Haiti Earthquake Update
Since August 14th, there have been innumerous aftershocks following the devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake which struck the south western coast of Haiti. At present, 2,189 lives have been lost with upwards of 12,268 injured and a staggering 30,000 Haitians have lost their homes from this catastrophe. Homes, businesses, schools and churches were reduced to rubble in the “Big South” – towns of Jeremie, Les Cayes and Petit Trou de Nippes.
While the tremors were felt in Hinche, the children and staff of Maison Fortuné Orphanage are safe. Maison Fortuné Orphanage is standing by to help children who may be displaced from this horrific natural disaster. Jean Louis, the Founder and Director of MFO has been in contact with IBERS – Haiti’s governing arm for orphans/orphanages and has shared that MFO is able to accept more children. With your continued support, we know we will be able to open our doors and assist children who may have been orphaned or separated from their families. Your gifts provide housing, food, clothing, medication and a solid education to children in Haiti.
Propane Stoves Refurbishment Project
On the campus of Maison Fortuné Orphanage, the day starts as most do, with breakfast, then a mid-day meal is served to all including our day students in the campus primary school, then followed by dinner. Children congregate and share time together over their meals – not unlike our own meal-time with family. Our cooking staff works non-stop on the weekdays serving up over 700 meals per day during the school year. In 2017, we made a huge leap from cooking over charcoal to cooking with propane. This effect has helped not only the environment but also made them work for our cooks more efficient.
The burning elements of these propane systems have seen a significant amount of use and are at the end of their service life. We are calling on you to help us with this immediate need – refurbishment of the cooking elements. The cost to replace four of these on the boy’s campus and three on the girl’s campus is $5,750. The photos below show the new cooking element from 2017 and the deteriorated cooking element today. With 168 residents and 222 days students, we need to have our kitchen working well at the start of the upcoming school year!
