The Preschoolers!

They are so much fun!

Beautiful

Around Pignon...

Gonaives Refugees

These are my friends' children from Gonaives who are currently living in Pignon. During the hurricane, they stayed on their neighbors' second story roof for over 48 hours with no food and only rain water to drink. For most of that time, their mom covered their faces with a blanket to protect them from seeing the unimaginable images that surrounded them (dead bodies floating by, houses being swept away, etc). Along with their parents and several other children, they were able to leave Gonaives by helicopter after the water level went down. All the kids are now in school in Pignon and doing very well.

Photo Shoot

Pictures are a big deal to most people in Haiti because they are taken so rarely and cameras are hard to come by. Most of my friends have maybe a total of ten pictures of themselves. No annual school pictures or holiday pictures. Since the kids get so excited about getting their pictures taken, I use this as an incentive for the students. Here are some of the 6th grade girls...

The Milk Girls

More kids in my milk program who live in my neighborhood...

Angeline

Ti Rose

They come every morning before school, usually around 5:30. They chug their milk, take their vitimins, and are on their way. They are the happiest little girls...

Starving

On Sunday when I was walking through the hospital I met this little guy named Walkins. He's 7 years old. He's the middle of five children. I've seen his other family members and they look normal and healthy. The doctor says his only problem is malnutrition (no other diseases). I'm still trying to figure out his whole story. Situations like this are extremely hard for me to understand. I know this is bad, but as soon as I met his mom I felt mad at her. I resented her and wanted to blame her for everything. How can you let your child get this bad? I know things are tough here and food can be difficult for people to find, but why would you wait until your child can no longer walk before you take him to the hospital? It's so hard to understand from an outsiders prospective.

I decided to start taking a little food and milk to him everyday... just to kind of add to whatever else he's getting from his mom. Walkins is a very picky eater; it's crazy to see him turn down food while his body is literally starving. When I take food and he doesn't eat it right then, I always wonder if his mom or siblings will take it from him. Yesterday I took him peanut butter and crackers and he told me he was full but that he'd eat them later. I came back to check on him that night while I was visiting another sick friend, and I noticed that some of the crackers had been eaten. I congratulated him on eating some of crackers and he replied that his mom had been the one to eat them...

I'll try to post updates of Walkins as he makes progress.

Sisterly Love

Recent pictures of Jesula... She's continuing to speak more everyday. Unfortunately, she's not making much progress as far as walking goes... but we're not giving up!

More School Pictures

The First Day of School

We had our first day of school yesterday. It was so great to see all the kids again. Like every first week of school, there were lots of tears shed by the little preschoolers!