Leafy Greens

Horticulturalist Cameron in his natural habitat: our densely-packed Moringa grove. The Moringa is a versatile tree that thrives in tropical areas; its leaves are packed with vitamins and used for medicine across several cultures (including Haitian herbal culture). Every part of the tree is useful in some way, and Cameron's been helping us grow more and more to have at our disposal.

Mme. Denault, the head cook, shreds harvested Moringa leaves to mix in the Saturday stew. It's a small addition that makes a world of difference, giving a great boost to the meal's nutritional content. It's still a young project and a new concept, but here's to looking forward where it can take us. Here's to good health and leafy greens.

Happy Teachers' Day!

Here in Haiti, we celebrate Teachers' Day on May 16. Undaunted by heavy rains that morning, Espwa school teachers and children came together yesterday for a special assembly to honor our educators and their special contribution to the lives of our children.

It was a day of acknowledgment, speeches, and performance. Here the littlest students share some encouraging words for their teachers - like they say, 'from the mouths of babes':

Remember these guys? The Espwa nan Nwel 2013 winners performed a groovy tune:

And here the principals of the secondary school and kindergarten, left to right, present the teachers with honorary certificates:

Educators, thank you for all you do for the children!

New Chickens

Say hello to our newest additions!

Today we added thirty new layer chickens to the chicken coop; this expansion of the egg project will help us provide more supplemental nutrition and protein in the children's meals and strengthen our self-sustaining approach to agriculture. It's been made possible by generous donors, the leadership of Cameron from CO, and of course the young men who care for the chickens and operate the egg project day-to-day. Great work!

Global Health

Last week we were visited by a wonderful group of nursing students and faculty from CO, specializing in global community health. Although they were only here for a few days, they did a lot for the kids - checking all the residents of our younger houses for skin conditions, infections, fungi, and mites. They're nasty-sounding things that get passed around quite a bit in a big population of rough-and-tumble little kids living close together. 

They also shared some very sweet moments with the children, like "Doctor" Tanise here.

This is great new because with better knowledge of the problem, we can formulate a response to make those blisters and rashes a thing of the past. 

Open Wide

This week we hosted a group of old friends from a Presbyterian church in NJ. Together with fellow visitor Allain from CA, they set up a dental suite in the Klinik Espwa. Here's Carelene getting a good cleaning.

Lovenson, with his typically wide smile - happy to be in the dentist's chair, looks like. After the cleaning, dentists put a sealant on to maintain oral health and prevent future problems - which means less cavities and rotten teeth in the long run.

Here Angeline cleaning out her mouth after everything's done. This was a great opportunity for our kids to receive high-quality healthcare in an important area of their lives.

But that's not all - our visitors were multi-talented bunch and shared a great deal of other professional skills: primary healthcare and cardiological consultations, physical and energy therapy, construction and mechanical assistance, and more! A real gift.

Pass the Popcorn

You can't tell in the dark, but this is a cloth screen in the Boy's Village - we've been bringing back a very nice tradition, weekend movie nights. It's a great way to build community and bring some excitement to the typical (quiet) Friday night; the students especially enjoyed it as they just finished taking midterms this past week.

Can anyone ID the movie? 50 points if you can get it!

Tweet Away

Good news for social media fans - Free the Kids is now on Twitter!

You can follow at
https://twitter.com/Free_the_Kids

Espwa Jeopardy

Last week the school system held another round of the "Genius Debate," an academic competition open to all outstanding students. Participants flex their brains by memorizing material from their classes and going head-to-head with a barrage of trivia questions.

It's a great opportunity for encouragement and practice for our students who academically excel, and it makes for great entertainment:

Students' Visit

This week a group of college students from OH are with us on a mission trip. It's a wonderful opportunity for our children, especially our older ones, to share and receive knowledge, perspectives, and questions with others who are so close to their own age.

Here are some snapshots of the week:

Remember PPED, from our last blog post? Well this group of exceptional young men is planning to start a small boutique at Espwa in order to support their activities with vulnerable children and establish an enterprise model for future graduates. Here are Makentoche,Lifaite, and Jean Ourdy meeting with the visiting students for advice on forming a solid marketing plan and a strong business proposal to present to potential investors. Two of our visitors are economics majors, and the others have good sense for the field - needless to say, good first steps were made.

Engineer Jay and deputized assistant Lisa - both faculty advisors for the trip - getting down to brass tacks by fixing some of our dysfunctional machines; pumps, sanders, V-belts... it's such a godsend to have that know-how here, even if it is for just a week.

An after-school English club with a few young men from the Secondary School. A relaxed setting for some very deep conversation.

Thinking on Your Feet

A small example of adapting to challenges here that I wanted to share with you-

A few days ago, the older boys working in the egg project noticed that several of the chickens were sick. After contacting a local veterinarian, they were told to separate the sick chickens and change the sawdust bedding. Here they are working on it:

Without other coops or pens available, they improvised and overcame - Sammy here is constructing an enclosed cage within the coop out of materials they had on hand.

The coop has been swept, and the boys started administering antibiotics recommended by the vet. We're hoping that'll take care of it, but if not it's good knowing these guys have the initiative to identify the problem and the drive to resolve it.

Breakfast

Instead of the usual Haitian spaghetti or rice dish, this morning the kids got a nutritious treat - boiled eggs. These are Espwa-grown eggs from our own chicken coop, and are possible because of the efforts of the team of students who tend the chickens and the leadership of our friend Cameron in CO. 

Right now the chicken project is still in its beginnings, a small coop of about twenty layers - so we're able to do this once a month. In the future we hope to expand, adding chickens to the coop and protein to the children's diet.

Dedication Ceremony

A couple shots from the dedication and the official opening of the water purification building:

We begin with a prayer for God to bless us and this source of life-giving water.

Our trained operators - Jean Roudy, Ilsonje, and Pegens - are given their certificates and presented before the community.

Students are given samples of the first harvest (batch? grouping?) of pure water from the system.

It really does taste better than any other water I've had here. The kids can tell, too.

What a tremendous blessing, and one that we're very excited about moving forward with. Thank you, friends!

Let There be Light

Yesterday an important part of the girls' dome village was installed. Take a look:

These two light posts are solar-powered, which means no electricity costs (or periodic power outages), and the batteries are built to last through the night. It'll be a welcome change for the girls to see where they're going after dark!

Living Water

Friends at the US-based Presbyterian water ministry are giving us a great gift, installing a water purification system adjacent to the clinic. This will allow us to easily provide clean, drinkable water for the whole Espwa campus, and will serve as an enterprise opportunity for some of our young men vending water to the local community.

Here Al, our electrician, works with the team's local technician on the installation.

The ministry team is devoting part of their time with us to educating our children, student leaders, and staff on the importance of potable water. Here they are in one of the girls' domes running an icebreaker activity.

They've been coordinating with Miss Gilloux, our public health nurse (in blue on the right), to hold formation sessions like this one with the house mothers. Jean Rudy, standing with the group, is translating for them and will be one of the young men operating the water system.

Here's a 'priority ladder' - things you need to use purified water for (drinking, cooking, baby care, brushing teeth) at the top, and things you can use untreated well water for closer to the bottom. The house mothers were given placards and asked to place them on the ladder.

It's never too early to start learning - Juneau, Juneauson, and Jackson sit in on a lesson.

Espwa Craftsmanship

The guys in our carpentry shop just finished construction of a hefty order of cabinets (14 large, 9 small, I think) for our new girls' houses. Very well-made, and all this despite the major table saw being out of commission with a worn-out belt.

Here's Boss Dieudonne, head of the carpentry workshop, the man who makes things happen. Great job!

New Shoes Go a Long Way

Thanks to a large donation of shoes by our recent visitors, we were able to hold a distribution of shoes for all our children who needed a new pair.

Many of the recipients were recent additions to the Espwa family, having come last summer.

So for many, like Mikelson here on the right, brand-new shoes mean a lot and make a big difference.

Marc Donald and Ojla here got shoes to match their clothes, I think. Budding fashionistas.

What a blessing! Thanks to all who made this possible.

Breaking Ground

Wednesday we had the first session of our videoconferencing program with a wonderful middle school in CA. It was the fruit of several months of planning and preparation, and for the first time brought a group of our students face-to-face with their counterparts on the West Coast. 

Miliste, our 'anchorman,' makes first contact.

Our representatives from the first year of secondary school - that's Diversine and Jean-Gady in front. They had the chance to talk about their school, classes, and generally introduce themselves.

Needless to say, it was very exciting for all involved.

A special thank-you to Jim and his team in CA, who made this possible.

Meet the Sheriff

This is Jean Yvon Derase, our new head of security here at Espwa. He will be taking over for Francois, who had to leave us for health reasons. Jean Yvon brings with him a lot of experience and a commitment to keep our kids safe.

We're feeling very positive about it, and on that note, please enjoy this staged photo that tries to emulate a casual conversation:

On a scale of one to ten, how convincing was it? What do you think?

Health Ed

Last week a group of medical students from Port-au-Prince visited us, led by Dr. Joey Lamarre - a former Espwa kid and now a first-year resident physician at the general hospital in Les Cayes.

The students have been doing this for a few years now, spending a week with the children here as an annual service project. They teach the basics of public health, germs and parasites, self-care, hygiene, and other topics. At the end of the trip they met with Espwa staff to present their observations and suggestions.

It's great for the kids, it's a good experience for the med students, and it's encouraging for us to see Dr. Joey and how the seeds of his time at Espwa have blossomed into such a wonderful collaboration on this scale.

Here are some pictures of the young doctors at work: (they're really good with the kids!)

There was a song-and-dance to this one. Don't remember the words though.

Basics of epidemiology here.

I think I disrupted the lesson.