As the calendar marked the decade since the 7.0-magnitude earthquake, we remember the day by giving voice to the memories of the children at Have Faith Haiti who have never forgotten. You can watch the short video below.
Mitch Albom also brought attention to the attention that must still be paid with an editorial in the Los Angeles Times:
Opinion: Helping one child at a time in Haiti 10 years after the devastation
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — It’s been 10 years since Haiti suffered the magnitude 7.0 quake that killed over 300,000 of its people and left more than a million displaced. The scale of the destruction left the Haitian economy, its government and daily life indelibly changed.
January marks two important days for our family at the mission. On the 9th, just a few days before the earthquake, is Chika’s birthday. She would have been 10 this year. Mitch wrote about the bittersweet remembrance as well, in the Detroit Free Press.
Chika’s birthday bittersweet, 10 years after Haiti earthquake
How do you celebrate a missing loved one’s birthday? How do you mark a date that used to be so happy and now is fraught with sadness and nostalgia? I know so many people who have lost family members, a byproduct of getting older myself, and when their birthdays come around they are filled with ennui. Some host commemorative parties. Some post old photos. Some visit cemeteries. Some just want to be left alone, to think about the years that might have been.
This spring, a photography elective was offered to high school students at the Have Faith Haiti Bilingual School. This is the first year a high school cohort and program were offered at the mission school, as the children have both gotten older and progressed academically to reach a standardized high school level!
Different lessons called for different subject matter, but please enjoy just a few snapshots of nature in their environment, especially the smallest life among them!
Photo credits to Junie-Anna and Esterline
Junie-Anna vs. Birds
Though they invaded her favorite reading spot on the swing, they still received a beautiful treatment here.
Speaking of winged creatures…
… And those with legs
Shifting perspectives
What’s up there, and what must come down
Grow, grow, growing from the earth!
Valiantly holding back on all fungi / fun guy jokes…
The annual spelling bee at the Have Faith Haiti Bilingual School is both a year-end celebration of our students’ language advancement and a fun way for teachers to evaluate students’ spelling skills. Inevitably, some familiar faces make it to the final rounds and in keeping with tradition, the students’ excitement in preparing usually means a few ties!
Please enjoy this recap of the 2019 Bee, held on June 14th (more…)
In April, Gardner-White Furniture and Sealy kindly donated 50 new mattresses, as well as a large sectional sofa. Perhaps you caught the story earlier:
Well, they have finally arrived! They were driven to Miami, and from there shipped in a container to Haiti. It can take some time to clear customs, but they arrived in early July. New bed bunk frames were purchased by the mission, and the students helped to build them. And while we watched the fireworks in the US on Independence Day, they slept their first night in the beds! They’re thrilled with their new sleeping digs!
We’re really grateful that people here in Detroit care so much about people who are a half-a-world away!
This event is a fundraiser for scholarships for students from the Have Faith Haiti Mission to attend college in partnership with the Michigan Colleges Alliance. VIP patrons are invited to an exclusive Meet and Greet with Mitch Albom and Dave Barry before the event and enjoy hors d’oeuvres, beer & wine.
When Friday, August 2, 2019 6:45 pm: VIP Meet & Greet in the Community Engagement Room)
8:00 pm: Main Event
Where Great Lakes Center for the Arts
800 Bay Harbor Drive
Petoskey, MI 49770 Map
Make your check payable to “Have Faith Haiti Mission” and send to
Have Faith Haiti Mission
c/o A Hole in the Roof Foundation
29836 Telegraph Road
Southfield, MI 48034
Have Faith Haiti is operated by the A Hole in the Roof Foundation, a 501(c)(3) org (TAX ID# 27-0609504). Donations are tax deductible.
About the Mission
The Have Faith Haiti Mission is a special place of love and caring, dedicated to the safety, education, health and spiritual development of Haiti’s impoverished children and orphans. You can learn more here.
