Five years on, Rego is still helping in Haiti

Philip Rego is heading back to Haiti in a few days and is looking for more volunteers to help out at his Feed My Lambs orphanage.

Mr Rego started the project five years ago in Montroies, Haiti, and now the facility has a clinic, running water, toilets and electricity.

He is now looking for carpenters, painters, plumbers, doctors, dentists and nurses who can accompany him on his next trip to help out.

Mr Rego returned from Haiti last week and said the focus was installing electricity in the facility. He said there were 12 volunteers who went with him and lights were put in all the classrooms.

He said: “It was amazing to see all the kids seeing the lights in the classrooms. I didn’t think it would be a reality.

“We have 550 kids that go to the school there and 37 staff. Fifty kids live in the orphanage.”

In addition to installing the lights, Mr Rego said they also opened up a free clinic. On the first day, 60 people were treated.

Doctors, dentists and nurses are needed to help in the clinic.

“We have a library. There is no other library in the area at all. Our goal is to open it up.

“We’re raising money to put the books in. We want a small computer for the back.”

Mr Rego said another issue is water purification.

“We need a water purification system. We have a well but the well water is still not suitable to drink.

“It’s better than the river but we still have problems with parasites. Our goal is to have that (purification system) and we would like to put in a solar unit.”

Mr Rego said a generator is a big help, but the goal is to have a solar unit as well to complement it.

“We also need plumbers. I did the plumbing, but I’m not a plumber. The toilets came from Baptiste. If we can get another container together, we could take more toilets and kitchen sinks and things of that nature.

“When people think of donations, they think it’s all about money. If you donate your time, your time is more valuable for me because when you come down and teach the kids, you really change their lives. You will come back and tell the story and someone else might have some funds they would like to give. 

 “You’re going to go to help the kids but they’re going to give you something you didn’t expect. 

“They will enrich your life.”