workers and it really lit a fire under their feet because they didn't want to be outdone by the white girl.

Two courses of barbed wire are placed between each layer of bags. A line is run about six inches above each row of bags for a guide to tamp the bags level and to the appropriate height.

It's nice to see our facilities being used by the local community for meetings and we're happy to cooperate and help in any way that we can.

A Little Delay...

We had an interesting visit last Friday, although it didn't really come as a surprise here in Haiti. A judge and a bunch of policemen showed up and started looking around and told us that we needed to stop working. We have all of the necessary permits to be building, but since they had the guns we thought we'd better do what they said. They were out of their jurisdiction and had no right to be there, so it was obvious what they were looking for. A big fat bribe. Since we weren't willing to pay them off, we had to postpone work for about five days until we could get the necessary documents from a higher court override their order for us to stop work. Unfortunately these situations are pretty common here, the corruption runs deep.

Mark (Pye Mayas)

Mark Harmsen came down for a few days to get some footage and help us put together a little video telling the story of these children so that we can try to raise the money to finish the school. He was a lot of fun to have around and the kids loved him. They still ask me "Kikote pie mayas?" Which means "Where's stinky feet?"

Katie

This is Katie Baldwin. She's an extremely creative and dedicated teacher that I worked with in Ogden six years ago. She just happens to be taking the year off to work on the family farm in New York and write curriculum. She is here in Haiti all month, getting to know the children that she'll be designing the curriculum for. She is already off to a great start on the English and computer literacy program that she'll be working along side Sustain Haiti to implement when they come back next May. She's also doing teacher workshops and training sessions for our teachers at The Hope of Haiti School on Saturdays while she's here. The children love her to pieces and will be so happy to see her when she comes back next May. She brought a different game or craft to teach and play with the children for almost every day that she's here.

Bath Time

Bath time in the morning. My favorite was when one lady spanked four bare bums in about 5 seconds flat when the boys kept wrestling and messing around. After a little slap on the butt they shaped up and got back in line...

French Toast

I try to make one meal a week for the kids so that they can experience new foods and try new things. Katie and I made french toast for them one evening (with peanut butter on it) and they loved it.

After cooking over the fire, I had a new appreciation for the cooks here and a renewed drive to get some rocket stoves in operation here.