La Maison du Bonheur

La Maison du Bonheur is The Salvation Army's Children's Home in Port Au Prince, Haiti.  Fifty boys and girls live there who are either orphaned or are unable to live with their parents because of dire circumstances.  Thank God that all 50 children survived the earthquake.  Many of the older teenagers helped take care of injured people.  The children's home did not fall but it did experience significant damage and is going to have to be torn down for safety.  All but one of the children are currently living in a tent with family or friends.  The Salvation Army is helping provide food, shelter, and education while the children's home is rebuilt.  They actually are most likley to build 2 new children's homes; one for elementary and one for secondary students.  I think that is a great idea.  The one child who is not currently in the tent city is living with the couple who we helped during our time in Haiti.  Bob is the Director of Disaster Services in Haiti and Vicki is the Children's Home Director.  I'll post some pictures of little Ketsia in another post.  Anyhow, below you'll find some photos from within the children's home.  One of our big jobs was to salvage everything we could out of the home and the attached appartment where Bob and Vicki lived.  It was too difficult (time-wise and emotionally) for them to get everything out of the building.  It was a real privilege to serve this couple because we new that our service would permit them to continue the disaster relief instead of concentrating on salvage before the demolition. 

This is one of the doorways.  The bricks were ready to fall any minute.  There were several aftershocks or small quakes while we were there that could have sent this tumbling.  Can you say "hard hat"?

This is a view of the tent city from the children's home that was in and surrounding The Salvation Army Compound. 

Debris in the children's home.

Kitchen in the attached apartment.  See that piece of wood sticking down on the left?  I thought that I would just rip it off since it was in the way - NOT A GOOD IDEA.  The tiles started to fall and I stopped before the wall gave way.  (I was being careful Mom - I stopped - I didn't get hurt).  Anyhow - Alan proceeded to give me a stern talk about not pulling, tugging, or fixing anything.  I think he may have said "Don't even breathe on that!"  He also informed me that I was to no longer kick any doors that wouldn't easily open.  Good thinking.  That's what friends are for :)

This is actually one of my favorite photographs because it shows it "just as it was" right after the quake.  I think the color and composition tell a good story.

This was a typical sight all over the children's home - cracks and holes in the walls.  In Haiti almost all of the buildings are made of cement.  It really crumbles during the trembling of the quake.