The Haitian Timoun Foundation (HTF) is a" non-profit organization and dynamic grass-roots movement whose mission is to create a future of hope, sustainability, and dignity for the children of Haiti by identifying visionary Haitian-led organizations in the areas of Education, Poverty Eradication, and Leadership Development."

GGCC has sent missionaries to Haiti and sponsors two children, Jozye from Wings of Hope, a home that provides care for severely disabled children and Widelande Francois, from the Trinity House Outreach Rejoice Program.

GGCC started sponsoring Jozye in 2010. He is about 16 years old and was found at an abandoned church in Port -au-Prince and brought to Wings by Healing Hands, a medical organization in Haiti. He is a fun loving young man with some physical challenges, but is very intellectually bright. He also has a speech and communication disability.  Because of trauma in his life before he came to Wings of Hope, at times he can be very aggressive.  Jozye loves to laugh and play.  He loves to eat rice and drink juice.  He is very social and eager to participate in the activities at Wings of Hope.  He loves to work and can often be seen doing chores around the house, including helping to feed the other children, giving out juice and washing dishes.  He also helps take care of the autistic boys.  Jozye is the "movie man" at Wings of Hope and is responsible for setting up the projector at night so the other children can watch DVD's.

Jozye walks with the aid of a walker. He often wears his shoes on the wrong feet because his feet are malformed and they fit in the shoes better that way.  He has problems with his knees and is often in pain because of that, but it does not diminish his desire to be a part of the activities at Wings. Despite his challenges, he is very independent and can take care of many of his personal needs by himself.  He is very smart.  He is learning how to write.

Jozye participates in the educational and therapy programs at Wings of Hope.  He also participates in weekly horse riding therapy.  It is helping to increase his physical abilities.

Our newly sponsorship child as of this year, Widelande Francois is 7 years old.  She is currently living in a restavek (child slave) situation and permission has been arranged for her to attend school once a week on Saturdays at Trinity House. Trinity House provides a home for street children and restaveks and has a school called "Lekol sen Trinite" that provides learning opportunities to children in Jacmel and the surrounding areas who would not otherwise getthe chance to attend school. 

Widelande comes to breakfast before starting school at 8:00 am. She is taught the alphabet and counting and reading and writing, along with classes on socializing, hygiene and sanitation.  She is learning about value and that she has value.  She is fed lunch and plays a few games before going back to her "home."

Sponsorship for one child through HTF is $360. Your donation  helps cover food, clothing, and education of the child. Click here for more details or if you would like to sponsor a child.  

Click here for more information on HTF or contact Mark Autterson with questions.

18 October 2011

Hello.

It is fall and life at Wings is going well. We are in the middle of rainy season, so it is often cloudy and weton the mountain, but we find lots of activities to do inside on the rainy days and the kits enjoy playing outside during the rare moments of sun. They are working on the road that is leading to our temporary homes, so transportation has been a challenge with the rough road and lots of mud, but we keep finding ways to get the kids out to their activities and for visitors to come to Wings for some fun. This fall we have three volunteers who are enriching the lives of the children and several groups have come to visit.

The classes and therapy sessions have started their regular schedules again after the summer schedule of more fun activities and outings. We have reconstructed some of the classes to be more academically challenging for the students who can handle that. We have computer classes for all of the students with new technology equipment we recently received through a grant from the Rotary, including a lot of adaptive technology equipment so everyone can use the computers, no matter their physical challenges.

The children are doing well and are happy. We had three unexpected deaths over the past few months - Richnyder, Carolyn and Belinda. It was sad for us to see them go, but we rejoice in the knowledge that they are now in heaven, free of the challenges they faced here on earth, and watching over all of their friends at Wings of Hope.
We are continuing to work on the plans for the new Wings of Hope mission center. It will be an amazing complex with six buildings - five of which will be child-centered, with living areas, a chapel, a school, a therapy center, and outdoor play areas; and one building that will serve as our "hospitality center" with rooms for visitors and staff offices. All of the digging of the foundations for he first two buildings started in June, but we had to suspend work in August as we cleared up some land ownership paperwork. This being Haiti, the papers saying we own the land weren't quite in order, so we are working on that now and expect to begin work again in the next few weeks. We will soon begin a capital campaign, through Hearts with Haiti, to raise the funds for the new Wings of Hope. Please stay tuned for more information about that and how you can help.

Enclosed is a new picture of your sponsored child. The kids have grown so much since the last set of portraits we took. It is fun to see how they are growing and maturing, each to their own ability. Thank you for your support to help them live their best lives. 

Peace, 

Renee Dietrich , Servant for Communications and Development, St. Joseph Family