Marie and Beauvoir just arrived in Haiti today and will spend the next month or so assessing the upcoming year's (2011) needs at Lafana and to celebrate the holidays with the children there. A secondary, important cornerstone of the trip is to construct new toilet stalls, with fund-raising assistance provided by engineering students and different offices at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island.

On another note, an extra large moving truck laden full with kitchen supplies, bedding, and mosquito nets is en route to Lafana as well.

- Jeremy

Our new well and treadle pump are now finished! We finally have a new on-site water source! Many thanks to UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, and DINEPA, the Haitian water agency for approving the new well. It was funded in part by UNICEF and International Action and constructed by the great people at Allied Recovery International. The HPV 60-2000 foot-operated manual treadle pump is easy to use, even by small children, lessening our dependence on spotty electricity.

ARI's executive director John Augsburger visited Lafana and inspected the well yesterday. It is in good working order. No longer do we have to go down the road to collect water at an unprotected spring open to contamination--the quake ruptured our old well. Having an on-site water source has greatly improved the quality of life at Lafana.   ARI will test the well water soon and also conduct trainings to our caretakers and teachers to show them how to do basic maintenance and repairs on the well in January.

We are in discussions with International Action about possibly installing a chlorinator to disinfect well water as it is dispensed. Photos of the new well and photos of the orphanage from yesterday are below. (The third and fourth photos show the new chapel and classroom that we started putting up in June a few months after the quake. The last photo is of children playing under a UNICEF tent that also serves as a temporary backyard classroom). Thanks to all those involved!

- Marie, Joel, and Benito