From April 8, 2020 Sunday night at around 10:00pm there was a big gunfight not far from our walls. There was an exchange of at least 20 shots. Whenever there is gunfire, we never hear what happened or if anyone was wounded or killed. It is all just part of the night noise.
From April 7, 2020 I sent the laser text copy of my new book to a member of my board of directors. His name is John Heil. I sent it to him because he is mentioned on the dedication page. He is one of my primary benefactors.
From April 6, 2020 Leobel came to Santa Chiara during our first year. He was 14 years old and the sweetest boy. Never a problem, always helpful. Now he is a young man who works at Santa Chiara. He is a hard worker.
From April 5, 2020 Nurse Noussely Richemond distributes vitamin candy to the kids.
From April 4, 2020 I’ve been doing a lot of looking lately. I don’t always like what I see. For the past few weeks, I’ve been spending an hour or more downstairs just observing the day get underway. On my daily sojourns to the ground floor I usually have very little to say. I’m just trying to absorb the enormity…
From April 3, 2020 I’ve known for about a year that Santa Chiara was not going to be sustainable unless drastic changes were made. For reasons that have been articulated in previous Journals, we simply had too many kids. We have been grappling with how to compassionately reduce the number of children.
From April 2, 2020 The kids are up before six in the morning. The night shift prepares a snack for them, to tide them over until the cooks have prepared the formal breakfast. On Tuesday, the breakfast before breakfast was a roll with chocolate milk.
From April 1, 2020 I often look for word from God in books that I cherish. Books speak to me. I’d be lost without books. Each day, whether in Florida or Haiti, I stand before my bookcases, and try to “feel” which book I should pull down from the shelf in hopes of finding something that speaks to me in…
From March 28, 2020 I happened to be at our gate when a night shift employee was leaving. It was around 10:00am. I saw that she seemed distressed by something she saw. She motioned to another staff to come look. The second staff also looked upset at what she saw.
From March 14, 2020 Today would have been my brother’s 85th birthday. He died fifteen years ago after a long, painful struggle with lung cancer. My extremely busy life, combined with the fact that I lived in Los Angeles and he lived in New York, meant I rarely saw my brother.