Earlier this month I spent 9 days in Haiti. This time, I went to Haiti through an organization called God's Planet. Grant and Eva Rimback are from here in Blount County and started this non-profit years ago after his first trip to Haiti in 1993. I met Eva's sister Michelle in September and she got us connected. Next thing I know, I'm at their house planning a trip!

God's Planet partners with orphanages in Haiti to support them in whatever way they can. For years, God's Planet has organized a Christmas project which matches children in the orphanages with sponsors who fill personalized bags with Christmas goodies. My primary purpose for this trip was to organize the information for the Christmas project. I stayed with Sarah Fagg, who is the founder of Living Water Haiti. After taking several trips to Haiti throughout the years, she moved there two years ago and recently started an orphanage. So far, she cares for 5 children and has a desire to have an orphanage one day with up to 30 children. Sarah is from Maryville and it was great getting to know her, chatting about Tennessee, and sharing our heart for orphans and vulnerable children. Sarah even got married while I was down there. It was a small wedding and I volunteered to be her photographer. I would post some photos, but she hasn't posted any (because I haven't given her the CD yet) so I will have to wait. :) It was wonderful to be there for that special occasion!

During this trip I visited four orphanages not including Sarah's. My job was to take photos of all of the children. Sarah helped write down the names and her dad (who was visiting and there for the wedding) helped measure each child's foot so I could record shoe sizes. We also tried to record clothing sizes for each child. If they didn't have a tag in the clothes they were wearing, we would eyeball their size. Though even if they had a tag, it wasn't always helpful. It was common to see 8 or 9 year olds squeezed into a 3T or 4T shirt. At the end of our info gathering, we would bring all the children together and ask them what they wanted to be when they grew up. It was neat to hear the wide variety of answers. Even some of the littlest ones contributed, most of them wanting to be banana, mango or lollipop sellers. :) Many of the 139 children want to be nurses or doctors. Some lawyers, architects, or builders. One a helicopter pilot. A couple want to be cosmetologists or chefs. And perhaps my favorite, the 7 year old boy who wants to be a ninja. :)

I'll write more in an upcoming blog entry about how you can sponsor a child for the Christmas project. Meanwhile, here are some photos from a few of the orphanages.

Kids' House Orphanage has 17 children at an orphanage on a mountain outside of Port-au-Prince. They have a lovely view but their living conditions are less than basic. They have no running water or electricity.

Agape Orphanage has 41 children. These photos are taken on the top floor of their building where many of them have school. Most of the older children attend a secondary school in town.

This is Pastor Nae Nae's orphanage. There were 34 children at this orphanage, including his own 5 kids and a baby on the way.

Here are Sarah's kids... Love, Mirlandia, Jimmy, Regina, and Dajna. Many of you gave money to make this trip possible for me. The money I had left after my airfare, transportation, and housing costs went to purchasing clothes and supplies for the children and workers. I bought the new outfits above for each of Sarah's kids. They were thrilled!

It was such a neat experience living at Sarah's orphanage and being so closely involved with her kids. They are so sweet and lively! I look forward to seeing them again and meeting the many other children Sarah hopes to have in the future.

This house belongs to the mother of Sarah's three youngest kids. It is located by the orphanage I mentioned earlier up on the mountain with no water or electricity. Their mother was unable to care for them and hopes that Sarah can provide a future for them that she cannot. As I've mentioned before, not all children in an orphanage have lost both parents. Families living in such poverty-ridden societies have difficulties caring for children that don't always involve the death of parents.

On our way down the mountain, we stopped by to visit a family Sarah knew. If you look behind those trees and bushes in the middle, you can see some of the tents they live in. This was a bit of a hike on a hot day, something that family must do often to go and buy food and bring water. Their living conditions are something most of us could never even imagine. They have two babies under one year old.

The majority of my trip was spent right outside of Croix des Bouquets, less than 10 miles from Port au Prince. But there was one particular day I was really looking forward to. I had asked to be driven to Leogane, which is where I was before with Samaritan's Purse. I wanted to say hi to my friends with SP and I also wanted to visit all of my precious friends at the Lamb Center. Pulling into the driveway I felt like a kid on Christmas! I was SO excited!! Kalebe called out to the kids that "Ana's here!" and they came running. It was a beautiful reunion!! They sang for us and were hanging on to me the entire time like they always do. I was calling out their names and was a bit surprised myself with all of the names I remembered. There are nearly 70 children there now.

We stopped by the building site for the new Lamb Center orphanage. It was busy with activity and it's amazing to see how much has been done since I left.

I'm always amazed by how the Haitian people can carry things on their heads. And it can also be very interested to see what they are carrying at times. This lady had who knows how many chickens. I think they were all alive...

We stopped at a market to get some vegetables. It was a typical busy day for shopping. I spotted some okra and bought it for next to nothing. We fried it up for dinner. Yum! At the back of this photo you can see an above-ground cemetery. Reminds me of New Orleans. The beautiful mountains are also in the background.

Another shot of the market. The white and blue wall is part of the jail. Notice all of the trash driven into the ground. Mostly plastic bottles.

This is one of many tent cities. Most of the tent cities I saw did not have these military style tents. You can see regular tents all around the outside. This January will mark two years since the earthquakes and people seem like they are there to stay. I heard a rumor that the people think the government will eventually buy them a house and they are staying until that happens. I hate to say it, but if that's the case, they're going to be there for a while...

A closer shot inside a tent city.

The photos below are at the location where Sarah and Yves got married. It was a simple but beautiful ceremony. We celebrated with a delicious lunch and swim in the Caribbean!

Sarah and Yves got married by the pool to the left of the palm tree.