Family #1 for school sponsorship

This is a family that lives in the area of Cazale.  The father has been sick for about three years now.  He has been unable to work.  Everyone is telling him that someone put a curse on him. He said he does not believe this and wants God to help him.  He has been going to church and believes that God will help him get better.  He has been coming to the clinic for several weeks now getting vitamins and he looks a lot better.  He fully believes that God is helping him and we do too. He just asked that we help with these three children for this school year.  After this year, he is hoping that he will be able to work and provide for his family.  We are also helping his family out with rice from feed my starving children. We are looking for someone to pick up these children for our school sponsorship program.  It cost $200 for the whole school year or $17 per month.  You can make a difference in a child’s life. Email me if you are interested at licia@realhopeforhaiti.org

This is Jn Duvernard.  He is six years old and is in the first grade.

This is Fadia.  She is 4 years old and in the second year of Kindergarden (they have three years here)

This is Mirlande.  She is three years old and is in the first year of Kindergarden. (they have three years here)

School Sponsorship

School Sponsorships

Education is something that many of us take for granted. In Haiti, many children do not have the privilege to attend school and learn.  Fifty percent of the population is under the age of 15.  Most parents would like to send all their children to school so that they can receive a good education.  However, many are only able to send a few of their children to school, while the other children are left at home.

God has placed a great desire in our heart to increase the number of children who are able to gain a quality education that will provide these children with more opportunities in life.  We hope and pray as these children grow and learn that they will in return give back to there country and village here in Cazale.
Would you consider helping to send a child of any age to school this year?

What grades you can sponsor:
 
      ~Kindergarten (ages 3 to 5) - There are 3 years here.

      ~1st through 6th grade (ages 5 and up) 

      ~7th through 10th grade (ages 14 and up)
 
      ~Vocational School (Sewing, Cooking, Lab Tech, Nursing, etc) 
            Please contact us if you are interested as costs are higher.

The below cost includes:
   tuition for 1 year            inscription            report cards            uniform
   all books                        notebooks           graduation fees       crayons
   pens                              scissors                book bag                 underclothes
   shoes                            socks                    barrettes                 ribbons
   pencils                           and any other school related activities

The cost is $200 per year.  Many people send $17 a month to cover the cost.  I will be posting some pictures soon of the kids that need a sponsor.  Lori and I will soon be posting about the upcoming semi-container as well.  Thanks to all of you that help, love and encouage us.

Community Development work day

The community development group worked in a local park today.  It might not be like a park you see near you, but we like it.  There are several flowers beds in the park.  There is a local man that has been taking care of them for the past few months.  He wanted to plant some grass.  This is something that you do not see much of here.  So Lori got some grass seed shipped in and we went today and planted it.  Before we started we weeded the area and hauled off about 10 buckets of rocks!

We then mixed dirt (left) and manure (right) with a some sand.  We layed this on top of the old flower bed.

 

We raked it all out even.

Then went along a scattered the seeds.  No grass seed spreaders here. 

 We then lighted raked over it and gave it a light watering.  Hopefully in about a week we should see some grass growing.  If this works them we will continue to work on the other beds.  Grass is good and beautiful here, they love it. 

The local park has these swing sets. There are two broken down swings the kids can play on.  If anyone would like to help out with this project let me know.  The kids would love to be able to play and have fun on these.  They could use five new sturdy swings.  If you would like to help email me at licia@realhopeforhaiti.org

 

Radio Station in Cazale

The Cazale area has a local radio station.  This radio station was started back up by funding from the local Catholic church in the area.  They use solar panels and a small generator for electricity.  Many members in the Cazale area give a small donation each month to buy fuel to keep the station running. They love the radio station and are so proud the the village has its own radio station.  The clinic does weekly shows on health education and they have many other shows with lots of information for the community.   The community development group worked in an area today close to the station, so I went by for a visit.  They have some needs for the station and I thought I would put them out there and someone might be able to help.  I do not know the proper names for everything so I took pictures so you could see what they have.

This plays the CD’s and tapes, it is working. 

 This is the back-up and it is broke.  They like to have two at a time so they can make everything flow well.

The local Catholic priest lives beside the radio station and has internet access.  This is there old computer.  The screen and keyboard work.  The modem does not work.  They use the computer to get news.  They give weather, sports and news reports.  I am sure they use it for the music as well.  A used one would be fine.  This would bless them SOO much!

Here is the set up.  Its in a small room and they have fixed it up the best they can for their needs.   

 

 This little room is outside the actual radio room, which is on the other side of the glass window.  This is where they do interviews and others talk on the radio.  They could use some new microphones and headset. 

We try to support the radio station in anyway that we can.  If you might be able to help email me at licia@realhopeforhaiti.org We will be able to ship items on the next semi container.

God is good!

I do not personally know the person that wrote the below blog entry.  But when I saw an incoming link from her blog I checked it out.  I was SO BLESSED.  This is what it is about.  Are you willing to listen to God and give what he asks you to?  Do you REALLY trust Him? I encourage you to read the below entry and be blessed and encouraged just like I was.

A Haitian Prayer

Pa mete chay traka ou yo

nan yon panye sou tet ou.

Mete you sou tet Jezi

Ou p’ap gen tet fe mal.

Don’t put you load of trouble

in a basket on your head.

Put them on Jesus’ head.

You won’t have headaches.

God is soooooo good!! Most of you already know that. But there are times when I have a hard time remembering that fact. Last week K. and I were down to our last $150, that was it, when it was gone, it was gone. But $100 of it we had set aside to use as a blessing. We are blessed and we always want to be a blessing.
We determined that we were not going to spend that $100 dollars on our family, that we would find someone that we could bless. Our friends were having a bake sale/lemonade stand to raise funds for a rescue center in Haiti. http://haitirescuecenter.wordpress.com/ We took $50 and “gave to the cause”.
It was a step of faith on our part. At times my mind thinks about all the groceries I could buy, the shoes the kids need, the gas our car drinks…… but we wanted to trust God and wait for HIS provision.
HE didn’t fail us, and he never does. We were blessed with $1100 in the course of a week. Gifts, people who new things were tight and wanted to bless, to give with the same faith that God would provide if ever they were in need. Praise the Lord!!

Thank you Jesus for taking care of us. I hope that I will learn to trust you more and more. I don’t want to look at what lies ahead of us with fear or doubt. I want to face life with confidence in both my heart and mind that you will meet our every need! Help me reach that place where you truly are my everything.

Amen!  Help us all get to the place where we have NO FEAR that God is going to take care of us and ALL of our NEEDS.

RC News……………

 Iseline was sent to us by Dr. Jen in April.  She has kwashiorkor and was sick. It took her several months to recover. 

Here she is going home with a weight gain of 6 pounds.  Her mother is 6 months pregnant with another child. But was so happy to be able to take her back home.  She will follow-up with 2 week check up for a few months.

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This is Elmanica.  She is five years old and lives about 20 minutes from the RC.  Her mother only has one other child.  That child lives with someone else.  It is hard to understand why but she is not getting enough food.  This is the first time she has had Kwashiorkor.  She is very weak and tired always sleeping.

 

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Near the end of May this young 13 year old girl was admitted into the RC.  She was suffering from Kwashiorkor.  She was so sick that she could not walk with out someone helping her the first two weeks she was here.  She is improving greatly. 

Many times when children come into the RC with kwashiorkor, their hair is an orange color, it breaks, and falls out.  She has lost a lot of her hair. But, I want you to first notice in the picture the orange colored part in her hair.  This is where it was when she first got her at the end of May.  Now notice the black hair coming in. This always totally amazes me that just eating healthy foods 5 times a day can change your body that quickly.  She still needs to gain a few more pounds before I send her back home.

 

SOME MORE INFO ON KWASHIORKOR

Kwashiorkor is a form of protein-energy malnutrition caused by the inadequate intake of protein with reasonable caloric (energy) intake. The other form of protein-energy malnutrition is the condition known as marasmus. Marasmus involves inadequate intake of both protein and calories. Hence, protein-calorie malnutrition encompasses a group of related disorders that include kwashiorkor, marasmus, and intermediate or mixed states of kwashiorkor and marasmus.

What are the signs and symptoms of kwashiorkor?

Early signs of kwashiorkor present as general symptoms of malnutrition and include fatigue, irritability and lethargy. As protein deprivation continues the following abnormalities become apparent.

• Failure to thrive (failure to put on height and weight)
• Loss of muscle mass
• Generalised swelling (oedema)
• Large protuberant belly (pot belly)
• Fatty liver
• Failing immune system so prone to infections and increased severity of normally mild infections
• Skin and hair changes

Cutaneous features of kwashiorkor

Characteristic skin and hair changes occur in kwashiorkor and develop over a few days.

• Skin lesions are at first erythematous before turning purple and reddish-brown in colour with marked exfoliation (skin peeling and sloughing)
• Where the skin becomes dark and dry, it splits open when stretched to reveal pale areas between the cracks (“lacquered flaky paint”, “crazy pavement dermatosis”)
• Irregular or patchy discolouration of the skin caused by pigmentary changes
• Hair becomes dry and lustreless and may turn reddish yellow to white in colour. It becomes sparse and brittle and can be pulled out easily.
• Nail plates are thin and soft and may be fissured or ridged.

What causes kwashiorkor?

Kwashiorkor is the commonest and most widespread nutritional disorders in developing countries. It occurs in areas of famine or areas of limited food supply, and particularly in those countries where the diet consists mainly of corn, rice and beans.

It is more common in children than in adults. The onset in infancy is during the weaning or post-weaning period where protein intake has not been sufficiently replaced.

What is the treatment for kwashiorkor?

Treatment should start with correcting fluid and electrolyte imbalances. Any infections should also be treated appropriately. Once the patient is stabilised, usually within 48 hours, small amounts of food should be introduced. Food must be reintroduced slowly, carbohydrates first to provide energy, followed by protein foods. Vitamin and mineral supplements may also be given. The reintroduction of food may take over a week by which time the intake rates should approach 175kcal/kg and 4g/kg of protein for children and 60kcal/kg and 2g/kg of protein for adults.

The outlook for patients with kwashiorkor is dependent on the stage of the disease at the time it is first treated.

• Treatment given early in the course of the disease generally produces a good recovery, although growth potential will never be achieved in children who have had kwashiorkor.
• Treatment in the later stages of the disease generally improves the patient’s health but physical and intellectual disabilities are usually irreversible.
• The disease can be fatal if it is not treated or when treatment is given too late in the course of the condition

Another Haitian in the Olympics

 

CORAL SPRINGS - He was taunted and teased growing up in Haiti, in part because wasn’t Haitian enough.

Born in Miami and raised in Cap Haitien, the other boys made fun of his Haitian Creole, which sounded different with an American lilt.

At 13, a group of classmates attacked Volmar with a knife, leaving him with a deep gash in his forehead.

His mother said enough was enough. She signed him up for judo.
“My mom told him, ‘You’re going to learn to defend yourself,’” said his sister Samantha Volmar, who saw her brother make a transformation. “It was in his blood, in his veins. He was just waiting for it.”

On Thursday morning Volmar, 31, is due on the mat in Beijing, competing for the U.S. judo team. It’s his second time at the Olympics. In 1996, he represented Haiti in the sport. If he wins, he would be the first athlete of Haitian descent to take a medal in judo.

Although not listed as a favorite in the competition, Adler is being watched closely by a growing group of fans in South Florida’s Haitian community. His story has been spreading on some Haitian blogs and Web sites. And even though his match is scheduled to be streamed live at nbcolympics.com tonight at 12:01 a.m., many of his newfound fans plan to be in front of their monitors watching.

“I’ve been spreading the word and looking for his updates online,” said Roosevelt Presume, of Plantation. “We’re extremely excited for him.”

Jacob Francois, president of a Haitian lobbying group in West Palm Beach, said the local community is monitoring Olympic athletes with Haitian roots. Martial arts, he said, have a huge following in Haiti.

Volmar moved to Coral Springs in 1998, at a time when Haiti’s political climate was becoming unstable. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy, became a combat medic and joined the Navy’s elite sports program. That led him to train with Olympic judo great Jimmy Pedro. “His goal at the time was to make the U.S. Team,” Pedro recalled Tuesday. “Adler is a testament to his commitment.”

That commitment brought Volmar back from a potentially career-ending knee injury suffered in January.

After surgery, the 220-pound contender kept training. Five months later, he qualified for the Olympics.

But getting to Beijing was a community effort. A group of people who knew Volmar from his job as a personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness Club in Coral Springs held a fundraiser that raised $4,500 to send him to China.

“We’ve been on this quest for eight years,” said his wife, Crystal Volmar, who joined her husband in China on Sunday.

Family members say their only regret is that Yolette Volmar won’t be there to see her son when he faces his Olympic opponents. She died two years ago of breast cancer.

“She was such a proud woman and worked so hard for this,” said Samantha Volmar. “I know she’s smiling down on my brother.”

More Olympic news on Haiti

6 August 2008

Series on Olympic Scholarship Holders, Beijing 2008. Today: Nadine Faustin-Parker.

The last time Haiti won an Olympic medal was in 1928 when Silvio Cator took silver in the men’s long jump. Nadine Faustin-Parker knows her chances of ending that drought in Beijing are slim; her goal is to go one better than she did in Athens and reach the final of the 100-metre hurdles. But she has an ulterior motive for wanting to shine at the Olympic Games.

 

Haitian roots

Faustin-Parker was born in Brussels in 1976 to Haitian parents and has lived most of her life in New York. Running was always a big part of that life, but when the time came to choose which country to represent, she never had much doubt. “My parents have always kept me close to my Haitian roots, so I never felt just because I was outside the country that I wasn’t a part of it,” she explained.

 

Most successful female track athlete

Faustin-Parker is already Haiti’s most successful ever female track athlete. “Competing for Haiti gave me a purpose,” she said. “I enjoy the challenge of trying to put a country on the map. Some Haitian youths are ashamed of their roots, and that’s something I never was so I try to make them understand they have a lot to be happy about.”

 

Personal best

Faustin-Parker’s first Olympic Games were in 2000, when injury restricted her to the quarter-finals, and although she ran a personal best four years later it was not enough to make the final. Now, however, she is convinced her time has come. “I would not be competing right now if I didn’t believe it,” says Faustin-Parker. According to her website, the “NAD” in Nadine stands for Never Accept Defeat.

 

Sports ambassador

Working part-time at the University of North Carolina as Director of Track and Field Operations, Faustin-Parker hopes one day to become a sports ambassador for Haiti. “The better I perform at the Games, the easier it will be to make contacts and gain sponsors,” she explains. “I really want to build a track in Haiti. I see what track and field has done all over the world for the youth. It can really help somebody move forward in life.”

 

Here is her website

More happenings….

The tooth fairy will be visiting our house again tonight.

Dad left today for two months.  He will be speaking for RHFH and packing a container full of supplies to ship back to Haiti.

 

A little bit of everything…..

Look at those two teeth.

There is this lady I know and she LOVES to see kids that have matching outfits on.

They are both growing and changing so much.

This is my Godchild, she lives here in Cazale. 

I keep telling her dad (the local judge) that Trey is going to marry her someday.  They are good friends.

Lori and I sat down on Friday night and wrote out some lists (on the yellow post-it notes) of things we need to get done before she leaves on the 21st.  Yeah…its a little overwhelming.

Here is a picture of Deny and Lori.  Lori’s shirt is proof that August is the hottest month in Haiti.

Rosena has two families that are praying about adding her to their families.  Please continue to pray for her and them and God’s will for her life.

Her are some pictures of the mats that came in last week. They have been working out great so far. Thank you!

Putting them together.