Ladd Lane classes watch presentation after donating to island
orphans
Ladd Lane Elementary School students learned what life is like
in Haiti when teacher Lou Ann Sackett shared images from a trip she
took several weeks ago to the island nation.
Prior to the trip, the students in Beth Matsui and Lesli Reyes’
classes collected donations for the children of Haiti and made
friendship bracelets to share with them.
Ladd Lane classes watch presentation after donating to island orphans
Ladd Lane Elementary School students learned what life is like in Haiti when teacher Lou Ann Sackett shared images from a trip she took several weeks ago to the island nation.
Prior to the trip, the students in Beth Matsui and Lesli Reyes’ classes collected donations for the children of Haiti and made friendship bracelets to share with them.
“Overall, the biggest thing is that they learned to appreciate all the things they have,” Matsui said. “They see what the rest of the world is going through.”
The students listened as Sackett reminded them of the preparations for the trip and about her time in Haiti.
She showed pictures of the kids working on the friendship bracelets. Reyes’ class made more than 100 bracelets, with the help of parent volunteers and some volunteers from Kohl’s.
“Kohl’s donated $500 to our school (for the event),” Reyes said.
The students remained quiet as Sackett flipped through the images that showed rubble remains from the 2010 earthquake. She explained that she went on the trip with local Pastor Don Skow from Hollister Christian Fellowship and another minister from the South Valley Community Church in Gilroy, Eric Smith, along with another volunteer. She showed them some of the items the group had to take along such as toilet paper, sunscreen and bug repellent. She also had suitcases full of school supplies and other items to give to orphans.
“You guys were really involved,” Sackett said to the students.
She said she flew from San Jose to Los Angeles, then to Miami and finally into Port-Au-Prince, in Haiti.
“All four of us got off the plane and we thought we were on the set of ‘Survivor,'” Sackett said. “It was the most interesting, surreal place. There is only one stoplight in the whole town.”
She told the children there was no running water and even electricity was limited to about three hours a day. She said most of the people she met spoke French, or Creole. When interacting with some of the kids, she said they would sing or do the hand-jive, since they couldn’t speak with each other because of the language differences.
Some of the pictures showed tent cities, where people are still living since houses have not been rebuilt. Others live in corrugated tin shanties without running water or electricity. Most places had outhouses for toilets.
Sackett and the group visited an orphanage away from the city, where the church volunteers are planning to build A-frame rooms that will be used as shelters for the orphans. At the orphanage, Sackett and the others handed out pictures of Flat Stanley that the third-grade students from Ladd Lane had drawn for their pen pals as well as friendship bracelets made by the fifth-grade class.
“I don’t know what we would have done without your friendship bracelets,” Sackett said. “We had something for everyone.”
She worked with other volunteers to cook a meal and give out food to some of the orphans.
“We were cooking for 50 orphans that night but we ended up feeding 186 kids that night,” Sackett said. “We never turned anyone away.”
She said all the students and volunteers had to share the food, but no one complained about it.
“There was great fruit – bananas, mangoes, pineapple,” she said. “But it is very expensive.”
Sackett and the other volunteers were not allowed to walk around the markets on their own, so a relative of one of their hosts brought back some items for them to purchase. Sackett bought some paintings that she showed the students in the classes. They were not allowed to shop on their own because their hosts were concerned about their safety. She and the other volunteers had body guards who traveled with them at all times to keep them safe.
When the Ladd Lane students were given a chance to ask questions, most of them asked what the weather was like and what school was like for the Haitian students.
“They only go to school for two hours a day,” Sackett said. “But they want to go to school more.”
Hollister Christian Fellowship Pastor Don Skow is working with New Life to the Children, a project that works with orphans in Haiti. For more on the project or to donate, visit http://www.hcfonline.com/ or www.imaginethistv.com.
