Family Week!

Every week is busy here at Be Like Brit, and this past one was no different!  Len and Cherylann arrived last week on Monday to visit with the children and tend to some business, and our Be Like Brit family grew by three boys!

Len and Cherylann greet the children as they come home from school!

Brothers! (L-R) Kerby, Davidson, and Fredo

One of the week's biggest events (and one of my favorite days!) was last Sunday after church when Rosenie and I took 14 of Brit's children out with us and visited the communities they were living in prior to coming to Be Like Brit.  Part of our programming includes regular family involvement (keeping in mind that family may mean a variety of things in this context!) and while the policy itself is ever-evolving and being tweaked to accommodate for each individual child's need or desire, I believe it's very important to keep the children connected to their roots.

I sometimes refer to Be Like Brit as a "bubble of privilege", and the last thing I want is for our children to become so insulated inside that bubble that they lose their sense of identity and all familiarity with what the real world is like for most people in Haiti.  That's how we bring up a generation of future leaders who value things like reciprocity - by keeping them connected.

At any rate, the children were more than excited to go and put on some of their best clothes as we piled in the pickup truck and set out for the afternoon.  And yes, driving a pickup truck filled with children in Haiti does make me nervous!

Let's go, already! 

I really had no idea what to expect as we set off for the first stop.  I had spent a lot of time discussing the visits with the children involved, being sure they wanted to go, talking about how they felt about going, etc., etc., but still, those things you plan for the most often are the things that you have to have a "wait and see" attitude.  I wanted our children to be excited about seeing aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, old friends, and even a few moms - but I was nervous about the emotional toll it might take on them.  I mostly feared that some of our children would express a desire to stay - to not want to come back to Be Like Brit.  How would I handle that?

One of the homes from where some of our children came from

I was so relieved to be witness to the excitement and the anticipation each child felt for the others as we neared the next "house".  They couldn't wait to introduce their new brothers and sisters to their extended families or to the people with whom they were living; to show their new brothers and sisters their old home, to see old friends.  They were genuinely happy, excited, and spoke proudly of going to school and what life is like for them now at Be Like Brit.

Steeve was happy to see his Grandmother!

Something that I don't think I'll ever be able to fully "get" or understand is how familial relationships seem or appear to work in Haiti.  At face value, even when bringing children in to the Orphanage, there seems to be this stoic, emotionless, very matter-of-fact exchange of "child for birth certificate" sort of arrangement.  I always ask the adults bringing us children if they would like to walk around and see where their child will be living, meet their caregivers, etc., and almost always get an awkward no.  When I ask adults about visiting the child they will be bringing us, they almost always say something along the lines of, "yes, sure, when would you like me to visit."  There's not often tears, there's never a screaming child holding tight to the arm of the adult who has provided him or her with care for the last 'X' number of years.  At least not on the surface.  I remember crying so hard the first day of school every year until I was about 9.  I have yet to see that happen here - that separation doesn't seem to bring any sadness.

Walking to another house!

And that's how these visits seemed, at least for the most part. Children and adults were not overly emotional about seeing each other. They didn't run up to one another and embrace.  There were no tight, long hugs and tears of joy like we see in the States every day at something as simple as an arrival gate at the airport.  And I can't quite yet figure that out.  It wears on my mind constantly.  Is it that simple?  Is the presence of a child in your home so much of a burden because it's another mouth to feed that the absence of that child provides so much relief that the dominant emotion is not sadness?  Or is it a facade?

Socrate, waving?

I can't help but believe there's more going on beneath the surface, though I realize that's my own Western framed mind telling me this.  The whole idea of trauma is something scholars contest as a social construct of Western thought and not so much a reality for those who are supposedly suffering from it.  I don't know who is right and who is wrong, and quite frankly, I don't care.  I'll continue to be mindful of all of this while keeping the best interest of our children as the number one priority.  Smiles don't usually lie.  Our children seemed overwhelmingly happy to reunite briefly with friends and family, share a quick hug, and head back home to Be Like Brit.  As I spoke with each child afterwards about how they felt about their day, it was clear that all was well with their world.  At least for the moment.

Thanks for reading - and enjoy a few more photos from that day!

Jonathan

Old friends in the neighborhood!

Love na's neighbor is happy to see her!

Waving to Be Like Brit from another hill!

Ephesiens recognizes his old neighbor!

Many of these homes have yet to be rebuilt, 3 years later.

Like A Local!

It's not easy being a 6' tall bald-headed white man in Haiti.  People tend to notice you.  They tend to point and yell "blan! blan!" - which is to be expected.  After all, who am I to them?  Why on earth am I here?  Sometimes I wonder what locals think when they see me driving through their city streets, or walking through their communities, almost always escorted by one or two Haitians, clipboard in hand, looking for children we have heard about in need.  I wonder how they feel about my presence - do they like me?  Do they hate the fact that I'm combing their neighborhoods?  Are they largely indifferent towards me?  Do they wonder if I'm a Missionary or if I'm someone there looking to give money to a large-scale project?  All of these questions run through my mind on an almost regular basis.  I certainly have never felt like a local.  Yesterday, however, I did something for the first time that made me feel more "local" than anything else I have done so far while in Haiti:  I went to the market!

(Photo credit: Thony Belizaire/AFP/Getty Images).

Those of you who have traveled the world and visited these open-air markets know that there's nothing quite as hectic and lively as the public market in any given town.  Having only the markets in Rwanda to compare this experience to, I expected to be swarmed by merchants and market-goers alike, pulled in different directions, asked to buy lots of items - hear things like "good price for you blan", etc.  Imagine my surprise when none of this happened!  Sure, there were stares and a few people who chose to follow me fairly closely, but there was none of the overwhelming inundation of pressure and attention that I found to be the case in any public market I visited in Kigali.  I even ran into a few familiar faces, people who called me out by name!  I couldn't resist carrying the 50 lb. bag of rice on my head as we walked back out of the chaos towards National Route 2 (still chaotic!) where my car sat waiting to carry me and the two market-goers I had joined back up the hill.  That sight alone earned much more comments, gawks, stares, and laughter than any other throughout the experience.  I may have been caught up in the excitement of it all, or perhaps searching for something deeper where perhaps everything was at face value - but for the first time since my arrival to Haiti I felt more like a local than I ever had previously.  It was a very awesome sensation.

Then, there are experiences like this:

Earlier this week, Rosenie and I received a phone call from a man who claimed to know of some thirty children who were true orphans and in desperate need of assistance.  He claimed to know of Be Like Brit through an employee of ours, and so reached out and asked us if we would make the 20 minute or so drive to the neighboring town to meet these children and the adults with whom they were living to see if we might be able to help them at all.  We agreed to meet him at 9am, which, let's be honest, could mean anywhere between 9am and 10am in Haiti.  Naturally, the man needed some phone minutes transferred from my phone to his so that he could make the arrangements and call each of the respective families.  Given that he only asked for 20 goudes (about 50 cents) I didn't really hesitate.

Rosenie and I set off with one of our security guards towards Petit Goâve on time, me at the wheel.  As we approached the predetermined spot, Rosenie made a phone call to announce our arrival.  Her tone immediately shifted from professional and very matter of fact to stern and authoritative.  While I am somewhat impressed with my Haitian Creole language skills, I wasn't able to catch everything that was exchanged.  I did, however, decipher that the man we were to meet was not where he said he would be.  Instead, he was a bit further West, in a town he failed to mention before, and asked if we could just drive there to meet him.

We obliged, irritated, but hey, it's Haiti, and if you get easily irritated you may not want to visit.  Plans change, specifics and details are sometimes lost in translation or just held to a different standard than we uptight, by-the-minute scheduling Westerners consider important.  We laughed a bit - even more so when we found the radio station blaring the Backstreet Boys as we all sang along.

We then arrived at this next town.  Rosenie made the call - and again, I listened as her tone changed, this time coupled with a drastic increase in modulation.  She was flat out screaming at this guy - and I found it to be quite hilarious!  It seemed, yet again, that he was not in the town he told us he was in, but instead, just "a little bit further" down the road.  As I picked up on some choice phrases and expressions she had for this man, we decided to call the drive and time a loss, and head back to Grand Goâve.

Rosenie was ready to fight! 

Frustration and annoying days are what you make of them anywhere, but in Haiti, there's almost always an option A, B, or C to turn to.  We did just that, and because of our morning frustration and the wild goose chase we found ourselves on, we were able to stop off and make a different visit.  The home of Fredo, Kerby and Davidson, our newest three children here at Be Like Brit.  I don't often travel with enrollment documents in my bag, but that day I had, anticipating that from this supposed group of 30 orphans we would be enrolling at least a few.  So, while frustrated and having racked up a few miles on the car, our day did not end without some awesome results.  We welcomed our three newest boys home to Be Like Brit that afternoon, long before Rosenie had a chance to take any swings at the deceitful man who was leading us all over Haiti.

Fredo, Kerby, and Davidson - with a Rosenie much happier than just a few hours earlier! :)

We had taken a few weeks off from bringing children in to allow for our first group to adjust and establish a routine.  We can't believe it that we are already 1/3 of the way towards our goal of 66 children!!!

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention another wonderful thing that happened this week here at Be Like Brit.  For those of you who have followed us, you know we are blessed with some very talented professionals who volunteer their time and money to help us in all sorts of different ways.  If you've been a faithful follower of our Facebook page (we have over 13,000 now!) you absolutely have heard how wonderful it is that we have a 60,000kw generator as emergency backup for the all-too-common rolling blackouts we are faced with here in Grand Goâve.  Until this week, that generator was housed in a storage room inside the building.

Greg and Chris Love!

Greg Smith has been one of those wonderful people.  After 6 trips in to Haiti to help with electrical projects at Be Like Brit, Greg came back to help us with the very important and difficult task of moving this generator to a secured outbuilding.  We decided to move the generator for several reasons - including needing the space to store all of the wonderful donations all of our friends and supporters continue to send.  It's also, as you may imagine, a very loud machine when it runs.  We wanted to keep the environment inside Brit's Orphanage as free from noise pollution (and the smell of diesel!) as possible.  Greg flew down specifically to help us with this gargantuan task!  We can't thank him enough!  Now, when the power is out, we don't even realize it, as the generator kicks on and is far enough away from the building that we can't even hear it over the hum of the ceiling fans and the chirping of crickets!

A new home for the generator!

What's wrong, Chris Love?

Ok, come with me buddy!

"Must you take so many pictures!?" 

Again, it's been another week of blessing for us here at Be Like Brit.  We continue to work hard to provide the best home and environment for our children to grow and learn - and another "first" for me this week was being the "parent" at school on report card day, collecting 20 "carnet scholaires" for all of Brit's Children enrolled at the school at Mission of Hope International.  To say I was nervous is an understatement.  I found it a bit comical when Renèe Edmee came up to me and said, "in a sea of all of these heads, your white shiny head sticks out a bit!"  Indeed, it did.  And while some of our children have room for improvement, we couldn't be more proud at their ability to perform as well as they did given the drastic changes in their lives in such a short period of time.

For most of our children, their first day of school ever in their lives was after January 21, 2013, when they came home to Be Like Brit.  Having been removed from their homes, brought to a new place filled with new people, new rules, new expectations, and enrolled into school almost immediately, I believe firmly that our children are doing amazingly well.  We have one more term before the end of the school year, and each of our children knows they have a bit of work to do.  Like any parent, though, they know that as long as they work and they try, we will be beaming with pride - and amazed at how well they have adapted and adjusted to a life so unlike that which they were living before.

Kervins and his report card! (He's VERY good at drawing squares, by the way!) :) 

Saradina!

Sherly!

Thanks for reading, all.  We'll see you next week!

Jonathan

Three Months On...

Sometimes it's hard to believe that I have been here in Haiti working for Be Like Brit for 3 months.  In so many ways the time has flown, while in others it feels like I've been here all along.  As I prepare to take my first week off, I wanted to reflect a bit on what has happened here in this building, in this community, and the impact this experience has had on my own life.

The 'B' from above, October 2012.

For those of you who don't know where I came from and why I am here, I'll start by telling you that never in my life would I have imagined I would find myself living and working in Haiti.  I first got in to international work back in 2001 when I went to work in international business, spending much of the year working and traveling all throughout Asia.  I loved so much about the travel - new places, new cultures, new friendships.  As my work in China's manufacturing sector went on, I started to struggle with the conditions factory workers were forced to spend their days and nights in.  Finally giving way to my conscience, I left my job in Asia and returned to my hometown to go back to school.

A few years later, I ended up in graduate school at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA.  I chose to pursue a master's degree in social work, as my commitment to issues of social justice and human rights naturally led me in that direction.  I chose Tulane because in a post-Katrina environment, the need was great for people looking to do the kind of work I hoped to get involved with.  The city of New Orleans had always fascinated me; a unique blend of cultures coexisting in an environment not quite like any other place in the U.S.  Tulane offered an accelerated program and offered the chance to concentrate in global social work and development.  All of these options attracted me to the program.  After my first year of grad school, I applied to Tulane's select global social work program and found myself placed at an orphanage in Kigali, Rwanda, where I was to assist the staff social worker with the development of a social services program.

Me with some of the boys from the Rwandan Orphans Project in Kigali

My experience in Rwanda sparked something inside of me, and from the moment I arrived there, I knew I wanted to do this type of work - international setting with a vulnerable population.  After my final semester of grad school in Rwanda, I returned to New Orleans, graduated, and took a position as a lecturer in the Department of Sociology with the State University of New York system.

In September of 2012, I started to feel that overwhelming desire and need to "get out" - to get out of my comfort zone and find something which would challenge me.  I so wanted to work with a sense of purpose and appreciation.  Social Work in the United States doesn't always foster a sense of thanks - in fact, it seems in our "developed" society, we've managed to bury all the good effort in piles of paperwork, red tape, and unwieldy bureaucracy.  I wanted to be somewhere on the ground and working hands on.  As I started my job search, I came across an opening with Be Like Brit.  I applied and hoped for the best.  A month later, Len and Cherylann brought me in to Haiti to check out the orphanage and interview.  A week after that trip, I signed my 3 year contract!

Signing my 3 year contract!

I finished the year out teaching, and in the midst of a massive snow storm, flew out of Burlington, VT on December 26, 2012.  20 hours later, I had arrived at Brit's Orphanage in Grand Goâve - only this time, it was to stay.

Since then, I've been so fortunate to come to know so many amazing people.  From the Gengels to our staff, friends, supporters, and members of the community, each new relationship makes Haiti feel a bit more like home.  The work that I am doing here is not easy - it requires so many different skills and qualities - some of which I have and some of which I need to improve upon.  The learning curve is certainly present, and no two days in Haiti are ever the same.  Perhaps that is what I love the most - new challenges requiring new approaches and new resources.  Living where you work of course brings with it its own stresses and demands, and so when Len and Cherylann insisted that I take a break every three months, I felt encouraged by their keen awareness to things like burnout and fatigue.

Looking back over these 3 months, I can't really believe how much we as an organization have achieved.  We started the year by having our opening and dedication ceremony, successfully hosting over 60 friends from the States and around 40 guests from Haiti.  After the craziness and chaos from that weekend wore off, we welcomed our first child, Kervins, on Brit's birthday!

Kervins! 

In the past three months, I have personally interviewed 60 families with children they were hoping to have brought in to Be Like Brit.  This has been done through community outreach - using contacts and stakeholders in the community to help us identify families in need and some of the most vulnerable children in the area.  From these 60 families, we have brought 20 children home to Be Like Brit.  We are almost a third of the way there - and it's incredible to me that we have come this far in just 2 months! As our family has grown, our staff has too - and we now have 34 full-time staff helping us to maintain and manage Be Like Brit in Haiti.

As the Program Director, I am responsible for all things related to the children.  This includes the staff that works with them and our visitors and Britsionarys who want to spend time with them.  While boundaries are important, I can't help but feel very personal about these children - with the help of Rosenie I'm the one who has found these children, met their families, visited their homes, and ultimately decided to bring them in to Be Like Brit.  They are all of our sons and daughters - but I have a unique emotional connection to them and a sense of duty to protect them.  It makes doing good work all the more important when it comes to these kids.

Kervins and Love na - our youngest two!

I recently finished the book, Heartache and Hope in Haiti.  I had to pinch myself as I sat on the roof of the building and read the final chapter - in disbelief that I am such an integral part of the Be Like Brit Orphanage.  It's such an awesome project.  It's so inspiring and offers so much hope to not only those children who will call Be Like Brit home, but to anyone who has faced loss or tragedy.  The ability of the human spirit to persevere and grow and the nature of good people are all represented at Be Like Brit. To be a part of it is truly humbling.

I'm looking forward to my week off and being able to share my excitement and stories with my friends and family. At the same time, I am anxious about leaving and will miss each of those precious faces every day!  I understand the value of a break, and a place like Haiti definitely requires them.  After working hard for 3 months with no days off, I most look forward to sleeping in a day or two!

Thanks for reading! See you all next week!
Jonathan

Community Building

Students from Becker College and Boston University work on a house in Grand Goâve, Haiti, as part of their Britsionary service trip

This past week, we at Be Like Brit were fortunate enough to host a group of 22 students and faculty from both Becker College and Boston University through our Britsionary program.  This was our first group of this size and our first venture into hosting a group coming from two different places.  Being able to brings these two groups together to work towards a common goal proved that despite where we come from and what differences we may have, we all can be a force in strengthening communities together.

We started out the week with some intense labor, in true Britsionary fashion.  As many of you know, we at Be Like Brit are committed to community enrichment and reciprocity - giving back to those who have given so much of themselves throughout the process of building Be Like Brit and helping us to feel welcome here in Grand Goâve.  Part of this community enrichment piece is reaching out to a local family or two and identifying a need, brainstorming, and together with the family deciding how we can best serve them.  This week we were able to join forces and help two families in very simple but very meaningful ways.

Gama, our "Clerk of the Works" helps secure tarps to keep the house dry during Haiti's heavy rains

With the help of Gama, our groups were able to find two families in need.  Many families live in one and two room "houses" made up of little more than sticks, banana leaves and mud.  With the rainy season just around the corner, Gama thought it would be helpful to help make two of these houses a bit more secure by wrapping them in tarps and rope in order to protect the children and families inside.  These tarps cost little more than $20.00 each, but would otherwise be unobtainable for the families to whom they now provide added shelter.

While our groups were busy building relationships with members from the community, it was also great to see how these two groups sort of became one throughout the course of their Britsionary experience.  It's not always easy to bring large numbers of people together in a place which demands so much from you both emotionally and physically.  These two groups of college students, along with several faculty members did a great job at coming to Haiti to do the kind of work that Brit felt so passionate about!

The end result!

Securing the walls.

 The two groups took things beyond just protecting the family and their house from the elements! While touring their respective houses, the students noticed that neither family had proper table and chairs for dining, and asked if the families could benefit from this sort of contribution.  After it was decided that this would be useful, the teams went out and purchased the necessary supplies to build each of the families they were helping a much needed table and chairs.  They even built a crib for one of our security guards who recently had a baby and was sleeping on the floor!  It's this kind of work that makes all of us here at Be Like Brit proud and exactly the kind of project that keeps Brit's spirit alive and strong!

A very proud group!

Another part of our Britsionary program includes the building of a given number of homes per year in the community of Grand Goâve.  This year, we have plans to build four houses!  Our groups from Becker and Boston University helped with an important first step:  Building a security wall!  The groups started by loading blocks by hand into the pickup truck, hauling them up the mountain, and laying them out one by one. This is an arduous and labor intensive task!  Aside from the unforgiving Haiti sun, the group found themselves up against a mighty force.  Tarantulas! Our Haitian crews got a good laugh at watching the students scatter every time they found one - which was rather often!

Blocks (and spiders!) 

We're very proud of our Britsionary groups!  Every group we host is different.  Some get along great, some take longer to warm up to each other and form a sense of group identity.  These two groups of young adults had quite a few differences - yet as the week progressed, the common bond they shared allowed them to form an organic solidarity - a natural transformation born out of the desire to serve others less fortunate.  Through their compassion, their differences were set aside, and the work they did delivered real, necessary and lasting change to families a world away.  Indeed, their presence here in Grand Goâve from a far away place will not soon be forgotten.  We are so very grateful to them for their service, and their commitment to "Be Like Brit".

For more information on our short-term or long-term Britsionary programs, please go to our website at www.belikebrit.org/britsionary

Please enjoy some more photos from the week, and as always, thanks for reading!

Jonathan

The Women of Be Like Brit

This week, women around the world were celebrated on March 8, International Women's Day.  As I sat down to write this blog, I couldn't help but think about the women who work for us here at Be Like Brit.  So many of you have followed this journey from the very beginning.  You are coming to know us and our children, but it occurred to me that most of you don't know much about what happens behind the scenes!  In the spirit of celebrating women, this week, please meet the women of Be Like Brit!

Rosenie

Meet Rosenie.  Rosenie's role has evolved here at Be Like Brit.  Rosenie is essentially my assistant when it comes to child-related work.  Rosenie and I go everywhere together!  She is well known and highly respected in the community of Grand Goâve.  Nobody messes with Rosenie!  She really has taken the lead on locating children and families to interview to determine eligibility for enrollment into our program here at Be Like Brit.  Once a child is approved for enrollment, Rosenie and I work side by side through that process, including everything from intake paperwork and translating to enrollment in school, shopping for books, uniforms, setting the child up with new clothes, shoes, personal items, the list goes on and on!  Rosenie is also a nurse, and great to have on site 40 hours per week in the event we need someone to tend to scrapes and bruises.  With Rosenie next to me, I know that I can go anywhere in Haiti and not be worried!  As she always reminds me, "I will protect you!"  And she does!  Through me, Rosenie keeps everything else in order with the staff and has proved to be an invaluable resource and has also become a great friend!

Elsie (with a very happy Kervins)

Elsie is a school teacher, and works with us at Be Like Brit as a primary caregiver.  Elsie takes the lead in after school enrichment.  She has the sometimes challenging task of getting our older children who are in the Haitian equivalent of elementary school to review their lessons and study after school every day.  The children come home from school around noon everyday.  After they eat lunch, they get free play time for about an hour, and then it's time to hit the books!  Elsie has done a great job with helping our children preform well in school.  She proudly reports the day's scores to me and brings any educational issues to my attention.  She has the patience of God Himself and we are so blessed to have her here!

Carline and Love na

While Elsie is busy working with our older children, Carline heads up the preschoolers!  All but 5 of our children are in preschool, and so keeping them busy and learning is no easy task!  While she has help from other staff, Carline does an amazing job with managing 14 little ones and keeping them happy, clean, and engaged in healthy play and learning.  Elsie and Carline also have the gift of voice and spend about an hour each day with all of our children together practicing childhood songs in English, Creole, and in French! Trust me when I say that a building full of children is usually very loud, and there's nothing sweeter than the sound of 19 little ones singing along in near perfect unison!

Yranie

Yranie has been with us for about one month now at Be Like Brit.  Yranie officially works as a caregiver's assistant, but really her work is very much directly with the children.  Yranie is here every day to meet the children as they come home from school.  She helps them all change out of their school uniforms and makes sure that each child puts them away neatly.  She teaches them things like how to make their beds, where to put their belongings, and maintains order in the children's bedrooms.  Most recently, we started a program with Yranie and the children where she now spends a few hours a week teaching them basic life skills, including washing clothes, shoes, etc.  In Haiti, it's the norm for children to do laundry - as laundry is done by hand, it's a great opportunity for the children to sit together, completing a task, learning about responsibility and what it means to contribute to the household.  It's also a great chance for them to sit and talk, sing songs, and laugh!  I was nervous about the idea at first, but the kids look forward to this every week!

Yranie also helps all our children at bath time.  In Haiti, the children wash in the afternoon, as the water has been heated up enough by the sun that it's a bit warmer.  This happens just before dinner, and takes about an hour!  The other caregivers help with dressing and drying while Yranie keeps watch and gives direction and assistance in the tub!  She even started coming in on Sundays (her day off) to iron school uniforms - I told her that it wasn't necessary for her to come and do that, that we have other staff capable of performing this task.  She wouldn't hear of it.  When I asked her why, her answer was so sincere and so genuine.  "They're kind of like my own children.  I want them to learn this from me."

Mirta (L) and Mirlaine (R)

Madona

Mirta, Madona, and Mirlaine are three of our overnight caregivers.  I am always surprised at the amount of work these women do on the night shift.  I had assumed (somewhat naively) that the overnight shift would be easy:  You come in at 7, the children go to bed around 8 or 8:30, and then you're free!  Obviously, this is not the case.  Not only do these women have the task of getting all of the children prepared for bed - but they have the responsibility of getting them all ready in the morning, too!  The two things children hate the most - to go to bed, and to get up - they deal with 6 days a week!  Throughout the night, there are almost always interruptions.  Mirlaine and Madona both go to nursing school by day, and Mirta has a family of her own.  We're so lucky to have them with us here!

Mariette (L) and Evana (R) 

Our kitchen crew is always hard at work!  The kitchen starts things going at about 5:30am every day, and doesn't close usually until around 8:00pm! Gilbert manages our kitchen and does a great job along with the four women who cook for us!  Mariette is the lead cook, and we especially like that she's currently in school learning how to make and decorate cakes!  Along with her, Evana, Betty, and Rolen work hard to make healthy and nutritious meals for our children and our staff!

We also provide one meal a day for some local children who might not otherwise get to eat - in February we served over 30 children from outside Be Like Brit lunch!  We provide one meal each day for all of our staff, too, and have to accommodate for visitors and Britsionarys regularly!  This week we'll be cooking for an extra 30 people every day!  They really do an amazing job putting out our meals.  Each of them has gone through a first aid training as well as a food preparation and sanitation training!  They do a great job keeping us all fed and all healthy!

Betty and Rolen washing up!

Keeping 19,000 square feet of building clean and keeping up with our 19 children is no easy task.  You can imagine that things get pretty hectic and interesting around here!  We have a crew of women who keep things safe and clean: Madame Santana is one of those women.  Santana has been around since Len first came to Haiti to scope out places to build.  We actually have a photo of Santana serving water to people not long after the earthquake - She works 6 days a week and sings along the whole time.  She also teaches me Creole (she doesn't speak a word of English!) ~ Thanks to her I know all about toilets, beds, rooms, sheets, pillows, laundry, soap, washing, drying, wet, dirty, clean, ready, and not!  I secretly try to sing along when I hear her "whistle while she works."

Santana

Zet, letting Susan demonstrate some of our medical equipment in the BLB Clinic

Santana is assisted by Zet, who works just as hard!  Zet can usually be found doing laundry or maintaining our Britsionary rooms.  If there's one thing that Haiti has a lot of, it's dust!  She preps the 6 rooms and 22 beds for our visitors and maintains those areas throughout their stay.  She also works in the dining area and maintains the common areas at Be Like Brit.  She and Santana are great friends and we enjoy sitting with them at Church on Sundays - just like family!

We also happen to have some men working for us at Be Like Brit - we have three male caregivers and they work just as hard as our women do.  We really have a great crew here and what I like best is that at any given time, you might see someone assigned to laundry help one of the children with putting his or her dishes in the sink.  A cook may hear crying and come out to offer some comfort.  Our tasks are specific, but our roles are somewhat fluid.  We hope this fosters a real sense of family, of love, and of security.  

Thanks for reading, and enjoy some more photos from the week!

Jonathan

Carline and Elsie

Betty (standing), Evana and Gilbert

Sunday, March 10, 2013 before Church!

Dance night!

Lined up to walk to Church!

Nashca

Socrate, looking smart!