Orphanage preparing for influx of children

A Haitian orphanage founded by an Okotoks charity is pushing to construct a new building to accommodate the pending influx of children left homeless by the earthquake that devastated the island in January.

God’s Littlest Angels vice-president Jeff Ryan estimated there are approximately 500,000 orphans currently living in the tent city being managed by the Red Cross. It takes time to determine whether a child has any living relatives, he said.

There are two fundraisers taking place this month to help generate funds needed to expand the existing orphanage sitting on 4.8 acres of land purchased in 2006.

The orphanage directors had been fundraising for the new building prior to the devastating earthquake on Jan. 12. After the earthquake their daily operating costs skyrocketed, including food and water. They also took on the burial and funeral costs for staff and even members of the community. Every one of the 172 orphans and all staff at the facility survived the earthquake, however, staff in their homes perished and others lost family members.

“We didn’t have enough money for our everyday needs, so we put the building on hold,” said Ryan. “You can’t take money from the building fund to buy groceries, but we decided that we need to build this new orphanage and build it quickly while looking after everyday needs.”

Every child who was at the orphanage prior to the earthquake has since been adopted and delivered to their new families in Canada, Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

Now the staff is caring for 69 children from another orphanage destroyed by the earthquake and 11 children who were dropped off.

“Kids are coming all the time,” said Ryan. “We are finding out if there are no living relatives, then we take them in. We’re preparing for an influx of kids.”

Many of the children are suffering malnourishment, in addition to suffering from a lack of human touch and care.

“We took in a boy last week who is a year old and he was five pounds,” said Ryan. “I thought there was a mistake. I thought it was 15 pounds. But he was five pounds. He didn’t have enough strength to eat.”

Four containers of essential goods, including food, tents and medical supplies, were finally released by the Haitian government. After taking four weeks to arrive from Canada the government held onto the containers for another three weeks according to Ryan.

Ryan said the donated tarps, medical supplies, rice and beans will help the whole mountain community where the orphanage is situated, not just the 80 orphans.

“The orphanage is in Peition Ville in the mountains and we’re not getting any aid from Red Cross ourselves, we are the aid,” said Ryan. “So not only is the stuff we’re bringing in the containers for the orphanage, it’s also for the whole community. It’s bad enough that we had the earthquake, but it’s hurricane season next.”

Residents of Okotoks and other foothills communities can help God’s Littlest Angels by supporting the orphanage’s fundraising events this month.

The Deb Grey Ride of Hope for Haiti takes place on Saturday, May 15. The convoy of motorcycles will leave Okotoks at 9:30 a.m. and arrive in Sylvan Lake for lunch at 1 p.m. Entry is $25 and riders are asked to collect $100 in donations.

A fundraiser featuring music by Nashville band High Valley and live and silent auctions takes place in Cochrane on May 28 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10.