Cuteness!

Kids Singing

Foot Traffic

Driving Through Port Au Prince

Kite Making

Archange and the other boys are making kites for Ms. Sherry to bring
back to the states. She will have a stand at a flea market where
people can make donations. The proceeds will go to the kids.

These kites are made of all found materials and they fly really well!

Field Trip!

Emanuella, Excaline, and Marc went on a field trip to the market
yesterday! We went to the supermarket and the hardware store. They are
to write a composition about what they saw and what we purchased.

The Dogs That Live on The Compound

This is the only photo I've gotten with all four dogs. They are
usually all over the place.

Sorry it's blurry and not great, but they are good dogs... Except for
the fact that they play loudly with each other all night long!

The Scariest Welding Contraption I Have Ever Seen

This thing terrifies me. It is a welding device. It makes a loud, very
dangerous-sounding buzzing noise when it's on and it looks like it
will explode at any second, shooting those curly metal spikey bits
into anyone and anything in its path.

I had to walk past it a couple of times while it was on and I felt
like I was walking a plank on a pirates ship.

Meet Ross and Vidlan

Ross (left) is a college student from Michigan. He is staying here for
two months and is going to help run things while Sherry, the school
principal/orphanage director is back in the states for several weeks.
The kids love, love, love Ross.

Vidlan is the little cutie sacked out in Ross' arms. Vidlan was
brought here by his father before the earthquake because he was sick
an malnourished. He was supposed to be here temporarily while he
gained weight and got healthy. Vidlan's father, who visited him almost
every day before the earthquake, has not been back since. It is
assumed that he was killed in the earthquake.

Just Another Reason I Love Haiti

I was waiting to cross the street and this guy stopped and pretty much
insisted that I take his picture.

So, he makes it to the blog!

Wash Day

Might be a repeat.

My Star Pupils

Excaline, Emmanuella and Marc in Phonics class.

They are great kids and it's been a joy working with them!

I was on my way into the bathroom to get ready for bed when a rat ran past my foot and rounded the corner in the direction of the bathroom. So I decided to use the bathroom upstairs. I've decided my mosquito net will also keep furry vermin at bay.

I really hope I can make it until morning for my next bathroom break :)

Jay-Jay The Bruiser

Meet Jay-Jay, AKA the Bruiser. He came to the orphanage a year ago. He
was starving and near death. His hand had been burned in a kerosene
fire and his pinky finger had to be amputated--which was done with
nail scissors.

As you can see Jay-Jay has grow. Into a happy, beefy kid!

Hands on Training.

Emanuella and Excaline Show Me How to Do Laundry

After a couple of minutes Emanuella told me to give the stuff I washed
to her so she could wash it right!

Emanuella and Excaline are two of the kids I'm working with on reading
skills so they can move into the English speaking school in the fall.
They are great students and a lot of fun!

It did not rain tonight, so it's still hot. The dogs have been causing a ruckus and wrestling with each other just outside the window. The air is smokey and it smells like burning tires. And I can't get to sleep. I'm just sweating under my mosquito net, eyes wide open. Wide open.

Today I learned two things: 1) If there is glitter in a classroom, kids will find it. 2) If a kid has Pink Eye, he REALLY wants you to hold him and he's gonna figure out a way to touch your face.

View From the Restaurant at the Mountain Man Mission

View From the Roof of the School

Drilling for the Foundation Anchors

View of the Schoolyard

The older boys still sleep in the tent. The younger boys sleep
together in one room and the girls sleep in another.

The piles of gravel are for the ongoing construction.

The New School/Orphanage

The kids have been living and going to school here since January. It
is very much a construction site, but they were able to get back to
school and some kind of a routine right after the earthquake.

View of the back of the original school building

The school was badly damaged during the earthquake. It is hard to see
the scale of the damage in this photo but the back of the building
collapsed. The building is still shifting and is very unstable.

One of the boys from the school, Petrson, was killed when the building
collapsed.

Construction on the new school site had already started. Everyone was
able to seek shelter there right after the earthuake, since it is
across the street. 200 people joined them there. Sherry, who runs the
school, set up a triage station and someone else shuttled the injured
to the hospital.

Yesterday we went through Petionville and up the mountain for lunch and to do some shopping. We went to the Mountain Man Mission for lunch. The view was incredible. I will try to post photos tomorrow.

As we drove through Port Au Prince and Petionville, we saw some of the devastation from the earthquake, including a school where 200 died. It's hard to comprehend the devastation, even seeing the collapsed buildings and wrubble everywhere.

It is estimated that 1 in 10 died in Port Au Prince in the earthquake.

FTP

A Tap Tap

The streets of Haiti are filled with tap taps, small colorful buses
used as a primary mode of transport.

Rush Hour in A Rain Storm

We took a trip to the hardware store yesterday afternoon during the
rain.

Mr. Reynaud in His New Home

I will try to get a better picture tomorrow, hopefully with his wife.

The roof goes up tomorrow and hopefully we can get some painting done,
too.

A Timeout Turns Into Naptime

One of the boys, Cherlein, was given a timeout and he ended up taking
a long afternoon nap on the naughty step!

Ok, rioting mat have been an overstatement. It sounds like very hearty demonstrations!

We were thinking about heading into town this afternoon to look at the palais national, have some lunch and check out a local market, but there are reports of rioting because of the schools/universities. So were gonna keep building!

Today we are anchoring the house to the. Foundation, cutting out windows and putting up the roof. This place is really coming along! Photos to come.

Octaline with Some of the Boys

Hello my name is Octaline. I am 12 years old. I am in 5th grade. I live in Haiti. We will send a photo of me later.

Road Trip! We are headed east towards Dominican Republic. I think the place is called Love Richard, but that's probably not quite right. I'll try to post photos!