HAITI :: Love, not pity; St. Vincent's food update

 

It is Thanksgiving eve. 

Our team of 11 has just returned from eight days in Haiti at St. Vincent’s Center for Handicapped Children in Port-au-Prince. In the USA, tomorrow we’ll sit down to a table groaning with more food than we can possibly eat, a rich bounty of flavors shared among family.

Yet my heartstrings continue to be tugged by the children we saw last week at St. Vincent’s.

We had arrived to welcoming greetings in sign language, Kreyol, English and a multitude of hugs. Our team is well known to these children and the staff who care for them. We’ve made countless trips here to help these special kids who are blind, deaf, missing limbs, unable to walk, some unable to even hold up their own head. With these smallest of gestures, these gentle little ones healed our hearts that had been broken for them time and time again.

The purpose of our visit last week was to conduct both a medical and dental clinic, which we completed during the course of our stay. However, as always, our favorite moments were spent talking, playing, singing, dancing, and creating art with the kids. We love them like our own—they are extensions of our family.

But when mealtime came, our healed hearts broke all over again. While the food situation has improved slightly, it is still abysmal compared to what it should be. Some mornings, they receive a bit of bread and butter or some gruel. Thankfully, every day around 3:00 p.m. everyone receives a bowl of beans and rice. These photos were taken on Sunday, the day where they get a tomato-based sauce to go over the meal and even a morsel of meat.

Sunday's meat sauce

At first the kitchen staff was apprehensive about us taking photos. Their frowns turned to welcoming smiles when they realized that we were there to HELP bring awareness to their plight, their need, their hunger – and that our desire for that awareness is based on love, not pity.

Genie in the kitchen

We are thankful but the need is great.

Like many others, The Red Thread Promise emphasizes thankfulness this week. We are so thankful for all of the support we have received via your gifts. You have given $3,961 to date. This provides 5,281 meals to the children!

What we need now is to ensure that the children of St. Vincent’s get 3 meals a day. The beans and rice they are currently receiving will keep them from starving; but nothing more. 

The cost for three meals is just $2.25 per child per day. For less than the cost of an average latte, a child can eat for an entire day! As we approach this season of overabundance and joy in giving, we know that we can do this, that you can do this.

Donations to feed the children can be made to The Red Thread Promise via PayPal (button on sidebar) or check (address in upper right). Please write "SV food" in the subject line when possible. If there is no subject line, please email Kathy and let us know how you want your donation specified.

Taking steps toward self-sufficiency.

For food for the future, The Red Thread Promise has become part of a project to bring both aeroponic and aquaponic gardening to St. Vincent’s. We estimate that this project will begin in 2015 and are excited to help set the groundwork for St. Vincent’s to become self-sufficient. In the meantime, we need to continue to feed the children. Your gifts make this possible. Thank you for everything you are able to share with these children.

~ Sonya Yencer & Glenna Fisher