The shortest month of the year has a full program for us here in Ileavache.

We make great progress on the orphanage team training thanks to an opportune meeting with Medical Team International (MTI) in Les Cayes.   They have a physiotherapy and rehabilitation centre in Les Cayes and we stopped in one day to see if they knew where we could source adult diapers.  Aside from giving all they had in stock they also talked to us about the support they provide in the Les Cayes area.  They already know Sr Flora and are due to visit the orphanage.  The result of all this networking is a full program due to start in March. A team will come over from Cayes to train twelve of the orphanage staff in rehabilitation techniques.  Training will be delivered over the four months and will include practical sessions and theory.  Some of the staff will have an option to take a Technicians exam after they complete the training.

Thanks to the support of CES in Dublin our local teachers start their English language training.  First lessons are due in the middle of February.  At one of our sessions we try the individual passwords and do a trial lesson, the online support is really good.  It is a good start, hopefully it can continue that way.  Lessons are going to run into the Carnival schedule when everyone takes holidays in Haiti.  This is normally a time for celebration and there is lots of RaRa bands out playing every evening.  Sadly the Port au Prince Carnival ends in tragedy.  There are two days of national mourning.  Even in a country where we encounter death so frequently, the sight of sixteen coffins resting in front of what would have been the parade viewing stand, is a stark sight.

There are many quotes about living a full life and participating in every day, in Haiti you have no choice.  Life here demands that you live it.  The name for our proposed new program, Chache Lavie named so by the women participants, is creole for Seeking Life.

Soul of Haiti have been researching appropriate programs for livelihoods that were already in existence in Haiti and further afield. Chache Lavie is a socio-economic program run successfully by the Foundation Enfant Jesus (FEJ) in Lamardelle, Haiti.  It is a transformation program, primarily for women to re-engage them in economic activity or to improve their current businesses. It also provides training in family planning; nutrition; family budgeting and women’s rights and much much more.  The FEJ team come to Ileavache the last week of February.  Over the three day visit we get to visit seven community groups.  We talk about our program and look at potential business and community opportunities in Ileavache.  It is a really good week and shows great potential.

With Huguette and I both back from our respective vacations, we get the time to look at the 2015 plan for the orphanage.  On facilities work this year we are planning to change the layout of the orphanage.

This will allow for more privacy in the dormitories and around the kitchen area.  Our trial for the kitchen to change over to gas cooking goes really well and the kitchen staff are delighted with the proposal.

The garden project has gone very well and we need a plan for 2015.  In the meantime Sr Flora and Ailish are enjoying eating fresh tomatoes, with melons, peppers and aubergines to look forward to.

The end of February sees the opening of the Marriott Hotel in Port au Prince.  The hotel is a stunning building worthy of any capital city in the world.  The staff, including some familiar faces, are professional, courteous and helpful.   The launch event is a resounding success for everyone who has believed and supported this project from the beginning.  We wish them the best of luck.