by Jonathan Lamare
In just two days, on January 5th, we will mark three full years since the dedication of Brit's Orphanage in an ecumenical ceremony held before more than a hundred family and friends here in Grand Goâve. We can't quite wrap our heads around the fact that it's been this long, and the change and growth we have seen at Be Like Brit is truly remarkable and surreal. Here are some of the highlights from 2015 we wanted to share with you!
In the early months of 2015, our 4 year old generator finally met its maker! We are blessed in that we have incredible support from strangers and friends alike! Our $25,000 dollar replacement generator is still running strong! Our good friend from Lifeline Christian Ministries, Bobby Curlee, helped us to install and wire up the new system, and for him, we are grateful! Bobby suffered a serious health incident earlier this year, but is finally well and has been back to Haiti! Thank God for small miracles!!!
In April of 2015, Bernie's former roommate and the son of the President of Haiti, Sandro Martelly, came to visit Brit's Children and Bernie here at BLB in Haiti! What a great surprise and how generous of Sandro 'Ti Micky' Martelly to make time for us! He spent the afternoon singing with our children and taking photos with everyone here who was so excited to meet this Haitian Superstar!!! Thank you to Sandro for his support of our work at Be Like Brit!!!
In June of 2015, Len and Jonathan went to meet with Madame Arielle Jeanty Villedrouin, the Director General of the IBESR (effectively, social services) in Haiti. Madame Villedrouin is the recipient of the Women of Courage Award in Haiti and is a childhood friend of one of our Board members, Joane. Soon after this meeting with Madame Villedrouin, Be Like Brit received their License and Authorization to Operate a Home for Children in Haiti - a recognition less than 10% of Haiti's orphanages hold!!!
We are busy working to open a new market up for Be Like Brit in South Florida. With Len and Bernie in Delray and Boynton Beach, we're making connections to build bridges between South Florida and Haiti! With such a significant Haitian population in South Florida, we know that this is the next most logical step in sharing the story of Britney Gengel and Be Like Brit!!!
We continue to be blessed by way of vehicles, too! Earlier this year, an anonymous donor brought us a new F350 pickup truck, and now, with Eagle Hill donating a bus and Susan Wornick donating her Jeep, we are waiting with great anticipation the arrival of these new vehicles! They are desperately needed here in Haiti and we can't thank everyone enough for all they have done to help us in this great expense!!!
Be Like Brit suffered a great loss in September of 2015, when our friend and caregiver Franklin was killed in a moto accident. Franklin was a model employee and a great example of all that it means to Be Like Brit. A true team player and a true leader, we still feel his absence in so many ways. We are blessed that our friends and followers (people like you!) contributed to cover the cost of his services and burial, and allow us to provide his wife and child with assistance throughout 2016, too. We miss Franklin immensely and will never forget the impact he made on our lives here at BLB.
Len and Jonathan brought Len's sister and Chair of our Program Committee Christine and fellow Program Committee member Suzanne in to Haiti late in 2015. It was the first visit these two had been able to make since the dedication ceremony on January 5 of 2013. These professionals came to be sure that we were on target with our goals and in compliance with the Guiding Principles and Working Vision for Brit's Orphanage, which they helped to draft back in the earliest days of the organization's working.
Our children worked so hard this past year on their music and singing! So much so that we were able to record a Christmas CD for you all! We hope that in 2016 we can do even more, and start early so as to get a lot of practice in!
We celebrated at least 66 birthdays, and Jon and Len's in October, too!
We visited Lynn University's Memorial with new friends and family...
We prayed together for peace and healing after the terrible attacks on Paris, and around the world. We continue to pray for peace and Keep the Faith...
We celebrated a full year of working from our Operations Center in Worcester, even in record-breaking snowfall amounts in the winter of 2015!!!
We broke ground on our cistern project here in 2015, too, and are grateful that our friend Gama will be overseeing this project through completion in 2016! We can't wait until our soccer field is ready (on top of the cistern) and our efforts will begin to make their impact environmentally here in Haiti, too!!!
