Friday, November 11, 2016

Catching up

Greetings to you all from a wet, soggy House of Hope.  Almost since the hurricane went through, there has been constant storms and rain showers go through our area of Haiti.  While for us it has been mostly annoying dealing with constant damp and muddy conditions, for many others it has caused flooding and destruction of property and more loss of life.  
 Nannie trying to stay dry on her way to school during the rain.
 
As a result of one of these storms, we lost one of the lovely trees in our yard.  We are very grateful that it fell in a direction that was away from our buildings and didn't cause a lot damage, but we did have to cut the rest of it down.  It took a couple of days work to get it all cut up and moved off our yard.  Thankfully, we were able to make charcoal out of it and will be able to use it for cooking for a while.

The boys working on clearing out the fallen tree

Another project the kids and Linda have been working on is updating our kitchen.  We were blessed by a gift from a partner, who visited us last year, to be used to update the kitchen.  This project includes getting new propane cooking burners...
And new tiles on the floor and part of the walls...


and paint on the walls...

We still have to find and purchase stainless steel counters and tables to be used for food prep and the kitchen project will be finished.  This is something we've wanted to do for a really long time and we are so thankful to the people who put money towards us accomplishing this project.

As you can imagine, there are so many logistical details that go into running a ministry like the House of Hope and we cherish each and every supporter that helps us in many different ways.  After many days of waiting for the rain to slow down so the boat could be unloaded we finally were able to receive a shipment of food to fill up our pantry...
These food shipments come to us from our friends in Miami and are such a blessing to us.  Lately, they have had trouble raising enough funds to send in full shipments of food, so we make do with what they are able to send and purchase the rest ourselves in Haiti.  If anyone would be interested in directly helping them supply this food shipment for us, we could link you with their organization to help in this area. 

This food shipment came in just in time to help us receive a few new children into our home.  The first of these children is a young girl named Chanika.  She has Tuberculosis in her stomach and will need care at the House of Hope for at least the next 9 months to a year to receive treatment and become healthy again...

Several young children have come with severe malnutrition and skin infections.  These children remain at the House of Hope along with a family member who helps us care for them.  They will only stay a few weeks, up to a month until the child is healthy again.  We have a constant rotation of these small children in our home.  

Another important addition this past week is 4 month old John Kerry (it is a boy, in spite of the pink outfit!)...

The reason John Kerry's admittance to the House of Hope is so important is because of his parents.  Both of his parents are significantly intellectually challenged.  There is very little if any help for people with these disabilities in our area of Haiti and John's mom knows nothing of taking care of a small baby.  We are happy to be able to provide them with a safe place to stay while Linda and our staff take time to show and teach her how to care for her child.  
 
We love being able to provide hope in all of it's forms for those in need around us. Thank you so much for your part in helping us do this.