Clean Up begins

With the help of our older boys including some who had recently left us, our staff started clean up efforts.

 With the primary school in the background where our boys are currently living,  our older boys and some neighbors are cleaning our property of fallen trees.

 Thank goodness our faithful workhouse, an old GMC military pick-up, is still working to help with the clean up.

"Men ampil, chay pa lou" is a Haitian expression that means

"many hands make for light work".  Here's living proof!

Hope restored

Primary school uniform shirts were salvaged from the boys' homes,

 washed and are seen drying in the sun.

After the initial, disheartening reaction to all the destruction, we have started working to improve our situation.  With all hands on deck, the boys and girls under the direction of ChildCare carefully scoured through the mess that Hurricane Matthew left us to see what could be salvaged.

The photo above is proof that this effort was successful.  It is small steps to normalcy like this that allow us to be hopeful.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Damage Assessment

 Uprooted tree on our property

 One of the boys' homes

Another home in the Boys' Village

Housemothers and our older boys are going through the trashed homes to try and save anything that is useful.  The girls' dome houses just need major clean up.  Any new homes we build will definitely be dome homes. 

So many fallen trees and branches that we can't get to town in a vehicle.  Our staff people are organizing our neighbors to clean up the road so that we can get to the main road to Les Cayes.  Heard that EdH, the state run electric company, stated that there would be no power for months as there was so much damage to poles and wires.

Please keep our children and staff in your prayers.

Father Marc

Calm after the storm

Hurricane Matthew has finally released southwestern Haiti from its clutches.  In its wake it left unbelievable devastation.  Our children and staff are all safe though exhausted as sleeping through a hurricane like this one was impossible.
We gathered all the children and put them up in our two-story solid Primary School.  Plywood sheets covered the windows in an effort to keep the rain out but the water came in anyway.
When the force of the wind hit us it ripped off the metal roofing on all the boys homes, our Secondary School and the homes in Sitwon.  Trees were uprooted or branches torn off.  It is painful to hear the descriptions of the damage inflicted on Espwa.  There will be no school for the foreseeable future because one school is destroyed and the other is housing our children. One positive note: the girls' village is structurally intact as the homes there are dome buildings. They are a mess inside but can be cleaned up.
All our agricultural projects are gone, wiped out by wind and water. Our mango trees suffered much damage; our banana trees are all laying on their sides and the coconut trees look like bare sticks.
Hundreds of our neighbors from Madame Combe, Pico, etc...came to us after their homes were destroyed.  They were seeking shelter and food.  We'll do what we can but we need help, too.
Please consider giving us a hand as we face the clean-up, repairs and reconstruction.  Go to www.freethekids.org to make a donation.  Keep us in your prayers.

Father Marc