After a spur of the moment humanitarian endeavor in Ecuador nine years ago, Leah Hullinger and her family found an equally unexpected passion that led them to support orphans and abandoned children in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti.
Hullinger co-founded the Foundation for Children in Need (FFCIN) in 2002 with her mom, Rebecca Maesato, after volunteering for four months in Ecuador.
"That was our initial experience with humanitarian aid. We just knew it was kind of our life calling to help orphans and abandoned children," said Hullinger, a Ballard resident. "We set up the nonprofit and through a series of contacts decided Haiti was the place. They have such a huge problem with orphans and stray kids."
But Hullinger and her mother didn't stop with starting a nonprofit in the States. The three moved to Haiti, found an interpreter and started working in orphanages. For two years, the family hosted groups of volunteers in their home anywhere from one to four months at a time. After the coup in 2004, the family had to stop operations and leave Haiti for safety. By the end of 2004, Maesato had also adopted eight orphaned teen boys and wanted to get them established in the United States.
Giving hope to 'unadoptable' children
FFCIN continued its operations though-assisting orphanages with food, water and other necessary supplies. Most orphanages in Haiti don't even have enough beds for the children, working latrines or kitchens. Currently, FFCIN is working with four orphanages that Hullinger said, "don't have any help from other organizations, the government or fundraising and in which the children are not adoptable."
Haiti has a very strict policy definition for orphans. Unless both parents are deceased, an abandoned child with one or both parents cannot be adopted. Estimates of how many orphans there are in Haiti are sketchy at best, with current figures ranging from 380,000 to 750,000.
Additionally, Haiti requires orphanages to register with the government in order for the children to be eligible for adoption, but without any financial support, most orphanages can't afford the expensive license. The situation is more than frustrating for Hullinger, but it's also a motivator for FFCIN to go into orphanages to "let the children know they are not forgotten, that they are loved," Hullinger said.
"There is no difference between kids who don't have any parents and kids who have parents but were abandoned. They're all in the same awful circumstances," she added. "We are just really trying to provide these kids with a better growing up experience. We try to help those who don't have even a possibility of getting out."
But since the earthquake, FFCIN had to readjust its focus for the orphanages. In addition to providing supplies, FFCIN plans to have volunteer groups in Haiti for at least eight months this year to help rebuild damaged facilities. Current efforts are focused on rebuilding the security wall at the Infants of Jesus Orphanage, which collapsed during the earthquake.
"It's a priority we build the security wall around the property because the kids are exposed to the neighborhood, and it's dangerous," Hullinger said. "We can't leave any supplies because they'll just get stolen."
The orphanage supports 60 kids from 4- to 16-years-old, in two cement rooms still intact, but cracked significantly. FFCIN has a crew of construction workers ready to start building the wall as soon as the organization raises $20,000. So far, $10,000 has been raised for the wall, which will be an eight-foot barrier made of cinderblock surrounding the property with metal security gates.
Helping hand from neighbors
Queen Anne resident Jenni Currit had just been in Haiti the week before the earthquake doing volunteer work with FFCIN. When the earthquake hit, Currit called a meeting with friends in Queen Anne and Magnolia to discuss what could be done to help. The group held two bake sales, one in Magnolia and another in Wedgwood, and raised $2,300 total.
Magnolia resident Tara Hunt helped run the bake sale with Currit, and said the bake sale for Haitian relief organized by Coe Elementary School parents earlier this month inspired them to try one of their own.
"I know Leah and it just struck a chord with me," Hunt said, "that she'd been there two weeks before the earthquake and all of a sudden the orphanages she'd been working with for years might be destroyed. We knew we had contacts and resources to put it together fairly quickly."
The bake sale created an avenue for a lot of people to get involved and Hunt said she was amazed that people she'd never discussed the bake sale with showed up with baked goods to contribute, simply from word-of-mouth.
"It was the most amazing day to see so many people be so generous," Hunt said. "It was so awesome and neat to think of how much that money buys down in Haiti, even though it doesn't seem like it's a lot."
Currit's also helping organize a fundraiser at her son's preschool, Nature Kids at Discovery Park and others in the group have approached John Hay Elementary School and Blaine K-8 about helping. The group of concerned residents purchased 1,000 wristbands that say "Help Orphans in Haiti" and plan to sell them for $5 with the help of schools, and maybe even some Magnolia and Queen Anne businesses.
So far, high school students at the Bush School have started selling the bracelets and Currit said the group's looking for any business willing to keep some at their counter, too. The funds will go toward building the wall and Currit hopes to sell the bracelets in the next four weeks.
"Once we've done that we hope to do another bake sale or project every few months," Currit said, "so as news dies down we don't forget there are still needs there."
Right now, all the money is being directed toward construction materials. Aside from a collapsed wall, the orphanages usually lack electricity, running water and basic furnishings.
After building the security wall
Once funding is secured and the wall is built, FFCIN will shift its efforts to secure funding for rebuilding the actual orphanage. Since the earthquake, children have been sleeping in tents and using buckets as bathrooms.
Rebuilding this facility will mean redoing the rooms, the kitchen and installing a septic tank so the orphanage can have a functioning and sanitary bathroom.
Maesato returned to Haiti on Sunday to start working on estimates for construction costs. Food and other supplies will be provided continually throughout the process to all four orphanages.
"We'll be able to cover those costs for awhile for all the orphanages," Hullinger said. "Now, it's just about starting to get the funds together for rebuilding."
The three other orphanages FFCIN works with could use some rebuilding efforts too, but because the orphanages rent the facilities, Hullinger said it is likely the property owner would take the buildings back if they were renovated.
FFCIN plans to send the first volunteer group at the beginning of March to help build the exterior wall, assuming enough funds have been raised. All volunteers pay their own way and their expenses when in Haiti, since 100 percent of donations goes directly toward projects, Hullinger said.
In order to make sure their donations and assistance goes directly to the children, FFCIN created Haitian Orphanage Management Exemplified, which ensures transparency of all material and monetary transactions and keeps the middleman out.
"What is compelling to me with this particular organization is it's very grassroots, that works with a very particular population," Currit said. "It's nice to be able to help in such a direct way and feel like when we made money for the bake sale we gave it to an organization that made it immediately accessible to those in Haiti."
Plans beyond construction
Though FFCIN planned to help with minor construction work before the earthquake, the organization was actually looking to develop education programs in the orphanages. Not only do the orphanages lack government funding, the employees are ill-equipped and outnumbered. Hullinger said the ratio is usually one worker for 20-30 kids.
"Sometimes the kids only get one meal a day and they don't go to school," Hullinger said. "They're definitely not receiving individual care. They just became a kid in the mix who doesn't really have an identity."
Aside from improving health conditions and keeping the children nourished, FFCIN's essential goal is to relieve suffering by giving face-to-face attention to the orphans.
"Just the absolute neglect is terrible," Hullinger said. "Kids need to be recognized, loved and held. That's not something they get so what's what we try to do when we go into the orphanages."
When reconstruction goals are met, FFCIN will move onto implementing education programs, including gardening and micro-business projects.[[In-content Ad]]
