January 2017: A New Year!

Happy New Year!! As we begin a new year, we reflect on accomplishments in 2016, and pray for a great year in 2017!

The 2016 Holiday Sponsorship Team arrives in Haiti!

January began with our Holiday Sponsorship Team's first full day in Haiti! The team had a great week meeting their sponsored children, visiting their homes, building tables and beds, hosting a holiday party, and exploring Grand Goâve. To read more about the team's week in Haiti, see our previous blog post!

Kathiana receives a letter and gift from her sponsor!

At the beginning of the month, a few of the sponsored children received holiday cards and gifts that they either had not yet received, or that had arrived with the Holiday Sponsorship Team.

Saintai with her letter from her sponsor!

The children were so grateful and had a wonderful holiday season!

Ezechiel opens a gift

Thedson blows out the candle!

Some sponsored children also had birthdays in January! The kids with January birthdays are Ketlove, Marley, Cliforde, Thedson, Peterson (Jelin), and Ezechiel.



They loved coming to TOHH to eat cake and open a gift!

Post-Hurricane Matthew (Before)

At the beginning of January, we had a house blessing for the Hurricane Matthew Relief house! In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti and, although Grand Goâve was not hit as badly as other areas of Haiti, almost everyone in our community was touched by this disaster in one way or another. For some, Hurricane Matthew left some flooding in their homes. Others' homes were completely destroyed. In October, we discovered an area of homes that had all collapsed.

This family's new home! (After)

Thanks to your donations, we raised the funds necessary to build a new home for one of these families! At the house blessing, we said a prayer with the family, and Ethan handed over the key! Congratulations to the new homeowners!!

The Holiday Sponsorship Team on their last day in Haiti

After spending a week in Haiti, the Holiday Sponsorship Team arrived home safely in Massachusetts! One of the missionaries continued on to Canada, and arrived safely as well.

Jude's first day of school!

Peterson starts school!

Our sponsored children started the second half of their school year on Monday, January 9th, 2017. Children who were sponsored more recently began school on this day as well. As part of their sponsorship, the new students received uniforms, shoes, backpacks, school supplies, and books. They were so excited to start school, and be able to finish the year with the rest of the kids!!

Dahana is so happy to be back in school!

Sending out child letters!

When I returned to the US with the Holiday Sponsorship Team, I brought back over 50 letters from the sponsored kids! The letters were sorted, put in envelopes, and brought to the post office to go out to the sponsors.

Chelle receives her child letters!

The kids were so excited for their sponsors to receive them! Thanks to those who shared photos of themselves receiving their letters on social media!

Melissa and her family receive their child letter!

This month, we also celebrated a very important date for TOHH! January 28th was the one-year anniversary of TOHH's Grand Opening and Dedication Ceremony in Haiti! It's incredible to see the progress that has been made in just one year!

TOHH Grand Opening/Dedication Ceremony - January 28, 2016

This special team came for TOHH's Grand Opening/Dedication Ceremony!

At TOHH we have seen...

• Clean water given to our community
• 11 TOHH homes built
• 76 children sponsored to continue their education
• Our first Summer Camp program
• 8 Mission Trips
• Our First Holiday Sponsorship Trip
• Hundreds of Clothes and Shoes distributed
• 18 Children's programs
• 1 Women's conference

Thank you for changing the lives of so many in this past year. It is through your support and donations that we are able to do what we do at TOHH!

Angela's mom's first time in Haiti!

An incredible team, made up of Angela and Gama's family and friends, came to Haiti for TOHH's Grand Opening and Dedication Ceremony! Angela's mom, Lorraine Boudreau, also came to Haiti for the first time on this trip! The team helped with preparations, including sanding, decorating, painting, and cooking.

Ethan with his friends!

For the past three months, we have had Ethan staying in Haiti at TOHH! Ethan is Angela's cousins' Sarah and Jon's son. Sarah and Jon are both on the TOHH Staff, and Sarah also works as the Child Sponsorship Coordinator (Stateside)! Ethan came to Haiti with Team Good News in November 2016, and he will be returning to the US with Team Good News in February 2017.

Eating snacks at Ethan's farewell party

He has had so many great experiences in Haiti, and made lots of new friends! Follow this link to read the article written about Ethan and his trip: http://www.ledgertranscript.com/Jaffrey-Rindge-student-Haiti-trip-7384600

Ethan's farewell party

At the end of January, we had a farewell party for Ethan! He invited some of his closest friends, and they had a great time!

Team Good News arrives in Haiti!!

On January 30th, Team Good News arrived in Haiti!! They have lots planned for their week at TOHH, including building two homes, children's ministry, women's ministry, and more!

Follow TOHH on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated about what's going on in Haiti, and in the US!

TOHH Website: www.treeofhopehaiti.org
Facebook: Tree of Hope Haiti
Twitter: @treeofhopehaiti
Instagram: @treeofhopehaiti
Donations: http://treeofhopehaiti.org/donations/

TOHH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Would you like to come on a mission trip to Haiti?

We would love to have you volunteer for one week (or more) at TOHH in Grand Goâve! There are several trips traveling to Haiti in 2017 - check out the dates below!

Summer Camp 2017 Trips:
July 1 - 8, 2017 (Summer Camp 2017 - Week 1)
July 8 - 15, 2017 (Summer Camp 2017 - Week 2)
July 15 - 22, 2017 (Summer Camp 2017 - Week 3)
July 22 - 29, 2017 (Summer Camp 2017 - Week 4)
July 29 - August 5, 2017 (Summer Camp 2017 - Week 5)
August 5 - 12, 2017 (Summer Camp 2017 - Week 6)
August 12 - 21, 2017 (Summer Camp 2017 - Week 7 - End of Camp Celebration)

Holiday Sponsorship Trip 2017:
December 27, 2017 - January 3, 2018

Summer Camp Volunteers will be helping teach the children Math and English! In the afternoons, volunteers will do home visits and help the children write letters to their sponsors. We will also have time to do some fun activities, such as going to the beach or visiting the market!

The Holiday Sponsorship Team will be doing a variety of activities with the sponsored children! These include home visits to the children's homes, crafts, baking, a holiday party, a hike, a trip to the beach, and a possible home improvement project (additional cost, to be discussed at pre-trip meetings).

All of these trips will have pre-trip meetings before traveling to Haiti. The cost of each trip is as follows:

$125 - Deposit (includes the cost of a TOHH shirt that we request you wear on travel day)
$450 - TOHH Guesthouse Fee (includes three meals/day, housing, transport to and from the airport, and operations costs)
Flight Costs

If you'd like to join a trip, please fill out an application form here: http://treeofhopehaiti.org/volunteers/application/

For more information about preparing for a trip to Haiti, follow this link:
http://treeofhopehaiti.org/volunteers/preparing-for-a-trip/

Feel free to email us at info@treeofhopehaiti.org with any questions!


Breakfast/Raffle Fundraiser Venue

As we continue to fundraise for our Pavilion Project, we are organizing a breakfast and raffle fundraiser! We are looking for churches willing to act as a venue for the fundraiser!

The proceeds from this fundraiser will help build our community pavilion in Haiti where we plan to host TOHH Summer Camp, seminars, Bible study, discipleship classes, and more!

If you are connected with to know of a church willing to hose our fundraiser, please let us know by contacting us at info@treeofhopehaiti.org! Thank you!!


Mackenson's Recovery

In December 2016, one of our workers, Mackenson, had a horrible accident while working on the third floor roof of the TOHH Guesthouse. While using a heavy mallet to remove 2x4s from the roof, he overexerted his swing and gravity pulled him to the ground. It was a true miracle that he hit the retaining wall around the second floor, which slowed his fall and flipped him around. Mackenson fell on his face, broke his jaw, and lost almost all his teeth.

Gama, being trained as an EMT, was able to instruct the other workers to transport Mackenson into a vehicle. Gama then drove him to a hospital in Grand Goave, where injures were assessed and pain medications were given. They then continued on to Port-au-Prince where, after five hospitals, they finally found one that would admit Mackenson. In Haiti a hospital will not admit a patient unless there is a doctor present willing to work on them, and unless the cost is paid for upfront.

We are thankful to God that Mackenson survived this fall, and with minimal injuries. After breaking his jaw, he was not able to eat on his own and needed a Nasogastric (NG) feeding tube. Mackenson had a successful surgery to reconstruct his jaw. Just before Christmas, he was released from the hospital and spent the holiday with his family. Soon after, his feeding tube was removed and he began a liquid diet with some soft foods. He is recovering and doing well, and he continues to tell us how grateful he is to be alive.

The hospital that Mackenson was admitted to has taken very good care of him because we have been able to pay. For Mackenson's recovery, TOHH has paid $5,000. His life is very important to us, and we will do anything we can for him. He is twenty-three years old and has a two-year-old bay girl at home. We will do anything we can to help him recover.

Please share Mackenson's story and help us raise awareness and funds for his recovery. If you would like to contribute to Mackenson's medical expenses, follow this donation link and write "Mackenson's Recovery" in the memo: http://treeofhopehaiti.org/donations/ On behalf of Mackenson, his family, and TOHH, thank you!!