I just wanted to blog a big hug to all of you who supported our trip to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.  I really do apologize for the lull in blog posts – but I have been trying my best to take care of clients after being away for over a week.

As an update from the trip – true to form, we had some issues with a Dominican organization that we were going to be working with.  However, as in all things in life, it was for a reason!  We ended up doing a lot of different projects and I believe – a greater good.  We helped children at an orphanage in Santo Domingo that has approx. 27 children from the Haitian earthquake who are currently orphaned and undergoing treatment for various injuries.  It was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.   Along with the tremendous loss of losing all of their family – we were so happy to see such an amazing orphanage that was well-managed.  The children are safe, well-loved and well-fed.  Their injuries are being treated by Cure – which is a large medical foundation in the center of Santo Domingo which has a medical team that comes in daily to check on the children.  They even have air conditioned rooms – which I was amazed to see. We are not allowed to publish the photos of those particular children for their protection as a long paperwork trail has begun to either try to find their parents or find ways for them to be adopted.  We also did a tiling project for a small Haitian church in Santo Domingo (see above) that is currently helping a couple of families that were affected by the earthquake.  However – the most powerful day was when we ventured into Haiti – which was not part of the original plan.  The photo above and the video below are from Richelle Dante’s blog.  She was one of the 5 wedding photographers on the trip.  Once I get images from all of the photographers – I will do a rather extensive and somewhat political blog post.  Which will be somewhat out of character for me and my blog.  However – I have some very strong opinions that I think need to be heard in the hopes that it will spark some sort of change or ring some sort of bell.  While it is not out of character of me to have strong opinions – I tend to not voice my political opinions online.  So – be forewarned and be ready for a much longer blog post at some point over the next couple of weeks as I wait for the various photographers to send their images in to me from the trip.

The video is a well done video that I tweeted yesterday by Richelle – be ready to cry if you are like me.

After being home for a few days…I recognize that I will be going back sooner than later for another project – probably in December.

If you would like to directly help Haitians – let me know – I have a specific project that I am fundraising for.  Nuris – our friend who led us into Port Au Prince is a Dominican Missionary to Haiti for the Catholic Church.  She needs a new van in order to bring more people into Port Au Prince for help, translating and bringing aid.  She will need about $10,000 for this vehicle.  She helped us bring about 10 suitcases full of aid for Haitians to a priest that was residing in a school – his church is destroyed as 75 of the 80 Catholic churches were destroyed in the earthquake.

Children have not gone to school since the earthquake and Nuris is a teacher and an incredible woman.  She is at the top of my prayer list.  Now – I am not a Catholic, but the Catholic church has done a tremendous amount of work in Haiti and continues to do so.  No matter who your God is, if you are an atheist or agnostic…I still believe that anyone can see that certain organizations are good at mobilizing and helping.  Haiti is still in such a crisis – that is actually only going to get worse (which I will explain in my next blog post about our trip).

Nuris does not get paid by the Catholic church.  She lives by faith and lives with her sister.  She goes to Haiti for 2 months and has families that support her while she is there.  Then she comes back for 6 months to fundraise.  She has been doing this since 1994.  Without her – we would not have found the orphanage or entered into Haiti.  She is fluent in Creole and has now entered my short list of heros.  She was a joy to be around and everyone knows her.

I will be sending her a portion of the proceeds from the sales of new contracts that I will bring in for the rest of this month and will continue to send her money as often as I can.  As I have seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears the work she has done and will continue to do.

I am praying – and I hope you will pray with me that by the end of 2010 she will have her new van.  $10,000 for a van is not a lot.  But it will afford her the type of vehicle that she needs to move across the terrible terrain she has to encounter every time she goes to Haiti.

If you want to help – let me know – I will be happy to send the money on to her (or a van if you happen to have one you want to donate that has 4 wheel drive!)  Smiles and hugs!

Thanks again!
Katie