Jouvens, Finder, Love-Myrtha

Tim & I are really getting to know the neighbors now that they know we are not going to eat them. There are 3 little children along the drive from the main road in Thomazeau to our house. They were always out on the road waiting for us to come by (wanting cookies!) even during school hours.

After checking with our other neighbor Souvenir, who is also the principal of the closest school, we found out that their parents are either deceased or MIA. They live with an aunt who has no employment. She is taking care of these three children and their older sister (14 years old), who also has a baby who is almost a year old. So we decided to put them in school. I went last week and enrolled them at Souvenir's school. Then I went to Croix des Bouquet to purchase the fabric for the uniforms. Souvenir's friend is a tailor and agreed to give me the "Haitian" price for sewing the uniforms. Even if it wasn't the "Haitian" price, I think it was good - he charged me $30 to sew 6 uniforms and he did it in 2 and a half days. We've gotten about half of the books they need.

In Haiti, children are sent home if they come to school without their uniform, the right color of shoes, belt, socks and hair bows. They have to buy their own uniform and all their own books. Plus they have to pay registration and other fees and tuition. This all costs what we would not consider to be all that much, but for a family who has NO income, it is beyond their hopes and dreams to be able to send their children to school. Last week I sent an email to 3 of the HFHC staff (Jennifer, Jenny & Lori) for shoes, belts, socks, etc because I knew they had younger children and Mike (one of our board members) was coming in a few days. Well, they came through for Love-Myrtha, Jouvens and Finder (pronounced Fender)! Their kids sent shoes that they had not yet even had a chance to wear, hair stuff, some socks, etc. Mike bought 3 little book bags and brought them along. The shoes sent by the Fridge and Anthony families were perfect fits!

When Tim was in Charlotte for the annual men's retreat, a brother at Providence Road church (Juan) gave Tim some cash to use "as needed". We still need to get a few more books and some other misellaneous items, but all in all, we have been able to put these 3 children in school for the entire school year for $300! And that is thanks to all these mentioned who also participated.

The kids are so excited to be able to go to school and they are very happy that on Monday they will be able to wear their new uniforms. The day after we went to the tailor and had them measured for their uniforms we heard singing voices coming up the driveway. Jouvens, Love-Myrtha and Finder were bringing gifts and singing songs of thanksgiving. They brought little trees they had dug up and put in old tin cans for us to plant in our yard. It was all very sweet.