HERO

Ted Waldbart, President of HERO (a non-profit organization), standing in front of the Village Solar Oven that his org provided for us. Ted was here over the weekend and quickly made a slew of friends as the photo shows. We are very fortunate to have friends like Ted, John and James (see next posts). God bless 'em.

Friday Night

John, Father Charlie and James sitting around the table on our traditional Friday night gathering. James was here for the first time but plans on returning. He has tons of experience in well-digging and will be a great asset. Like John, he comes from Michigan.

Michigan Visitors

That's John Johnson of upper Michigan who was with us last week. Never one to stand still for too long, John did some maintenance training for the tractor drivers and took on a couple of small projects.

A good story

MaTante, Claudia and MacKenson

A couple of months ago I posted a photo of a little girl and her brother who had just arrived at Castel-Pere. Claudia is small due to protein malnutrition and her brother had a bad wound on his eyebrow. The pastor of a friend of ours saw the photo of Claudia and wanted to help. We provided her with more info and both our friend and her pastor agreed to help the children's family. What the family of seven really needed was a new place to live and more income. We found them a place near Castel-Pere where two of the adults will be able to work at Hope Village thanks to the support of kind people back in Maine. The best part of all this is that Claudia and Mackenson will be able to go home as often as they wish (even return home permanently). For Claudia, her brother and the whole St Preux family... mesi, mil mesi.

St Preux photos

Inside shot of the St Preux home from which they were evicted.

Mr St Preux practicing his craft (shoe-shining) which cannot support his family.

The St Preuxs lived in this house (on the left side) which leaked like a sieve when the rains fell. They could not afford the rent so asked for help. We found a better house for them in a better neighborhood for a little less money.

St Preux photos (2)

All their worldly possessions in the truck, the St Preux family heads to their new home near Castel-Pere.

Photo of the family in their old yard.

St Preux family in their new yard in front of their new lodgings. It is a huge improvement over the old house (metal roof and concrete floor) and close to Castel-Pere for Mr. St Preux and his brother to walk to their new jobs.

Open WIDE

Doctor Farah Husain, a dentist with Pan American Health Organization, came to visit yesterday to evaluate our dental needs for a prevention and intervention program sponsored by PAHO. The children have beautiful smiles as our visitors can verify but upon closer examination we see the damage done by malnutrition and poor diets. This is Jeffrey accommodating Dr. Farah.