Tuesday, December 21st

I am up early again.  My body is to mosquitoes what the Mandarin is to me!  Yikes.  No worries folks I am heavy duty into some malaria medication.  Enough of my slight discomforts.  This is the last day before the big presentation/party/shindig/pageant/....today is dress rehersal day.  Here are a few of my favourite pics from yesterday.

You need to take a few minutes and head over to the iam1ru website and look under the "dreams" tab and see what you can sponsor for Christmas.

It was quite a day!

The kids gathered at 10am this morning for rehersal.  As you can see they were working hard at listening intently to instructions.

Today was "feeding program" day again.  Usually about 90-100 children gather for some fun activities and some food, which is usually rice and beans.  However, today for a few extra bucks we were able to have chicken added to the meal and we found out something else was happening with the children and an extra 100 kids or more were invited in.  It was crazy!  Below is a pic of the little children sitting and enjoying their meal.

Okay...are you ready for a cool story?  There was a man there who's name was Gary and he runs a small orphanage for boys that presently has 11 young lads that have come straight from the street.  They were at the afternoon feeding program today and when it came time to serve, they jumped right in to help serve the food.  When it came to the end of the serving time there was no food left for them.  They sat there very politely.  Marcel and I overheard a conversation about what they were going to do to feed the boys.  They were talking about taking them back to the orphanage to feed them.  If you know anything about PI you know what is coming next.  Oh yeah baby!  The last shall become first!  We gave Gary enough money to take the young lads out for a hamburg and fries and ice cream!  That is what I am talking about!  Every child should feel special.  This pic below is of the happy crew just before they "bolted" for the restaurant!  C'mon now...somebody shout!  I was thinking of my good friend Gramma Donna as I took this photo!

The team is in high gear...

It is 9:45am here and it is already 25C and climbing.  I admire the Manaserros so much as they not only have long term plans and dreams but they also deal with the "immediate" day after day.  As you can see by the pic below here is a lineup of people looking for help, standing outside the guest house at 9:30am.

                        ......wait a minute....is that George Passmore standing in the front of the line?

The gift bags are almost complete.  Mary, Jody and Gabriela did a wonderful job.  Thank you so much to all those that donated to the gift bags.  We actually had extra money come in which we have used to help purchase extra supplies to build a stage, some backdrop material, some material for curtains and we are also throwing a bit of a party for the folks that live in a small tent city in the ravine close to here.  Trust me...there are always more needs than we have money!  However, your generosity has helped us bring hope to many.

Here are the guys measuring the area for the curtains that will be put up for the presentation.  We are doing a lot of ground work and building that will be used in years to come.

Monday and counting....

It is early Monday morning and most of us are up.  We will be heading to the team meeting soon at 7am on the roof of the Guest House.  Things will be happening fast and furious over the next couple of days as preparations are coming together quickly for the Christmas Presentation.  Stay tuned here daily for at least a couple reports per day.  Here are a few of my favourite pics of the first few days.

Gabriela Deschamps from Espanola is holding a little girl at the feeding program on Friday.  There are lots of little children all over the streets and you wonder who takes care of them.  Sometimes other children take care of them.  You wonder where the parent(s) are.

Mary Farrow is a machine!  Not only is she a machine...she is a machine with a smile on her face.  Always willing to help....always has a smile.

That crazy Milt Farrow.  While Mary (his wife) is busy sweeping he is busy shooting skating videos.  He tried to pass himself off as Tony Hawk...it ended up with him making this trip in the back of a secure truck.  I wonder where he is headed.  lol.  Seriously....Milt....you are the bomb!

This is Dave.  He is not quite two yet and he wanders the street in front of the Guest House...sometimes all alone.  He seems to find himself in the Guest House quite a few times during the day.

Saturday Stuff

We were up early on Saturday.  Roger was off and running with resident nurse Brooke doing a short run at the clinic.  They make a great team as you can see in the pic below.  What a great addition Roger is to the team!  Roger can join an iam1ru team anytime.

It must be the heat in Haiti, or something in the spices in the food, but Milt Farrow is into some crazy youth rejuvenation!  It is crazy as you can see!  Look out Tony Hawk!  Milt may be releasing his "skating" videos soon.

This may be a close as the Fin gets to being a "man of the cloth".  Seriously Fin was the man to send to find the fabric.  It was a good opportunity for him to get in touch with his feminine side.  It was good to see "finniebaby"!

I just figured if I was to only have one deep conversation today it should be with this guy!

Friday was furiously busy!

This will be the site of the Christmas Presentation next Wednesday.  It will be transformed into a theatre and the area in front will be filled with chairs and benches.

The crew feeding about 90 kids at the feeding program on Friday afternoon.  It will be these children and family members that will make up the majority of the 400 people that will fill the space above for the presentation.

George was getting right into it!  He was having way too much fun passing out food and water to the kids!

Jody Pilon from Lively, Ontario was making sure this youngster got all the food down to the last little bit.  It was cool watching her feed this little one.

Milt Farrow or the "Whistle Man" as he is now known here in the Guest House, has been busy helping pack the 400 gift bags.
The team has been hard at it with no sickness to this point.  The weather has been hot...about 28c/day.  It cools down at night to about 22C-23C.

Making progress...

400 gift bags seems like only the tip of the iceberg until you need to pack them.  Quite an undertaking it is.

The pile of what will be 400 gift bags continues to grow.  They are all talking around here about the "huge" blessing it will be to the children from the surrounding neighbourhood.  It is only the first full day here but excitement is already building to next Wednesday.  Meanwhile over at the construction area...

Pete was showing Kenny how to use the power tools.  The guys are busy building a stage for the big Christmas Presentation on Wednesday.

George Passmore chatting it up with a couple young lads from the boys home.  It is awesome that the team is interacting with the kids.  Back to work George! :)