Update - March 20 2010

March 20 2010     Despite the fact that many government agencies are pulling out of Haiti, declaring the emergency over, it is far from over. Along with this, shipments by air can no longer go from the DR directly into Jacmel and now must clear customs in Port Au Prince - bureaucratic, complicating and counter productive to getting in supplies that will help the Haitian people to help themselves to move forward. As days pass, the need becomes all the more great.


We are fortunate that our children are eating and all are sleeping in tents, rather than under woven banana leaves and bedsheets, however their extended families and neighbors are not. We worry that the cost of food is already skyrocketing and the ability of our partners at G.O. Ministries to fly in food and supplies has been precluded by what I have described above. So please do not forget our children, and do not forget their reality. Help them to be the hope for Haiti that they are. Now and ongoing.

I know that I keep asking for donations - please know that by supporting these children ongoing, you have become a part of a larger family which, by its size and generosity, moves mountains. And while we can not help every person in Haiti impacted by this horrific event and the start point of unimaginable poverty, by helping our children to be the hope of Haiti, we are helping to do so.

I was asked the other day whether or not all of our staff in Haiti is Haitian. Many NGOs are run a 'blan' or foreigner on site and the Haitian staff reports to him or her. Not us! All staff is Haitian. In fact, we have provided 11 jobs within the community (all staff paid fair and equitable wages), contribute to the economy (as a market researcher, I need to compute and project economic impact), and help to prepare our children for the future.

So, yes, it is about our children. And they glow. And they giggle in the night, whispering from one tent to the next in the cluster. It is also about those whom they love and who love them.

I will write more about my week there, now that I am finding it even possible to speak about what I saw and experienced which was far more overwhelming than I could have imagined.

Mesi anpil.

Judy