FARM ANIMALS!

Most of these kids have had first-hand experience with a lot of these animals. Possibly because their family or their neighbor owns a pig or a horse. Or because when they go home they see random cows grazing everywhere. They all certainly know that you eat cow and pig and goat but not so much horse.

After talking about the drawings on the board, they went outside to sit in the ranchito to talk a little more about the animals.

Johan was showing all the kids different animals, asking if they knew the name, and then asking them to make the sound. There were some amazing animals sounds coming from them. Bianca Nicol knew how to make the sound of a chicken. Not a rooster, a chicken! It was impressive.

Johan and Erika with Cristina at her going away party

Profe Kendall & Profe Johan will together be taking over Profe Cristina’s class. Their first day as our official new teachers was February 16th. Kendall has been with Makarios since January 2009 and trained Johan when he first came on with Makarios as a teacher’s aide last October. Kendall and Johan work well together and the children love them! The kids are responding well to the the new classroom management and the transition appears to have been a fluid one.

Introducing Profe Kendall & Profe Johan!

After working together on the board, Kim gave them each their own worksheet to finish the pattern started.

Nicol Cristal finished hers!

As did Lisela

Wilsenci is tracing his name in the corner of the page

As is Yuniari. If you look next to Yunairi and Memo you’ll see that they each have their own crayons. Profe Kim had them decorate their own crayons holders and they each got a package of crayons to place in the holders. Now they are all responsible for their own crayons! It’s part of them learning to respect the school property and all that is within.

BURGER KING! He loves him a good burger, fries, and milk shake combo!

Sweet kid! He’s going to miss his favorite fast food now that he’s not going back to visit Dr. Lagrange.

Aaaand, our kids are loosing teeth left and right! On Thursday, Luis Fernando pulled out 2 of his own teeth! Brave kid, wouldn’t you say? He walked up to me and said, “Rubi, my tooth is loose. It’s ready to come out.” Excellent. Well, buddy, I don’t pull teeth so you’re going to have to figure this one out on your own. And he did. Twice.

Here he is with Johan after pulling the first one.

According to American culture, you put the tooth under your pillow. Johan thought that the tooth should be thrown under the bed. But Luis Fernando thought that the tooth should be thrown on the roof.

And so it was! After throwing that tooth you have to say a prayer for the next tooth to fall out. Apparently the prayer worked for this little guy and within a few hours a new hole had been made in his mouth. Way to go, Luis!

Ashley made fun little gift bags that included pink Dinos (kind of like Oreo’s)!

The kids worked on a making Valentine’s Day cards.

They all made 2 cards. One for a staff member at the school and one for someone in their family!

And the most fun surprise is that Cara came to school and read them a Dora book! They love seeing Cara!

Happy Valentine’s Day from Colegio Makarios!

Ashley’s class was sitting outside on their porch having circle time. They were discussing the day of the week and singing the alphabet!

Lauren’s class was having circle time in her classroom and were greeting each other, shaking hands and saying hello!

Kim’s class was having circle time in their chairs and were practicing the alphabet (see the Facebook page for a video of it)!

Cristina’s class was having reading time in their chairs!

Just a glimpse of Colegio Makarios today.

First, something you’d probably heard – plenty of aid is getting into the country, but it’s not necessarily getting to the people who need it the most.  One of the stupidest things I’ve seen (what? the director of Makarios said something was stupid on the mak blog?  yes she did.) is people from the international community throwing supplies from their helicopters, planes, and trucks to whomever runs up first.  These are typically men, who then fight over it, and go on to sell it.  That’s not helpful, and it’s not good stewardship of the money and supplies that they’ve been given.

Mares also told us that a lot churches in the US and other countries that support churches in Haiti have been getting supplies to their pastors.  This is a good idea, but the pastors typically give the supplies to the people in their church, and not necessarily the people with the most need.  This isn’t bad, but it’s not the best.

Then there’s the problem of medical care.  People are getting bad medical care and are sent away, only to develop more serious problems later.  Mares’ wife had a woman come in who had a swollen, black wound down the side of her face.  She had been stitched up at a Dominican hospital at the border, but the wound had gotten infected.  Here’s why – it had been stitched over pieces of rock and concrete.  Fortunately Mares’ wife was able to clean it out, stitch it up, and give her antibiotics.

Another problem – and this one surprised me.  As there are a lot of new orphans, the typical response is for neighbors to take them in.  However, at night, they’re sleeping outside and there are no lights, so the kids are getting kidnapped.  Not by child traffickers, but by Haitians who either lost their kids in the earthquake, could never have kids in the first place, or were injured in the quake and have no one to take care of them.  Mares purchased a generator to run 10 light bulbs at night, and gave it to one neighborhood committee.  These committees are common in Haiti and were in place before the earthquake (this is also a good way to distribute food), so by giving it to them, it ensures that it will be used properly.  They can continue to afford diesel for the generator by charging a small fee for people to come and charge their cell phones.  Side note – because of this kidnapping problem, neighbors who have taken in kids aren’t willing to give them over the orphanages, even when they can’t afford to feed and clothe the kids and the orphanages can.  Over time, this will probably get worked out, but right now there are a lot of kids not getting the help they need as a result.

One more thing.  With all the hunger and people sleeping outside, many people are getting bit by dogs with rabies.  The rabies shots cost about $40 each in Haiti, if you can find them, and you need 5.  They’re more affordable in the DR, so we’ll be sending a bunch of those in next time.

Mares hopes to return again on the 18th, and we will load him up with supplies again.  Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support.

To read more of Andy’s blog and see pictures of the new house, go to
The Upton’s Blog