This "children's book" was created by Shelley Smith, an artist residing in Savannah, GA, whom spontaneously chose to set out on an eye-opening adventure to assist children at an orphanage in Haiti called Harmony House. She ventured there knowing no one in Haiti, but simply wanting to assist as a volunteer after reading online that the home needed assistance for summer programs. After working with the children for weeks, she wrote a story about one of their projects, creating their own garden, a way to teach them the ...
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This "children's book" was created by Shelley Smith, an artist residing in Savannah, GA, whom spontaneously chose to set out on an eye-opening adventure to assist children at an orphanage in Haiti called Harmony House. She ventured there knowing no one in Haiti, but simply wanting to assist as a volunteer after reading online that the home needed assistance for summer programs. After working with the children for weeks, she wrote a story about one of their projects, creating their own garden, a way to teach them the importance of the soil and ways of sustaining themselves. All of the children, ages 4-18, participated in illustrating the book. For Shelley, this was not a brief "feel good" experience, but was life changing. She wanted to figure out how to use the experience, and the book, to assist the children, as well as the "graduates" of the orphanage that are now on their own. She arranged the book with final editing assistance by her good friend Travis Sawyer of Creative Approach Savannah. Not only does it include the children's book, which is wonderful reading for young readers, but has some additional pictures of artwork by some of the children. The back few pages include several "adult reading" excerpts from Shelley's personal diary that reveal how overwhelming it was arriving in a third world country as well as experiencing such excessive poverty. It is a brief insight into her experience coping with such abrupt changes and language differences in a place where most do not speak English. 100% of the profits of the book will go to Harmony House in Haiti as well as two of the children that no longer reside there due to their ages. Shelley has since returned to Haiti with friend Elizabeth Lillard, whom she asked to join her and assist her into helping provide the children with a traditional Christmas experience complete with morning presents and a "Charlie Brown" christmas tree. Shelley is presently planning a future return trip.
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