Orphanage is in danger of closing
In 2012, two years after the great earthquake, I met a lady from Cite Soleil, Yolande Depoorter, while researching her biological family. She had been adopted by a Belgian woman when she was 6 years old, and was then about 44 years old. She asked, “How can I help Haiti?” I suggested that she could help some of the street children in Haiti, those who lost their parents in the earthquake.
Here is the how the Tysea Orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti began. Because of the coronavirus everything has become expensive and we don’t have food for them. The orphanage is going to have to stop operations unless we can find additional help.
We found a small house in Carrefour, a district in the West side of the capital, Port-au-Prince, where we started with one child.
To begin she provide all the help, with no sponsors at all. She tried to raise money for food, clothes, school, etc, and finally was able to find others able to help. They hired me as the manager and founder. I contacted people I know in the U.S., Canada and Belgium, asking to contribute small amounts of money, $20 - $50. I use this to buy food, clothes and other necessities.
The orphanage has 34 children. 18 of them stay permanently and the others come to eat and then return to their relatives, because there isn't enough space to lodge them. We have a nurse, a psychologist, someone to cook, someone to wash. There are 8 people working as volunteers. None of them receive a salary. There are 3 people who are working full-time, and for them we are sometimes able to provide meals. In Haiti there is misery, poverty. When they get food they eat. They receive a minimal amount in donations.
The children are very poor. They eat little. We cannot let these children go back on the street.
Because of the coronavirus everything has become expensive and we don’t have food for them. The orphanage is going to have to stop operations unless we can find additional help.
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