Spektak

Yesterday the Project put on a Spektak for our visitors. It's a wonderful tradition for all involved, especially the kids; they take the initiative to create routines, organize performances, and encourage one another throughout the process.

Here's an action shot of Julio onstage, where he sheds his usually quiet demeanor to put on that rockstar persona he wears so well.
And that's Leti and Aurel in the background with our clunky AV equipment. A few years (or decades) out of date but hey it gets the job done, am I right?

The younger girls perform a traditional Haitian dance. A lot of flowing gestures and deep, reverberating drum beats. I get the feeling Tama's leading here, the way Lemsa watches her for choreography.

Dance of the market women and farmers. This was a real fun one - Bosico plays a great elderly farmer; it made me laugh to see him grimace and hobble onstage, then explode into dance.

Here's Tama again; this time showing off her singing chops. This was a pretty big number - with the other young girls backup dancing and a cameo by Julio. I think a few minutes after this photo was taken she went into the dancebreak and the crowd went wild.

Good show, guys!

Madame Angela

New FTK Executive Director Angela visited the Children's Village yesterday and got to meet quite a few of the young guys and girls. As always, everyone loved having their photo taken.

Angela is here this week to meet with our staff and help us plan for the challenges ahead. She grew up in northern Haiti and speaks Creole fluently; it's a pleasure having her here. Welcome back, Angela!

Saturday Morning

Every Saturday morning the boys here comb our grounds for trash and fallen leaves - our own little "Clean Brigade." 

Chicken Coop

Some older boys and staff working on a roosting box (terminology?) for the revitalized chicken coop. The chickens are hanging out inside the building, they just got in from Port-au-Prince a week ago and right off the bat have been building up to a solid egg output. I'm told they'll get to as many as a dozen and a half every day if things go well. We're hopeful.

Working Hard

Scenes from the Children's Village:

The boys are working on a garden plot inside the village, a place for them to grow some of their own fruits and vegetables and practice farming techniques. Our long-term volunteer Cameron has been spearheading agricultural projects like these to involve the kids, and by and large the response has been enthusiastic.

Even some of the little ones like De here have rolled their sleeves up and jumped in. Look at that smile!

New Beginnings

This is Samana; she's a new arrival and the sister of twins Hebreaux and Hebreauson. Samana is an adventurous extrovert type, almost the opposite of her reserved, focused little sister Carelene. Despite their differences, the girls stay close and watch out for one another. And despite the years they've spent in some pretty desperate poverty, they're both sweet as can be.

The photo was taken a few weeks ago, at our assembly for the beginning of school. It's meaningful on a lot of levels: for the kids, the beginning of a new academic year; for Samana, the start of a new life at Espwa; for us in cyberspace, the first post of a new blog; and for all at Pwoje Espwa, the start of something new - a time of refocus, renewal, and perseverance through all the challenges we face, financial and otherwise. Please continue to pray for us, and keep us in your thoughts.

New blog

I haven't been able to keep up with updating you on the great things and the not so great things happening here.  In an effort to keep you in the know, a new blog is now open for inspection.  It will be updated more frequently and this one will be phased out.  Put "espwa means hope" in your browser and you'll see it.  Hope you enjoy it.

A few friends wrote to say that they could not find the new blog by doing what I suggested.

Try this: espwameanshope.blogspot.com