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

Photos taken at Lafana from late October to early November this year are now up!. Please visit our website's "New Photos" section to view them. Some of the more notable ones include images of our backyard classrooms, now held in tents donated by the UN Children's Fund, as our classrooms were destroyed in the quake. Also pictured are photos of our new medicine dispensary, with first aid supplies generously donated by the Haiti Participative, and photos depicted everyday life at Lafana--bathing at an open spring, preparing food for the children, etc.

Last month, our friends at the Haiti Participative, an NGO that strives to promote healthy lives and nutritional well-being for children in Haiti, gave us a generous supply of first aid materials, medicine, and early childhood care supplies (diapers, tupperware, etc). While we have 2 trained and qualified nurses at Lafana full-time--in addition, I'm also a registered nurse--to attend to the children's medical needs, we are usually short of basic medical necessities, like rubbing alcohol, disinfectant, antibiotics, gauze pads, and cough/cold medicines and suppressants.

With hundreds of children studying, eating, sleeping, playing, and living together communally, illnesses can easily spread if prevention and treatment are not available. Haiti Participative's help comes at an extremely critical time--no other group has given us any medical help since the quake, with the exception of International Action's donation of deworming pills. The medicines and first aid supplies will allow us to treat basic cuts and illnesses on site and lessen our dependence on the local clinic.

Below, you can see some of the photos of the first aid supplies and medicines being used. Haiti Participative's help was especially appreciated by Exon Flaurent, 5, one of our children who was suffering from a skin infection on his head. Before and after treatment photos of a now happy and healthy Exon are below.

If you are involved with medical missions trips or know of people who are and are interested in visiting Lafana, please contact us! Dentists, pediatricians, and optometrists  who are able to volunteer their time and supplies for check-ups for our children are greatly welcomed and very much needed!

- Marie