Provide a safe home for Haitian Orphans

The holiday season is upon us and, like children all over the world, the kids at HTDC orphanage are getting really excited about Christmas.

To help keep their excitement in check, and because the kids have all been so good this year, the orphanage directors recently decided to have a Christmas party ahead of the big day.

Many friends of the orphanage came by and the party started with a performance from the kids.  Thirteen year old Nicholson and twelve year old Paolo sang a song about Haiti and then some of the older girls performed a dance.

The visitors all loved the show and afterwards everyone shared pizza which was a special treat for the kids.

After eating there was another big surprise for the kids as Santa dropped by to give them all presents.  Five year old Bodlison was delighted with the toy cars he received, but he said afterwards he’d really like to get a car big enough to drive in one day!

It was a wonderful experience for all the children and special days like these are only made possible because of your incredible support.

It’s only because of your generosity that the kids have a safe home, food and education throughout the year.  And these are the foundations which allow the orphanage to provide the kids with special days of joy at times like Christmas.

Thanks so much for letting these kids be kids this Christmas!

If you’d like to give the orphanage a little more joy over the next few days then GlobalGiving is making this a little easier through their Year-End campaign.  Projects that raise at least $3,000 from thirty unique donors before December 31 are eligible to receive a one-off bonus award.  

We’ve already raised over $3,000 but we need more individual donors.  So please consider donating this week if you can.

As always, if you ever have any queries about how we’re using your donation, please don’t hesitate to email Andy@IDVolunteers.org. I would be delighted to hear from you.

There are big changes afoot at the HTDC orphanage!

For the last four years your generous donations have allowed us to provide a safe home for all the kids by renting a house in the Clercine area of Port au Prince. This home has provided a wonderful environment for the kids. Living there has allowed them to really thrive and enjoy their childhoods.

But for the last couple of years the landlord has been developing the property, and he’s recently completed the addition of a whole new storey on top of the original house. The new additions mean that this house now has more room than the kids need.

So, with the property’s lease up for renewal in November, we’ve decided that rather than rent the unnecessary new space, it’s better to move the orphanage - and of course all the kids - to a lovely new home.

After much discussion with the orphanage directors we’ve identified several potential new homes in the Bon Repos area of Port au Prince. Our favourite choice actually has a little more room than the original house despite it costing less. It also has a beautiful garden with mango, coconut and palm trees.

We’re aiming to finalise the lease on this new house in the next week or two. So stay tuned for more updates soon.

A new home means other changes for the kids as well.

For the last few years the orphanage has employed teachers and run its own school for the kids. While all the kids have done really well in this home school, the orphanage directors now want them to socialise with others and get a wider education.

So, thanks to your amazing support, we recently enrolled the kids at a school close to the new house.

Once the kids move into their new home they’ll be able to easily walk back and forth to school. But for now, they’re being driven everyday and are also provided with school lunches.

At the start we were a little worried that all these changes might be hard on the kids. But if anything, they just seem to be excited and are loving their new school!

For example, here’s what 12 year old Nefky had to say:

“I love my new school because the teachers. I have a lot of space to play with my new friends. I like going far to go to school and I like the food they give me as lunch. I like the computer class and the English class”

It’s only because of your incredible support that these exciting new developments are possible. Because of you all the kids continue to have a safe home and the education they deserve. Thanks so much for all you’ve given!

As always, if you ever have any queries about how we’re using your donation, please don’t hesitate to email Emma@IDVolunteers.org. I would be delighted to hear from you.

Thanks to your generous donations the kids at the HTDC orphanage are continuing to thrive!

The school year has just finished and all of the kids have worked really hard and done well. However, special praise goes to the six kids who “graduated” kindergarten and who will be moving onto elementary school this fall.

The orphanage held a special graduation ceremony to celebrate their achievement, and its partly by rewarding achievements in this way that the orphanage leaders teach the kids about responsibility while also having fun.

But, the orphanage leaders’ successful methods show every day, not just on special events like graduation.

The older kids continue to get involved with helping around the orphanage. For example, by helping organize “summer camp” now school is out. Also, Nathaelle, one of the eldest kids, is now helping to translate when English speaking visitors drop by.

The older kids also help the younger kids learn about responsibility by organizing competitions to see who has the tidiest room, or does their homework first. In this way all the kids at the orphanage helps out while also having fun.

It’s great to see the kids thriving this way and its all thanks to you. Before your help the orphanage lived from day to day. Thanks to you the kids can now enjoy being kids, while also learning important lessons about life.

As always, if you ever have any queries about how we’re using your donation, please don’t hesitate to email Emma@IDVolunteers.org. I would be delighted to hear from you.

Thanks to your extraordinary generosity, the future at HTDC looks bright.

None of the children is more aware of the difference you’ve made in their lives than Nathaelle because she was the very first child taken in by the orphanage.

Nathaelle was abandoned in 1999 when she was just a few months old. At that point the HTDC orphanage didn’t formally exist. The orphanage’s founder, Denise, heard about Nathaelle’s plight and realised she couldn’t leave the baby to fend for herself. HTDC was born when Denise took Nathaelle in.

Nathaelle has been through massive ups and downs with the orphanage. Sometimes, before the earthquake, things were ok. Other months, they were short of food and she couldn’t go to school.

As one of the oldest children at the orphanage, when the earthquake struck she helped the adults care for the younger children through incredibly difficult circumstances. Living in tents, with no idea where the next meal was coming from, Nathaelle had to grow up fast.

Today, thanks to you, things are different. Because you chose to give, Nathaelle doesn’t have to look after the younger kids and worry about finding the next meal. Instead, she’s doing what all talented young women should be doing – planning her future. She hopes to be a nurse one day.

But, as you know, Nathaelle and all the children at the orphanage still face challenges. We need to fund their education, health care, nutritious food and education. It’s a big job, but happily GlobalGiving is here to help.

One July 16^th, GlobalGiving will match that your gift by 50%. This means that if you give $50, GlobalGiving will top up your donation to $75.

That makes the 16^th a very exciting day

If you ever have any questions about how we’re using your gifts, please don’t hesitate to email Emma@IDVolunteers.org. I would be delighted to hear from you!

First and foremost – thanks so much to everyone who gave on GlobalGiving’s most recent matching day! Your gifts on February 12th went 30% further to change the lives of children like Bodlyson and Kenson.

Bodlyson, Kenson and all the kids at the orphanage have had an especially good month because donors like you have given us the funds we need to invest in enriching activities for the kids. Those funds couldn’t have come at a better time because this month is Carnival in Haiti!

Port-au-Prince's annual Carnival is one of the largest Mardi Gras carnivals in the Caribbean and North America. Carnival is celebrated with music, bands and parades and music is central to the celebrations.

Carnival has been celebrated in Haiti since 1804 and is an important part of Haitian history, but many of the kids at HTDC have never had the means to take part in the celebrations.

This year, thanks to you, the kids have joined in to the festivities by dressing up, putting on their own show and learning about Carnival’s past in their country.

Without your generosity, these enriching cultural activities which have given the kids a chance to enjoy themselves and express their personalities would have been impossible – thanks so much!

As we move into summer, we’re looking forward to what other activities the Haitian orphanage leaders have in store for the kids – we can’t wait to update you on all the joy you’ve made possible!

If you ever have any questions on how your donation is changing lives at the Hands Together to Defend the Children Orphanage, please don’t hesitate to email me at Emma@IDVolunteers.org. I would be delighted to hear from you. 

Very kind regards,