Homemade Laundry Soap

Some friends gave me a batch of this homemade laundry soap and I'm quite excited to try it. I love finding ways to save money.

Thought I would share the love.

Check back often this week.
We will be listing new items on our etsy site!

Week THREE for The Girls

Oh my goodness!
Wait until you see these girls in their new picture!

Look at those smiles!!!
That is the miracle of Medika Mamba and the amazing care given at the Real Hope For Haiti Rescue Center.
Doesn't that just warm your heart?

A True Horror Scene

With Halloween quickly approaching and commercial after commercial of movies and events involving horror scenes....this article really got to me because it truly describes a horror scene that is happening at this very moment. Can you imagine having severe vomiting and diarrhea and not having bathroom facilities or a bed to lie down in. What about not having any clean water to wipe down the area or yourself with? What if it was your child or baby who was so ill and all you wanted to do was make them feel better?
I cant even imagine. :(

Here is a good article about the horror scene that is the Haiti cholera hospital.

Cholera Outbreak

It is hard to imagine Haitians having one more horrible thing affecting their safety and health...but there is a Cholera outbreak beginning that could become so devastating to the people that have already suffered so much. They need clean water. They need access to health care if they become sick. They need help. You can learn more about it here and here.

I heart LITE-BRITE

Gotta love a video created with 700,000 LITE-BRITE pegs.
Such a beautiful song!

Clemene and Kwashiorkor

Kwashiorkor is something I had never heard of 5 years ago. Now it is on my mind almost daily as I think and pray for the kids at the Rescue Center in Cazale, Haiti.

I was showing pictures that I had taken in Haiti last year to a group of teenagers and one of the teenage boys laughed and pointed at one of the pictures of a swollen baby and said "that kid isn't malnourished. She's chubby!" They all laughed...until I told them what Kwashiorkor was, and that because of protein deficiency that baby's life could end soon. The poor teenager hung his head and looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole. I reassured him that most people have NO idea of this condition. I'm thankful that he will never point and laugh again at one of these photos.

You can read more about Kwashiorkor HERE and you can help us to help these kids by creating something to donate to Artists For Hope (100% of the proceeds go to the Rescue Center to help feed and care for these kids!) and you can buy items from our
Etsy site and our website.

This is Clemene. She was just admitted to the Rescue Center this week. This is her 2nd time being in the Rescue Center. She is 2 1/2 years old and weighs 24 pounds....but a LOT of that weight is from the Kwashiorkor. She is so swollen and in a lot of pain. Can you imagine how painful that swelling must be around her little nose? :(

All of the swelling is causing extreme pressure which is making her skin split open on her legs. It will be a long road to what will hopefully be a full recovery for Clemene. Thanks to RHFH, she's already started on the Medika Mamba program.

Please spread the word about Artists For Hope to all of your artsy friends and to everyone you know for Christmas shopping. We will be listing new things soon and I can't imagine a better Christmas present than to know you purchased something that will help feed kids like Clemene. Thank you!

Week Two for The Girls

Remember Daphna, Lysemene, Fabienne and Loudia?

They are on week 2 of Medika Mamba and you can already see a difference. I love seeing these comparison pictures! It shows how amazing the Medika Mamba is for these kids and what incredible care they receive at the Rescue Center.

*Daphna has the bandage on her leg because her skin was cracking open from the kwashiorkor. She had to have a feeding tube put in because she wouldn't eat or drink anything and she has those big things wrapped around her arms because she was trying to pull out her tube. I hope she uses that awesome feisty spirit to get better soon!

Albertine

Have you ever had one of those songs you relate to so much you can FEEL it. This is that song for me. I love Brooke Fraser's voice and music and this song is exactly how I felt after visiting Africa and then Haiti. You can't come back and ignore what you've seen. It becomes a part of you. The people you meet become a part of you and you want to do everything you can to help their voices be heard.

I know not everyone can travel to third world countries...but if you are given the opportunity to go and help people in a different part of the world, I hope that you take that opportunity and run with it. You will never be the same! If not, I hope you will do what you can with the talents you've been given to help others around. Whether they are your next door neighbors or people suffering far away.

Daphna, Lysemene, Fabienne and Loudia

These four sweet girls are not at the Rescue Center for the first time. They have been there before. They have improved and gone back home to their families, only to return again very, very sick. Why do you think this happens? What can we do about it?

I get overwhelmed sometimes with the poverty in Haiti. It seems impossible to fix the problem. The one thing I do know is that the Rescue Center is a beacon of HOPE in the darkness...and they will continue to love these girls and do everything they can to get the healthy. They will work with the families and try to help them so this doesn't happen again.

I hope we will be able to watch these girls get better over the next several months. Medika Mamba truly is a miracle product and has helped SO many kids get better!

It's Fall....come say Hello!

It's fall! I always go through a bit of a mourning period when summer ends. I'm not a cold weather lover. I know every year around this time that it's not long until we will be freezing and bundled up from head to toe just to make it out to our car. Makes me a little grumpy just thinking about it.

Anyways, I do enjoy the tree colors changing, the smell of the air, and I love love love taking my kids to the pumpkin patch. What do you love about fall (or perhaps not-so-love)? Let me know you are out there. I get emails. I talk to people. I know you are out there...and I want to say HI!

Madame La Rousse Jn. Pierre

I love meeting the older generation in Haiti. I can only imagine all of the things they have endured throughout their lives, and yet they still carry on with joy and grace. You can sense their strength and you can't help but want to learn from them.

This is Madame La Rousse Jn. Pierre.
She is 81 years old and the last person in Cazale to know an intricate style of weaving that is used to make baskets. The younger generation has taken to a simpler method of weaving, that while being faster, lacks the beauty and style of the earlier ways.

She has been making these long containers for many, many years. In Haiti they are often used to carry tools to work.

Her mother died when she was three years old and her father was bed ridden. Her father couldn't read or write and they needed some way to survive. She watched people make things...and her and her father taught themselves how to weave. I tried to picture her and her dad sitting together weaving, talking, and enjoying their time together.

I enjoyed watching her work. Thinking of the years that have passed in her life and how much she has experienced at different times when she was making these same containers. She has had 13 kids. Only 6 of them are alive today. She had 2 sets of twins and both sets died. Can you imagine? Her surviving children have all left Haiti, sadly because it was the best way to earn a living and send money back to support themselves and their mother.

She survives and hopes to have enough to eat through the money her children send her and from making these containers.
I could have just sat and watched her for hours.

These are the fibers from a plant that is used to braid around the lid of the container and also makes the strap.

We are hoping that Madame Jn. Pierre will teach some of the younger generation in Haiti to carry on this beautiful tradition and then they will be able to earn an income from it as a result. I can't imagine this weaving technique just disappearing. We are going to do all we can to make sure it doesn't.

We will have some of these containers (and some small storage containers) available for sale, lovingly handmade by Madame La Rousse Jn. Pierre, in our future kits and online.

Own a piece of the greatness made by this wonderful woman!

To Haiti With Love

Haiti is a beautiful island nation with a rich history that has been marred with a turbulent existence. During the summer of 2010, I had the amazing opportunity to visit Haiti for the first time. I traveled to Haiti as part of a team of design professionals that went to master plan the new site for a NGO’s medical rescue center, clinic and various support facilities that will be located on the Real Hope for Haiti campus in Cazale, Haiti.

This book tells a vivid story of Haiti through various personal images highlighted with some famous quotes that capture the essence of the Haitian spirit. Proceeds from the book will go to help fund future humanitarian mission trips to Haiti and other disenfranchised communities in countries throughout the world.

By Author Ronette Belizaire

Visit Blurb and purchase one of Ronette's amazing books to help her fund future design trips to help places like Real Hope For Haiti. We love seeing people use their talents to make a difference!