Love Community Home
A loving home - with House Parents:
Merline Vincent - House Mother and Pastor Guy Vincent (Merline's father) House Father,
for Carrefour's orphaned
& homeless children...
until children can be placed back with their families,
or orphans moved into loving foster homes!
Love Community Home is a
small, safe & caring family environment
with an elementary school
Merline Vincent - House Mother and Pastor Guy Vincent (Merline's father) House Father,
for Carrefour's orphaned
& homeless children...
until children can be placed back with their families,
or orphans moved into loving foster homes!
Love Community Home is a
small, safe & caring family environment
with an elementary school
Sponsorship of the children continues ... and EVERY CENT GETS SENT! Sponsorship means that the children are lovingly cared-for every day, are fed and clothed, and are given medical care, wellbeing care and an education .... UNTIL they can be returned and supported back into their own homes!
The Love Community Story!
A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON CARREFOUR - WHERE LOVE COMMUNITY HOME IS LOCATED
The suburb of Carrefour is often described as a 'bedroom community' - a place to sleep - for those who work in Haiti's over-crowded capital city of Port au Prince. This largely residential 'commune' can be described as a microcosm of all the ills of Haitian suburban society: rampant poverty, endemic unemployment, illiteracy, limited public services and schooling, sporadic power and families trying to eke out an existence amidst often unsanitary living conditions. Smoky air fills dilapidated or temporary residences. Many of these residences do not have ongoing access to electricity, or gas stoves for cooking... the animals often share where the rubbish is dumped in the streets... like I found to be the case at Love 'Orphanage' when I first visited there in 2011.
2011- THE TRANSFORMATIONS BEGIN
In a back street in Carrefour, in 2011, one year after the devastating earthquake hit, I was escorted to visit this small orphanage. Dilapidated from the after-effects of the quake and with a leaking roof over beds that had little or no bedding, I met fifteen children who were being lovingly cared for by husband and wife team - Pastor Guy and his wife, Madam Vincent. They desperately needed help. I went home determined that we had to partner with them to under-gird their vision to care for these precious children - some of Haiti's most destitute. Most importantly, the dream was to find these children' parents or family and reunite them... if possible... and to then support families holistically. 'Orphanages' should only be the last resort - even loving family-operated ones like Love Community Home - the last resort if a child has absolutely NO family at all that is able to take them home and be supported in community.
2011 - The journey begins. Visiting Love Orphanage for the first time with Pastor Reggie
2012 - RENOVATIONS AND RENEWAL
In 2012 our small team began renovations of Love Orphanage - as it was then known then. David, John and our small team started work cleaning and renovating the small rooms.
2012 also saw our wonderful Michael Crossland and his great friend Simon O'Dell visit the Orphanage to begin renovating the rooms, purchase new beds and sleeping mattresses and deliver donated, hand-made quilts. It was a dramatic change from beds with no mattresses and a leaking roof above the children when they slept!
2012 also saw our wonderful Michael Crossland and his great friend Simon O'Dell visit the Orphanage to begin renovating the rooms, purchase new beds and sleeping mattresses and deliver donated, hand-made quilts. It was a dramatic change from beds with no mattresses and a leaking roof above the children when they slept!
2013 - ROOM TO MOVE: A 2ND STORY IS ADDED
This building project was continued during our journey there in March, 2013 when the upper children's bedroom, bathroom and verandah were added. Michael and (the late) Wayne Glenn undertook this project and the addition of all these rooms has made an awesome difference for the children! Sadly, Wayne, a respected local Coffs Harbour businessman and past president of the Rotary Club of Coffs Harbour, lost his battle with cancer late in 2014. There is now a lasting memorial plaque to Wayne, at Love Community Home. We miss him and will always be grateful for his generous heart and help.
2014 - BATHROOM BLISS and family outreach
In 2014 - we completed the bathroom - adding all the plumbing, the pump for water, and the toilet and sink. Many of the donations for what is accomplished at Love Community Home came in through people who donated through Michael spreading the word!! We employed a local plumber to complete all the plumbing work. Now the children have a flushing toilet and running water in their bathroom.
Donated building supplies and tools have also meant that the local builders in Haiti have been trained as they work with our teams, and equipped for future business.
In 2014, "Love Community Home" was renamed and re-visioned instead of Love ‘Orphanage’.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Children has long endorsed family-based care where possible, and they encourage governments to work in the best interest of the child when it is not. Those children who are true orphans will continue to be cared for and schooled here at Love Community Home. However, in 2014 we changed our focus for those children who do have some family. Many of the children were found to have a single parent or relative that left them at Love Community Home as they had no other way of supporting them. We now seek to reach out to those family members in the Carrefour area, re-unite them with their families and invite the families and these children to be part of the Love Community Home support, meals and schooling/training throughout the day. This was such an exciting step and is now on-going!
Donated building supplies and tools have also meant that the local builders in Haiti have been trained as they work with our teams, and equipped for future business.
In 2014, "Love Community Home" was renamed and re-visioned instead of Love ‘Orphanage’.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Children has long endorsed family-based care where possible, and they encourage governments to work in the best interest of the child when it is not. Those children who are true orphans will continue to be cared for and schooled here at Love Community Home. However, in 2014 we changed our focus for those children who do have some family. Many of the children were found to have a single parent or relative that left them at Love Community Home as they had no other way of supporting them. We now seek to reach out to those family members in the Carrefour area, re-unite them with their families and invite the families and these children to be part of the Love Community Home support, meals and schooling/training throughout the day. This was such an exciting step and is now on-going!
2014: New flushing toilet for the girls
2015 - KITCHENS and MORE PRECIOUS KIDS
2015 Journey of Hope: we initiated the next stage of Love Community Home renovations: the addition of the kitchen which will be fully operational and decorated by July!
2015 Journey of Hope, saw the start of the new upstairs kitchen and planning for the next stages with Pastor Reggie and Pastor Guy (Home Father). We were thrilled also to announce that many families for these children were found and we are now continuing to reach out to them! We now continually look for ways to further support the parents or relatives of these precious children, allowing family bonds to be strengthened and supported. Late in 2015, the kitchen was finally finished due to generous donations from many who found out what we are undertaking, through Michael spreading the word! How we appreciate Michael's ongoing care and compassion for these children.
As of November 2015, we decided to sponsor each child with:
one sponsor for their basic needs: food, personal care and clothing, and a
second sponsor for their schooling.
This now allows us to keep the sponsorship amount to a very affordable level, while allowing those children at school age to further their education.
Some sponsors like to take full sponsorship of their children. We are incredibly grateful to all our generous sponsors.
As of November 2015, we decided to sponsor each child with:
one sponsor for their basic needs: food, personal care and clothing, and a
second sponsor for their schooling.
This now allows us to keep the sponsorship amount to a very affordable level, while allowing those children at school age to further their education.
Some sponsors like to take full sponsorship of their children. We are incredibly grateful to all our generous sponsors.
2015: The new kitchen being painted.
2015: The new kitchen from the outside.
November, 2015. The new kitchen is finally complete and in use ready for Christmas!
2016 - BUILDING, QUILTS & A TRIP TO THE BEACH
2016 John, Cheryl, Michael and Mel (Michael's wife) visited in January. We all spent much time with the children: their photos and information were updated and vital 'Future Directions' decisions were made and renovation projects planned.
The 2016 September Journey of Compassion was incredibly special - when many of the renovation plans were completed. Dave and John undertook practical building and carpentry projects with Totale (our awesome resident builder), Cheryl and Tash updated all the children's information and shopped with Merline and Patricia for new clothes and shoes, and all the bedding and new manchester! All the children were presented with hand-made quilts from three incredible mums back in Australia: Katrina, Jenny and Sally. The children loved them!
The highlight event had to be the day we took the children and staff to a resort beach! We loaded everyone into a big, yellow bus and headed off to a beautiful beachside resort where they paddled, played, enjoyed a HUGE buffet lunch together had the most wonderful day filled with laughter, sun, fun, food, play and swims! Most of the children had never been out of their earthquake-ravaged street, let alone to a resort-beach! So heart-warming to hear them singing praise songs when they arrived home after their special day!
The 2016 September Journey of Compassion was incredibly special - when many of the renovation plans were completed. Dave and John undertook practical building and carpentry projects with Totale (our awesome resident builder), Cheryl and Tash updated all the children's information and shopped with Merline and Patricia for new clothes and shoes, and all the bedding and new manchester! All the children were presented with hand-made quilts from three incredible mums back in Australia: Katrina, Jenny and Sally. The children loved them!
The highlight event had to be the day we took the children and staff to a resort beach! We loaded everyone into a big, yellow bus and headed off to a beautiful beachside resort where they paddled, played, enjoyed a HUGE buffet lunch together had the most wonderful day filled with laughter, sun, fun, food, play and swims! Most of the children had never been out of their earthquake-ravaged street, let alone to a resort-beach! So heart-warming to hear them singing praise songs when they arrived home after their special day!
2017 - SEPTEMBER: OUR BIGGEST TEAM IMPACT
2017 - Check out our Slideshow of what was undertaken:
2018 Journey of Hope
Another AMAZING journey with many FIRSTS!
* we launched our first ESL classes for parents and community in Carrefour,
led by Alyssa and to become a vital business that supports Bouvier School
* we saw first-hand, our new LIBELLULE TRAINING ACADEMY class in action - in it's
FIRST YEAR: where mum's and Love Community graduates are crafting beautiful hand-made jewellery to sell, enabling them to help support their families. (Libellule means ‘dragonfly’ in French: the symbol for transformation).
Plus we completed these awesome yearly projects....
* We celebrated LOVE FAMILY HOMES Program with all the Love Community children and their families that have been sponsored this year into this awesome program.
* We met with all the children at Love Community Home, updated all their details, played with them and enjoyed sharing fun and games!
* we undertook Love Community Home and individual Love Family Homes renovation projects
* we took the whole community and all the children out on a DAY AT THE BEACH!!!
It was so much fun!!
SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE TO VIEW SOME THE PHOTOS. More photos and details click the button below.
* we launched our first ESL classes for parents and community in Carrefour,
led by Alyssa and to become a vital business that supports Bouvier School
* we saw first-hand, our new LIBELLULE TRAINING ACADEMY class in action - in it's
FIRST YEAR: where mum's and Love Community graduates are crafting beautiful hand-made jewellery to sell, enabling them to help support their families. (Libellule means ‘dragonfly’ in French: the symbol for transformation).
Plus we completed these awesome yearly projects....
* We celebrated LOVE FAMILY HOMES Program with all the Love Community children and their families that have been sponsored this year into this awesome program.
* We met with all the children at Love Community Home, updated all their details, played with them and enjoyed sharing fun and games!
* we undertook Love Community Home and individual Love Family Homes renovation projects
* we took the whole community and all the children out on a DAY AT THE BEACH!!!
It was so much fun!!
SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE TO VIEW SOME THE PHOTOS. More photos and details click the button below.
2018 + 2019 SOCIAL WORKER JOINS THE TEAM
Our Haitian Social Worker - Yndjy Belval!
Our 10 orphans in LCH are still as always, attending school and are lovingly cared for in a large family environment. As of 2019, we now about to employ & train a Social Worker to support each child through their school & home life AND support LCH staff.
Our Programs recently featured on CNN!
Our Programs recently featured on CNN!
2019 Exciting Developments
Through the incredible support of Michael Crossland, our champion, friend & ambassador, & YOU, our great sponsors,
we have re-united over 30 of our Love Community children back into their own homes, through our Love Family Homes program. Our 10 orphans in Love Community Home (LCH) are always lovingly cared for & attend school in a large family environment.
As of 2019, we now employ & train a Social Worker - Yndjy Belval to support each child through their school & home life AND support their families with monthly food packs, community support & life-skills.
Our Australian team, consisting of John, Cheryl, Laurie, and Ben Adams (From Zion), met our United States Team, consisting of Alyssa and Robin Brown, on ground in Haiti for a successful Journey of Hope. Although there was political unrest throughout Haiti, our team bonded in prayer and were able to complete vital tasks. LCH children received large donations of clothes, toys and sports equipment.
we have re-united over 30 of our Love Community children back into their own homes, through our Love Family Homes program. Our 10 orphans in Love Community Home (LCH) are always lovingly cared for & attend school in a large family environment.
As of 2019, we now employ & train a Social Worker - Yndjy Belval to support each child through their school & home life AND support their families with monthly food packs, community support & life-skills.
Our Australian team, consisting of John, Cheryl, Laurie, and Ben Adams (From Zion), met our United States Team, consisting of Alyssa and Robin Brown, on ground in Haiti for a successful Journey of Hope. Although there was political unrest throughout Haiti, our team bonded in prayer and were able to complete vital tasks. LCH children received large donations of clothes, toys and sports equipment.
2020 TRials and Triumphs
Well, what a year! It has truly been a remarkable one!
And our toughest one yet...
However, the gift of your care, partnership & support, has enabled Frontier Projects Haiti to continue to radically change the lives of all our sponsor children, orphans, students, families and staff! Thank you! So much gratitude!
Like most of us, our leaders, families & children in Haiti - led by Reginald and Johanne Celestin from LIFLIMinitries have experienced challenges that they could have never dreamed of. For them all, the year was so much tougher than what we experienced in Australia.
These are just some of the obstacles our teams over there faced (& overcame) ... as the year now comes to a close:
Through the incredible support of Michael Crossland, our inspirational ambassador, & you - our sponsors, we have re-united more children back with their families! We've now returned 36 of our Love Community (LCH) children back into their own homes, through our Love Family Homes program (LFH). Our 9 orphans/displaced children in LC Home, attend school & are cared for in a warm, loving family home.
And our toughest one yet...
However, the gift of your care, partnership & support, has enabled Frontier Projects Haiti to continue to radically change the lives of all our sponsor children, orphans, students, families and staff! Thank you! So much gratitude!
Like most of us, our leaders, families & children in Haiti - led by Reginald and Johanne Celestin from LIFLIMinitries have experienced challenges that they could have never dreamed of. For them all, the year was so much tougher than what we experienced in Australia.
These are just some of the obstacles our teams over there faced (& overcame) ... as the year now comes to a close:
- Survived the year of Covid19 that caused schools, businesses & trading to close, across a nation that was already in the grip of endemic poverty.
- Made it safely through one of the more violent years in Haiti's recent history - which has been fraught with protests, riots, kidnappings & worse.
- Survived a dramatic exchange rate fluctuation that devalued the US dollar by half within 30 days leading to business instability throughout Haiti - that still continues.
- Continued to support our 13 staff, 160 students, 45 Love Community children & orphans, & 8 trainee mums across our multiple Programs at Bouvier & in Carrefour with food, employment, training, educational support, schooling, social-worker support, monthly home-visits & community gatherings with safe social-distancing.
- Provided our Love Community families & children with training in hygiene, mask-wearing & sanitation practices.
Through the incredible support of Michael Crossland, our inspirational ambassador, & you - our sponsors, we have re-united more children back with their families! We've now returned 36 of our Love Community (LCH) children back into their own homes, through our Love Family Homes program (LFH). Our 9 orphans/displaced children in LC Home, attend school & are cared for in a warm, loving family home.
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Supporting our children not just to attend school, but to monitor their literacy skills, our social worker - Yndjy Belval & our Programs Administrator, Johanne Celestin, started meeting with the children for literacy checks on a monthly basis. The children are growing in confidence!
We also believe it's necessary to give the children other types of Fun Days as well, during such a serious time! We did this in 2020 - creating life long memories! |
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In 2020 Alyssa Barber, our Co-facilitator of Programs and Robin Brown, both from the USA, flew to Haiti once the travel ban lifted. Although we were unable to host a 2020 Journey from Australia , Alyssa & Robin were able to represent FP and complete vital tasks and host the children to a very special Fun Day during their stay! We sponsored our special FP Fun Day trip to the beach for all the LCH children! This day included a boat trip, which was the first boat ride for most of the children and brought so much laughter, huge smiles and special memories!
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Our 2020 Christmas Celebration was held at LOVE COMMUNITY HOME and was a great success. Sponsor children from Love Family Homes joined in on the fun and danced, sang, and enjoyed a great feast. The event was livstreamed on Facebook Live for the FIRST TIME EVER and all the children received a locally-purchased end-of- year gift to take home.
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John, Pastor Guy - who is Love Community's House-Father, & Dave
The children love sharing smiles and special times with Michael
With all the children and staff from Love Community, January 2016
Michael and Mackendy.
2016 September: The children receive hand-made quilts from Katrina, Jenny and Sally in Australia. Thank you to these wonderful women for your love, care and time!
2017: Alyssa, John, Laurie and the children ...painting the outdoor area at Love Community!
2017: Renovations and painting at Love Community near completion!
A very special day spent with the children at the beach ...every year!
2017: Day at Calico Beach resort - spoiling the children & staff for a day!
2017: Painting and renovations at Love Community Home near completion!
2018: Day at the beach with all the kids!
2018: Jae with Roodly - his sponsor child
2018: Renovations at LCHome with Dave, Jae, Scott & John.
2018: Renovations finished and time for photos with Dave!
2018: New bed covers and beds fixed!
2018 Team as we head out to Love Community
2019: Journey team at LCH with children and staff
2019: Live-in children of Love Community Home at the BIG Day Out, wearing their new From Zion head gears
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Love Family Homes
A LIFLIM and FRONTIER PROJECTS program
launched in 2014, undertaking to sponsor children from Love Community back into their families. Our passion is to help reunite Carrefour's homeless children with their families, and to provide the support that helps these children and parents enjoy a family life where they can develop to their full potential! |