The top picture is a water filter.  It is located at a different school but it is on the wish list for the School of the Infant Jesus.  This filter system would save them considerable money.  They need to provide clean water for the school lunches, the school orphanage and convent.  At this time, the school is using chlorine tablets and supplementing it with purchased water.  They need approximately $10,000 to purchase the system shown in the top photo.

Travelling to Anse-a-Veau

Anse-a-Veau is a 3 hr drive south of Port-au-Prince.  There was new concrete road for the first 2 hours.
To see more photos, click here

Children attending the tuition-free classes

Sometimes, a rural family can not afford to feed all their children.  They may send one or more of their children to work for relatives in Port-a-Prince.  If the children are lucky, they will have a sheltering home and food in exchange for their work.  The Sisters offer the servant children in Cite Militaire and Cite Solei a free education through 4th grade during the afternoons.  It starts with a hot nutritious lunch.  --Kathryn

Haitian Coffee

When the Sisters at the School of the Infant Jesus learned we raise money for them by hosting a Sunday morning brunch once a month, they presented us with bags of Haitian coffee.  We'll be selling them $9 / 10 oz after the Masses on Nov. 18th at St. Simon Church in Ludington.  --Kathryn

Please come back

We took 1200 photos during this 2012 trip.  I'll continue posting for the next few weeks.  --Kathryn

K-6 Class Buildings

The School of the Infant Jesus provides primary education, Kindergarten through 9th.  The K-6th area of the school is used in the mornings by the children who can afford tuition and in the afternoons as a free school for the servant children.

To see some of the students in their classrooms, click here.

Vision Screening

We used the big E chart to screen children and teachers at the School of the Infant Jesus and at the Provincial House orphanage.

To be published soon, photos of the nearly 400 students and adults that we screened at the school.

For more about the Lions Club Port-au-Prince Clinic, click here.

We arrived without problems on Tuesday.

A few hours later, we had a Skype call between classrooms in Haiti and in Ludington Area Catholic.

Our bags are packed and the gifts selected for next week's trip to Haiti.  Four people from Ludington will be traveling to the School of the Infant Jesus.  I am often asked what we "do" when we are there.  Our most important action is to share daily life and friendship with the students, the teachers, the 42 girls who live at the school and the Salesian Sisters of the School of the Infant Jesus.  We want to accompany them as they work to make improvements in their school and the life of the Haitian community around them.

This time, we will also work to provide a vision screening test for over 1000 students using the familiar big "E" chart.  We are working with the Grand Rapids Lions Club and a Haitian eye doctor, Dr. Large.  They will be conducting a public clinic to prescribe glasses and other eye care for the children whom we identify as needing it.  Glasses are beyond the economic reach of the school families in the Cite Militaire neighborhood of Port-au-Prince where our school is located so they are very grateful for this opportunity.

I've used glasses since 6th grade.  I certainly would have failed many classes if I had to squint at the chalkboard in a classroom with only natural lighting for all of my subsequent schooling.  This work shouldn't be viewed as a one-time event.  The vision charts can be used for future screening events and a working relationship between Dr. Large and the school is one of our goals.

By the way, the gifts will be primarily fabric for the school's live-in girls to use for their clothing.  I'll also bring your money donations with me.  I'd like to hire some of the teens or young adults to assist in the week-long Lions Club clinic. Last time, some of the money was also used to purchase nutritious treats from a Haitian market for the school children. Their eyes were happy and eager as they politely accepted the gifts.

Thank you for your support!

Ice Social on Church Lawn--Aug 18 4 - 7 pm

Do you know anyone who is interested in visiting the School of the Infant Jesus in Port-au-Prince.  I'd like to have at least 2 first-time visitors from St. Simon Parish join me on the Lions Club medical mission in October 2012.  Proceeds from this ice cream social would be used to help with their expenses.

Here is what Sr. Josseline wrote when she learned that we will be visiting with two ophthalmologists.

"You see God's Providence is extraordinary. It was really hard to find an ophthalmologist available to come to the School of the Infant Jesus, it would cost us dearly enough.  God in his goodness and infinite mercy send us not one but two ophthalmologists, to treat children in need. Many thanks for this great kindness for the School of the Infant Jesus.  Please tell these benefactors many thanks for their generosity in adding the School of the Infant Jesus to their work.  We wish you in advance a warm welcome.

If the doctors do not have this club in Haiti, it would be a great opportunity to put "the Lions Club in Haiti".  There are many poor who can not do a medical consultation due to lack of economic means and what about the glasses.  Glasses cost about 4,000 (= US$ 800) Haitian gourdes at least."

"He's running for Haiti," Charles said, "so that someone can think about Haiti."

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Four of Haiti's five Olympians at the London Games have something in common - they're not from Haiti.
With millions of Haitians living on $2 a day or less and hundreds of thousands of people rendered homeless by a devastating earthquake two years ago, the country struggles to produce world-class athletes. But those with Haitian links are still eager to represent the small Caribbean country. 
There's nothing unusual about athletes from multiethnic nations like the United States or Britain representing other countries. But what may be surprising to some is that Haiti, which seems to lurch from one calamity to another, is being represented in London at all.
The country does pose unusual challenges for athletes. Three of the country's five competitive running tracks are home to thousands of people in tents and shanties who were displaced by the January 2010 earthquake. The office of the Haitian Olympic Committee overlooks a hillside shantytown and has a budget of only $400,000. The U.S. Olympic Committee's budget is about $170 million.
to learn more--see this Miami Herald article

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/22/2906611/haitis-olympic-team-in-london.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/22/2906611/haitis-olympic-team-in-london.html#storylink=cpy

2012 Lent collection

During Lent 2012, $10,300 was raised for the School of the Infant Jesus by St. Simon Parish and Ludington community.  THANKS!  The money will be used for teacher salaries, science curriculum materials and other special needs.

School's OUT (soon)

 The children at the School of the Infant Jesus will have their final exams during the second week of June.  They must pass state tests to graduate from 6th and 9th grades.  The children have up to three years to succeed but must repeat the entire class year if they fail.  Last year, 21 of 22 of their 9th graders passed.  We hope this year's class is also successful.

Join us at Sportsmans Restaurant on March 3rd for a fundraiser. Enjoy a dinner from the menu and perhaps participate in our 50:50 raffle. We are raising $15000 for teacher salaries at the School of the Infant Jesus

St. Simon sent $16,500 to help build homes for families left homeless from the earthquake. They will be constructed in the School of the Infant Jesus neighborhood.

Jan. 12, 2012: A half-million people still wait for housing while living in tent cities in Haiti two years after the strong earthquake destroyed much of Port-au-Prince and surrounding area.

Lunch is being prepared! Over 1000 children eat a nutritious lunch at the School of the Infant Jesus each school day. Funds from St. Simon Parish are used to supplement the typical rice and bean diet with fruits and vegetables.

3rd Grade teacher to resume work

We have a 3rd grade teacher whom we follow closely. Although she lost her legs in the January 2010 earthquake, she has resumed work from her wheelchair. She travels to and from school on the back of a motorcycle. She came to work full of joy and enthusiasm. She wants to be useful to others. As you can see, her students are glad that she is back.