Welcome

Join us in saying "hello and welcome" to Margaret, our new Guest House Manager, and three new boys.  Will have more on them in the coming days.  They were all greeted this morning after church service.  Margaret comes to us from Detroit and has a background in hospitality.  It is very good to have her here.

Trash to treasure

Who needs ToysrUs?  We have lots of scrap wood, metal and bottle caps.  Combine those with a little ingenuity and you've got yourself a toy truck.

Frantzi Jean

Frantzi Jean, brother of Joel Jean who works in our finance office, is a second year seminary student  in Port-au-Prince.  He has been doing training with our older boys.  Some of the topics he has covered with them are: World religions and their characteristics, the Origin of the church in the Bible, the birth of Protestantism, the Reformation, the liturgy and it's origins in the Bible, the structure of the Mass.

Frantzi is heading back to the seminary this week but needs financial support.  School tuition and books will cost 22,500 Gourdes ($563.00 US) for the year and living expenses will cost 38,500 Gourdes per semester (almost $1,000 US) and there are three semesters per year.  Know anyone or a church community that would like to sponsor a seminarian?

Break

 A photo of the construction crew taking a break late this morning and a close-up of Kalou, the team mascot.  Kalou is the son of one of our masons.  His mother makes sure the team stays hydrated, runs errands and sometimes cooks.

Clinic

 Photo taken from the west.  You're looking at the future infirmary section of the clinic.

Remember I told you that a previous photo of the consultation room tile did not do the tile work justice?  Well, this makes up for it.

TiRok

TiRok asks me everyday when Peter is coming back.  I tell him that he'll be back a week after school starts.  He'll ask me again tomorrow, I'm sure.  If there's one thing TiRok is, it's persistent.

Aspirant

This boy just turned thirteen.  He's from Camp-Perrin and is one of eight children.  His father was hurt in a work accident and can no longer provide for the family.  I forget the boy's name but he came to us yesterday and begged us for a chance to live here, eat daily and attend school.  The problem is he is one of fifty children who want to become part of the Espwa family.  Wish we could help them all but our budget does not allow it.  Keep him and his family in your prayers.

Precious

The daughter of one of our cooks, Magdala,  came by to visit this afternoon.  Ain't she a cutie?

Clinic

 Southern exterior

Electrical conduit for the consultation rooms.  A cement floor will be poured over this.

Healthy=Happy

Eating healthy equals happy children.

Thanks to Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) for their donation of pre-packaged, fortified rice blend which allows the kids to have a hearty and healthy breakfast.

Prayers before breakfast

A word of thanksgiving before we eat.

Breakfast

It takes fourteen of these pots to make breakfast.

Leftovers

These women and children come every day and wait to see if there's any food leftover for them.  We always have extra but it's never enough.  Thirty to fifty people come for every meal which means our children never get seconds.

Here are more photos of the neighbors who come in hopes of finding food:

Your generosity allows us to provide for these people.  Thank you very much.

Shelo and Jimmy

This is Chelo or Shelo or Shello (I've seen it spelled all three ways).  He's always ready to lend a hand and is terrific with the younger children.

Jimmy is another outstanding young man.  Still can't get over the change in him since his teeth were fixed.  Now he smiles all the time.

Clinic

 

Electrical work is being done these days on phase one.  Stucco is being applied to the infirmary section (phase two) and I'm really liking the colors.  Amazing how paint transforms a building.  The above is the waiting area where there will be cement benches but no tattered, old magazines.

Yves

Yves sends his regards to everyone.  I've never met anyone who smiles as much as he does.

Espwa's second string

Earlier this week, one of our soccer teams played a team from town.  Score was tied at 2 to 2.

Soccer balls

Soccer balls have a short life here at Espwa so the boys have become adept at rebuilding them.  String, tape, shredded medical gloves... are all used in this process.

Soccer match, what else?

If the guys aren't playing soccer they're talking about it or watching it on television.  Here's a group watching two European teams playing it out.  The last thing on their minds was haircuts!  See below.

Hair time

Rosena and Sophia

Rebecca and Elizabeth

Michelange getting her hair done by Boniface

Sunday afternoon is a great time to try out new hairstyles or so say our girls.

Laundry

 Ernice

 

Daniel

Our little boys and girls have their laundry done by adults who are hired for that reason but the older ones have to do it themselves.  Takes about three hours and then it's time to dry.  Ironing comes next but one needs an iron for this-- not always possible.

Clinic tile

This is the gentleman in charge of tiling the clinic.  The photo does not do the job justice as the floors look fantastic.

A couple of his helpers working another consultation room.

Paint

Martin has been with us for four years as an employee.  He was a resident before that and is both a mason and a painter.

Michelet is a former restavek who has been with us a total of eleven years-- five as a resident and six as a mason/painter.

Frantz is our best painter and multi-tasker.  He can lay blocks, mix cement, apply finishing mortar...  The best thing about Frantz is his attitude.  Wish we could clone him!

Clinic

 Inside the clinic courtyard

The door in the above photo is off its hinges because the floors are being tiled.  Tiling of the first phase is now done.  What do you think of the paint job?  All medical facilities in Haiti are painted white with green trim.  The trick is to keep the green at a minimum.

Vocational School Graduation

 The graduating class of our vocational school decided to honor Father Charlie who is no longer with us due to ill health.

 A graduate, Miss Rose Marthe, Michelle, Mario (our Voc. School Director) and our Education Director Etienne Frantz.

 Ronick, the top grad

A group shot of our graduates at church service this morning.

Dental Labor Weekend

Doctor Chuck Tozzer, our dentist friend from California, is seen on the left in the top photo.  He organized a dental mission this weekend and brought along seven other dentists and 15 folk to assist so that they could see and treat 275 people.  Amazing! 

Linda Faford is seen in a less than flattering photo on the bottom.  Linda was instrumental is helping to make this mission trip a huge success.  This was an astronomical logistical challenge but she proved that she was up to the task.  Muchas gracias to Doctor Tozzer, to his team and to Linda for all their hard work.

The children's smiles are much brighter now after this weekend.

Ouch!

One of the young dentists working on Jean Denis.  The word "Ouch" comes to mind.

Miracle workers

It doesn't show up very well but the top photo shows Pierre with some pretty bad front teeth.  the bottom photo shows Pierre with Doctor Abbott and his assistant and the wonderful work they did to transform Pierre's smile.