Waiting for their new home in Haiti
A treacherous, uneven, concrete staircase, with exposed steel spikes, serves as a playground in the current orphanage. On this day, the kids were indoors, untended for hours at at time.
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Naica, 3, was bitten by another child. She consoled herself as the children’s caretakers were outside.
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A view of the compound the orphans currently live in.
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To amuse themselves, Dabbens, 4, left, and Fabiola, 7, played with hot coals and sharp knives.
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Febrice, 6, has an undiagnosed seizure disorder. There is not enough money to get him a CAT scan at this time.
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The hardest thing for Filis Casey to see was the children eating their meals in total darkness.
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There is one toilet for all 60 children. It is a hole covered by cement which leads to the open hillside behind the house. There is no running water for the sink Kelette, 8, would have to use.
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The children's bedrooms are plywood shacks, and the main living area is covered with tarp. Esmeralda, 8, hangs out on the uneven, rebar-pocked staircase.
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As often happens, the teacher did not arrive to teach for the kids. Dieuvenson, 3, sat in a corner of the classroom, while children played.
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Frequently, teachers for the children do not show up. On one such day, the kids ran wild in the classroom.
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Stephanie, 8, falls asleep on a desk as other children play.
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Elcana, 13, does the kids' laundry in water infected by E. coli.
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Roselaure, 10, and Rosemene, 8, whiled away an afternoon in the orphanage.
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Naica, 3, is in the pipeline to be adopted.
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The teachers did not show up for school again. Dabbens, 4, played with toys on one of the desks.
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When the teachers don't show up, Naica, 3, plays with toys in the classroom.
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Filis Casey, of Newton, saw the house nearly completed for the first time as she greeted Pastor Maxime for the first time since her original trip a year ago.
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Filis Casey (left) and another donor, Grace Ciccolo, toured the kitchen of the new house..
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Filis hadn't seen the children since her first visit. She greets Bernadine, 11, with a lollipop.
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The tiles went into the new orphanage.
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Kathi Juntunen greets the boys. Her organization, Chances For Children, based in Arizona, has partnered with Filis Casey. Juntunen’s group is building a community center/health center/vocational school next door to the new orphanage. Most of the orphans will never be adopted because of their age, but she will give them skills to help them support themselves when they are older.
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Schneider, 12, and Jeanele, 10, carried buckets of rocks after school to build an area for garbage for the new house.
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Filis greeted Nadine, 9. She hadn’t seen the kids for a year.
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Robinson is 14 and quite small for his age. He and the other boys helped to build the new orphanage. Behind him is the actual, nearly complete home for the kids.
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