Returning From a Three-Week Trip

I just returned from a three-week trip to Haiti.  Joining me during part of that time was Susan Hevalow, John Howard, and Kyle Butler.  While there, we followed-up on the progress of all of our Love Haiti students, including  one-on-one sessions with each student, and an end-of-the semester celebration with the students and their families. We paid second-semester tuitions at four different schools, hired tutors for students in need, and sought medical care for a couple of students who needed it.  In addition, we researched and toured a public school in Port au Prince (there are not many, and we learned that entrance is extremely competitive); we toured a four-year nursing university in Leogane, and an English School in Port au Prince for future reference.  
We stayed at Notre Maison Children's Home in Port au Prince where Love Haiti sponsors a tutor for the children who live there.  We were able to observe his work, and interact with the children, learning more about their needs.
We also visited a Methodist Church in Port au Prince.  They have 4,000 members.  We were able to meet with the pastors, and they were kind enough to allow us to use a classroom to perform eye exams for the elderly.  Before we left for Haiti, Restoring Vision donated 300 pairs of reading glasses with instructions on how to perform eye exams for presbyopia.  Some of our Love Haiti students helped us perform the exams.  It was an opportunity for them to help others.    
This was a productive trip in so many ways.  Overall, the students are doing well.  We will be posting more details about our trip during the next few weeks, highlighting stories about specific students.  If you have any questions, please ask.

Cliff's story

Ten-year-old Cliff

When we met our "Love Haiti" students, they were living in a Tent City in Port au Prince.  Many had lived there for three years.   Since then, the government took back the land, offering the residents a small financial subsidy to move.  Most of the students and their families stayed in Port au Prince, but a few moved.  In October, we visited  all of the schools, but had not had a chance to visit their new homes yet.

This is the crossing to get into Carrefour from Port au Prince. 

We were directed in several different ways trying to find Cliff's home.  This was one of the neighborhoods we traveled through.

Ten-year-old Cliff moved with his family, four brothers, his mother and father, to Carrefour (very unusual for a Haitian child to live with both parents).  Carrefour is a "commune" of Port au Prince, but the drive makes it seem far. Carrefour is mostly residential with a population of 460,000 residents.

It was laundry day for many residents of Carrefour.

The day we went to Cliff's school the principal said that he had been hit by a motorcycle while walking to school.  She did not know how he was doing, so we set out looking for Cliff and his family.    It took awhile, but we finally found his home, and we were happy to see that he was OK.  He was not bedridden, but limping and in pain. Although he continues to be in some pain, he is attending school and  doing well academically.  

We searched for Cliff's brother who attends a different school.  School was letting out and we were greeted by happy faces.