We love you Kaka

I am so far behind on my paperwork that I locked myself in my house this weekend to get caught up... and to alleviate my fears of being fired :)

My goal was to finish sending "thank you emails" to those who made purchases through the H2H gift catalogue. I was making headway until I wrote this email & then took several hours to compose myself again...

If you have been following my blog (www.rebeccalarkin.blogspot.com) you'll know that we lost one of our kids in the earthquake... Kaka was living in Port-au-Prince while he attended school. His home collapsed in the initial earthquake and we were not able to recover his body.

Kaka's parents live in a small town in northern Haiti, called Bouva. They are a poor family who live in a remote mountain community. Most of their children are living at H2H as they did not have a chance to go to school in Bouva. When his parents found out about Kaka they were devastated to say the least and his father became sick. He is recovering but hasn't been able to do much to support his family. I have sent the money you sent to H2H for "emergency food" to Kaka's parents and pray that God's presence and peace will accompany the monetary gift and their hearts will be nourished as well as their bodies.

Thank you for your purchase through the H2H gift catalogue and please continue to pray for Kaka's parents and the rest of his family. I am attaching a picture of Kaka - taken a few weeks before the earthquake. He was taking a computer class at school and was excited to show me what he was learning on my computer.



Kaka, you are our brother, son, nephew, cousin and friend to all... we love you and miss you!

Wavin' Flag

Most of you have probably already seen this video... as you get more news than I do! If you haven't heard the song "Wavin' Flag" it's worth checking out this video!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB7L1BIDELc&feature=PlayList&p=A04B234CD95E78B9&index=24

The 1st container has arrived!

A container of Rogers Flour arrived today! We already have sent several bags to the local bakery to make bread... hopefully it will be ready for breakfast tomorrow!!... and the kids are looking forward to porridge and stew with dumplings.









Despite the heat, the men quickly challenged each other to see who could carry the most flour:







And the winner was..... "Ti-Pappa" with 7 bags!!



Please continue to pray for the kids - typhoid and malaria are circulating. We're doing our best to keep things in check by taking kids to the hospital quickly but it's still taking it's toll.

Let the blocks fall and the babies cry!

The boys, & some hired help, are taking down the damaged buildings. It's been a lot of work as they are doing it by hand (with hammers) so they can save some of the building materials.

Half of the top floor of the school has been removed:



And this is what is left of the guesthouse/kitchen building:



I also wanted to show you some updated pictures of Theo Joe:



Here he is with his mom:



Just today I received a link to a video posted on Facebook of Theo Joe's birth:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=516804379#!/video/video.php?v=1272158457973&ref=mf

More good news...

One of our teachers, Jay Michel, and his wife had a baby girl, Ashlin, on March 3rd. They are living in the H2H compound with us & both mom & baby are doing great!

Ashlin:



Ashlin with her cousin, Loona:



Their tarp shelter (right beside the school):



It has been a difficult few months but there are also lots good memories being stored away too :)

Cards from students at TWU

Students from TWU sent cards to the kids at H2H with words of encouragement and promises to help - the kids (even the big ones!) really appreciated them!

Samantha & Ticam:




Meme & friend:




Sheldon, Rosie, Wilner, Donami, Dodo & Sencia:




Eliyou:

Article with US Marines

I just realized this article has been posted:

http://onthegroundinhaiti.freedomblogging.com/2010/02/02/blogs-twitter-helps-22nd-marine-expeditionary-unit-in-crisis-response/

Our new truck!

H2H is the proud owner of this new truck!



It's not just pretty, it's a hard worker too! We received it a few weeks ago and it has been serving us faithfully in food distributions, carrying tents & other supplies. It is the identical truck to the one we rent when we take the kids to the beach so the kids are talking nonstop about going to Tyno Beach... but they'll have to wait a bit longer for that :)

ps... the security guard in the picture above is Jason.

The story of Meme

Meme is a 16 year old boy who lived with his aunt in a nearby town called Tampion (on the road to Petit Goave). When the earthquake started he was working in a garden in the mountains. After the initial few shakes ceased he ran down the mountains to his aunt’s house… only to find it abandoned. The aftershocks continued and he was scared to stay by himself so he made his way to the market in Grande Goave on his bike. He spent 4 long nights there, without food or shelter, until someone in town directly him to Heart to Heart Valley. He has been staying with us ever since.

My first encounter with Meme was the day after he arrived. Our compound was full of school kids and community members and it was difficult to sort through the masses. I came across a boy sitting alone crying. He eventually explained that his front tooth had been broken and was hurting. I sent him to a dentist in town that afternoon… in the chaos I didn’t give much thought to who he was or why he was there. It was later that night that Pastor Luc filled me in on his story.

Meme’s mom abandoned him 3 years ago, fleeing to the Dominican, leaving him with his dad and his aunt’s family. A year ago his dad died suddenly after drinking some homemade alcohol… it was presumably poisoned but nothing was confirmed. This left him alone with his aunt’s family. He has a few brothers and sisters but most were living in Port-au-Prince with various family members – none of them have been in touch for years.

We are trying to locate Meme’s aunt and a brother that was rumored to be living nearby but we haven’t had any luck yet. For now Meme is safe, and happy, living at H2H but we’d like to reunite him with his family. Please pray for Meme and the others that have similar stories - before the earthquake they had very little family life... now they have even less.

Here's Meme helping the boys take down the rest of the questhouse/kitchen complex - he's a very hard worker!!

Goodbye and Thank you!!

The US Marines stopped by to say goodbye - many have been sent home and the rest are being transferred to places with a greater need than Grand Goave. We will miss them and really appreciate all they have done to help us!!

One of the Haitian speaking Marines sat with a group of kids and gave them the 'don't be a fool, stay in school' speech. The kids hung on every word!





Mackenley couldn't keep his eyes off the Marine, even to drink his water:



He shared some family photos with them:



An organization, Terre des Hommes, has lent us 6 large tents for the kids to sleep in. They are great! Here is a picture of the younger boys new house... conveniently located by the playground: