Shortly thereafter, we began the process of identifying children for the program at Be Like Brit. Using our Guiding Principles and following Haitian law, we spent the first two weeks visiting communities, speaking with local level government officials, priests, pastors, educators - all in an effort to identify children that would meet our criteria. As it turned out, despite staggering statistics of orphans and street children in Haiti, Grand Goâve turned out to be a bit different. It's not that orphaned children couldn't be found - it's that often they were already living with extended families and quite frankly were in loving homes which we weren't willing to break up.
We learned very quickly that getting your child "in to Be Like Brit" was something many families fought hard to do. One of my first big, tough lessons in 2013 was that even loving parents would beg me to take their children, in a desperate attempt at a better life, a better chance for opportunity as adults. That's one thing that always bothers me: Even if a child doesn't "qualify" for our program, they almost all certainly could benefit from it.
This tough lesson did not come without a wonderful blessing and reward, in the form of a tiny, shy, 3 year old little boy named Kervins. When Rosenie, my assistant and personal bodyguard (as a running joke) came through the doors at Be Like Brit with Kervins, we knew that his life, as ours, were changed forever.
I remember the first ten days that Kervins was with us. It was just he and I, along with Madona, our first hired caregiver in Brit's Orphanage. Gama and Angela with their son Nathan were living on site, too, but the 19,000 square foot building was just housing one small child, one naive blan (that would be me), and Madona. Our medical director and friend Susan Johnson was with us for two weeks after our dedication ceremony. While she worked in the clinic, I paced the halls with Kervins, who cried fairly regularly each night. Naturally, he was scared, alone, and in a new place. All I knew to do was hold him and walk the big loop - the "B" - and on occasion I would look up at the sky and ask Britney to give me a bit of help! Ultimately, Kervins adjusted, I adjusted, and we brought in the next group of children...
Less than a year later, our family at Be Like Brit grew to include 38 children. I can remember when we had just 8 thinking to myself, "what on earth will things be like when we have ten? Or even fifteen!?" I can honestly say, even though I knew (and know) that we will be home to 66 children, that I never dreamed we would be where we are just a year after our dedication.
While we have grown as a family with the number of children, we also have grown in terms of our volunteer program, what we call our Britsionary program. We've been blessed to host hundreds of Britsionarys for week-long service oriented trips; many of them repeat volunteers who have fallen in love not only with Be Like Brit, but with Haiti and the children of this nation. These groups do a tremendous service for our children, and the members of our community through their outreach and construction projects all designed to improve their lives in some small way.
We've had exciting relationships established between our organization and Tulane University's School of Social Work. We've hosted four long-term Britsionarys who gave us a month of their time. Our children have celebrated 31 birthdays at Be Like Brit - all complete with their own very special (and beautiful!) birthday cake and a gift from either our so very generous sponsors or chosen from our depot on site, with stock levels which rivals that of a small boutique or department store. Indeed, we've been very blessed.
We've most recently been excited to be working with the Life is Good Playmakers who will bring training and professional development to our staff this coming year, as well as with Unleash Kids, a laptop based education and learning program we just recently set in to place. Our children will have the most competent staff and some of the best education programming available to them thanks to these great partnerships!
Our building has seen some changes, too! My first visit to Haiti and to Be Like Brit was back in October of 2012 while I was in the interview process with Len and Cherylann. We all agreed that I should visit the site and the country before committing to it, and so I flew in with Len and Cherylann along with a media crew and their book editor. As impressive as it was, it was hard to get a true sense of what the building would be like, as we were literally the first people to stay a night at Brit's Orphanage, housed in the on-site apartment that was the first area ready for people to live in.
Since then, we've completed the building, built depots, grown grass, landscaped, painted and repainted, stocked a medical clinic, sealed the roof, and are in the final stages of completing our newest room: The library and computer/media room. The growth at Be Like Brit, both in our numbers of staff and children, as well as our progress in making this building a home, has been astounding. We have been so very blessed to have the help of thousands of people, friends and strangers alike, to make all of this possible.
This photo is in what is now the Britsionary Common Area! What a difference a year makes!
Of course, we ended our first year with our first Christmas. I can remember my family always saying things like "all that work and it's over in an hour"- referring to all that is entailed in preparations for the holidays: Shopping, cooking, decorating, etc. As children, we would wake up, tear open our presents, and then run outside. Boom. The end. Christmas for us at Be Like Brit was a bit of work, too, but again, we were so blessed to have on hand a wonderful Britsionary group who helped us prepare the food, organize children, gifts, and more. First memories, like baking sugar cookies and pretty new dresses or snazzy new suits which we know will stay with these children for years to come. All in the first year.
Of course, now it's a new year. With this new year, we know we will have many more "firsts". We know that we will be bringing in 28 more children. We know we will be bringing on more caregiver staff to meet the needs of our children. We know we'll be growing and expanding in ways we can't even imagine. And we know that through the generosity and commitment of our friends and families, the kindness of strangers, and prayers being answered, that we'll be just as successful and blessed in 2014 as we have been so far.
