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 Fruits of Your Labor

"For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee."

Len meets the children at Be Like Brit as he arrives in Grand Goâve on Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Be it serendipity or Britney herself at work, there's no question that some amazing things have happened here in Haiti at Be Like Brit.  Most recently, when Len's trip into Haiti scheduled for last week got pushed back a few days, we were all a bit disappointed that the larger projects we had planned would have to be rescheduled.  As Len arrived three days later than planned, he decided to inspect the road that the St. John's Britsionary group and our own crews had worked so hard on.  While walking up the road, Len came upon this wonderful sight:  The Be Like Brit children!  This was the first time Len met 11 of these children, and I can't help but think that the reward for his delays was stumbling upon this beautiful sight.  Indeed, the fruits of his labor were realized as he crossed paths with a group of children making their way home - to his very own house.

In some ways, the fact that plans had to change and projects rescheduled allowed for some very organic and genuine bonding here at Be Like Brit.  What might have been hectic days outside around heavy, loud equipment was instead meals around the table, surrounded by the very purpose for which this project was even conceived of.  Our children were able to meet the man behind this whole extraordinary and amazing journey.  They were welcomed home by the man himself.  It was a very awesome thing to witness.

The rule breaker!

As the Program Director, it's easy to get caught up in the management aspects of this job.  I'm constantly thinking about things like rules, structure, training, schedules, menus, staff, etc., that sometimes it takes the arrival of someone like Len to give a subtle reminder that Be Like Brit is a home first.  While all of those other things are requisite in managing a building like this effectively, they can also be impediments to creating a home like Len and Cherylann created for their own children; the type of home they explicitly want for the children here at Be Like Brit.  This week, I am grateful for that reminder from Len.  Be Like Brit is a home, not an institution.  It's okay that walls might get drawn on, that toys may get broken, that children might just fall down and scrape a knee.  

My only sadness this past week was the absence of Cherylann.  I know that the mother in Cherylann is so anxious to get down here and meet these children.  As the saying goes, behind every great man is a great woman, and this could not be more true of Len and Cherylann Gengel.  Cherylann tirelessly works the often less than glamorous, behind the scenes sort of tasks that keep things at Be Like Brit up and running.  

This past week, members of our medical group and Cherylann attended Middlesex Community College's Haiti panel discussion on "Disaster Relief in Haiti and Beyond."  We were proud as an organization to have our friends share the stage with a great humanitarian and friend to Haiti, Academy Award Winner Sean Penn.  So, while we missed Cherylann here this past week, we know that the work she was off doing is integral to our mission and the continued success of the organization.

Cherylann and Sean Penn!

 This week was what I think will be the closest thing we will have to a "normal" week here at Be Like Brit.  No outside groups of visitors; no crazy events or special outings.  It was a week of work, school, and play.  As we move forward, my plan is to have 20 children or so in Brit's Orphanage by the end of the month, and give them a few weeks to assimilate and adjust.  We'll be hiring more staff as we start filling rooms on the second floor.  We'll be interviewing more children and families and making more difficult decisions.  And none of us can wait!

For those of you who have visited us at Be Like Brit in Haiti, you know how much we adults love the roof.  The roof is only a staircase away from the busy chaos of a children's orphanage, but it is worlds away in terms of one's ability to reflect and process a day's events.  I try to go up there every night, if only for a few minutes, to remind myself of what it is that I am doing here, to sort of clear my mind of all the stress and pressures of the day to day, and to put things into perspective.

As I sat on the roof on Friday night this week with Len, Gilbert and Franky, listening to the sound of the children rehearsing songs and prayers for school and church, I couldn't help but think about how awesome this place is.  Having come to the Be Like Brit family late, and not knowing what it was like to go through the construction phase of this project, I feel like I'll never fully understand all that comes with having seen this project through all of its stages.  I can say, though, that sitting on the roof of the building and hearing the sounds of the children filling up its rooms is a sound I won't ever forget, and I feeling I can't ever really describe.

Each Sunday, we get up and get our children ready for Church at Mission of Hope, where our children also go to school.  It started out easy:  Getting Kervins up and ready for services was no challenge.  As our numbers grew, the amount of people required to get everyone ready increased.  I'm very proud of our staff, who live right alongside our children and treat them as if they were their very own.  Today, I was even more proud of Willman and Baptiste, who have really stepped up and taken on great leadership roles with the children here at Be Like Brit.  I'm happy to have these new friends in my life and blessed to be a part of this whole experience.  Thanks for following along on our journey, and trust me when I say we've only just begun.

Ready for church this morning! 

Please enjoy a few more pictures from the week, and as always, thanks for reading.

Jonathan

Kervins

Medlens

Scary Program Director

Steeve and Daphney

Shnaider, Rolson, and Whenly

Steeve and Socrate

Whenly and Rolson

Taking a hike!

Daphney, Kervins, and Whenly

Love na and Esther

"Please, take my children."

Last week, a contact of ours approached me explaining that there was a group of orphaned children living in a town about an hour west from Be Like Brit; some were living with extended family, some with friends – some alone on the street.  We were told this group consisted exclusively of true orphans – children having no living parent.  It was decided we would make the drive and conduct interviews on site to determine if these children might benefit from our program here at Be Like Brit.

Gama and I, along with Rosenie (my sidekick) and Gilbert, another one of our employees, set out early Valentine’s Day morning to meet this group who had arranged to gather at the home of a local pastor.  As we worked our way west along the coast to our right and the mountains to our left, my anxiety level began to grow.  While I enjoy more than anything going out into the community and meeting people and speaking with families, it’s almost always an emotionally tough day – game face is definitely on while we are conducting the work, but the process itself has yet to leave me unscathed or unaffected.  As we crept down the final dirt road to the house, we came upon a sight I will never forget.  Gathered under the trees in the shade, sitting and standing, was a group of about 40 people.  All of them were waiting patiently for one thing: to give us their children.

Part of the group waiting for our arrival.

People are always asking us – how do you choose your children?  How do you decide who gets in and who doesn’t?  I can tell you that the process varies, but we do have guidelines in place – criterion of sorts to help us narrow the overwhelming need in Haiti.  We first look for true orphan status, a given age range (3 to 8 at the time of intake) and require certain paperwork in order to conduct our business in full compliance with Haitian laws.  This is no easy task; Haitian law can sometimes be vague, inconsistent and/or always changing.  Things like birth certificates and death certificates, while a requisite in the U.S., are a rarity in Haiti.  As we began to interview these women and the young children they brought to meet us that day, we were met with people begging and pleading for us to help – mothers who can’t afford to educate or feed their children; grandmothers who are just too old to do it any longer; aunts who are already overwhelmed with their own children to assume the care of their extended family.  It’s easy to think of these children as unloved, but I’m learning that’s not usually the case.  While at times it seems as if the women who bring us their children show no emotional attachment or grief in their desires to give them to us, often these women beseech our help through tears, through heartache and through shame.

A woman with her grandchildren.

Woman after woman, child after child; this group came to us with every situation imaginable.  After several hours of work, we determined that 5 of these children are “eligible” for our program at Be Like Brit; every person we met is in need of it.

So this is our predicament:  Do we take the children who might be outside of our age bracket because their mother is sick with AIDS?  Do we break up siblings because the mother wants to keep the strongest boy at home so he might go to work and earn them some money to feed her and whomever else lives in the household a meager meal maybe once per day – and send us her younger children instead?  Do we take the child who is a true orphan, who has all of his paperwork, but who begs his grandmother not to give him away?  This is what we work through daily – these are the decisions we make.  None of them are easy, and none of them ever makes me feel “good” inside. 

I can’t begin to explain to you how complex navigating this system in a place like Haiti is.  People have emailed me asking why we don’t allow our children to be adopted – the short answer is that the Haitian government makes that all but impossible.  The longer answer, well, is far too long.  People have asked if we encourage women to sign over rights to their child.  The short answer to that is also yes – we have to have legal rights to the child in order to assume care of them.  The longer answer, again, is far too long to go in to here. 

Know that in all of our decisions, Be Like Brit is always committed to preserving families – maintaining the integrity of family units and has the best interests of the child in mind.  None of our decisions are final.  We have comprehensive family involvement programming, family reunification as a goal where expressed by the child, and a community involvement program which seeks to build the capacity of these families we work with so that they might one day be able to care for their own children once again.   So, when people ask us “why” this, or “why” that – there is no short answer.  It’s a complicated web of government and policy and bureaucracy with human lives thrown in the mix.  Our work is always conducted with utmost care and concern.  

So while we make these decisions, on we go with the children we already have.  Holding steady at 11, we plan to bring in about 5 more this week.  As we evaluate their adjustment and assimilation, give time for each child to adapt to this new addition to their environment, I will continue going out and meeting these families and children.  We have a lot of work to do to get to 66.  It would be easy to fill our rooms with children whose parents don’t want them or can’t provide for them.  The fact that we haven’t done that should suggest that we are taking the utmost care in this most difficult process.

This week, we welcomed our first group of Britsionarys to come to Be Like Brit while we have children living here with us!  A group of 10 students from St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury, MA along with two of their faculty members made their way to Grand Goâve on Saturday, February 16, 2013.  They were greeted with our children singing a traditional Creole welcome song – and despite their almost certain exhaustion, we played just a bit later than the children’s bedtime!

Kristin greets our group!

Hauling in our goods!

Welcome to Be Like Brit! 

Ross and Kervins

Attack!

Who doesn't like to play army?

Progress

It occurred to me that in the process of going out into the communities around Grand Goâve and meeting with family members and children in an attempt to bring those with the most urgent need into Be Like Brit, I have somewhat neglected to share with you all of the wonderful things that are happening already within our own very walls!  We now have 11 children living at Be Like Brit.  While this transition from construction of a building to creating a loving, nurturing home environment has been at times trying, I feel I have not communicated how great this experience has been, too.  Sure, we've had tears and emotions, fighting between some of the children - what family hasn't? We have also had lots of laughs, lots of fun, and most importantly, lots of love!

Meal times are always a bit of ordered chaos - but they are almost always quiet with plates full of food! 

One of the funnier things we've noticed as we bring in new children has been the reactions of the other children who are already living here at Be Like Brit.  As most of you know, Kervins (Chacha) was our first child to come home to BLB. He reigned as the first and only child here for about a week, and his reactions to the arrival of our new children have ranged from indifference to excitement to downright annoyed! In his most adorable, haughty just-turned-three year old way, his face will often scowl as he points and says "HEY!" with a bewildered look on his face. It's become a bit comical among the staff at how protective he is of his space, but we've also made great strides with him in this area.  With the arrival of a new child, we gather everyone together in their collective common area, their own "space", and introduce all of the children to each other.  In a fun name game, we see who can guess the names of the other children, who knows who the new children are, and who wants to be responsible for making sure they are welcomed with open arms.  I find this a great opportunity to see the older children step up and say they want to help! The purpose is two-fold, as it gives us an opportunity to reinforce the significance of each child's identity and place here at Be Like Brit.  To be fair to Chacha, he has been running a bit of a fever - so we think that may be why he's a bit grumpy.  He only takes his medicine from Gilbert - which is funny to us - but we're happy to have Gilbert on hand to make Chacha feel better when he needs a dose!

Like a good boy, but only for Gilbert! 

The children really do assimilate almost amazingly well.  I had anticipated the first few nights for each child to be somewhat tough - I expected lots of tears, for the children to be socially withdrawn a bit, and to some extent we've had that.  In every case, though, I am reminded of the amazing resilience of children in adapting to new environments.  It's never long (a night, maybe two at the most!) before everyone seems well adjusted to their new life and friendships are being made every day!

Socrate and Ephesiens - one caped crusader, one sweaty boy after running from his would-be captor!

Indeed, we are so blessed to have a great group - albeit a small group, we believe we are taking the necessary time and steps to ensure that the assimilation process into this new place is done with the utmost care and concern for all involved.  Sometimes I find myself laughing at the everyday chaos that ensues when you bring children from homes which consist literally of tarps and ropes with no amenities which we take for granted and introduce them to this very Western, very foreign home.

Believe me when I say that at times, one has to have a bit of a warped sense of humor to get through the day.  The morning, for instance, when one of our children was using the sink as a toilet - my first response was "No! No! No!" - while at the same time appreciating that this whole concept of using a toilet was entirely new and obscure to this child - I later had to laugh - this child at least was trying to get it right - and while the mistake brought a bit of a chuckle to a few of us, it really does put into perspective the stark contrast between their lives before Be Like Brit and their lives now.

I'm happy to report that all of our children are now using the toilet.  The sinks are safe. :)

Saturday morning - no school! Lots of time to play and learn! 

As we navigate the everyday, behind the scenes challenges, like toilet training, brushing teeth, using a napkin at dinner, eating with utensils, etc., we have a lot of fun.  The children are so quick to learn - our staff is so loving and caring and patient with each of them - that while the events leading up to getting 11 children seated at the table, napkin in lap, eyes closed, ready for prayer are chaotic, the sound of them giving thanks for all they have been so blessed to receive right before they eat is the most calming, peaceful, and rewarding few minutes of every day.

Midlens - age, unknown?

"Kouman ou rele?" I asked our newest boy.  "Midlens" he replies.  I check the name he gives me against the name listed on the birth certificate provided to me by his uncle.  It checks out.  "Ki lag ou?" I ask, (how old are you?)  "I don't know" is his response.  Understandably so.  We were told he was a boy of 2 years, and just two years at that.  It's more likely that he's around 4 or 5.  As he's never been in school, we can't find out through records.  In Haiti, when you need a birth certificate, I'm told that many times the person working for the given authority will just look a child over and assign (at random) an age and a date.  So, while his paperwork might indicate an age of 2, we know that's not likely accurate.  It just adds to the reality of how broken this system is in Haiti - and while Haiti is making great strides in a post-earthquake situation, the fact that so much of the country was reduced to rubble has resonating effects throughout all areas of everyday life.

Steeve, Ephesiens, and Midlens:  Just like brothers!

We have a few sets of siblings here at Be Like Brit, including our newest two girls, Daphney and Saradina.  Part of our commitment to maintaining the integrity of family units wherever possible is to keep siblings together, even if it may go against some of the guidelines our program committee set in place.  We recognize those guidelines as just that - guidelines - not fixed, but rather flexible.  When you are dealing with human beings, no policy can be rigid.  It's up to me and with advice from the program committee to make some tough decisions about when to invoke the "flexibility privilege."  Daphney was one of those times - as she is 9 years old.  Her younger sister, Saradina, was brought here early on and considered for enrollment, but I hesitated as she had this elder sister at home.  After visiting their home and seeing the conditions in which they were living - absent of love, affection, education, food, clothing - I knew we had to help.  I'm happy to report that even after just one night, Daphney has taken on a role of "big sister" to not only Saradina, but to the others here at Be Like Brit.  She's a joy to have around and is looking forward to starting school on Monday...for the first time ever!

Daphney

Our staff, as I said, has been wonderful.  While it's not necessarily traditional in these types of settings to have male caregivers, we at Be Like Brit like to be unique! We believe strongly that a positive male role model in our children's lives will only contribute to positive growth and development.  Not just for our boys, but our girls as well.  Nico has been one of our great male role models for our children.  As an interpreter, as a caregiver, as a coach - Nico is leading exercise programs on Saturday mornings, along with teaching the children some basics about the English language.  We are happy to have him here at Be Like Brit, along with all of our other great caregivers!

Nico comforts Saradina, who just had a bit of a fall while running around the courtyard!

We know there's always more going on below the surface than what we can ascertain from casual observation - and we work on that regularly with our children.  But sometimes there's just no denying that these smiles are genuine and these children are happy!

Loobens and Ephesiens

See? Even Chacha can break out into a smile, despite being dethroned as King of the castle! :)

Adjusting, slowly but surely!

We are blessed with more wonderful staff! Madame Evana is a cook for us here at Be Like Brit, but it's not unusual to see her taking a break from the kitchen to show the children a few things and help them out in the morning as we scramble out the door to make it to school on time!  She works so hard in the kitchen and goes above and beyond those duties!

Amazing woman, Evana!

Carline is one of our newest additions to the staff here at Be Like Brit.  She's a singer in the Choir at Church and has our children sounding like a well-trained group.  One of my favorite sounds is when she and Elsie work together with them on traditional Haitian songs and poems.  As I sit on the 2nd floor terrace tapping away at my laptop, the sound of children singing in unison makes the hair on my arms stand up and brings a smile to my face.  It's a beautiful sound!

L-R: Loobens, Mirna, Germanie, Love na, and Carline.

 Even Madame Santana, who cleans for us 6 days a week at Be Like Brit is happy!  She gets some interesting bathrooms to clean, indeed, and washes the children's shoes and clothes.  She's one of the hardest working women I've ever met - even coming in on days off to take clothes off the line, despite my telling her it isn't necessary for her to do it, that I know how to fold laundry.  She just won't have it! We love having her around, and on occasion I enjoy catching her singing or whistling while she keeps Be Like Brit clean and safe for all of our children.

Santana, you left the water running! 

Tricking Chacha into taking his medicine, before Gilbert arrives to do it with ease!

And then there's this...

Mirna

If you haven't sponsored a child yet here at Be Like Brit, we invite you to check out our link:

sponsorships.belikebrit.org

None of this is easy:  With each child we bring in, a serious amount of resources, work, time and money are expended.  Upon their arrival, children are given new sandals, new shoes for school and church, clothes, a backpack, school supplies, school uniforms, personal care items like powder, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, ribbons and barrettes for hair, sheets, towels, plates and cups for school snacks, and more! This is just to get them into Be Like Brit!  As they progress in school, their needs will grow, and so will ours.

Your gift of sponsorship will allow us to continue to bring smiles to these faces.  As our family grows (and believe me, it's growing!) we hope you'll follow us along and help where you can!

We are proud to report that all of our children start school the next school day after their arrival!  We are proud that they are well fed, dressed, loved, and provided for.  The reward is their smiles, their joy, their thanks.

Each day when our children come in from school, they greet every member of our staff with either a handshake or a kiss on the cheek.  I'm pretty proud of that - as they did this of their own volition.  Nobody on our staff asked them to do this - and so for me, it's proof that in the right environment, these children will continue to grow, learn, thrive, and love.

Thanks for reading,

Jonathan

And Then There Were Seven

On January 21, 2013 we welcomed our first child in to the Be Like Brit Orphanage here in Grand Goâve, Haiti.  This date was significant in that it just so happens to be Brit’s birthday.  Believe me when I say that the timing was serendipitous.  We had considered trying to bring a child in on that day for obvious reasons, but decided that we would wait for it to happen naturally – to not confine ourselves to a boxed window of time for the sake of symbolism.  So, when it just so happened that Kervins came to us on January 21, 2013, it’s clear that fate played a hand.

Kervins on his first day of school!

As the program director, one of my duties is to search for children who might be eligible for our program here at Be Like Brit.  In a place like Haiti, when word gets out that the new orphanage on the hill is ready to bring children inside its protective walls, the response is overwhelming.  For the first week or so, women brought children in by the dozens, some with heart-wrenching stories of abandonment, desertion, unemployment, starvation, and of course, death.    Others, though, seemed eerily happy at the prospect of bringing their child to our doorstep; they may not have as dire a need as some of the other women, but rather regarded the opportunity to come to Be Like Brit as what we might recognize in the West as the equivalent of admission into a prestigious boarding school or elite club.

Overwhelmed by the response, and quite frankly a bit taken aback by how freely women would offer up their children to us, seemingly without emotion or consideration, I decided to shift my approach.  Instead of asking women to come to us, I made up my mind to reach out to the community myself.  Alongside my Haitian sidekick Rosenie, we took to the roads and mountains in our area in search of children we had heard needed to be helped.

I’m no stranger to community outreach work.  I’ve conducted research in some of the poorest areas of New Orleans with chronically homeless, mentally ill, HIV-positive, and substance dependent individuals.  I’ve witnessed what I thought were tough conditions. 

A decade ago or so I worked in international business in China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines.  I’ve certainly seen some of the world’s worst slums; some of the most vulnerable and exploited people in factories and on assembly lines working 15 hours a day for pennies and housed en masse in tenuous dormitory housing.

Most recently I spent three months in Rwanda working with an orphanage there, and was exposed to the harsh realities of life in East Africa in a post-Genocidal society still reeling from civil war and the unraveling of the social fabric of the country.

I figured I’d be prepared for whatever I might find in the hills and mountains of Haiti.  I was wrong.

While I don’t mean to bring my readers “down” – the reality, the truth – is that the conditions in which the Haitian people live in are among the worst in the world.  Time and again, as we would round a corner and come upon the next “house” where we knew orphaned children were living, my level of tolerance would be breached, like the levees in New Orleans, and the flood of emotion and visceral reaction to what I found before me was exceeded time and again.

So, one by one, I interviewed these families.  I interviewed the children through the use of an interpreter.  I tried to get some insights into their life, though in all honesty, one doesn’t really need an interview guide and assessment tool to figure out if this particular family or group needs help.  It’s obvious in the smell that invades all five of your senses.  It’s in the sights that make your stomach turn and your eyes wince.  It’s in the tears that well up in your eyes when you bid a one room house of 10 a “Bonswa” and a “Mesi” while you climb back into your ATV and record notes on people who can’t even sign their own name in order to give away their children.

The decision on whether to bring them to Be Like Brit or not is never one taken lightly.  It’s never easy.  I never feel great about taking a child or children from the only home and family they know.  Moreover, it’s never easy on the children.  The first night with each of our new children is almost invariably a long one.  Tears, confusion, lost little eyes looking for something, anythingfamiliar. 

But then there’s the second day, and the third day.  And watching these children transform from naked, hungry, and neglected to clothed, fed, loved, smiling, playful, happy children – even in as little amount of time as a week or two is why I am here in Haiti doing what I am doing. 

And then there’s this morning:  After an emotional week for all of us, especially the children who find themselves here, waking up early, dressing well for church, eating breakfast, laughing and smiling all along the way – this is when I feel good about my decision.

After a few takes, almost everyone is smiling for the camera!

Don’t get me wrong.  I recognize that there is an adjustment period for everyone involved.  For those who arrive new, they must get used to their new environment.  From the taken for granted things in our everyday lives like turning on a sink to brush your teeth, or sitting on a toilet and flushing it away, to flipping on a light switch when it’s dark – all of this is new and amazing to them.  For those who are already here, the status quo gets shifted, and our obligations as caregivers and providers grow exponentially in negotiating that delicate balance of making everyone feel safe, loved, worthy.

I loved my work in Rwanda.  I got to spend three months with 100 children.  They were an established, existing organization.  I didn’t have to hear their stories, meet their families or be witness to their squalor.  Starting from scratch, every detail on every child makes its way through me.  In that way, I feel very blessed and very fortunate.  I will know each of their names, each of their families, each of their histories.  I will know them.  Because of this, I have been able to forge the greatest of relationships with each of the children that Be Like Brit now cares for.

Being a part of this process is unlike anything I had imagined.  Even when it’s hard – and we all knew it would be hard – it is the most precious and wonderful way to spend a day, a week, and now – a month!

First there was one, and now we are seven.  Our work is important, our work is good.  And our work depends on the continued support of readers like you.  Thank you for helping realize Brit’s dream, and through that, letting me live mine.

All smiles! 

Thanks for reading,

Jonathan