October Newsletter

Dear supporters and partners,

The past three months have been some of the busiest months, yet most exciting!

In the last newsletter, I mentioned the start of the kitchen being built. It was finished mid-August and painted by my super hero of a mom, Renae. A week after the finish of the kitchen, ground broke for a new office building. Webert and I just put some of the finishing touches on it this past week and are excited for this new space for our staff. The children were excited to be back in school. The first day of school was September 8, but unfortunately was closed the next day because of riots in our area. We do live in a safe village, but a nearby cement company had fired some locals, so their way of retaliation was fires, blocking the main roads and gun fire – not a safe environment for children to be walking through on their way to school. Manifestations and riots are quite common when the people are trying to fight for something: electricity, elections, etc. It keeps things interesting, that’s for sure!

But, school was back open the next week and the children seem to be loving all the improvements made over the summer. We were able to paint all of the classrooms with bright, fresh coats of paint, add some cartoon paintings for the preschoolers, and do some landscaping. But, truly, nothing beats the sight of the cafeteria full of children eating their daily meal and our kitchen staff working in a spacious, clean and productive place! My mother-in-law, Yvette, has been the head cook for the school since day one. She remembers cooking for the students underneath a small tree. She is now praising God for all His provisions and her beautiful new kitchen.

If you sponsor a child, you will see you are also receiving a new photo with some updated information on him or her. We have required the students to bring their birth certificates to registration now, so just a note that you may be seeing a spelling change in your child’s name, but know that it now matches the spelling on his or her birth certificate. Yah! to getting somewhat more organized, but it’s still a work in progress! We are also excited to announce we will be handing out Christmas presents again to the children this year. If you would like your child (or children in the school if you don’t sponsor a child) to receive a present, please send $20 extra per child by November 1st (note, this is not a requirement of the program) We buy everything locally, so once we receive the money, we put packages together containing hygeine products, toys, candy, school supplies, etc. A great way to spread joy during the holiday season!

Looking forward to all the things God has in store for the 2014-2015 school year,

Blessings to you from Haiti,

Kayla Raymond