Progress continues. The John Branchizio School will reopen on Monday. Our children are going to finish their school year on time, even though they have missed six weeks due to the earthquake! We are motivated to make sure the children make it through the current school year so that they can move into the next grade. We are planning next year to expand the JB and Cite de Soliel schools and increase in the number of children.
We have a compelling story from one of the school children at Cite de Soliel – his name is Aslan. He was badly injured in the earthquake, and a photograph is attached. He and his brother were both in first grade and it was the first time they had been to school at the Mercy and Sharing school in Cite de Soliel. He was so proud of being in school but he was still wearing his school uniform seven days after the earthquake! Tragically his brother was killed in the earthquake. Susie visited him in what his family calls home, which is no more than wooden sticks and tin with a tarp overhead to protect them from the elements. Please pray for Aslan and his family. We are now getting reports of more missing students. We have at least seven more unaccounted for.
We now have protection from the Canadian military presence as part of the UN team in Haiti. Our special thanks go out to Colonel Norman Lalonde and his team from Canada. They have been coming by each of the projects on a daily basis and asking for things that they can help do. As part of the Canadian military presence in Haiti they are very active and have been extremely helpful. They are going to assist with the demolition at the projects that were damaged, and we are hoping to get their assistance in rebuilding.
They put us in touch with Canadian doctors who are in the country to look at one of our children - Arthur. Arthur has had something wrong with his eyes ever since he was a toddler. We were able to rescue him from the abandoned baby unit into the orphanage at Cazeau, and that he would move out to the Williamson Campus in August. He is blind, and his eyes have been causing him problems for a number of years, as he scratches them and pushes on them, and has gotten to the point now where he can actually pushes his eyeballs out of his eye sockets and onto to his cheek. We have had him checked out before, but no one seems to know what is wrong, and there are no facilities to perform major eye operations in Haiti. Please pray for Arthur that the Canadian doctors will be able to help him.
As widely reported (such as the group from Idaho who attempted to take 33 children as to the Dominican Republic), the Haitian Government is very active in trying to control child trafficking. We have been contacted by a number of organizations who are looking for children to take care of, but many do not understand that the government takes a very active role in controlling which orphanages are allowed to take which children. Haitian Social Services - also known by its acronym IBESR - is very bureaucratic and strictly controls (or attempts to control) the placement of orphans into orphanages in Haiti. We were advised yesterday that we will be getting 11 orphans today, from three months old to four years old, which we believe may be some of the children from the abandoned baby unit!! However, we will not know until the children are actually delivered by IBESR to Williamson.
Mercy and Sharing recently received an award at a Haitian awards ceremony. Through the generous donation of Mark Salter, we have an ambulance that we have loaned for use in the recovery efforts. It has been a true blessing, and was critically needed.
We are extremely grateful for everyone’s donations. The children who have reached out from the United States to the children in Haiti especially touch us. Here are some of the excerpts from letters that we have received:
Pasadena CA: “Enclosed please find a check. It is a donation from the Lower School students at Polytechnic School. Our Student Council coordinated a “loose change” drive and held a hot chocolate sale to earn the money.”
Basalt, CO: “My 8 year-old daughter Ashlyn baked and sold cookies to raise this money. Good luck to all of your children and volunteers.”
Madison Heights MI: “Please accept this small donation on behalf of my three-year-old, Shelby. She wanted to help the orphans in Haiti and was very concerned that they did not have milk or bananas to eat. She asked me how to help and I told her by donating money. Shelby decided to donate her piggy bank money - $2.80. She then asked her friends and family to manager donation. We think you for all the organization does to help the children.”
Crestwood TN: “This donation was collected by Jade who is an eight year old. She collected at her ballet class, neighborhood and bother’s school. Her mom saw the foundation on CNN. Our family is sending as money allows.”
Basalt CO: “Dear Mercy and Sharing, I am 9 and I’m giving you $15. I send you lots of love and peace. And Happy Valentine’s Day!”
Aspen, CO: “From the Ross Montessori School kindergarten class. The money was raised from a bake sale, piggy banks and extra chores!”
Denver, CO: “I enjoyed hearing about Mercy and Sharing and shared the Mercy and Sharing website with my husband and children. The donation amount is odd because my 10 and 8 year-old sons shared their allowance to donate, as well they’ve essentially empty their piggy banks! Keep up the good work.”
Again, thank you for your prayers and donations. www.haitichildren.com
Susie & Joe
(877) 424-8454
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