Reaching out to help desperate children in Haiti

We received word today that there is a whole area near Jacmel (southeast Haiti) where children are starving. The Association or private children's organizations got wind of this and wants to intervene on the children's behalf. They asked all the organizations affiliated with them to help with gather supplies to take to the starving children and their families. We will be sending our vehicle and some staff to help with the endeavor. We would like to start a fund for this so we can help as many children as we can. There will be many medical expenses to help get them on their feet, as well as needing to provide them with healthy meals and vitamins. If you would like to help us help these children, please contact us at hchkids@yahoo.com
Thanks,
Patrica Smith
Founder

Updates updates updates!

Richard continues to thrive and grow. His head is still, well, he's trying to grow into it! But, he's an extremely happy child with a ready smile for everyone.

Carlos is the oldest boy in the baby nursery. He is slowly healing from the infection he had when he came back to us in September. He is much more interactive now and is scooting around to play.

Kervens still loves to have all the attention on him. He is doing less crying now and beginning to play. He's has started to get quite fat and smiles a lot.

Kendy is rolling around the floor and becoming very interactive. He loves to be held and talked to and is learning to sleep at night.

Here's an update on Steeven. His skin is looking so much better and he is doing very well. He has a ready smile for us most of the time, and is beginning to reach for toys to play with. If you don't remember him, you can go back on the blog to June and read about him.

This is a project that we have going on right now. It is a wash house on the first floor and an apartment on the 2nd floor. This is a bucket brigade to pour the cement for the roof. It is very interesting to watch. The roof is done and now they are working on plastering the inside of the 2nd story. Once it's all done Lori is going to move in to the new space, anxiously awaiting for the time when it's ready!

It's time to put up the Christmas tree. This is the upstairs tree and all the kids came and stood around in awe as it came together, watching and wanting to help. We put one up downstairs too especially for the children to be able to help decorate. Each child got a chance to put something on the tree and they were so proud to be able to do that.

Yvenson is our preemie. He is 2 months old and weighs just a hair under 3lbs. He was enjoying his bath, sitting in a dipper we use to pour water on the other babies. In this picture, he had just been breastfed, as his mom comes everyday to feed and cuddle him, and had just drank himself full. He is now out of the incubator and in an infant bed beside Grandma's bed.

Our Newest Arrival

Her first bottle...she guzzled it!
Getting ready for her first bath here at HCH
Thinking about what she thinks of this new home....she arrived in all white clothing and Lori's camera flash was going crazy!

Chrisla came to us because her mother is very young and her father was shot in Port-au-Prince as an innocent bystander near Cite Soliel. Her mother has no parents, just brothers and sisters who are unable to help her with caring for a baby. Chrisla will be 2 months old the 11th of December. She was breastfed but seems to be making the adjustment well to a bottle. She smiles and is quite a content baby.

Update on everything happening here

Our local hospital which is just down the road from us has been closed for the past week due to some vagabonds entering the hospital and threw feces all over the hopsital and locked the doctors in their residence and threw fees all over their door.The reason for this was a political problem between the hospital and some staff that had been let go. All the patients had to be transferred to different places. The adult patients were sent to one of the doctors residences and our pediatrician who works there transferred all of his patients down here to the childrens home. We turned our schoolroomm into a clinic while his patients were here. We had 2 babies and three young boys over the course of a week. During this time, Melinda had left to go the states and so we suddenly had a clinic and no nurse. And so, Lori and I acted as nurses for that week. It seems like that we also have had a lot of sickness go through the house during this period of time. Earaches, malaria, lung infections, skin infections, repiratory problems,etc. During this time, a premature baby came to us and though we tried very hard, he was just too small and the mother was very uncooperative about getting medical treatment and thus delayed treatement by a day. Which in the life of a infant born almost 3 months early is very siginificant. We named him Nathan and it wasn't long before he was safe in the arms of Jesus.

Thankfully, things seem to have calmed down at this point. Our clinic is empty and our children seem to be recuperating well! The hospital is still closed and I am getting patients off and on needing medical care.

On Wednesday we got a little boy named Nadieu(we call him Jay for short). He is 21 months old. His mother died in May and he is quite small for his age and very undernourished. He could not stand or walk when he came, but within in a day of good nourishment he stood up and walked across the floor and has been walking all over ever since. He is being followed by our pediatrician and seems to be adjusting well to his environment. He loves to be held and cuddled and cries when he's put down.

An amazing experience

Janae and I just minutes after she was born


A week ago I had an amazing opportunity that in all my life I have never had before! Through a series of events I was able to go and watch a baby being born at our local hospital. Deanna, one of our volunteers, as well as Lori and I went up at the hospital at 6pm. The lady met us at the hospital and we stayed with her planning to watch her give a natural birth. By 12 midnight the doctor decided that she needed to have the baby by c-section. I asked if there would be any chance that we would be able to watch the c-section and he said, "YES"!!!
So we put on our surgery garb(that was the first time I'd worn pants in years!) and entered into the operating room. It was a thrilling event to watch that baby come out of her mother's stomach!! The baby and the mother are both doing fine.

Dr. Ulysse performed the c-section. We were all amazed at his obvious gifting in this area. As we watched him sew her stomach back together we were in awe of the skill he possesses!

Lori and Janae



Deanna and Janae




Cute as a button:Janae

Happy Birthday

" I saw a little worm"

Last Saturday we had our August birthday party. Due to the flooding and Lori being gone and an influx of children coming in and a number of other things, we are a little behind on our birthday parties. So, November is our month for birthday parties, and so every Saturday we'll be having birthday parties until we get caught up!

The Triplet Saga

Steeven babysitting Viventz and Paulentzska.

The triplets are starting to grow into their eyes and continue to keep us busy. They were able to go home for the weekend , and it was a good chance to for their family to get a taste of what life is going to be like(and gave us a nice quiet weekend!)!! They are gaining right along and we hope they likely go home next month to stay.

Valentska hanging out it a DOLL highchair...yep, she's still quite petite.