Jamaica 03/08

I returned to Jamaica again this March. I stayed for a week long trip and visited all 12 of our Angels of Hope sponsored homes and also three children's homes that we are going to be entering into the program this year. These visits took me all over this beautiful island country, from the parishes of St. Andrew and St. Catherine through Clarendon and Manchester all the way up Trelawny and St. Ann. It was my first time passing through Montego Bay and Ocho Rios.

My work at the homes consisted of visiting each home and checking to see that they have been receiving food items as well as additional clothing, cleaning products, hygiene products, etc. Each home sets an appointment once a month with FFP and the Angels of Hope coordinator pre-arranges all of their goods. This allows for the homes to easily collect all the items and have a brief meeting with the AOH coordinator to ensure that all is well at the home.

We also saw the finished results of a number of projects that were completed in the children's homes. They included roof replacements after Hurricane Dean, water pumps, cisterns, Agricultural assistance (tools and seeds), and construction. Each home administrator is encouraged to submit a "wish list" of needs each year. This helps us to search out needed items in the warehouse or look into the possibility of aquiring the items through a donation or discounted price.

On our second day driving through the country it took us four hours to arrive at our destination. The "highway" was incredible. Imagine a primary roadway. Your mental picture probably has at least two lanes in each direction, probably a median in the middle and nice marked exits for the passing cities and highways. This crazy road that we were on was a narrow two-way cutting and bending around the rugged, lush mountains of Jamaica's countryside. The cars were frantically speeding along this winding, slender road with a jutting cliff falling down the mountain to one side and a tall, rough, rock wall covered with flowers and vines on the other. To top off my giddy excitement over this crazy car ride, in Jamaica the steering wheel is on the right and we were driving on the left side of the road.

My co-worker, the AOH coordinator for Jamaica, could not understand my awe about this experience. I kept pointing out the tiny humble shacks that had been built teetering on the peak of a jutting rock formation. The colors of the homes and flowers were vibrant and alive. It was such a contradiction to see such beauty and suffering in the same moment. Its incredible that so much poverty and desperation exists on such a beautiful island, but it could easily be seen along side the road as we passed through.

After the home visit we took the highway out to the coast. This highway looked more like the highways of our imaginations, except it follows the beautiful resort coastline of northern Jamaica. I got to spend about 7 minutes in Montego Bay as we crusied through town. I could see the touristy strip and all the amazing resorts and hotels along the beach. The water is a surreal blue-green and the beaches are perfectly framed on one side with royal palms. I can definitely understand why this area is so popular for cruises and travelers.

We continued on our way and had a similar experience in Ocho Rios. This time we actually stopped at a local jerk shop for some jerk pork and peas and rice.

As if the road trip wasnt already amazing enough, we came back on a highway that wound through an area called Fern Gully. It was exactly that. The road was cut deep into a humid, eerily cool section of mountain. The road was barely open to sky because of the steep cuts of dripping rock on either side. Ivy and vines hung down from the canopy of treetops to dangle over the road. Here and there along the Fern Gully were small areas large enough for craft and food vendors to set up small shacks.

Day of Celebration - 03/2008

Food For The Poor's Angels of Hope Program supports over 4,000 children spread out in 90 children's homes throughout Central America and the Caribbean. Besides providing basic support to these homes Angels of Hope also hosts a Day of Celebration in each of our 9 countries in honor of all these wonderful children. They are treated to a full day of activities, games, contests, food, entertainment, music, and dancing.

Below is a video documenting the Day of Celebration in various countries. It offers a glimpse into what this day means to not only the children, but to everyone else who is a part of the event. And yes, if you look carefully, you can spot me in the video!

Honduras 02/08

Honduras is such a beautiful country. As I cruised along the countryside visiting different orphanages I couldnt help but be amazed by the beautiful landscape; lush greenery, majestic mountains, colorful people, simple homes, grazing animals, tropical flowers, and a warm, humid climate. Its incredible to think that in a country so fertile, there are so many people struggling to survive. As in most of the countries we serve, the main purpose of these orphanages is to provide the basic needs and a quality education to children whose families are not able to do so. Food For The Poor is very active in Honduras and is working continuously with housing, water wells, food distribution, animal husbandry, agriculture, tilapia production, vocational training, and education. It is a country full of potential.

My agenda was packed for the week. We are constantly increasing our Angels of Hope program so one of the tasks was to visit three new potential Angels of Hope homes and discuss their candidacy for the program. We are also looking to develop our support more into the direction of sustainable projects.
We evaluated many of the homes for agricultural and animal husbandry projects and will soon have agricultural engineers working with each home individually to develop small plots of vegetables, herbs, fruit trees, and ornamental flowers. For the homes that are lucky enough to own larger pieces of land we will move forward with some chicken coops, goats, and maybe a tilapia pond. I am excited about these new projects and how they will benefit the homes.

Through our regular distirbution of goods we are able to provide the basic food items needed, but this fresh produce will provide an improved level of nutrition and maybe cut down on some of their monthly expenses.

The young ladies at Hogar Amor y Vida received a workshop on jewelry making. They proudly gifted me this set of orange jewelry when I visited. The home cares for 35 HIV infected children. All but 2 of these children have lost both their mother and father. You would never know by meeting the children and sensing the hope and happiness in this home, truly a wonderful place.

I was blessed by a large donation of brand new children's clothing. A generous FFP donor sent me four large boxes of new children's clothes. I have been distributing some of them on each trip and I also send a box down to Haiti to be taken to one of our housing villages. This trip I took two suitcases of the remaining clothes and distributed them to three of our most needy homes. The clothes were beautiful and brand new. The children and the staff were very excited and appreciative. The girls were already picking which dresses they would wear to church this week. It is so nice to receive items like this. I know that the donor will never understand how wonderful their generosity really was and how is affects the spirit in these orphanages.

I met in a child in Hogar Emanuel that had a shocking story. As I was walking with the home director a small boy came up to us and reached up to hold both of our hands. He walked around with us for the remainder of the visit. The director told me the story of how he came to live at the orphanage. The young boy was actually about six years old. I assumed he was 2 or 3 given his physical size and demeanor. She said that he was found by social services severly mistreated and abused. He was grossly malnourished and suffered from a variety of illnesses. Apparently he had been found physically tied to a chair in his home. He was completely neglected for nearly his entire life and treated like a chained animal. Fortunately the child received barely enough food to at least keep him alive until his life would change for the better.

After being removed from his home he was evaluated at a government run orphanage. He was found to be deaf and mute. Since Hogar Emanuel already has several hearing impared children in their care, the boy was sent to their orphanage to reside. After two weeks of attending classes at the hearing impared school the teacher approached the home director. The child is not deaf. He was just so severly neglected that in 6 years he had never learned to speak. He was not potty trained. He cannot eat by himself. He was not used to being around other people. He hid in the corner when approached or showed affection. He is at a 2 year old level developmentally.

It was an amazing story. Incredible that this boy who has suffered so much, after only 4 months, is now babbling jibberish and has learned 6 words so far. He is now playing with other children and approaching strangers to affectionately hold their hand. He has been cured of intestinal parasites and other illnesses. He is healthy and putting on more and more weight. He will be given the opportunity of a quality education and a loving home. These orphanages are doing the work of God. I am so proud to be able to be a part of their work.