a request

This morning Mackenson and Claudia St. Preux came to us. Their mother is handicapped and unable to provide for them. The boy has an infected gash on his eyebrow from barbed wire and the girl’s reddish hair indicates the extent of her malnutrition. They will stay with us for a while, eat three full meals a day and have a dry place to sleep. Nearly every day, children from similarly dire circumstances come to us. Unfortunately, we cannot take in everyone.
Today, I write with a specific request.

Since the beginning of March, we have had visitor after visitor come out to the farm. As some leave, others arrive. Espwa will be teaming with short-term medical, construction, and education volunteers through the month of March. However, in addition to these and others, like myself, who are able to commit to greater lengths of time, Espwa depends on financial charity.
To give you a better idea of the scope of our work here in Haiti, I would like to mention some of our immediate needs and major goals for 2007.
- Clean water systems: septic systems and potable sources for three communities of children and staff
- Houses to homes: converting the shells where our children now live into screened, furnished, painted homes
- Neighborhood fence: securing the small children’s village for the purposes of security and keeping them from harms way on farm equipment, etc.
- Kitchen renovation: converting the current kitchen into much needed food storage space and the small dining area into a larger kitchen
- Irrigation: irrigating the farm so as to produce to capacity, thereby reducing dependency on purchased food for the children and providing the project with a potential source of income in cash crops
- Medical clinic: building a space to house the growing number of medical staff and better care for the medical needs of our 600 children, 180 employees and those of the surrounding community
- Guest house: a space for short-term volunteers and visitors to stay on the farm in order to reduce transportation costs to and from town
- Walk-ways and roads: paved pathways for vehicles and pedestrians, which will cut down on standing water, help keep children cleaner during rainy season and out of the way of vehicles and farm equipment

Our yearly operating cost is nearly one million dollars U.S. and, at present, we are in desperate need of money. We struggle each year to ensure the overall health of 600 children from backgrounds comparable to or worse than that of Mackenson and Claudia, who came to us this morning. While we have many goals for the improvement of our property, farm, infrastructure and schools, we cannot begin to attend to these until we can meet immediate needs. My request is this: Please help us.

If you are able to contribute to Theo’s Work/Pwoje Espwa at this time, please mail tax-deductible donations to:

Theo's Work, Inc.
2303 W. Market St.
Greensboro, NC 27403

I hope that, through my letters and blog, I am able to convey our gratitude and the incredible things that we are able to achieve through your help. Also, I know that some of you have already sent checks and for that we are very grateful. For those of your who are unable to help right now, keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Finally, if you have questions about any of the specific projects above or would like more information about our plans, do not hesitate to contact me.

More updates soon!