HAITI EARTHQUAKE AND HURRICANE

freethekids.org

We already support the orphanage Hope Village, in Haiti, and have sent further funds to help with the earthquake disaster.

They now expect a direct hit from Hurricane Tomas and desperately need further funding. If you want to help, click on the link or use the credit card link above.  

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It is now nearly a year since the tragic Haiti earthquake of January 12th. As many of you have seen on the news, the suffering in Haiti is still great and it will take years to rebuild and revitalize Haiti. Very little aid is making it outside of Port Au Prince and even less is making it as far as Les Cayes, where thousands have migrated to escape the terrible conditions in Port au Prince. Homes that had 5 or 6 family members now find themselves with 20 or 30 people, the cholera outbreak was inevitable in these conditions.

At Free The Kids/Espwa we have seen significant suffering as well. As many of you know, before the earthquake, we had 650 children in our care at Pwoje Espwa Sud in Les Cayes, Haiti. We now have just over 800. Our food, housing, clothing, sanitation, and schools are stretched to their limit. Many of our children are sleeping 4 to a bed. We are fortunate to have raised a good amount of funds. It has helped us cope with the rapidly rising prices of food and gas and has allowed us to continue to provide for the basic needs of children at Espwa. However, there are many more children waiting to join us but the limitations of our facility and our funds simply do not allow it. This is why we are committed to sending $500,000 to Pwoje Espwa to increase our capacity.

With this increase in funds, we hope to build 20 more houses so that we can give our current children better sleeping accommodations and accept the children who are desperately waiting to join us. We hope to build a new kitchen and dining facility so that we can feed our ever growing population of children in a cleaner and healthier environment and we hope to build a new clinic facility where we can more efficiently and comprehensively care for the sick and injured at our Espwa facility. We also hope to build additional vocational schools for our older children so that they can become part of the physical, economic and social rebuilding of Haiti. Please join us in this noble effort to make a difference in the lives of many children.

Hope Village is a 125 acre tract of land that 800 children call home. They are provided with housing, three meals a day, primary and secondary education and apprenticeship for vocational learning.

Nov. 3, 2010

Dear Friends,

Many of you have expressed concern or called with questions about Hurricane Tomas and the potential for its effects on Pwoje Espwa Sud (Project Hope South). Fr. Marc has explained that emergency preparations are underway in anticipation of a direct hit by Hurricane Tomas, possibly as severe as a Category 2, on the southern peninsula of Haiti. Forecasters predict landfall either late Thursday or during the day on Friday. We have plans to move the children into our more fortified buildings and those that are situated on the highest ground of Vilaj Espwa (Hope Village). Extra funds have been wired to Pwoje Espwa Sud for the advance purchase of food supplies as well as plywood and lumber to secure buildings.

You may log on to www.weather.com to find updated information as the storm approaches. Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel has been assigned to Haiti and will cover the hurricane from Port au Prince.

Please keep the children of Espwa, our staff and Fr. Marc in your thoughts and prayers along with all the residents of Haiti as they face yet another challenge in the coming days.

Jack Reynolds
Director of Operations, Free the Kids

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