Hearts of Haiti- Ke de Haiti

Good News and Bad News

2011-01-15T23:21:00.002-07:00

Hearts of Haiti has lost its funding and our work at the orphanage and school has come to a halt. But there is some good news- another organization called Haiti Sak Plen is going to finish the construction of the remaining buildings to be built at the school in March! They are an outstanding organization, check them out: http://haitisakplen.wordpress.com/

Leveled Land

2011-01-15T23:18:00.002-07:00

The land at the orphanage and school has finally been leveled! The Korean UN offered their heavy equipment to help flatten out the trenches formed from farming in years past.

Building #3 progress

2010-12-23T00:47:00.002-07:00

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

2010-12-08T23:30:00.004-07:00

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

Cholera

2010-11-25T05:53:00.000-07:00

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

Still Beautiful

2010-11-17T05:59:00.000-07:00

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

Soccer Field and Composting Toilets

2010-11-17T05:56:00.007-07:00

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

2010-11-17T05:42:00.003-07:00

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

New website is under construction...

2010-11-09T13:27:00.003-07:00

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

A Quick Flood/Hurricane Update

2010-11-09T02:14:00.005-07:00

"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

New Name

2010-11-08T20:44:00.013-07:00

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

Imagine Learning

2010-11-04T23:30:00.004-06:00

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

Here It Comes

2010-11-04T22:57:00.002-06:00

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

Site Plans

2010-10-22T06:37:00.009-06:00

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

Beach

2010-10-19T09:52:00.002-06:00

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

2010-10-19T09:10:00.002-06:00

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,

Bebe

2010-10-16T07:10:00.002-06:00

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

One Dream Came True This Week...

2010-10-15T07:02:00.004-06:00

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

Building Progress

2010-10-15T06:52:00.005-06:00

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

A Little Delay...

2010-10-15T06:51:00.002-06:00

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

Mark (Pye Mayas)

2010-10-15T06:50:00.002-06:00

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

2010-10-15T06:46:00.011-06:00

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

Bath Time

2010-10-15T06:44:00.006-06:00

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

2010-10-15T06:36:00.006-06:00

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.

Desks

2010-10-15T06:33:00.006-06:00

Dromond (the guy that did the shipping container school) is making the benches/desks for our school. He's been working long hours to get them done for the children as soon as possible. He also did a great job on the bumpers and lumber rack on the truck. We got the reinforced bumper on just in time because Jean Marc got in a little fender bender with a motorcycle the next day that would have

Part of the O.E.E. Family

2010-10-15T06:27:00.019-06:00

I've been staying at the orphanage for the last couple of weeks and this has made my stay here so much more enjoyable. I really feel like part of the family now and love getting to know each of these children individually and spending nearly every waking moment with them. There's nothing like waking up to their beautiful voices singing to me at 5:15 in the morning outside my tent.This is

Composting Toilets

2010-10-15T06:27:00.005-06:00

We found another composting toilet near us in Leogane, being built by Hands On. We were very excited to make the connection and to see other people using this great idea to solve two of Haiti's biggest problems: 1) Lack of sewage treatment and 2) Depleted soil that's not fit to grow food. The poop cycle. You probably won't believe it until you've seen/used one, but these toilets do not smell

Dlo (Water) Problem

2010-10-15T06:25:00.002-06:00

Our well is broken :( The PVC hand pump is broken and what you can manage to get up is always murky. We need to get a new well drilled. We've been loading up every water holding container we can get our hands on into the back of the truck to the Korean UN to fill them up. This process takes about an hour each day and the containers are usually about half full by the time we make our way back

A Cool Idea

2010-10-15T06:24:00.004-06:00

This school was built entirely by shipping containers and it is a beautiful campus. The classrooms are well ventilated and surprisingly comfortable. We just so happen to be getting two shipping containers in the future, so we might as well put them to great use and make a guest house or workshop out of them. The crew that converted these over will be building our roof on the second school

Rocket Stoves

2010-10-15T06:23:00.002-06:00

I took four ladies from the surrounding community into a rocket stove workshop in Port au Prince for two days where they learned about these efficient, resource saving stoves. Most people in the tent city next to the orphanage use firewood that they spend a lot of time gathering to cook their food. The lucky ones that have a little money buy charcoal. These two practices are largely

First Day of School!

2010-10-15T06:21:00.006-06:00

Here are the children on the first day of school at “L' Espoir d' Haiti” or “The Hope of Haiti” school. Notice the beautiful uniforms that Barb and Tode worked so hard on to finish in time! The classrooms weren't quite ready, but we went ahead and started anyways. We converted the shade canopy into three different temporary classrooms while we're working on the permanent ones so that the kids

Picture Album

2010-10-15T03:34:00.018-06:00

The children love to see themselves in pictures. They always have to see your camera screen after each picture that you take. Barbara had the wonderful idea of printing off the pictures from their trip last month and putting them in an album so that the kids can see themselves whenever they want. They love it, and we'll keep adding volumes to it as we continue to make progress and then as the

More building progress

2010-09-29T21:18:00.018-06:00

Once again, Watson and crew have made great progress in my absence. There has been a lot of interest and excitement about earthbag building in the community. People come to look at the cool structure and see how solid it is compared to the traditional cinder block that they use and want to know more. The building inspector that came out even asked if we'd do a workshop to teach more people

Roof!

2010-09-26T08:09:00.004-06:00

Finally

2010-09-18T03:54:00.003-06:00

Since there's not an internet connection fast enough in Leogane to upload pictures, it will probably be a few weeks in between updates on the blog. This trip down was very productive on many levels. Hope you enjoy the pictures.Barb Johnson and Tode Hafen worked tirelessly all week through a noisy generator, unbearable heat, bucket showers and toilets, and some interesting food. They must have

Still here, even though you can't see us...

2010-09-13T23:45:00.002-06:00

The school is coming along really well, the walls are about 3/4 of the way done. The sad thing is that I can't show you pictures because the internet connection here in Leogane is too slow. I'll be updating with pictures this weekend...

Progress (Thanks Watson!)

2010-08-26T07:01:00.006-06:00

Watson is an amazing man. He has been such a loyal, trustworthy, and hard working companion. It was a lot easier to leave last week knowing that he was in charge of things, and he did even better than I'd expected. All foundation trenches have been dug and filled with rocks. This is a big deal, because I didn't think that they'd be able to get the rocks delivered because the road was so bad

Breaking ground, etc.

2010-08-15T18:07:00.015-06:00

We had a busy week here in Leogane. We broke ground on Monday with our crew of twenty workers. It's great to see them so excited to have a job. We hope that they will learn a skill while working with us that will open doors for them in the future.This is what happens to the tents and tarps after the rain that comes almost every day here.Fortunately the Spanish (Proyecto Solidario) should be

Land Ho!

2010-08-08T09:18:00.007-06:00

It's official. We have now purchased the land to build the school on. We'll have plenty of land to use as an agricultural area to help the school be self sustainable in its protein/fruits and vegetable needs, leaving mainly just beans and rice to be purchased for their dietary needs. This should significantly cut down their food budget once everything is in place.This is the view of the land

An unexpected delay...

2010-08-08T09:05:00.004-06:00

We had a little hold up while the surveyors were measuring the land that we needed to buy to build the school. This momma cow was giving birth within a couple of feet of what turned out to be the boundary of our land. Every time they came close to try and run the measuring tape by her, she would get spooked and try to stand up with little baby cow's feet hanging out the back end. So everyone

Power to the people...

2010-08-08T08:49:00.003-06:00

The orphanage finally has power now. We got them set up with a 135 watt solar panel that charges four 6V batteries. Now they have light at night and can charge their cell phones, camera and my old used laptop that's missing a bunch of the keys that my kids popped off of it.

Earthbag neighbors...

2010-08-06T09:36:00.009-06:00

Last week I found out about another group called Konbit Shelter here in Haiti that is also constructing out of earthbags (superadobe). And what was even better is that they were near Leogane. So we got in touch and made arrangements for us to come and visit their project. I arranged to make it happen the same day that I had Bill with me, a structural engineer from New Mexico that was visiting our

A change of plans...

2010-08-01T22:34:00.003-06:00

Last Thursday when we arrived at the orphanage to have the first loads of gravel and sand delivered, there were some visitors there from the group Proyecto Solidario out of Spain. I'd met them before and we'd talked about our project and they asked how they could help with provisional shelter, food, etc. Well, when we talked to them on Thursday they told us that they'd been looking for months

Building Plans

2010-08-01T19:15:00.006-06:00

It has been such a blessing to have Patti Stouter and Owen Geiger helping us with the building plans. They have answered so many questions already and we haven't even started. My email thread between the three of us has over 100 emails in just 2 1/2 weeks. Patti has worked tirelessly to draw these up for a great cause.

Sustain Haiti

2010-08-01T16:11:00.005-06:00

Sustain Haiti has been such a blessing. They visit Jean Marc and the kids three times a week and the kids are so happy to see them every time. Jean Marc can see how genuine their love is for the kids and how much his kids love them, so this made it very easy for Jean Marc to trust me. Thanks guys!

The First Bags

2010-07-20T12:54:00.006-06:00

We filled our first earthbags to test the soil to find the optimal combination of sand and clay. There is a lot of clay in the soil, which means that we have to bring sand in from the riverbed nearby.

Getting ready...

2010-07-20T12:53:00.006-06:00

We've started buying a lot of the tools and supplies that we'll need to get started. One really cool thing about the building system that we're using is that everything that we need to do it is available locally. This is my foreman, Watson. He came highly recommended to me from two of his former companions that I know from the states. He is such a stud. It's always a pleasure to spend time with

Just happy to be in school

2010-07-20T12:51:00.009-06:00

Jeremy gave me ten laptops to bring down and distribute where they could be put to best use. I miraculously was able to fit them all into my luggage and got them through customs without any problems other than sore muscles. I redistributed everything about five times and finally weighed in at 49 lbs with each of my checked suitcases plus two carry ons that were pushing the size and weight

Children of Hope

2010-07-20T01:25:00.007-06:00

Meet some of the children currently at L'Orphalinat l'Enfant de l'Espoir. How can you look into their eyes, knowing what they are up against, and not do everything in your power to help them out?AliseIrmeldaMarie FranceRitchyJackensonIsaacAntoineJerryRoosveltWidelaireIvensonLoovenskyBedsonDjetlyVania Lovely Estherline Estherline TouissantWiseneVenise SigueneDerlieEsther DaphinsJuline Jesula

Jean Marc

2010-07-16T07:47:00.006-06:00

Meet Jean Marc. He's one of the most humble, kind men that I have met in Haiti. He is the director of L'orphelinat l'enfant de l'espoir. He was an orphan himself as a child. An orphanage director took him in under his wing when he was 8 years old and helped him get an education. He has always felt indebted to this man and felt an obligation and desire to help other children in Haiti that are

Orphanage #3- Children of Hope (L'enfant de l'espoir)

2010-07-14T07:33:00.021-06:00

This is the third orphanage that I visited with Sustain Haiti. It's about a kilometer down a dirt road out in the country between Leogane and Gressier. There are 35 children here altogether plus about that many that have been given to other orphanages because they can't feed them. They have nothing more than a dirt floor inside a tent to sleep on. There are no bathrooms, no electricity, and no

Orphanage #2

2010-07-13T16:07:00.004-06:00

The second orphanage that we went to was in a much better situation, though far from ideal. They had an excellent director that cared deeply about the kids. They had partner organizations that were able to provide the costs of food and schooling of the children. While their buildings were small and right next to each other with nothing more than a 30' X 30' cement pad for a play area, the kids

Orphanage # 1

2010-07-13T04:38:00.007-06:00

There are 21 orphanages around Leogane, a city of about 100,000. Sustain Haiti has three different orphanages that they volunteer at. They help them plant a garden, teach them some English, but most importantly, they play with the kids and give them lots of attention. At this orphanage, the kids were beautiful (or course) but they had no structure, learning, or discipline. It's sad to see

Bernard

2010-07-10T21:40:00.006-06:00

Meet Bernard. He lost his leg, both of his parents, and his house in the earthquake. New Life was able to help him get a prosthetic leg, but since he's over 18, they can't help him with much else. He has been sleeping in a makeshift shelter on his property since the earthquake, but it leaks when it rains. I brought a one-man tent when I came down, because they weren't sure if they'd have a

The Truck

2010-07-10T21:08:00.005-06:00

Jeremy supplied me with a brand new Toyota 4wd, 4 door Hilux (I think it would be similar to a Tacoma). It has been of service to many people, taking them to and from the airport, transporting things, etc. Most recently we used it to drive up into the mountains to deliver water filters to a village. Sustain Haiti had been waiting to do this for some time but couldn't without a truck. You need 4wd

Water Filtration Units

2010-07-10T06:23:00.008-06:00

I joined a couple of Sustain Haiti volunteers and went up into the mountains to take some water filters to a village where they were all drinking out of this stream. It doesn't look too bad from the picture, but there were more people living up stream from this village and there's no sewage system and they let their livestock graze freely, so you can imagine the contaminants in the water. It

Sustainable Systems at New Life Children's Home

2010-07-07T12:49:00.001-06:00

This gigantic mango tree provides shade from the grueling sun and is a favorite place to hang out or hold class.The compost bins next to the garden that the orphans tend to. They're made of shipping pallets that have been nailed together.The talapia ponds. The children take care of them and then eat them when they're big enough. The rabbit cages are next to the talapia ponds and their poop is

Kids from the New Life Children's Home

2010-07-02T20:25:00.001-06:00

Here are some pictures of some of the children from the New Life Children's Home where I have been staying in Port au Prince. Shneider is one of my favorites. He's very smart and loves to talk, but you have to watch out because he has sneaky hands that find their way straight into your pockets to look for money if you're not careful! Enjoying a mango under the shade of a mango tree. Some of the

One day at a time, one task at a time...

2010-07-01T19:40:00.000-06:00

Having traveled through many third world countries in Latin America and Asia, I'm not unfamiliar with inefficiency and corruption. But I must say that Haiti takes it to a new level. Today I waited in line for four hours to open a checking account. Harry, who took me to the bank, saw me getting fidgety after a half hour or so of waiting and told me, "In Haiti, sometimes you are lucky to get one

Safe and Sound in Haiti

2010-06-30T18:53:00.003-06:00

I arrived safely to Haiti yesterday and I'm staying at an amazing place, it's called the New Life Children's Home. It's only a few minutes from the airport, and it has security walls all the way around with guards. The minute you come in the gates, you feel safe and at home, an oasis from the craziness that surrounds it. It's only $35 a night and it includes breakfast and dinner. This is about a