Another Step Toward Normalcy

Marianna is delighted to play with her friends in the neighborhood, and take care of her puppies who have grown so much since she left in early December. 

Mikhaila has jumped right back into her usual routine helping her mother Christina and the LCS students with the lunch program for the neighborhood kids. 

Timothy says “Even though I’m enjoying sleeping in later, I’m looking forward to resuming a normal school schedule.”

Robert is eager to get started on some of the many demolition and construction projects in and around the school.

Christina reports that it’s “so good to be back here.”  When she got out of the car on Santo 5, there was a crowd of grinning children and neighborhood women waiting for her.  The kids mobbed her with hugs and kisses, and the women eagerly led her around the zone to see their houses – those that sustained serious damage and those that did not.      

When she heard about the earthquake, Mariana Moynihan (9) reports that her first thoughts were just single phrases about the people and place she was suddenly worried about, “the volunteers … the ti moun (small children) from the neighborhood …. The school buildings … the students ...”  Though they all wanted to drop everything and get on the next flight, that wasn’t possible right away.  They wanted to be in Haiti to help, but also just to be there at such an important time with their Haitian family and friends.  The kids report that they never doubted for a moment whether or not they should come back.  For them, living in Haiti is totally normal, and not being there in a time of crisis was the totally unnatural thing.  Now that they’re back, they’ve settled right back into their Haiti lives.

Today, Christina’s back to work with her boundless energy chasing 40 little kids around the playground every afternoon, but there’s something even sweeter now about watching Christina smother these children with so much love and affection.

In the days after the earthquake, volunteer Betsy Bowman reported that the neighborhood children and families would the volunteers every day when Christina and the kids were returning.  “I don’t think some of them believed us when we promised them that they would come as soon as a plane would fly them here.” she says “Having them back now is just one more step toward normalcy for all of us.”  

Thank you to all the members of The Haitian Project Community—old and new—for your continued support and prayers.  With the collected resources, persistence, and strong Haitian Project Spirit, Louverture Cleary School continues to push forward.  We look forward to sharing with you our next update at the start of next week.