Gearing up for Christmas and a New Year!

This past week, as we bid farewell to Greg and Ed on Sunday, we turned to a new week! What a wonderful start to that week with the birthday of our 5th child at Be Like Brit, Germanie! Germanie turned 10 on Monday this past week and has grown in to such a beautiful and loving little girl! The progress we've seen in Germanie since her arrival to Be Like Brit is incredible. Once shy, uncertain, and fearful, she is now an outgoing, confident, and brave girl who is a wonderful example for all of the other children here. She is helpful, offering to assist the smallest children at meal time, sweep the dining room after meals, and can often be found in the laundry room, washing clothes alongside our employees, singing songs and telling jokes! A great start to the week in celebrating her life which has brought us so much joy!

This past week, I started out on a new venture in Haiti. As many of you know, I worked on the very bureaucratic, very maddening process of obtaining our autorisation de fonctionnement from the Institut du bien-être social et de recherches (IBESR). While that process is completed in that everything we as an organization have to do has been done, we've still yet to receive that authorization. We were warned that it could take up to a year for the office to process the paperwork, and at this rate, that will be the reality.

So, you can imagine my uncertainty as I began the exploratory process for obtaining NGO (nongovernmental organization) status for the Be Like Brit Foundation in Haiti. Of course we are a registered nonprofit in the United States, but getting this recognition from the Haitian government is imperative to our long-term sustainability and autonomy as an organization. This will allow us an exempt status on imports (things like vehicles, larger items, etc.) and allow us to ship in many items we have in the USA that need to make their way to us.

Thanks to the recommendation of an organization we work with, we found a lawyer in Port au Prince who works specifically on this process. I met with her on Tuesday this past week and reviewed with her the laundry list of items needed to collect, verify, translate, and submit. When I dared to ask her, "how long will this take?" her confident response was a simple "3 months after you get me everything." The caveat, however, was that then it is up to the Haitian government to decide, and the approval rate was somewhere around 50% of all applicants are approved. Wish us luck, and send your prayers. We may need them on this!

After my two days of appointments in Port au Prince, I made my way to the aiport with Francky to pick up our good friend and Program Committee member Debbie Pallatto-Fontaine! Debbie comes to Haiti and to Be Like Brit at least 2-3 times each year to work with our staff on formal training and professional development around areas where we need to focus. This training the trainer model has been invaluable in building the capacities of our local staff. Topics have included how to handle disruptive behavior in the classroom, working with survivors of trauma and abuse, sexual education, and teaching strategies. Debbie comes from Becker College and is not only a United Church of Christ Minister, but a psychologist and an expert in early childhood education curriculum development! Most of all, though, she's a dear friend to Be Like Brit and the children and staff were all thrilled to see her walk through the door on Thursday! Let's be sure we all thank Debbie for her dedication to Be Like Brit!

This past week was exciting in that it also marks the first full week our Team USA worked at the Operations Center conducting all the important work of Be Like Brit's day-to-day! The value of having this work space is just impossible to explain. It enables our Team and our volunteers in the U.S. to do so much more and to be so much more efficient! Kristin and Melissa had an exciting first day, as you may have seen on facebook!

It's from the Operations Center that we are able to pack all of our donations into hockey bags and get them ready to be hauled in to Haiti. It's from here that we are now able to mail out orders people place online for BLB Merchandise. Did you know you can order t-shirts, sweatshirts, bracelets, and more on our online store? We have even made our 2014 Christmas Ornament available in the online store for those of you who have expressed an interest! This year we chose a mango tree with 33 mangoes to represent the life that is here at Brit's Orphanage and our continued growth as an organization! The mango tree is the focal point of our property and is in fact representative of life. Isn't this a beautiful ornament?

We would be remiss if we failed to mention Brit's cousin Patrick and her Aunt Joan ~ Patrick worked as the production manager at the OC and Joan was the Clerk of the Works. For more than 5 months, these two selflessly dedicated their time and expertise to be sure that the buildout of the property at 66 Pullman Street was done correctly and effectively. Many of you may remember Patrick as being the first with Len in Haiti working to start the process of getting Brit's Orphanage built, too! This dedication and commitment from family and friends alike is critical to our ability to get things done!

We've got lots going on this weekend, too - with our continued swimming lessons, volleyball, physical education, and planning for Christmas! With Debbie on hand, we've got an extra special event lined up for the Holidays! What do you think that might be???

Be sure to stay tuned for all of our exciting updates on facebook and on twitter! As always, thank you for Helping us Help the Children of Haiti at Be Like Brit!!!