Fundraisers

Please note! If you are planning or have held a fundraiser for HardtHaven please send your details and any pictures to joy@hardthaven.org so we can put the information up on our website. We want to make sure people know about future fundraisers and give proper recognition for all of your hard work!

HardtHaven's ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."- Margaret Mead

A year ago, on May 28^th 2007, HardtHaven Children’s Home opened its doors to our first children. Nine months after my first trip to Ghana, after much preparation, the orphanage opened for business. On the 28^th Edem (the Ghanaian Director) and I traveled to a neighboring community to get Minoa (12) and her little sister Nancy (3) and brought them both back to the home we had created in Kpando.

Edem and I had no idea what we were doing when we first thought about opening a children’s home, and if we had to repeat the process we probably couldn’t, but we made it work and now its one-year strong. We have fifteen children living in the home, four of which are also infected with HIV and we now also support ten children living in the community as part of our community outreach program. All of the children in our Home have settled well, enjoy their new schools, and have more toys and enjoy a healthier diet than most of the children in Ghana.

Our HIV positive kids are the pride of our Home. One girl came to us unable to feed herself with a doctor saying she only had approximately six more months to live. One boy came to us too weak to walk across the room. Another boy’s HIV positive mother was becoming too ill to care for any of her four children. Now the girl with only six months to live is being given an estimated six years and throws fantastic temper tantrums, and the weak boy can now chase the other kids when they snatch his toys. And by taking in the third child, the one whose mother is still living but severely ill, we have saved three other children from becoming AIDS orphans because the mother is now able to pay attention to her own health and she will live longer and will be able to provide care for her other children.

One of our HIV positive girls is also going blind; she would stand no chance of long-term survival in the community. But with HardtHaven, she will always have a home and before she loses her sight she will be taught a trade. When she turns 18 she will be hired on to work at the HardtHaven and will always live with us. And these are just a few of our wonderful stories.

Our HIV negative kids are also much healthier than they were before they came to us. At first you could easily pick out the sick children, now it is much harder to tell. All of them have put on weight, they have all been de-wormed, scabies have been cleared up, malaria has been treated, and parasitic infections cleared. All of the children are happier, healthier, and safer.

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts there have still been many bouts with malaria, broken bones, bronchitis, dysentery, and small injuries needing stitches. Even Edem contracted both malaria and typhoid fever. It’s all part of being a child and living in Ghana. All of the children sleep under mosquito nets and we use mosquito coils, but children sometimes still get sick. As it is just a part of life, we have learned to manage their various illnesses quite well and strive to keep our kids out of the hospital, which is really quite an accomplishment in itself.

This past year the kids went on their very first field trips! They went on a picnic to the Wli Waterfalls and a visited the Tafi Monkey Sanctuary (and the kids saw their very first monkey). They also spent some time at the world’s largest manmade lake, the Volta, and were able to see how the locals make their living from fishing. The kids also experienced their very first birthday party.

We have had many volunteers come to work in the home over the past year. Volunteers from Rice University, Cosmic Volunteers, Dream Africa Volunteers, and our own newly formed volunteer organization HardtHaven Volunteers have all made an amazing difference. This summer we will also begin working with Village Volunteers, which was rated one of the Top 10 Volunteer Organizations by CNN. Our volunteers also come from all over the US, Canada, England, and Ireland.

One wonderful change is that HardtHaven now has staff besides Edem and I. One volunteer, Sonjelle Shilton, was so impressed by HardtHaven that she retuned several months later to work for us for an entire year and has been immeasurably helpful to Edem. Two great Canadian volunteers who were in Ghana this past January, Amy Rowland and Sara McIvor, have taken on the role of our Canadian Directors, since we will soon be incorporating in Canada. Another wonderful previous volunteer, Lisa Fuller has become part of our staff as the Volunteer Director. She has taken over the International Volunteer portion of the Foundation and has been a wonderful resource and a great help.

Another big change that is coming down the pipeline is that HardtHaven Children’s Home is officially changing its name to The HardtHaven Foundation. HardtHaven Children’s Home will remain the same as the name of our children’s home, but it will be under the umbrella of The HardtHaven Foundation. We have found that we are no longer only a children’s home. We have:

- HardtHaven Children’s Home

- A community outreach and sponsorship program for AIDS orphans and HIV positive kids in the community

- An international volunteer program

- An AIDS educational program (still is in its infancy)

- We are incorporating in Canada and hope to bring programs to Sierra Leone

- We have also started up a small-scale rehabilitation program and have been bringing in very ill and malnourished children for rehabilitation until they are healthy enough to return to their communities.

- Eventually we hope to expand the rehabilitation program it to include physical therapy for children with physical deficits.

- We also hope to launch a nurse-to-nurse volunteer program, which will bring Western educated nurses to Ghana to teach continuing education classes to local nurses.

Fundraising events have been held all over the US, Canada, and the UK bringing in everything from $250 to $2,600. Edem is planning on coming to the US either this fall or next spring and fundraising benefits are already being planned. We applied for the Staying Alive Grant again and should be finding out soon whether we will receive it again this year. Twice this last year I spoke at the Spokane Hilliard Rotary Club and they generously presented HardtHaven with a donation of $1,000.

Dana, a previous volunteer from the US, held “A Piece of Pie Contest” and her community got involved and she raised $2,600!! Boxes and boxes of clothes, hygiene items, books, toys, and medicine have been sent to the home. A laptop was even donated and a TV was bought as a Christmas present for the kids. The kids also each got a new Church outfit for Christmas and each got a bag with crayons and coloring books and toys of their own. Each child also got a small photo album that is half full of pictures of themselves that they will be able to add to as they get older.

We have begun working with an adoption agency that specializes in international adoptions for older children, and HIV positive children. We are trying very hard to get our nine month old baby, Christopher, adopted. He was brought to the Home after he almost died from Malaria and the associated dehydration and we have had a long battle bringing him back to health. We don’t really have the resources at the home to care for a baby but his grandmother is physically unable to provide him with the medical care he so desperately needs so we are left with no choice. We are hoping for a new home for him soon.

This summer looks like a busy one with HardtHaven booked with volunteers from all over the world. Edem’s clan donated 1 ¼ acres of land in Kpando to us and we have purchased another 1 ¼ acre so we now own a total of 2 ½ acres with the option to buy more! Edem’s clan has also given us permission to farm on their clan land. The farmland has been prepped to be tilled and soon the planting will begin. We are going to begin with farming food that can be used at the home, and once we are able to grow most of our own food we will focus on a Moringa Olifera tree farm. Moringa is a “wonder” plant that is highly nutritious, great for the soil, and even has cleaning and medicinal purposes. Once these are established we also hope to start a Grasscutter farm (they’re beaver-sized rodents which are a local delicacy).

We are still renting the eight bedroom house and have rent paid through next February so we plan on having our building built and the kids moved in by the time it comes to pay rent again!

This year Edem helped to plan, and lectured at, a workshop put on by the British Consul on conflict resolution. This workshop involved youths from England, Ghana, and Kenya and focused on creating opportunities for the youth in Africa and the UK to explore how their communities could work better through international exchanges. He also lectured about AIDS at a workshop on Africa Day in Ghana where condoms that had been donated to us through MTV Staying Alive Foundation were distributed.

One important thing to emphasize is that Edem is planning on coming to the US either this fall or next spring (as a Ghanaian he wouldn’t do so well with our winter). He tried to come this summer but was denied a Visa so we are working on a new application. When he finally makes it here we plan on having him basically tour the US doing awareness programs and holding benefits. I hope to accompany Edem on as much of his tour as I can.

I returned to Ghana this past January and spent several weeks with Edem developing future plans and working on our expansion projects. While there I was officially introduced to Edem’s clan with a bottle of Schnapps and we all went together to pick out the land that we now own. I also had to give an awkward though very necessary “Birds and the Bees” talk to our four older girls. Most of the kids were already at the Home before I left last summer but it was great to meet our few new additions and to see everyone settled and happy. I also traveled to Sierra Leone at the end of January where I worked with Jacob, a relative of Edem’s, to see if it would be possible to bring our child sponsorship project and volunteers to the Kono District of Sierra Leone. There I spoke with two groups of about thirty women and children to assess their needs and hear their stories. We hope to begin sending volunteers to Sierra Leone by this winter and to use the money generated by the volunteers to sponsor children.

Now I am busy juggling work, life, and HardtHaven. In April I was commissioned as an Ensign into the United States Navy and began serving as a nurse at the Naval Hospital at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina. I plan to return to Ghana either this winter or next spring. Though I am busy with the Navy I hope to return to Ghana every year. Both Edem and I will also be attending the International AIDS conference in Mexico City this coming August.

So the future looks incredibly bright! Things have definitely been tough and nothing is ever easy, but it has all been worth it. We have changed lives and enabled others to change lives. We are still working out the bugs, and to be honest there are many, but nothing we can’t handle. This year I have resolved to get out quarterly update letters to everyone on our mailing list. So if you are interested in receiving those emails please let me know. Also, last time I was in Ghana I had computer problems and lost all of my files which included my contact list, so even if you think you are on our mailing list please send me your information again.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns I am ready to listen. If you would like to help or volunteer or just say hello please don’t hesitate to email me at joy@hardthaven.org or Edem at hardthaven@yahoo.com. If you prefer to call please call me at (country code 001) 509-951-6246 or Edem at (country code 233) 208-163-010. Also, our website is being constantly updated so please check it on a regular basis. A complete overhaul of the website will be happening in the next couple of months so please check it now and check back regularly! Thank you to everyone for your generous support and wonderful emails of encouragement.

Joy Hardt

Executive Director- Founder

The HardtHaven Foundation

2085 Longstaff St

Jacksonville, NC 28540

(001) 509-951-6246

joy@hardthaven.org

www.hardthaven.org

“I am only one. But still I am one. I cannot do everything. But I can do something; And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” -Edward Everett Hale

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Visit us at

www.hardthaven.org | contact: info@hardthaven.org

Volunteer!!!

We are inviting everyone to help us make a big change in the rural communities of the Volta Region of Ghana. Through HardtHaven Volunteers you have the opportunity to travel to Ghana and make a difference in the lives of needy children and the lives of those in thecommunities they come from. We are a very small organization, which gives us great flexibility and we can customize your volunteer experience. You can makeyour stay as short as 2 weeks or as long as 2 years, you can stay with a local family or at our Children's Home, and you can choose where you want to work. It is all up to you. We have placements in orphanages, daycare centers, schools, hospital wards, schools for the disabled, community development projects, in HIV/TB/Malaria prevention and more. Cultural lessons and short in-country tours can also be arranged. We cannot pretend to remedy the serious social and economic problems of the countries where we work and send volunteers, but we can set you up to be busy, be effective, and make a lasting difference in the lives of those who need it most.

For more information please contact:
*Executive Director/Founder- Joy Hardt* joy@hardthaven.org or joybear13@yahoo.com 001-509-951-6246
*Ghanaian Director/Co-Founder - Richard EdemAdjordor* richard@hardthaven.org or hardthaven@yahoo.com

To get you up to speed....

So this is a short summary get everyone up to date on what has been going on with HardtHaven so I can write short posts as the events happen instead of trying to make the time to write something long. So here goes:

HardtHaven Children’s Home first opened its doors on May 28^th 2007 and since then we have brought 15 children to come live at the Home. We have also begun sponsoring 8 children out in the community. 7 of the children we are providing care for or sponsoring are HIV positive and are now receiving the drugs and nutrition that they so desperately need. 8 volunteers from Cosmic Volunteers have spent their time at HardtHaven and all have gone back and done something small to help the Home. The first 2 volunteers coming from our very own volunteer program will be arriving in Ghana on January 19^th, thus our first alternative livelihood project is up and running. Edem’s clan has donated 4-5 acres of land to HardtHaven and construction on the first building will begin hopefully within the next couple of months

HardtHaven Children’s Home has officially morphed into HardtHaven Foundation. We are now running: a Children’s Home, international volunteer program, community nurse educator program, and an in-need children sponsorship program, and a memory-box program. We are in the planning stages for: a HIV/TB/Malaria prevention program, orphanages and children’s home caretaker training program, and a job-training program for the children in our various programs and for HIV+ adults in the community. And we have plans to build a rehabilitation center for severely ill and/or malnourished HIV+ children.

We have received funds from: MTV Staying Alive Foundation, a Ghanaian Charity Football Match, local farmers and sellers, and hundreds of individual donors in the US.

We are networking with Pegus Africa, Cosmic Volunteers, Village Volunteers, New Seed International, and ABC for All, among others.

We have the support of the DC (Mayor of Kpando), Director of Social Welfare for the Kpando Region, Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Social Justice for the Kpando Region, the administrator of the Ho HIV/AIDS clinic, the local sports commission, and many other members of the Ghanaian community.

Well, its a quick summary but as new things occur I will try my best to keep you up to date!