Jean Raymond Update

Thank you for the emails, messages, and interest you have shared regarding Jean Raymond. More than one of you have mentioned the organization Smile Train, and we have successfully made contact with them.

After a 45 minute operation free of charge, Jean Raymond will have a mouth he can feel proud of.

Smile Train will be in Fermathe (which is 45 minutes outside of PaP) in June. Many of you have asked how you can help sponsor Jean Raymond's medical expenses. Since Smile Train gifts the operation, there is no need to sponsor medical expenses, but we do need sponsors for Jean Raymond and his mother's travel expenses.

To sponsor Jean Raymond and his Mother will cost roughly $100 US round trip. This includes: safe transportation, meals, and lodging for the night.

If you would like to sponsor Jean Raymond and his Mother's travel costs, please let us know.

If we receive more than one sponsor, we can find other children like Jean Raymond to receive the same services.

A Ray

Their life changed at 4:35 pm, January 12, 2010. Their hard work, accomplishments, and sunshine disappearing into a cloud of dust. The mementos of their lives spent together, for better and for worse, crumbled into a thousand pieces in a matter of minutes. Only a small ray of sunshine was left- their youngest daughter.

Not only did the Maxine family lose every single one of their material possessions, they lost their two eldest daughters, 12 and 10. A happy family of five turned to a family of three within seconds. The youngest instantly became an only child. Their smiles immediately erased. Their lives changed forever.

What was turning out to be a normal afternoon in Port au Prince ended in tragedy. Father Alabre Maxine had just closed his store for the night, and was headed home. Mother Maxine was out fetching water from the well while two oldest daughters where inside studying- one in the dining room, the other in her bedroom. Youngest daughter was playing in the yard, waiting for Mother to come back with the water to cook dinner and bathe.

Then the ground split open. The family store crumbled to pieces. The house pancaked to the ground. The three children were lost, buried under the rubble. When the ground stopped shaking, they ran. Home. Mr. and Mrs. Maxine were distraught. They screamed out their daughters' names. They clawed at the heavy cement, hoping to hear them. Hoping to see them- catch a glimpse of their long, dark hair. Their pale, beautiful skin. Silence.

They dug and clawed all night. Through the darkness they blindly clung to any glimmer of hope and chance, but they faded as the sun rose. Then they heard a voice. A mouse's cry of salvation under the rubble. In a space no larger than a bucket, their glimmer of sunshine announced her life. She squeezed out of her grave by the grace of God physically unharmed. Her sixth year will be followed by a seventh. They lost everything but one, tiny ray of sunshine.

But now they struggle, still trying to climb out of the ruins of their life. For the past year, Alabre Maxine, his wife, and his only daughter have been sleeping on the floor of kind souls' homes. They left Port au Prince in hopes of starting over in Les Cayes. They can never return to Port au Prince- the thought of it causes the child to panic and cry. She is petrified of Port au Prince, the city that stole her sisters. He tries to find a job, she tries to find a place to stay for the night. Their comfortable life gone. They have been reduced to homeless beggars.

They need assistance. They need support. They need something to get them on their feet again. A new ray of sunshine. Something to help them as they heal and attempt to start over as a family of three. Formerly a family of five.

Finished!!!

There are thousands and thousands of little feet in Les Cayes and up and down the coast that will be protected from the mud, bugs, and germs. Thank you, TOMS Shoes.

Not only are thousands of children sporting TOMS, EDUplus was able to provide four young men with temporary jobs distributing the shoes.

Let's hope TOMS is as happy as we are and they send us some more. Let me tell you- there is a high demand for TOMS around here.

Something to be said...

Three things to never ask a woman: her age, her weight, her bra size.
Three things to never ask a man: if a woman is prettier than you, to take out the trash, his "shoe" size.
Three things to just never talk about in general: religion, politics, the health care system.

Not going there...but I am going to make reference- to our health care system.

Take a look at this face. Jean Raymond's face.

Sweet, meek, mild, Jean Raymond came to Espwa today with his Mother asking for medical assistance. Jean Raymond has lived his nine little years with this lip.

When I saw Jean Raymond I immediately thought of my youngest sister. My baby sister was born with a syndrome that blessed her with a pharangyeal flap in the back of her throat instead of showing on her lip. Because she was born in the United States, at age two, she was able to have a surgery to close the pallet, and after speech therapy, she was transformed into a typical little girl. But not Jean Raymond. I can't help but think...

We complain, we make comments, we hate it. But what is the alternative? Nine years of discomfort and people looking at you funny?
So what do we do? We look for a doctor from the good old U-S-of-A to help Jean Raymond out.
A doctor from the healthcare system we complain about, but keeps our children from suffering fixable pains.

Beloved

Esthere and Westerline Bien-aime are sisters who exemplify their name- Beloved.

At four and possibly six, the only stability the two have known is the stability of their Mother’s love. They have never had the stability of a breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They have never had the stability of laying their head down on a pillow at night. They have never had the stability of a roof over their heads. Growing up on the streets with their mother, their tiny eyes have seen too much.

Each night they searched out a new shelter- an abandoned lottery stand, a fallen house. Each day they foraged for food. Then they found Espwa. Because of her love for her daughters, Esthere and Westerline’s mother asked Espwa to provide her Beloved with security.

Now, Esthere and Westerline go to school, receive three meals a day, and have a pillow to lay their heads on every night.
Now, they have Hope.

Sweet Mr. President Micky

The streets were packed. The noise level would blow your eardrums. The stakes raised high. The pink photos flying.

And not a soul wore a frown.

It is still hard to believe that after a year of suffering, pain, and feeling defeated, the people's voices were finally heard. The people finally came out on top. And, man, were they flying.

I found myself driving home in the middle of a Ra-Ra last night, just minutes after the announcement the South has been waiting for was made. The energy was intense. Children and adults alike paraded and celebrated the answer to their prayers. Sweet, Sweet Micky. His music was playing on the radio- the thrill of kompa a soundtrack to the day. It was beautiful.

Not sure how many of you know this... but Martelly and I go way back. My first encounter with him at a Bay Klub concert in Les Cayes a few years ago. My skin color was like a beacon of light attracting the artist to make small talk before his show. Over the years we haven't communicated on a regular basis, but just enough for me to realize that he really does hope to help his country. He and I have spoke of his Foundation and of Pwoje Espwa. Of how we both want to help the South and the children of Haiti.

Well now Martelly, here is your chance. Here is your chance to prove to your people that your song and dance were not just a show- but a foresight into the future. Here is your chance to show your faithful followers, the ones who suffered for you, that you will prevail. Here is your chance to bring your country, the one we all treasure, up out of the rubble. And we will be here to help you. We believe in you. In change. In Haiti.

So, please Sweet Mr. President Micky- call me!

D-Day

Today is the day the results for the next President of Haiti will be announced.

Many people assume that because Haiti is a third world country, they lack access to the technology we are so accustomed to in the U.S. and all over the rest of the world. Those assumptions are wrong. Technology has played a huge part in this election process. Along with messages being thrown across the radio and television airwaves, text messages have taken over telephones. Right now, text rumor has it that Madame Manigat won the election 51%.

IF this is the case, and IF these results are given tonight... I am thinking it is going to be deja vu of December.

This morning coming into work I already saw a lot of UN cars and trucks patrolling the city and main road. People that can afford it have been stocking up on goods... just in case. Most schools were closed, though we held classes this morning.

We will see what happens tonight, after dark. Keep Haiti in your thoughts and prayers.

I will update as soon as possible.