Update On The Haitian Kids

Mrs. Henkel just returned from Santo Domingo after leaving Jarabacoa this morning at 10:30am. Victor, his wife and 12 year old daughter, two Haitian women and one Haitian man from the community, two American nurses, a Dominican med student, two children from El Arca and Mrs. Henkel rode the big yellow bus two and a half hours to the capital with hopes of meeting 26 Haitian kids and bringing them back tonight to Jarabacoa. Mrs. Henkel's role was to take their pictures in order to help with child sponsorship. The day was very long and they ended up doing a whole lot of waiting. When they arrived at the government institution for child protection services, a major meeting was already in progress between representatives from Unicef, World Vision, Dominican Republic child protection servies and Haitian child protection services. The meeting lasted three hours and they ended up just waiting in the very hot bus in the parking lot the whole time. Unfortunately, nothing was resolved due to govermental red tape between the two countries. It will be resolved though, hopefully soon, because these 26 children are sitting in a Dominican hospital right now with no child advocate. Kids Alive will continue to pursue this until they safely have these kids in their care here in Jarabacoa. Unfortunately for us, this means that we won't get to meet them tomorrow. Please continue to pray for these Haitian children and the major adjustment that they will be going through, not to mention the uncertainty and fears that they all are surely dealing with. Stay tuned to Kids Alive website for more information on child sponsorship opportunities in the days and weeks to come. http://www.kidsalive.org/

Below is a picture of of the flip flops that we are leaving for the kids to have when they finally arrive at El Arca. We will also be sending a big bag of medical supplies with a Dominican pastor who will be traveling to Haiti next week.