Croatian Relief Services Inc.

Dear friends, donors, supporters…

Two years ago, at 4:53 in the afternoon on January 12, 2010, the earth shrugged and added another chapter to the sequence of tragedies that define Haiti’s history. A devastating 7 magnitude earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people, destroyed 80 percent of the capital city of Port-au-Prince and left more than a million Haitians homeless. Nearly all public buildings were destroyed, and with them much of a generation of civil servants, doctors, nurses, engineers, professors and students. The world responded immediately and with a generosity and for a while things looked optimistic for the future. Today, two years later, the outlook for Haiti’s future is probably worse than ever. The poorest country of the Western hemisphere before the earthquake, today is the poorest country in the whole wide world. The media spotlight has moved away from Haiti. Cameras are gone, controversy related to human rights, lousy conditions in tent cities are old news but for most of Haitians everyday life. The big international entities with histories in Haiti, like the U.N. and the United Nations Development Program, remain, but much of the promised aid money was never delivered and Haiti is more desperate than ever. The consensus, in Haiti and abroad, is that little progress has been made, and a sense of pessimism has enveloped the country and its million-strong overseas community.
But beyond disappointment at the slow progress of reconstruction, many Haitians and Haitian Americans have begun to lose faith. Politics, racial issues and different interests need to be overcome for this poor Caribbean nation of 10 million to move forward.
It breaks my heart seeing these proud people drowning deeper and deeper but still trying to stay on the surface. At the same time it fills my heart with pride and hope seeing how much we have done with your help and prayers for the most needy ones. Blessed are you and your generous hearts for providing a better life for our Haitian orphans and truly making a difference in this world.

Thank you, God bless you and Haiti

Our youngest wishes you a merry Christmas

Baby Widson is our youngest orphan. He came to us when he was only 22 days old. His mother died while delivering him, and his father gave him away because he wasn’t able to feed him. Widson was our Easter carol, and this Christmas is going to be his first Christmas with the only family he will ever know. Like baby Jesus, there was no room for him when he came to this world, but Lord found a place for this little soul and gave him a home in our orphanage among 47 others with similar destinies.

Today, Widson is a wonderful baby  with the biggest eyes I’ve ever seen, and he has conquered our hearts for good. I was holding him in my arms today and told him the story of the most holy birth, of our little Lord. He was staring at me without blinking, almost as if he understood what I was talking about. So, he was given to us, warmed our hearts and souls and us brought new joy, and every time I look at him I find purpose all over again…

So please, keep your faith and cherish it, we need you, this baby needs you… all our kids need you…

Once again, if Widson could talk, I’m sure he’ d thank you and wish you a wonderful Christmas.

God bless you!

“Don’t be afraid!” Angel said.
“I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! The Savior yes, the Messiah, the Lord  has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!”  Luke 2.

Jean Richard, Edly & Lovely singing Christmas song

Wishes for a merry Christmas from the Children

Dear friends, supporters, donors…

Our big family: all the kids, nannies, volunteers, our staff in New Jersey and wider, on behalf of Croatian Relief Services, wish you all a Merry and blessed Christmas, may baby Jesus bring you joy and happiness, continue to bless your hearts, homes and your dearest ones.

We are endlessly  grateful to you for helping these wonderful and amazing children in building their futures, giving them hope for a better life and changing the perspective of this sad country. As we cannot thank you enough, we know Jesus will thank you for us…

Happy and blessed holidays with best wishes,

Croatian Relief Services

Dear friends and supporters,

This time I was accompanied with Elizabeta Letincic, a 27 year old religion teacher from Zagreb as well as pastor Tomislav Debelic from the Croatian island of Susak, and father Gio’s parishioner  Mr. Albino.

Pastor Tomislav and Albino stayed with us for 5 days on their 1st visit to Haiti. As they both said, it’s very difficult to try to explain to people how chaotic, desperate and poor this island and it’s people are. And at the same time, they both agreed they’ve never seen so much willingness and hope to still go further no matter how bad obstacles on that road might be. And they are bad, trust me.

We all visited the shelter and hospital of Missionaries of Charity here in Port-au-Prince where we spent some time with the most needy ones, malnourished children.

Manis

“Bondye wè tout bagay, e li pa ta dwe frisonen …” (God sees everything (and he wouldn’t be thrilled… if I do that) came out of Faustin’s mouth when I asked him to kill a cockroach that scared me. Even though he wasn’t comfortable that he had to refuse my wish, he looked at me straight in the eyes and said no. But, immediately I was the one that felt ashamed. This boy is seventeen, his mother died when he was a baby, his father is terminally ill and lives far in a province. Faustin doesn’t go to school, but he is grateful for a job he does and strongly believes that God has His reasons for creating things the way they are. And he is truly happy, truly faithful and one of the best people I’ve ever met. And he taught me and teaches me every day what Jesus taught us and wanted us to follow. Of love and respect, every day, all the time. All the creatures. I apologized immediately for even asking him to do that… More…

Antoine

Dear friends, supporters and donors,
As we got five new members of our big and merry family in the orphanage, we are in urgent need for some extra mattrasses, tables for eating and shoes for the kids. And, most of all, we need food. As world crisis is worsening, as we are witnessing famine and suffer in countries on the African horn, Haiti is struggling as well to catch a breath. As Mother Theresa said, Haiti was then the poorest spot in the world, well, now is even worse. After hurricane Emily strucked us a week ago and left a few victims in her deadly raid, things are not getting any better for Haitians. More…

Jackson

Neighborhood stories are somehow part of everyday life… We all want to know what’s happening in a household next to ours, and if it includes some juicy story, well, the more the merrier… You know what
that means- that middle aged neighbor that makes awesome brownies and extraordinary barbecue, but her son always gets into trouble… Or the other one, not-so-friendly plumber that always puts his music on loudest. More…

Bridnia

Bridnia  is little “Mom”  to all our orphans at Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac Center in Bon Repos, Haiti.   The rest of the orphans often call her “Mama” so her nick name became Mama. She is 9 years old and she is really  amazing child.  So loving and caring for all our orphans, especially she loves the little ones and serves them  faithfully.  Often you will see her feeding the little ones who are not able to eat by themselves.   She is the most needy young girl at Cardinal Stepinac Orphanage in Bon Repos, Haiti.   She is a girl filled with God-given compassion for the suffering orphans even though she herself  is an orphan. More…

5 rookies

Dear Sponsors, God-parents, Donors & Friends,

It has been a week, now, since I have come back to Haiti.  Temperatures are outrageously high and all wild life in form of snakes, mice, bugs, lizards, etc, seem to have found a cozy place in our compound.   Kids are magical, as always.  When I arrived at the orphanage, all 50 of them ran to me with a hug and my heart literally sang. More…