A few months ago when a dental group came to visit, one of the Espwa students enrolled in university, brought a few of his friends to get checkups. We were pleasantly surprised when six confident, beautiful women walked in the gate behind him. As they waited in their chairs to be seen by the dentist … Continue reading
At 8 a.m. Friday morning, I saw the toddlers headed to school in a line following the house mothers like little baby ducks. I ran to catch up with them and walk the short distance to the entrance. Today was Karnaval and the little ones weren’t wearing their traditional watermelon patch uniforms. Instead they dressed … Continue reading
Our last group decided to attempt a massive undertaking when they heard that many of the kids had never had a birthday party similar to many of their own children in the US. They set out to hold a party for all 450 kids that call Espwa home. Currently, Espwa has a small party each month for the … Continue reading
We really didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into when we boarded that one-way flight from Miami to Haiti almost three months ago. There was no way we could have known and we had minimal preparation and forewarning. We have spent the past three months really getting a feel for things and beginning to understand exactly … Continue reading
Three days a week this summer, the kids filed diligently into the secondary schools for English classes. A line of students from the girl’s village and a line from the boy’s village met at the school with fading blue paint. In each classroom one of the older boys taught the students–pointing to the board and having … Continue reading
Today is August 11th. It’s officially been 2 months since Kelsey and I boarded our two-hour flight to Haiti. I arrived first, June 11th, and made myself a little spot to sit on the carpeted floor by our gate. All the other seats were filled: occupied by Haitians returning from business, families traveling home from a visit to the states, and a … Continue reading
Here at Espwa, the kids have been watching the World Cup games everyday. They huddle around a tiny tan television on a stool by the dozens to catch glimpses of the matches. All throughout the day you can hear cheers across the property–especially when Brazil scores. It’s an exciting time of year and unifying for the hundreds … Continue reading
A few days ago, one of our good friends and a long term volunteer had her final morning at Espwa. The two of us walked over to the girl’s village together to hang out with some of the girls and give her a chance to say goodbye until next time. When we arrived the village was … Continue reading
We made it! After a 3 hour flight from Boston, I met Kelsey in the Miami airport and we boarded together for the flight to Haiti. We couldn’t have been in the air for more than 30 minutes, it felt like, before we touched ground in Port-au-Prince. Luckily, we’d met up with another group traveling to … Continue reading
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