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Haiti Orphanage Phase II Construction

This is a big ask, but it's a long-term project that will stretch out over 2021.

The Project: Welcome Home Children's Centre, located two hours north of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti is able to feed, clothe, shelter, supervise and provide for education for a dozen orphaned children on a shoestring budget, but in 2021 the desire is to complete Phase Two of the original construction project with the goal of (a) being able to help many more children, and (b) provide dorm accommodation which gives the boys and girls more privacy as some of the original children are now in their teenage years.

The History: This is the short version! Camille Otum, a young woman from Haiti emigrates to Quebec, Canada where she meets a man from Nigeria, and they move to Georgetown, Ontario. In 2004, her Canadian church is looking for people to be chaperones for a youth group trip to her homeland, so of course she volunteers. At one point in the trip, she leaves the group to visit her hometown of Cabaret only to discover conditions have deteriorated. Kids are begging on the streets. More accurately, they are living on the streets. She takes action, forming a charity and renting a 3-bedroom house, then acquiring land, and then building the first dorm which has been home to the children for the past five years. Today, Camille, her husband Sam and the board of Welcome Home believe it's time to move on to Phase Two, in order to meet the needs outlined above.

The Challenge: This organization has a number of committed donors, but this one-time capital project represents an expense that is several times their annual budget. They need to get new people excited about the work they're doing.

The Personal Interest: Our son Chris was part of a team from Engineering Ministries International (EMI) in Calgary which flew to Haiti to design the facility. Unlike most EMI participants who move on to other design projects, he continued to stay in touch with the charity, to the point of flying back with a Welcome Home volunteer team to see the completed Phase One building and getting involved with fundraising events. So three reasons why we're involved: (1) I love telling the story of how Welcome Home came to be. (2) We have a personal connection and know this is a real, genuine, trustworthy organization. (3) They deal with genuine orphans, not children who've been dropped off for a few years of a better life -- as though it was a summer camp -- with the idea of then getting picked up later and rejoining a family.

The Particulars: The land, the staff, and the organization are all already in place. EMI completed blueprints for Phase Two, but these might be amended so that the two buildings will share some common structural points and lower construction costs. The solar power system also needs to be improved to cover both buildings.  The fundraising goal here is designed to get the project started; total costs will be higher again. Turning children away is one of the hardest things Sam and Camille have had to do, but they are resolute in their commitment to help the most needy orphans. This is a Canadian registered charity, able to receipt Canadian donors for tax purposes. It's also a faith-driven charity, and the children participate in outings where they connect with kids from area churches.

Learn more at the Welcome Home website .

Organizer

Paul Wilkinson
Organizer
Port Hope, ON
Welcome Home Children's Centre Inc.
 
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically tax deductible in Canada.

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