Haiti Relief Update (2/10/2010):

From Joe Knittig live from Haiti:

A 60 Minutes crew has been with us for about 10 days. And they’ve been great to deal with, and have taken a shine to the work. They love the kids. And they look to help advance the chains outside of “the story.” They did exactly that yesterday.

Remember the call about the 100 children in La Gonave? Well, we never got another call to know whether or not they would be carried here. The 60 Minutes crew hopped on a boat yesterday morning and went to La Gonave. They asked a bunch of questions. And, sure enough, they found the location. There’s an orphanage there with 100 children. Their home is in tact. They’ve just been struggling to find any food. Yesterday, when the crew arrived, the kids were eating the last of their rice. Tomorrow? Unknown.

This morning, Adrien and Moise packed a month + of food, along with tents, meds, and bedding for the La Gonave children. The 60 Mins crew is taking them to the home. They should be arriving right about now. I can only imagine the scene.

Back here at the OTV, a container Ed Barber packed arrived. This was a fun one to get! Lumber, generators, tools, tents, tarps, meds, powdered milk, diapers, baby formula, clothes. Christmas in February! As I write, I can hear Tate and his crew going to town building shelves.

This afternoon will include at least 2 more new site visits – orphanages with kids in trouble.
And we’re working with El Shaddai on launching a major front in Leogane (the center of the quake, and a city that was about 85% destroyed). It will be a new village plant under the big top – a giant 200′ X 60′ tent, to include a school for 750 kids.

Speaking of schools… Expanding existing schools and building new ones in connection with our villages will be a major focus of our near and long term relief efforts. In Haiti (like most countries of extreme poverty), there are true orphans (lost their parents) and economic orphans (abandoned because parents’ poverty starves them). Pre-quake, the margin between the two was slim. Now the margin is non-existant. In the coming months, there will be scores of thousands of children abandoned by relatives from the unbearable weight of poverty.

Instead of just expanding residential orphan care, we need to reach economic orphans and their families and mitigate the coming tide of abandoned children. A key platform for our effort will be expanding existing and building new schools within our children’s villages. Those schools will include a 1 meal per day feeding program, which will run year round.
In a village with 100 orphans in residential care, we can reach another 400 more kids on the brink of becoming orphans. In listening closely to Haitians who know the grassroots problems, and learning over the years, we’re convinced this is a key intervention for the children of Haiti.

Expect to see very soon opportunities to take part in a GO Schools program as part of our ongoing relief and redevelopment effort.

OK, let’s get out of the high minded stuff for a minute. Pierre’s here sitting next to me. He’s real happy – almost giddy – today. He scored a flashlight and coloring book. He can’t stop giggling. And he has the greatest laugh. Pierre says to tell you all: “Bonjou! Mwen remen ou.”

So there you go. 100 kids at La Gonave have a special and necessary surprise coming; Leogane’s on deck; schools are coming; Pierre’s giggling.

Joe