Digging them Holes!

Wow, what a tough last few days. We spent our time the last few days digging holes 30 inches deep by one foot wide for a chain link fence to go around the orphanage. The process was painstaking and seemed to take forever. At the end of three days, we have 130 of the 150 holes dug and about 100 of them have the poles cemented into them already. It was fun to see the progress at the end of the time there. By the end of next week, the fence will be done and the buildings will be started.


We traveled to another orphanage today, Hope for Children, to see what the site we are building on will be like when it is done. It was awesome. I am so excited for the children at both places to be able to have so much more than they did before. There are about 55 kids in 6 room building in Port Au-Prince, and they are not allowed to really leave the building. In Jacmel, they will be moving to a three acre lot with individual garden plots, livestock, and plenty of room to run and play. This is an awesome addition from my exercise science perspective. It is so important for them to be able to get out and MOVE! Plus, they will be learning life skills along the way that will make them more successful when they leave the orphanage. They will also have separate dorms, their own bed (many share with 3 or 4 others now), a real kitchen, and now a safety fence to give them some freedom to run around.

The facility will also have a school and a medical/dental facility for both the children and the local community. Again, meeting a very high need. I am so happy to be able to be a part of the process. Working along side the Haitian crew for the last few days has been a blast. Their work ethic is refreshing, something that seems to be drifting back in the states. Although we do not share a language, it was fun to communicate with them. I certainly realized how much we have in common with very few words being spoken.

This has been a truly amazing experience so far. We will be traveling back to Port Au-Prince tomorrow to see the kids one last time before we take off on Saturday. We have had safe travel and fairly healthy students so far, praying for a safe end to the trip.