A Place for Hope to Grow

The Road to Hope is a nonprofit charitable organization that chose to dedicate it's resources to the McMutrie Sisters' nonprofit Haitian Orphan Rescue.  Read the update from The Road to Hope, found below, for exciting details about Jamie and Ali's new orphanage! 

"The continued suffering of the Haitian people, the frustratingly slow speed of the clean up and reconstruction, the outbreak of cholera and the uncertainty of the election has troubled us all. We are proud to inform you of how your donated dollars are making a real difference in the lives of many Haitian children in need TODAY!

Things are in full swing at The Road to Hope. Nouvo Vilaj has decided to start in a beautiful home in the hills above Port au Prince. Since the purchase of land has become so burdened with politics (and timing seems to be so out of our hands), we rented a large, wonderful home so that we can begin caring for children. Jamie and Ali are living there and getting things working beautifully.

They have eight children in the home, a few nannies, a nurse, a couple of cooks and some folks helping take care of land around the home. We are putting in a water filtration system that will provide plenty of clean water and looking at plans for composting. The land already has orange, grapefruit, tangerine, lime and avocado trees, but will soon have potatoes, carrots, coffee, spinach, and green onions growing! We already have a cow, two pigs and chickens. We are working on a chicken coop and safe area for them to live.

What about the community surrounding the orphanage?

Jamie and Ali have helped to keep more than forty children out of orphanage care and with their families! Jamie and Ali, along with The Road to Hope, believe that only children whose families truly cannot or do not want to care for them should be in an orphanage. Jamie and Ali have been a major part of keeping more than thirty families together by helping to provide supplies and formula for those in dire need.


Jamie and Ali help to provide birth control to more than twenty women in the surrounding area. Birth control in Haiti is not only very hard to find, but the education that goes with keeping women on it can be a daunting project. Jamie and Ali travel every month to educate and provide birth control for these women, thereby decreasing the number of children needing to go into orphanage care.

Jamie and Ali provide many pounds of formula for the community. They distribute it for pregnant and breastfeeding women to drink. They provide it for children over two years of age who are no longer breastfeeding. They have also given some cans to women to help facilitate small businesses. They even unofficially "train" them in starting a business. This has been very successful for a number of women.

And there is much more to come. There are plans underway that will reach out to the community and increase self-sustainability for the area in many ways. Stay tuned!


See more pictures and follow our efforts by visiting our website at www.theroadtohope.org"

The Pitt Twelve -- Nearly 10 Months Overdue

Friend and fellow parent-in-waiting,
Virginia Kassahn, gives gentle,
soulful voice to the despair we've
been living while advocating for
the children who need families,
and healing,
and peace of heart
and mind  .  .  .   

since last January  .  .  .  

Take a read -- http://betheanswerforchildren.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/the-answer-for-midelyne-and-be-the-answer-for-katy/

Love ya, Virginia!

It's Inconceivable

November is National Adoption Month, and the Joint Council on International Children's Services is posting a blog-a-day from adoptive parents and prospective adoptive parents, telling their stories.  I am so, so, so tired from all that we have done to try to get our Haitian children in Pittsburgh released to healing family care, and yet, I skim through the JCICS blog entries, and realize sadly, very sadly, that "The Haitian 12" are not alone in the oh-so-close-but-not-quite-to-families travesty.  And the number of children without even that prospect is mind-numbing.  I knew this, but these personal, detailed, first-hand accounts bring it forth anew.  Oh. my.    http://betheanswerforchildren.wordpress.com/

The Ultimate in Repurposing -- Haiti's Amazing Art

I came across a Youtube clip (4 minutes) on the website "Its Cactus" from which I've ordered some Haitian metal work, and it's an interesting look at how this infamous artform is done.  I thought you might enjoy, too  .  .  .  http://www.itscactus.com/the-artists/haiti-video.php

A New Kind of Difficult



Borrowed from Miami-Herald.com 
Two children in Tomas floodwaters in
Port-au-Prince



I've been distracted this week.  Yes, by our never-ending wait for the kiddos in Pittsburgh to be released (hopefully) to our family.  Yes, by my winter wardrobe reminding me (naggingly) that I have GOT to get into a regular exercise routine.  Yes, by the uncertainty over the next governor of our politically troubled Illinois.  By headaches.  And heartburn. 

All the other important stuff is still getting done -- students taught, Hunter and Bay cared for and listened to, bills paid, dishes cleaned (okay, sometimes), yadda yadda  .  .  .

But with Hurricane Tomas making it's way toward Haiti this past week, I couldn't not think constantly, also, about Josianna and Wendy, and their parents  .  .  .  in the Jeremie area somewhere -- on the far west end of the southern peninsula. 

News reports sound "good," relatively speaking -- Tomas spared the island, although flooding is causing problems.  "Only" six confirmed deaths.  Only.  On the scale of international news and global trauma, what is six compared to a couple hundred thousand who perished as a result of the January earthquake?  If even one of those six, however, is your friend, your sister, your gran papa, it's everything.

I thought it would be difficult to let go of our previous notion of becoming Josianna and Wendy's parents, and it was.  But we've come to peace with it.  Even though there are still moments of pause when I least expect. 

But with the cholera news.  And the Tomas winds.  I've realized that we will never again not worry about Haiti -- deeply and with tearful hearts -- whenever danger threatens.  Those "babies" -- now eight and six years old -- belong to the mama and papa who birthed them and raised them to school-age, the parents who took them to BRESMA with courageous selflessness to get medicine for Wendy and the opportunity for both children to have futures in the U.S., the mom and dad who retrieved them from the orphanage hours after the quake so they could try for a new life together in a rural community far from the city.  I respect that.  And accept it.

"Once a mother, always a mother," says MY mom whenever she catches herself giving me unnecessary advice, like "Did you preheat the oven?" or "Do you have your receipt with you?"  And now, I realize that in just two visits over five months I had invested my mind, heart, and soul so deeply into my commitment to becoming the new mama for precocious, curious Josianna and vibrant, charming Wendy that they are forever a part of me.  In my heart they are my babies, but not in a way that infringes upon their birth mother, their mom.  The kids called me "Mami" (mah-MEE), which I learned is not only a good step toward how to address an American mom, but in Haiti, apparently it's what children often call caretakers (like nannies).  Tadeline is their mama.  And there is much, much love and nurturing between them.  They are in their mama's arms. 

I pray that God holds the four of them in his.

Once a mami, always a mami.  It's the most beautiful, painful gift.    

Tired of the Stress and Negativity

brought on by campaign season?  The slash-and-burn-your-opponent political ads? 

The good health to make it to the polls?  The comfort of watching election results roll in on your television?  The fact that we take for granted -- completely and always -- the peaceful transfer of power that follows?

November 28th, election day in Haiti, is fast-approaching  .  .  .  here's just one news story intro:

"PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - A post-earthquake cholera epidemic, fears of political violence and vote credibility questions are clouding Haiti's path to elections next month seen as crucial for stability in the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation  .  .  ."  (By Joseph Guyler Delva   Wed Oct 27, 2010 3:11pm EDT )

Debate, listen, consider, vote, and yes, even wave off in annoyance those omnipresent doomsday voices in tv ads that warn that all hell will break loose if the "other" candidate is elected  .  .  .  and pray that Haitians may experience just a little less of the starved, dismembered, frightened, muddied, deathly hell on earth that they're already suffering.

Studies Reveal the Best Water to Drink . . .

is found in the purchased bottles in my garage, and coming out of my kitchen tap, and running through the drinking fountain at school.  With an overabundance of cholera-free water all around, I count my blessings.  And am thankful for a house in which to retreat from rain and wind, and in which to shower, and wash hands, and cook foods, and keep said food safely frozen or refrigerated until needed.  And that I have food, at all.

Just a short plane ride away, mamas fear for their children's lives from beneath flapping, blowing, wet tarps.  With empty stomachs.  And countless days, months, years ahead without promise, yet, of anything better.

From Easter Baskets to Halloween Bins

After returning home from Pittsburgh in the frigid days of January, we took absolute advantage of the time of waiting to prepare our house to become home to the new children in every detail imaginable -- beds with homemade quilts, plush animals, specially chosen gifts from Hunter & Baylor, toothbrushes, photos in frames, Haitian metal crosses for bedroom shelves, and on, and on, and on.  As winter turned to spring, we bought Easter outfits, and baskets that were later filled to overflowing by "the bunny." 

We swapped out the heavy winter wear in our luggage (ready-in-waiting) for shorts, skirts, and tanks of summer.

With the falling leaves and crisp, cool breezes, comes the realization that this endurance of uncertainty has seen all seasons.  As horridly despairing and headache-and-insomnia-inducing as this has been for us, the travesty is that children have waited all these spins of the earth and moon -- waited with hurt and with longing and uncertainty.

The excellent news, now, is that a US delegation traveled to Haiti roughly six weeks ago, and they met face-to-face with officials of the Haitian government and the children's birth parents.  We are pleased that such direct measures have been taken to clarify and to document officially the legal status of the children regarding parental relinquishment based on verified witness of the birth parents' complete understanding of said relinquishment and the US adoption process.  We have been assured that all of this not only respected fully the rights and free, informed choices of the birth parents, but that the discussions were conducted in a manner that also respected the parents' personal dignity.

Painfully selfless, the decision to allow someone else to raise one's children -- believing it is their best hope for safe, healthy futures -- simply has to be an experience of faith, humility, courage, pain, and hope.  For their hope and for the kids' hope, we await finalization of necessary documentation and processing by the Haitian government.  We do not know what all that may entail or how long it make take, but once that major step is finished, we trust that our preparedness, our own humility, and our willingness to cooperate fully with both nations will enable a homecoming and healing for the children. 

Our hope is that the kids won't have to wish and dream from within an institution for much longer.

What Is Wrong With These Pictures?

Reliving our youth, and trying to keep ourselves from the gloom of the never-ending wait for our kiddos, Chad and I dug up some appropriate attire for the fall faculty "'Back to School Party -- 80's Style" hosted by our good friends Phil & Jill Applebee .  .  .  although anyone who knew me back in my younger days will attest that the get-up seen in the pic is less horrid than my make-shift attempts at fashion in my preteen/teenage days.  (No, this does not require a response of tagged images on Facebook; certainly the web would crash if such horror was attempted.  My evil eye IS watching.) 

And as if our appearance at the party wasn't ridiculous enough, we later participated in "Twin Day" during homecoming week at the HS where we teach (Maroa-Forsyth)  .  .  .  Pretty simple idea, not so easy for me to teach -- the kids had a hard time taking me seriously (although we did work, a lot, I just smirked and cackled more than usual while discussing Ancient Greece, the rules of map use, and sociological issues)  .  .  .   I guess it's all coming full circle, as I've now been flattered with parody (alongside a dozen or so other faculty) in the pep assembly skit put on by the Seniors [wearing a sari, talking about my friend Archana, and, separately, using my now infamous teaching line (albeit stolen from Wayne Kent) oft repeated when studying other cultures -- "It's not weird; it's different!"]

How It All Gets Started

Wonder Women, Jamie & Ali McMutrie, are slowly taking in new children for care, and so proceeds their Nouvo Vilaj.  As papers are processed and designs made reality, these ladies live and work out of a rented house doing what they love best -- nurturing wee ones to health.  I borrow here from fabulous, comedic, Pittsburgh blogger, Virginia Montanez, (http://thatschurch.com/)  .  .  ."Speaking of babies, ladies, hold on to your ovaries and check out this picture Jamie and Ali McMutrie sent from Haiti of one of the children they care for down there:"

"As Jeff said recently in an episode of Chuck, 'I think my water just broke.' ”

Our adoption journey began with a picture -- of a little girl at a Missionaries of Charity (Mother Theresa) orphanage in Haiti  .  .  .   my Mom side-tripped to the facility on her first adventure into the mountainous land.  Six months later, the wee child's beaming smile was too much for me to ignore.

We learned, months later, that the girl we'd come to call "Sunflower" had been a temporary resident -- there only for medical care -- who went home to her birth family.  May she continue to grow and blossom! 

And so, we were then open to a referral from BRESMA orphanage, and thus, Josianna and Wendy entered our lives for ten months of love and growth -- for all of us.  A life-changing earthquake led their birth parents to retrieve them from orphanage care and make their way to safety in village life far from the confines of Port-au-Prince.  We continue to make efforts to get to them messages and mementos as symbols of our love and respect for their family and blessings of health, hope, and happiness for now and for their future.

With dedicated hearts, committed souls, and prepared minds, we yearn to bring into our family Haitian children who need us  .  .  .  children who have no prospect of family care otherwise, and thus, we work tirelessly for the release from authority of the US government children who were re-institutionalized in Pittsburgh, nearly nine months ago.

The 26-month journey has been an indescribable, invaluable growth experience .  .  and as we teeter on the brink of news (yes, a decision, finally) any day, any moment, I realize that this has been one hell of a labor.   

Yet, the McMutries love child after child after child, and have made this their lives.  Around the clock.  Through quake, fear, and deaths.  Endless bureaucracy and numbing numbers in need.  For love of the most vulnerable.  For life.