a word about these past 3-6-5

I can't believe it, but it was one year ago today that we hopped on a plane to move our lives to Haiti. How can it have already been a year? Time seems to have stopped from June until about this past April, because life as we knew it was so different. Now that it's summer again, I find myself thinking of and missing Haiti almost every day. The heat, the smell of gasoline, the busyness of city dwellers as I walk through the streets- it all awakens glimpses of memories of our every day lives there. I remember so much about each day so perfectly, it doesn't seem that 365 days have already come and gone...

a short video from living in Haiti

Last weekend I had a little fun messing around with iMovie and created a short video of our time spent living in Haiti. During our time there, we occasionally filmed moments and interactions for the sake of memory, but never had the intention of actually making anything of them. The filming is shaky and the quality is low, but it's fun to look back and remember bits and pieces of what made up our days there.

You can click this link to view the 5 minute video, but don't forget to make it full screen and turn up your volume so that you can get the full experience ;)

xo

small steps will become bigger

Yesterday, Andrew had a very interesting meeting with the Education Specialist at the IDB. So many huge companies have so much money to spend, but for some reason or another don't find a way to spend it and nothing gets done and nothing changes. He's had the opportunity to make so many contacts with people in the business development world, and it will definitely provide us with a lot of resources moving forward. 

With how much isn't being done in this country, it's always refreshing to see the things that are actually being done, and being done right. We received these pictures the other day from our newest partner Ayitimoun Yo. The students have begun school with the two teachers that OEF is currently supporting. While the students don't yet have their uniforms (should arrive in a few weeks), nor have they been able to open their doors to the other children in the community (a few more weeks), they are still focused and determined as ever to provide these children with quality education. 

official announcement

If you have been keeping up with our business updates, you know that we have been spending the majority of our work-time meeting with important people from multiple organizations, orphanages, and schools in hopes of finding and creating new partnerships for OEF. Well, we would like to officially announce that OEF has made the decision to financially support two teachers at the school run by Ayitimoun Yo!

Both of the teachers are already trained with the program we endorse and train our teachers with, and actually both teachers have worked with OEF before! It's really crazy how it all worked out. One of the teachers and Andrew & I each discovered Ayitimoun Yo on our own and got connected with them without knowing that the other had also done so. When we went to visit Ayitimoun Yo, that teacher completely coincidentally happened to be visiting that same weekend (and that's not an easy trip to just happen to be there at the same time!). We feel great about working with people we can trust and in whom we can put our full confidence and support. We look forward to keeping you updated with the progress there, and are in the process of not missing a beat and beginning the first stages of fundraising. We are excited to see what this school year brings for the kids at Ayitimoun Yo and for the families in the community of Anse-a-Pitres.

children of haiti

Below are a few pictures and some brief information about our recent site-visit to Anse-a-Pitres, if you'd like to see...

around the country and back again

Back to the blogging world! And the world in general. This past weekend, Andrew and I visited an orphanage (the French-founder pictured above) in Anse-a-Pitres, a town on the most south-eastern tip of Haiti, right on the border of the Dominican Republic. We had a great experience and have a lot to report. However, the trip there and back was completely exhausting (reference pictures below). We are taking a few days to recover and catch up on some work, so I will give a more official update soon.

In the mean time, here are our "how I feel right now" pictures we took last night after traveling back home- 1 border crossing, 1 moto ride with 3 flat tires, a 3.5 hour-long moto ride through the winding mountains on gravel roads, and 3 tap-taps in 2 hours of traffic later... 9 and a half hours to travel only 91 miles. Se Ayiti...

We also have excellent farmers' tans, as you can imagine. See you when we recover...

xo

a business update

Yesterday we had a couple meetings with the directors of some local organizations that focus on areas like education and orphans. We are in the process of researching and gathering information from these organizations in order to learn from them, see what the needs, and make decisions about the Orphan Education Foundation that will allow it to expand and continue to be successful in meeting the needs of Haitian orphans and education. 

Our first meeting was with the Education Director at Outreach to Haiti, which has been providing health care and education to local children and mothers for 25 years. The picture above is the view from their office in Christ Roi- to the right is the whole bay that leads into the ocean, blocked by the trees in the photo. 

The second meeting was with H.E.R.O. These are two American friends and educators who started an orphanage 3 years ago in Del Mas, after both experiencing first hand the earthquake in 2010. The woman is currently a literacy teacher at the local American international school, but the man works full time now at the orphanage, including living with them. They have 6 kids (5 boys and 1 girl) between the ages of 11 and 15, and provide a very strict schedule including tutoring, chess lessons from the Haiti national chess champion, and tennis lessons. The kids are all number 1 in their schools and almost fluent in english. Most orphanages have several children whose parents drop them off because they don't want to or can't care for them. This couple is very serious about only taking in true orphans. They each have sponsors from the U.S., though a few of the kids still need more. They are focused on providing extremely quality care to a smaller amount of children, and hope to raise these kids to be able to give back to and lead their country as educated and respected people. It was great to hear and learn from their experiences, and to create this connection with them. With there being so much tragedy in Haiti, including so much corruption among NGO's, it was refreshing to be able to witness something good that is actually making a change in people's lives.