Bobby Comeau is scheduled to leave this week with first-time Haiti volunteer Mike Cushing. Brian Bowers will join them on March 23 with several volunteers from various Timbermart Stores in the country. All will return on March 30th.
Comeau says he’s bracing for many changes, having kept in touch with the founder of the orphanage, Newfoundland-born Karen Huxter.
“Since we left, the immediate area where we were at, there’s an extra 50,000 people there,” said Comeau.
“They’ve left Port-au-Prince to return to the mountains. It’s unreal. Karen said there are people at her gate every day either looking for food or money or somewhere they can put some kids,” he said.
“That’s one of the main reasons we’re going down. We want to get some things finished so she can take more kids,” said Comeau.
Although Huxter can house approximately 20 now, a boys dorm will enable the separation of the boys and girls.
Mission members have had many speaking engagements at schools in southwest Nova and most have wanted to fundraise for the orphanage or mission.
Although Comeau can’t say exactly how much has been raised, he does know there is $75,000 worth of damage at the orphanage.
“I think we may have enough to do the repairs but the big concern now is we hope people don’t die out with their donations,” he said.
Corporate interests and individuals are coming on board but there’s still a tremendous need for funds.
“The long term is what we’re looking at right now. It’s nice to get a chunk right now, but what’s going to happen when that’s gone to fix all the repairs that we have? You still have to run the orphanage, there’s still people coming to the gates, there’s still hunger out there. Money still has to come for the long-term projects,” he said.
“Since we left, the immediate area where we were at, there’s an extra 50,000 people there. They’ve left Port-au-Prince to return to the mountains. It’s unreal. Karen said there are people at her gate every day either looking for food or money or somewhere they can put some kids." - Bobby Comeau, a member of HATS Haiti Mission Team 2010 that experienced the 7.0 magnitude earthquake on Jan. 12.
“What a lot of these people are going to need is long-term intervention. If people could give a little, it doesn’t have to be much, over a long term, say five or 10 years, that’s what’s going to help people,” he said.
In the days of confusion after the earthquake, Comeau accompanied a diabetic child from the orphanage, Serlande, to a Port-au-Prince hospital. She died after the group returned to Canada.
But there has been a positive development since the earthquake. In what Comeau describes as nothing short of a miracle, a crippled six-year old orphan named Alex, is now walking.
“They told Karen at the hospital that he was going to be a vegetable after he was born,” said Comeau.
Huxter continues working at her amazing pace, although she has not been sleeping in her home since the earthquake because of four 500-gallon water vats on the roof. A watertower is now under construction.
To donate to Hands Across the Sea, or read more about Newfoundland-born Karen Huxter and her passion for needy Haitian children and their families, visit her blog:
http://hatshaiti.blogspot.com.
