How many children live at the orphanage?
There are 114 kids in the orphanage.  50 girls and 64 boys. 

What are the living arrangements?
There is a girls dorm and a brand new boys dorm that the boys just moved into a week ago. 

Are the children all in school?
Yes.  Out of the 114 kids we have 113 of them in school.  Our baby, T-John, just turned 2 and will start school next year. 

These children are beautiful!  How do I adopt?
NWHCM does not do adoptions from it's orphanage, however, they do have a sponsorship program.  Each child needs $75/month and that is broken into either three sponsors at $25, two at $37.50, or one paying the whole amount. 

How do I sponsor a child?
1.  Choose a child that you would like to sponsor from our Highlighted Child of the month page or from the Sponsorship page. (note: If that child needs a sponsor it will be designated in red at the bottom of their picture) 

2.  Contact Diana at the mission office by email or by phone:
     email:   love4haiti@aol.com
     phone:  502-695-7870
     Or Heather in Haiti by email:  jhowen@hotmail.com

3.  Send your check to the mission office in Kentucky:  This sponsorship is tax deductible
      NWHCM, PO BOX  829,  Versailles,   KY  40383

4.   You will receive a packet with sponsorship information and a recent picture of your child

5.   With every check you send in, you will receive a receipt and an envelope to send in your next months payment.

6.   Send your email address to jhowen@hotmail.com in order to receive weekly updates and to correspond with your child

7.  If you EVER have any questions regarding your sponsorship, feel free to contact Diana or Heather at any time.

Have the children's parents passed away?
Surprisingly, only about 15% of our kids are "true" orphans. 

Are the children Christians?
24 of our kids have been baptized into Christ.

How do we decide which kids to take
We often wish that our campus was twice the size so that we could take EVERY precious child that comes to our door. It is so very hard to turn them away.  Families come all year round, from all over the Northwest, asking us to take their children.  However, we take kids only once a year, in August.   And of those families that come in, we take only the kids that meet the requirements. 

Our number one criteria is that mom must be deceased.  Everyone is in need, but we realize that kids that don't have momma around are suffering much more that kids that do.  We also ask question like: Where does this child live and who takes care of him/her? Where is dad and how involved is he with the child? Why do you want your child in this orphanage?  Actually meeting the child is a huge part of making the decision.  We can always tell how well the child is being taken care of by the way he/she appears.  We especially consider the children who are in second or third stages of malnutrition. 

How many new kids do you take a year?
It really depends on what the need is that year, and how many kids we have in the orphanage at that time.  Last year we brought in 7 new ones.  This year, the numbers could be higher, because of the graduation program we are having for the 18-21 year olds. 

What is the maximum number of children the orphanage can hold?
We like to keep the number around 100.  We have had about 115 kids on average for the last 7 months and do not wish to ever go beyond that.  The number of kids that we take in really depends on how well we can balance the quality of care that they receive and how many sponsors we can add to the program.  It takes almost $2500/month American just to feed them. 

How many meals do the kids eat a day?
The kids eat three times a day.   The first year that we were here, we added the third meal and the kids gained so much weight that we had to make new school uniforms in the middle of the school year. 

What is the medical care like and do they ever get well child exams, eye exams, and/or dental exams?
An amazing pediatrician from Jacksonville, Ill., who the kids call, Dr. Steve, came in for the first time this year and did well child exams on every child.  He and his team of nurses wrote up charts for each child and documented a history for each of them.  They gave HIV and TB tests which all, to our great joy, were negative.  In addition to this, Dr. Jack comes in every year to check each child's teeth.  He then takes one day out of his busy schedule to see the kids who need extra attention.  At this point, we have not had any eye doctors exam the children.

How many people do you have on staff?
We currently have 3 American missionaries working and  living at the orphanage.  Robert and his wife moved into the orphanage in September.  He is the assistant orphanage manager.  Nurse Myron has been a part of our family for several years now.  She is responsible for all the physical and medical needs that the children have.  Benna is our do anything and everything guy.  He mostly works as an assistant to Janeil.  Finally we have two women that spend 6 days of their week washing clothes for the children.