April 10, 2010: The Back to School — Read More…

We are thrilled to announce that the Mercy & Sharing schools have reopened as of Monday April 5, 2010.

The Mercy & Sharing schools include the John Branchizio school in Cazeau, the Cite de Soliel school and the Williamson Campus school) and employ Haitian teachers who currently teach approximately 630 students who otherwise would not be in school. The curriculum is based on the curriculum established by the Government of Haiti: science, math, geography, history, French and grammar. In addition, a significant part of the curriculum aims to teach life skills, health and hygiene and concepts of integrity, community responsibility participatory democracy. Mercy & Sharing trains its teachers. We have established training programs and plans to institutionalize and expand these programs and ultimately offer training to teachers beyond its own schools. We provide a classroom materials, books, pencils and supplies. We have developed teaching strategies appeared to children with special needs. We have plans to develop outreach programs that will export teacher training and teacher strategies to other school systems in Haiti.

April 3, 2010: The Group of 11 Orphans — Read More…

Nope it’s not some variation on the G8 or G20 international organization of countries, rather the group of 11 orphans that were entrusted to the care of Mercy & Sharing by Haitian Social Services (IBESR) several weeks ago.

We are pleased to let you know that they are thriving and gaining weight quickly! They love their new home and all of the other children and toys that they have to play with. They are being very well cared for by our staff of doctors and nurses, and bonding with the ‘mothers’ who provide their food and change their diapers, bath, cloth and care for their needs. All of the children are undergoing medical evaluations, and for the most part, other than being under-nourished, we have great expectations for thee children.

March 27, 2010: Update on Falee and ABU Children — Read More…

As mentioned in last week’s update, we asked Falee to tell us about her eye injury and the progress she has made since being rescued by Mercy & Sharing from the abandoned baby unit.

March 20, 2010: Red Haze over Haiti — Read More…

As the rubble is removed, filled with human remains that were not removed from the collapsed buildings, Port-au-Prince is engulfed in a deadly mix of pollutants, bacteria, and disease in the air – which has a haze of red that is clearly visible.  Many people are suffering from respiratory infections, pinkeye, and other serious problems, such as typhoid. Our staff reports that they awaken in the morning covered with a red dust. We are sending medical supplies targeted for respiratory infections.

March 5, 2010: New Arrivals — Read More…

We are completely thrilled that Haitian social services, also known as IBESR, has placed 11 new orphans with Mercy & Sharing at our Williamson campus. When they arrived they were dehydrated and under nourished. They are already thriving in the new Williamson environment.

February 26, 2010: Some things happy, Some things blue — Read More…

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.

February 18, 2010: Rebuilding Haiti — Read More…

Just yesterday we received the Government of Haiti customs approval to release the six containers of approximately 120 tons of relief supplies that have been in the port at Saint Marc for over a week. In quintessential fashion, after going to the Customs office numerous occasions only to be told that we were required to place a “deposit” of close to $40,000.00 to get the containers released, yesterday the same government official who was requiring the deposit agreed to release the containers without the deposit! From 2008 and 2009 we still have over $50,000.00 in un-refunded “deposits” held by the government. While Mercy & Sharing is officially approved by the Haitian Government as a nongovernmental organization exempt from customs fees, they do not characterize the “deposits” as customs fees, but then we do not frequently get them refunded despite our repeated attempts to do so. We celebrate the blessing of being able to get these relief supplies to the site at Williamson, where we will be working with other organizations who have on the ground distribution facilities to distribute these relief supplies to so many who remain in harm’s way.

February 10, 2010: Headlines — Read More…

We just received incredible news about Falee who is the precious little girl that was the subject of the update sent on Saturday. As you know she was taken aboard to USNS Comfort – The US Navy vessel that is moored in the harbor outside of Port-au-Prince. Falee has been with us for over two years with the problem with her right eye.  While we speculated that she actually had an eye that was pushed back into the socket, after a two-hour operation today by an Italian doctor aboard the USNS Comfort they completed the operation in she has sight in both eyes and will have a complete recovery!!! What a miracle from God in the midst of the pain and suffering of Haiti. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!

February 6, 2010: Falee — Read More…

In today’s update, we are featuring information regarding an incredibly intelligent and sweet girl by the name of Falee.

Falee arrived at the abandoned baby unit 2 and a half years ago with a serious eye injury. After many months inside the ABU We were able to get permission, after complying with the Haitian paperwork requirements, to move her to a Mercy & Sharing orphanage.

February 4, 2010: Outpouring of Support — Read More…

The real work In Haiti is now just beginning, and will continue for many years. We are praying that this will continue and that the incredible disaster that befell Haiti will not be quickly forgotten.

January 30, 2010: Dizzying Week — Read More…

It has been a dizzying week with Susie returning to Aspen after two weeks in Haiti, coordinating logistics to get the security team in place for the arrival of major supplies this upcoming week, and some continuing questions regarding the fate of the 32 children at the abandoned baby unit.

January 29, 2010: Sarah and Jessie United with their Forever Family — Read More…

On Saturday evening at 6:30 pm we received our call from Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) that Jessie & Sarah were confirmed to be on the first flight out of Port-au-Prince carrying 24 orphan children from Haiti to Canada to be united with their forever families. Just after noon on Saturday we learned that Jessie was not able to bring her leg prosthesis from the orphanage, so we had to work fast to find a wheelchair for our expected trip to possibly Ottawa. Unfortunately every place that loans or rents out wheelchairs was closed either by the end of Friday or noon on Saturday. In a panic I called our wonderful neighbor Susan, who was busy at the ski hill with her twin boys birthday party, and she had a wheelchair delivered to her house by 6:30 pm Saturday !!! Once we received the call from CIC, we managed to book flights to Ottawa for the next day (Sunday) for Mathew (our 9-year-old son) and I to meet Jessie and Sarah. The girls arrived in Ottawa at 6:30 am and Mathew and I arrived at 4:30 pm into Ottawa.

January 25, 2010: 32 Children are Missing — Read More…

We are still trying to determine what happened to the children of the abandoned baby unit.  There were news reports this weekend that Partners in Health took over the General Hospital three days after the earthquake. We been cut in touch with them but they have not provided any information that would help us locate the children. While the General Hospital was not structurally damaged, the 32 children of the abandoned baby unit are still missing. These children are not valuable to anyone to sell to adoption agencies or to take as “restavek” (slave) children, because they are all severely disabled or terminal.  We have had an increasingly acrimonious debate with the administration that General Hospital over the past nine months, in particular because of children (one in particular who has been there for eight years), that we have been willing to move out of the General Hospital an into one of the Mercy & Sharing orphanages for years.  Of course the way they work there, if we want something to them and they want something in return, and Mercy & Sharing does not pay bribes.

January 22, 2010: Mercy & Sharing Benefit Concert — Read More…

The Concert Benefit for Haiti is scheduled for February 11, 2010 of the Wheeler opera house in Aspen.  The website for information is located at www.haitibenefitconcert.com. Hope to see you there!

January 20, 2010: Aftershock — Read More…

Approximately 12 hours ago another aftershock struck Haiti with nearly as much force as the first earthquake.  The aftershock rated 6.1 on the Richter scale, whereas the earthquake eight days ago was 7.0 on the Richter scale. According to the USGS, it was located 30 miles west Southwest of Port-au-Prince. The damage was not as extensive, primarily because there is not much left to destroy. Rubble was shaken from already damaged buildings, and people were panicking and running through the streets again, but our US Team did not see any major additional damage that any of the Mercy and Sharing projects.

January 19, 2010: City of Sun — Read More…

Communications were especially difficult today.  I did manage to get through to the US team a couple of times but only for brief periods and only after calling all the cell and sat phone number dozens of time. Today the US Team spent most of the day surveying the school and feeding project in the slums of Cite de Soliel. I am attaching some of the photographs from that visit.

January 18, 2010: Mass Graves — Read More…

“We saw mass graves alongside a number of the roads with bulldozers filling the graves with bodies to overflowing. While we are accustomed to seeing small children naked in the streets, we saw many naked adults in the streets or sitting on the sides of the road who were either robbed or ran from their homes in the middle of the night to escape the catastrophe. The devastation is everywhere.  The city looks like a war zone, neighborhood after neighborhood. The children and staff at the Cazeau orphanage were so overjoyed to see us that they started singing and praising God. When we got back in Williamson we were overjoyed that relief supplies were literally right behind the convoy of vehicles.  The staff is all thrilled to know that they still have jobs, although most of the staff lost family members and have been burying loved ones all week.  Although the children at Williamson have had bottled water, because the generators were not working they have not bathed for at least a week and they were filthy, dusty, covered with cuts, and scared to sleep inside the buildings.  They have started playing again, we are getting them cleaned up, and they are smiling and going inside the buildings.  We have chickens we are raising running around and roosters crowing in the background. The smell of cooking food is incredible when you are this hungry.”

January 18, 2010: Abandoned Baby Unit — Read More…

All abandoned baby unit children have been evacuated and are moved to undisclosed location due to security issues. Some kids have TB and they are being treated in isolation ward. All kids from ABU are undergoing medical checkups.

January 17, 2010: Devastation — Read More…

Susie, Jeff, Bill, Jacques and two Haitian police (as security), crossed the border into Haiti around 6 am Sunday, and arrived at the Williamson project late this afternoon.  Unfortunately, things are not as we had hoped. Typically we have approximately 85 total employees with around 1/3 of them working eight hour shifts around-the-clock — instead there were a handful of employees on site trying to take care of hundreds of children.  Many of the children have not had water or food in two days, the handicapped children have a bed sores, and they are trying to stabilize the situation in Williamson before nightfall.

January 15, 2010: Surviving — Read More…

On Thursday January 14 we got a text message from Mde. Chenet, the Mercy & Sharing in-country supervisor — with one word: “surviving” — otherwise communications to Haiti were down all day Thursday.

January 13th, 2010: Haiti Earthquake 2010 — Read More…

In the aftermath of the earthquake, here are some updates on our Mercy & Sharing programs. Information is limited at this time, so stay tuned for updates or follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Want to help? Please consider making a donation to the Mercy & Sharing Foundation.