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.