Dear Sponsors,
Where to start...
First, thank you for being a part of this relationship with Haiti. All the news of the devastation and chaos that you've been reading and watching from the erathquake has no doubt been more personal than it would have been six months ago prior to our work in haiti and your agreement to come along for the journey. Thank you for your prayers and your donations; they are needed more now than ever.
Just a quick update from the past month. Hu Debo, Nycki Sorensen, and I got to Les Cayes to do follow-up & trip-prep work the Monday before the Tuesday earthquake. After finding out that all the kids and buildings at Bighouse were fine, three days after the earthquake we were able to evacuate out of the embassy in Port au Prince, taking us through the leveled city that the world has been watching so closely ever since. Taking advantage of the media that our being there brought about, we bounced the news' attention toward a tent city that we created called Cite' Lespwa (City of Hope). Sixty to seventy-five people flowed in and out of our tent city--that was set up on Centenary College's Campus--taking shifts to raise money and awareness for 7 days. We lived in prayer and solidarity as best we knew how in an effort to raise funding for immediate orphan relief. Thanks to the quick response of so many generous givers, this week we were able to write a check for over $75,000 that will go straight to The Global Orphan Project (GOP) who is on the ground currently in Haiti.
Let me tell you a little more about GOP. They have 18 orphanages in haiti prior to the earthquake, one of those being Bighouse--where your sponsor money goes to help. They took care of 2000 orphans before the quake hit, but now have jumped into the much needed action of finding and caring for the many new orphans that hvae been left after the quake. Currently, they are in haiti trucking in $10-$12,000 worth of food in trucks through the Dominican every other day. They are in a transition village east of Port au Prince and are finding 30 to 40 to 200 new orphans every day that they have to meet with food, water, and medical attention. This is what our $75,000 will go to help.
Les Cayes, on the Southern Coast where Bighouse is, has gone from having 300,000 in population to 450,000. The refugees are mostly injured and homeless. One hudnred and six orphans from a GOP orphanage that was damaged in Port au Prince have been moved to different orphanages in the Les Cayes are, and more are sure to come.
And this is how we are moving into action at Bighouse. Talk has been started about adding new dorms at Bighouse Orphanage so that some of these transition orphans can move in and have a place to live. It is felt that 100+ children will be at Bighouse with the necessary expansion project, meaning that along with the 80 sponsors that we currently have, we now need to find 20-40 new sponsors to help sustain these children.
Here's where you and I come in. We need to find new sponsors and quickly. If you know of someone that feels called and capable to support the children at Bighouse Orphanage at $35 a month, please encourage them to email me at: britneywinn@gmail.com
We cannot do everything, but we can do something. And together, we will move into action to help in the survival and healing of Haiti. The people of Haiti will need our prayers far past our understanding, our attention long past our boredom, our funding far mroe than we realize, and our hope and dedication far greater than ourselves.
If you want to keep up with The Global Orphan Project and their current and updated relief work, go to:
www.theglobalorphanproject.org , and go to the blogs.
We do not know when we will be able to return to Haiti, as mostly NGOs, dignitaries, and relief workers are being allowed into the country. However, we are keeping up with Pastor Jean at Bighouse and Mrs. Virginia at the Guesthouse through email and The Global Orphan Project through email and phone.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call or email. And again, thank you for your prayers and partnership. They are anything but stagnant in this broken time for Haiti. But still her people sing and fight through the rubble, and we hold on to that.
Bless you,
Britney Winn
Haiti Liaison
FUMC Shreveport
318.245.0485
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