Day 7...

I was at the baby orphanage this morning again...the children were much quieter than last time.  They hadn't eaten yet, and weren't fed until about 9:30.  They didn't have much energy, so we just held them, and sat quietly until then.  I held a tiny little girl, maybe 2 or 3, Marie Carmel, who had just been dropped off the day before.   The children are fed a gooey mix made of flour, corn flour & water.  Not much in the way of nutrients.  Sometimes, they only get one meal a day.    The majority of them are ill with one thing or another.   All of them have worms, and have terribly distended tummies.   Can't fill them up because the worms take more than their share.   Only 75 cents per day would feed a child for a day.  Aubrey, who leads the children's projects, is working in conjunction with some locals affiliated with the orphanage on developing a website to hopefully raise awareness and financial support.  All hands is very keen on teaching the locals so that they can sustain the work after they are gone.   Working at the orphanage, I learned my new Creole phrase for the day:   Pas fait ca - don't do that!

Raine went to the hospital this morning - another overwhelming experience that she will tell you about.  She is adding info to the blog via the comments, so be sure to read them!  Betty twisted her ankle yesterday at the beach when getting out of the tap-tap - so took a day off.

This afternoon Raine, Khiya & I worked on bio-sand filters.  Another incredible project.   Basically, we prepare the sand for the filters by filtering the gravel first with a large screen, then again with a fine screen.  We then wash the sand, 5 times, before it goes into the filter.    Betty, Khiya & I are both on this project tomorrow, so hopefully, I'll be able to see the rest of the process.

Don has not been feeling up to par, so is taking it easy... he's on housekeeping duty tomorrow.

We had a really interesting meeting this evening (we meet after dinner every evening at 5:30 to report the progress of each project, welcome newcomers, say goodbye to those leaving, receive security updates, and to choose our jobs for the next day.  Focus of security tonight was the release of the ballot count for the presidential election.   They expect some unrest because of this, and gave instructions to all project leaders to be tied to their cell phones in case the teams need to be called home.    During voting day, the base went into lock-down for security reasons.    We are all glad to be on base tomorrow!   There were some long-term volunteers going home, and some very moving farewell messages given, and also a message from the person who started All Hands 6 years ago.   What a great speaker!   This organization is really doing wonderful things here in Haiti, and deserve all the suppport we can give them.    While there are many complaints of organizations only using a small percentage of their donated funds to date, All Hands has used 80% of theirs - and trust me, they don't waste a thing!  This is the largest project they have ever done.   All their projects in the past have been for maximum 6 months duration - their  mandate being to get in at the beginning of the disaster to provide the labour  needed, and then to get out.    But in Haiti, they are committed for another year, to the end of 2011, and through their bio-sand-filter and composting toilet projects, are providing clean water, an ecologically-friendly way of handling waste.    They are building schools, and educating children and adults in such things as hand-washing and the causes of diseases.   Tonight they announced a new project - working on economic development in the community.    They are  really making a difference (I guess that's "We" are making a difference).   Check out their website to see more:  http://hands.org/projects/project-leogane/programs-in-leogane/

That's it for tonight.... here's a pic of the Canada crew the day we arrived.

Chain gang...