our latest girl picked up from hospital after xrays and exam

Got a call from Eduoard Constant (Eddie and his wife Djeune started the orphanage) yesterday afternoon to go to the hospital to pick up a restavek girl, Merty, 8yrs., that had been badly beaten. She was taken away from her "owner" by police and social workers, that owner is now in jail. I brought her to C.C. Where they are give her a shower, new clothes, and food. She will stay with us at least a few weeks until they investigate her family etc. To determine where she should stay. It is a very common story, and part of the reason we now have 20 girls, 6 new ones in the past 2 months. I will have her story and photo on the website before long.   http://www.ihaf.us/
We would love whatever help you can send our way! Thank-you for anything you can do for the people of this poor country. In His service, Andy

Here is Merty after the doctors determined nothing was broken but there is enough injury to her shoulder area that it should be immobilized for a few weeks.  In the photo on the right, Eduoard and Djeune are interviewing Merty and welcoming her to consolation Center!  Already, after a few days, she is smiling and quickly takes the hand of any friendly person. 

Another week - A lot more complete!

I always tell people, when working in Haiti, whatever you hope to accomplish during your time here, if you accomplish 1/2 of it, it was a successful trip!  This week has been no different!  The guys from Iowa- Ken, Roger, Alan, and Chad, all did a fantastic job!  I was hoping to work on the compost bathroom container or installing solar panels but the compost container was full of donated supplies that we are still distributing, and the containers with solar panels are still in D.R.!  So we did all of the conversion work on the dining room and kitchen containers instead, including cutting windows and doors, roof framing, and security bars on windows.  It was a lot of work in the time we had and of course very hot!  Eddie and Djeune's car that we used all week, may never get the smell of 5 sweaty guys out of it again! 

It was especially great being around the girls quite a bit this week.  Djeune, Eddie, and our house moms are all doing a great job raising these girls to be polite and fun to be with!  Photos speak louder than words, so I will insert a few here, and I think you will get the idea. 

Our next big push has to be to raise more funds to finish building and to support our increasing number of girls. We currently have 19! I will update the full list of girls on the website in a few days. We would like to have each girl fully sponsored for what it costs us per year as we move forward. With God's help, I know we will!

 

To see a bunch of recent photos go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/Andy.IHAF/ConsolationCenterHaiti62110?feat=directlink

Wow!  Time flies when you are busy as can be!  Its June 14, 2010, and I am on the way to Haiti again to meet Ken from Iowa along with some guys from his church!  We will be working on finishing some more of Consolation Center, especially the composting toilet container and hopefully installing the solar power system - if the container gets in!  We have two more 40' containers in D.R. that we are waiting for.  All the paperwork has been turned in, exactly what we are waiting for at this point, I am not sure.  Hopefully in the next day or two they will be delivered.  In either case, we have plenty of work to do.  I will attach some photos once we get going down there.  Right now I am in the airport, a little early, waiting for the flight to leave.  Quickest checkin ever for some reason this morning!  didnt even have to wait on line! 
We also hope to start making plans for converting the first of several containers for earthquake victim families.  http://www.ihaf.us/

April 1, 2010 update- The Girls Moved Into Their New Home!

Update plus some photos , 4-1-10
Finally landed in NY. 345 AM. Of course then we have 2 older women who are not
feeling good and now we all have to sit here more while the paramedics take care
of them. Only another hour to home. I'm supposed to speak at a Kiwanis meeting
lunchtime, then conduct services at church tonight! Finally got home around 5AM.
Its gonna be another long day! Oh well, God is good.

We were delayed 5 hours on the runway in Port au Prince w mechanical trouble,
then we could no longer go to JFK direct. The airport is still a mess and a
nightmare to get thru. I wish I could have flown back with my pilot friends in
the small plane, it would have been quicker!

We did finally move the girls into their new home Tue. Night! They were so
excited! Wed. they all took showers for the first time! They thought that was
really cool! Eddie told me they ran around all day excited, thinking that its a
big playground! And they had neighbors and others visiting all day. We were able
to get the solar panels installed, wired, and the new solar powered well pump
installed, along with piping underground to the water tank on top of the shower.

It was of course the typical Haitian struggle getting everything done! Only real problem we have is the well does not produce as much water as the driller said. Had to choke the pump back all the way and it still draws all the water out of the well in about 20 minutes. Thank goodness I have a low water shutoff on it. It waits 20 minutes and starts pumping again. We may have to drill another well before long that is deeper and has better supply.

Worked untill well after dark each day and then met with Eddie, Djeune and others working
on plans etc each night. We already have 5 new people coming in, as u know, 4
girls and the grandmother of two of them who is now going to work with us. They
lost everything they had in the earthquake. We have space right now for 36 (soon
50) we just need to know we have financial support before we take many more. We
trust that God will provide. Thanks! YIC, Andy


Andrew Topp

International Humanitarian Aid Foundation
PO Box 13
Midland Park, NJ 07432 USA
ph.-201-410-0155
fax- 201-857-3046
Haiti Cell-509-38360447
check out- www.ihaf.us

March 24


Another crazy week here at home. Trying to get everything ready to fly down with Jack and John Cooper on Friday. Jack has a twin engine Piper Seneca, a really nice plane that we will be filling with as many supplies as we can to bring down with us. Went shopping yesterday for a good supply of tools, a tool box, etc. so we can stop scrambling around for some basic tools all the time. Already received a shipment with a new plasma cutter, compressor, drill, and other supplies that we will need to keep working on converting containers into homes. The big item I am waiting anxiously for is the solar powered well pump and solar panels etc. Have to pick up the pump wire this morning. See you later!  Hoorah!  The pump and solar panels arrived!  Oh no!  I'm not sure they will all fit in the plane!  I met Jack at the plane this afternoon, It was kinda like a jigsaw puzzle, but we got everything into the plane and still have a little room to sit!  Just have to figure out now where to put my backpack and Jack and John's clothes!   Should be a fun ride.  Andy

Yesterday, Saturday, February 21, was again an eventful day!  Ivald, our faithful friend and tireless worker, probably starts most days before the rest of us.  He has been picking up and dropping off some of the guys working on Consolation Center.  The masons are just finishing the outdoor kitchen we decided to build behind the rear dorm container, there are some guys finishing the thatching of the third container, and a couple others have just finished welding the bed frames together for up to 36 beds.  After some preliminary organizing in the morning, we make 2 pickups of supplies, pilots and visitors at the airport.  Peter takes the one pickup truck that we have been renting, giving a tour to our pilot and supporter from CA, while I, for the first time, rent/borrow a "Tap Tap"!  You should see the faces of people when they see a "blanc" driving a tap-tap (taxi pickup truck)!  I wonder if it has ever happened before!  It worked out beautifully as we gave quick tours to a couple of our pilots, Justin, Mike and Mike's wife Donna.   They of course loved the girls, the new orphanage and the work happening at the hospital.  Donna and Mike are going back to their home church to see if they can help raise more ongoing support for the care of our girls.  That will be greatly appreciated!   Currently, it costs us about $2,000.00 per child per year for food, clothes, school, medical care, etc.  With the new expanded orphanage, we will need every penny we can find.  Please pray that support will come in from everywhere as needed!

I keep finding that God has a way of giving us just what we need when we need it. Yesterday I was at the hospital, one of the Brazilian docs mentioned that they need small xray film. late in the afternoon I rode a motorbike, on the 1mile rocky road no less, to Espwa for a meeting about housing. ended up staying for dinner, happened to mentioned that we are looking for xray film, guess what? One of the teams that had been there left some behind- just the smaller sizes that the hospital needs! It just keeps happening like that over and over. Some of the pilots flying supplies in are so impressed with the work here, they are coming next week to volunteer for a few days helping out. Thank-you for the prayers and the support! Could not be here without you!

After our visitors were on their way back to the Bahamas, Djeune (and baby Lenz) and I picked up Dr. Jerry who is from Alaska and volunteering at Pwoje Espwa.  We asked him to stop and take a look at our girls to check on a skalp condition that some of our girls have.  Not only did he and the girls have a great time visiting, but he found that 6 of our girls have impataego (sp?), a type of staff infection easily treated with anti biotics.  A few others are still showing signs of malnutrition from before we had them, but they are slowly getting better.
Ended the work day around 7:30 after a meeting with the Haitian board members that work with Eddie and Djeune to discuss where we are at with Consolation Center, etc. Had supper with Natalie, who works with Pwoje Espwa, and ended up stopping back at her apartment with the Haitian guys that share the apartment with her, to help her remove her arm cast!  It was time to take it off, (she broke her arm when she fell on a motorbike).  We soaked it for about an hour in a bucket and then cut and broke it off with the help of my swiss army knife!  That was kinda fun, and her arm looks all healed up now! 
 I will try to attach some photos to this in a little while if we still have internet.  Going to be meeting with Pierre shortly to talk about more orphans that he knows of that need help.  Will try to update later.  yours in service, Andy

Haiti Earthquake relief news

Hello all,
I am going to try to send a bunch of photos that show some of the current things going on here. The girls home is coming along beautifully, we just have to finish the bunk beds, showers, and cooking area and then we can move them there. the hospital has a team of Brazilians here, they didnt have many patients until we made a TV announcement in this area that Brenda hospital would see any patients who are still suffering from earthquake related injuries for free. On Monday they had over 100 people show up, many with injuries that had not been treated professionally and were now infected, some with broken bones still not set, others that had been treated but bones had shifted or other serious infections had set in. Apparently many people were staying home because they have no money and some of the other hospitals, especially the private ones, have been charging for care.

We have brought some of the private pilots into to see the hospital and the orphanage, many of them have been volunteering themselves, and their planes, including thousands of dollars worth of fuel to fly supplies and people whereever they are needed, and have never seen where everything is going and being used. They often never leave the airport. The guys that have come through so far were just blown away by what they saw and very impressed with all the efforts that are being made to help the people here. Its very important for them to have a sense of how important their work is. Without the private pilots there would be so many people suffering so much more.

We are still looking for certain things like an xray developer, another autoclave, an oxygen flow valve, etc. Just heard last night that Sisters of the Poor children's hospital and orphanage desperately needs diapers, formula, baby wipes, baby clothes. I asked for a list to be put together so we can add it to one of our containers.

Guess thats all for now, let me add the photos and see how long it takes to send! yours in service, Andy