“What is so important to me that I am willing to give my time, money and talent to?”

I had to ask myself this question last January when I went to Haiti for the first time. I was working outside with a team made up of Haitians and Americans. It was hard work, but we had many hands to help lighten the load. While we were working, another team was busy cooking our lunch. The smell from our cook’s outside kitchen had attracted many kids and adults from the neighborhood. By the time lunch was ready we had quite a crowd around us. It was quite a scene. And by the looks of the crowd, it had been too long since many of them had eaten! I had also heard earlier that day that many from our work team were working so they could eat that day!

I couldn’t wait for the food to be served so they could eat. But when the plates of food starting going around the unthinkable happened! Our Haitian friends starting serving us first! I couldn’t believe it!

So, here I was standing there holding a heaping plate of steaming rice and beans in the middle of a crowd of hungry people! I just stared at it in disbelief. I knew there wasn’t enough food to go around for everyone in the crowd and I felt like I should have been the last one to get a plate of food. I felt very small and sad knowing that so many would go without food that day. I didn’t want to offend our cook so I ate a little from my plate. To say that I felt guilty for eating that food in front of these hungry people is an understatement!

Now when I tell you that I gave my plate of food to a young boy, please know that I am not boasting. I did what you would have done if you were in that situation. I know that because any decent person who doesn’t have to worry if they’ll ever eat again would have done exactly what I did.

It was comforting to know that my plate of food actually fed 3 people that day. The boy I handed it to didn’t hoard it for himself. Instead, he shared it with those closest to him. And they had no problem using the fork I had been using too! Each person would scoop up some rice and beans and then pass the fork to the next person so they could eat. It was a moving experience that shaped a new purpose for me. In that moment I determined that I would give my best to help the people of Haiti! I’m very proud to say that I am a part of the HHA team, working to feed, clothe, educate and house the orphans of Haiti!

If you are looking for a purpose that’s bigger than yourself, reply to this post and let us know. YOU can join our team and help us save the lives of our Haitian angels!

-Larry

School has begun for our kids! This is so routine in our daily lives…but for the kids at Kay Anj it is monumental. Some of them have gone from being orphaned on the street, to attending school for the first time. Education and opportunity are truly empowering!

I wish we could have been there to see them off on their first day and hear all their stories when they returned home. I am glad our orphanage staff will be there to support them as they begin the journey of education!

-Liz Warren

We are in the active planning and “hassle-dealing” with section of the January Trip.  Our dates are more or less set.  We are leaving the weekend of Jan 17 and coming back the following weekend. We may leave on Saturday and come back the following Saturday, or do a Sunday-to-Sunday trip.  It all depends on how many doctors are on the Florida to Haiti flight.

I anticipate a really good trip. We have three churches and a good mix of first-timers and veterans.  The goal of the trip is to continue to fix-up the orphanage as well as help out in the community surrounding the orphanage.  We recognize that our little orphanage is just part of a large community of people who all need help.  Haiti can be so difficult because there is so much need and limited resources, but it can be so rewarding because no matter where you look, there is an opportunity to help.  Even when one feels like they wasted money on some project that didn’t work, or had some tools stolen or misplaced, one can find comfort in know that where ever the money or tool went, the person who took it needed it more than we did.  When we try new projects that don’t work out, we can be consoled that we at least showed people that we loved them and that we learned some new lesson.

This perspective of “no matter what happens, it is something good,” is not a perspective that I had when I first started going to Haiti.  I’m not exactly a Type A person who has to have everything go according to plan, but I do hate wasting effort.  I also hate messing up and wasting other people’s time or money.  I always feel that when we go to Haiti, we are the stewards of someone else’s stuff.  Most of the time we get donations to pay for our projects. When those projects don’t go well, one could argue we wasted their money.  When I go and leave my family at home, I’m spending vacation time that I won’t get back.  If the trip doesn’t go according to plan, one could say I wasted my limited vacation time.

Over time, the experiences in Haiti can wear you down because everything seems so hard and it seems impossible to make progress and then when something bad happens, one can become pessimistic.  The change for me happened when I started taking the long view of things.  Any given trip might have only minimal benefit, but taken in sum, all the little steps start adding up.  The change in the orphanage in Grison Guarde is huge.  The change for the kids at our orphanage is even greater.  We could have given up at any step along the way, because heaven knows, there was lots of frustrations, and plans not being met.  However, by taking the long view, I can see that we have made a real difference in lives of our Haitian “Brothers and Sisters.”

I’m proud of the work that we have been able to accomplish and I sincerely hope that if you are reading this blog, that you would considered coming back, or going for the first time.  You shouldn’t expect miracles, but don’t be surprised when little by little miracles develop unnoticed or unplanned around you. Haiti is a special place that is full of need, but that is just another way to say that it is a special place full of opportunities for you to live a life less ordinary.

-Mike Hertz

So I’m a stay at home mom and treasurer for Helping Haitian Angels . . . which sounds like I should have so much time to do all sorts of things – but my goodness the days do fill up.

Michael and I have been going to Haiti since 2005.  We get to go together in January 2010.  Mostly though, it’s been him going and me Skype’ing with him in the evenings from the hotel.  Finally, he’s got a phone now that he can just call from.  But for a while we would set up chat dates so that he could decompress and tell me all the work they’d done there.  Setting up a non-profit has always been a bit of a dream and plan for me.  Our mission here is smaller in scope than a lot of the work Michael and I do in Haiti.  This has some benefits in that it makes it very clear what people are giving their money to and what we are working to accomplish.  However, there is so much work to do in the community there that I do feel that even this isn’t quite enough.  But as they say in Haiti “Piti piti na rive” - little by little we will arrive.

Some of my little by little right now as treasurer is setting up all the accounting software.  Let me say to the world. . . we are very professional here.  So, today on the to-do list. . . pack lunch money, schedule doctor’s appointment, return library books, bring Mom’s club donations to SERVE and . . . set up reimbursement forms and new filing system for Helping Haitian Angels.

-MaryLu

I had a friend send me a link to this event (and since I am a total nerd when it comes to art shows especially multi-media), I can’t help but “nerd” out (by that I mean blog about it)…

Ghetto Biennale: The Grand Rue Sculptors are a community of artists living in a downtown slum neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. This is the newest art community to have emerged in the last ten years. They have produced art that reflects a heightened, Gibsonesque, Lo-Sci-Fi, dystopian view of their society, culture and religion, and have dragged Haitian art into the 21st century. Jean Herard Celeur, Andre Eugene and Guyodo are at the core of the movement, which contains seven or eight other younger artists, all producing powerful sculptural works.  Their work has opened entirely new vistas into the creative possibilities of the Vodou-inspired arts of Haiti. Their muscular sculptural collages of engine manifolds, computer entrails, TV sets, medical debris, skulls and discarded lumber transforms the detritus of a failing economy into deranged, post-apocalyptic totems.

I feel like I spend a lot of time talking about Haiti’s woes (usually, I am not such a downer I swear). You just don’t read or see enough about the beauty and talent in Haiti or how magical it is and how special the people are there.

I hope that you will take a few minutes and check out the links I provided and that you will open yourself up to Haiti’s magic.

-April

P.S. Two artists from New York are making the trek to Haiti this December to participate in the Ghetto Biennale event. Check out their page, pretty cool stuff.

P.P.S. Check out this video showcased at the event. Gives you a glimpse into Haiti and the needs they face. “Pepe” means secondhand clothing in Creole.

Donations of all sizes especially monthly donations are vital to the longevity of Helping Haitian Angels, since 100% of the donations are sent to care for & educate the orphans at Kay Anj Orphanage!

Helping Haitian Angels is excited to announce it now offers a recurring monthly donation option on it’s website. That is right, not only are your donations tax deductible but you can set up recurring payments to take the fuss out of donating!

Fast & simple so you can get to the fun stuff like catching up on the HHA blog

Visit our donations page today!

Note: We know times are tough so it’s important to remember donations come in all sizes, it’s the commitment to the kids that counts! $10 – $500 monthly donations are more then welcomed. Thanks!

The first grade class of Hill School (of Middleburg, VA) has adopted the orphans of Kay Anj.

This past January (when the first graders were kindergartners) they collected boxes of art supplies like coloring books, pencils, pens, activity books, erasers, paint, glitter, beads and paper for the kids.

Art & school supplies in Haiti is hard to come by and considered a luxury. Most school’s in Haiti have dirt floors and they provide little in the way of imaginative or inspiring books, supplies and artwork. Most of us grew up learning in classrooms decked out with posters, books, play areas and posters.

Haitian classrooms are much different. Which is why the first graders of Hill School have committed themselves to befriending the orphans of Kay Anj  and have dedicated themselves to help better their quality of life by raising money, having drives and best of all just writing letters to the orphans.

For our upcoming trip in January 2010 the first graders will be making and stuffing Christmas stockings for the orphans of Kay Anj. We are so grateful to the first graders of Hill School for their relentless dedication to HHA and their love of the Kay Ang orphanage! Thank you!

For ways on how you or your child’s school or organization can help HHA please email us at debbie@helpinghaitianangels.org

HHA becomes an official 501(c)3 (non-profit) organization!

I’ve found more often than not the old adage: “it’s not what you know but who you know” is true.

-John Youngblut

Some of HHA’s most dedicated volunteers set to organize the infamously disorganized storage unit last week. After a trip to Costco & Walmart and the purchases of dozens of storage bins the team set to sorting, piling and reorganizing. Once the unit was sorted the team took note of what HHA has enough of (for now) and what it could use more of.

For example, we have plenty of tshirts, shorts, school supplies and stuffed animals. We are in need of church clothes (dresses, collared shirts for boys, dress shoes) “sissy” socks (lace little girls socks) and new under garments (boys&girls).  We also need CHEWABLE vitamins…and lots of them.  Playing cards and games that use cards, little girls hair stuff and bags of candy. In addition the Operations Committee  is also in need of clear (big) bins for storage.

If you would like to donate any of the items listed (or help with the organizing) please contact Liz at liz@helpinghaitianangels.org

Found this quote recently and thought it was a good fit. “Our house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy.”

-Debbie

We are so excited to announce we have 8 new members to add to our family at Kay Anj. We have been working hard to make sure their transition has been comfortable. More details to come on our new angels!