PROVO — Weston Whatcott isn't having an average kind of retirement. No rocking chairs or long afternoon naps for this 63-year-old.

Not only are he and his wife already raising an adopted second family of six lively foreign-born youngsters, he's spearheading a grass-roots effort to build an orphanage for abandoned children in Haiti, largely on sheer faith and courage, with a little help from good friends and kind strangers.

"I'm not a contractor. I don't know how to tell people how to lay brick," Whatcott said. "And I've often said, the difference between being clever and insane is whether or not your plan worked. At this point, we don't know the verdict."

Whatcott became involved after a good friend told him about Guesno and Marjorie Mardy — a young, generous LDS couple in Haiti who were struggling to keep up with the babies and youngsters being left on their doorstep.

The Mardys currently have 28 abandoned youngsters they care for, along with their own family of three, crowded into a small adobe home of only 800 square feet, nicknamed "The Foyer De Sion (House of Zion)." Mardy is bishop of the Port-au-Prince LDS First Ward.

They're astounded with what's happening in their behalf.

"He's like a little kid at Christmas. He and his wife are very, very pleased," Whatcott said. "And quite frankly, I never cease to be astounded myself. People are so willing to help. They say, 'Thank you for taking my money.' Can you imagine that?"

A Haitian woman donated a 3.75-acre plantation.

Gordon Carter, who had helped build orphanages in other countries, signed on to help.

The Whatcotts' neighbor, Paul Cook, offered to help raise funds.

Whatcott gathered up resources, made a plan and traveled to Haiti during February to lay the groundwork. He took along 14 volunteers, including a newlywed couple from Midway, college students, a general contractor from Idaho and two returned LDS missionaries from Honduras. Everybody on the trip paid their own way.

He hauled along a portable generator, baby formula for the orphanage and a pair of disassembled cement mixers.

"Keep in mind we left during the Olympics," Whatcott said. "I had taken these apart and divided them up and put them into several bags. The security people opened them up and said, "What is this?" When I told them they were cement mixers for an orphanage in Haiti, they said, 'OK, go ahead.'"

Once in Haiti, Whatcott found a few more challenges than he'd expected.

Power was intermittent. Transportation was extremely limited. The party had only a tiny Mitsubishi pickup to travel in.

Everything they needed, from a wheelbarrow to a shovel and pick, had to be bought in the marketplace by negotiation.

Since Whatcott had only one week to clear huge coconut trees, dig trenches for the foundations, hollow out pits for cesspools and forge a roadway, he found it frustrating to waste precious time bartering in the market.

Even after he found materials, like sand of the right grade, he had to rent a truck and a driver to get it to the site.

He hired villagers for $2 a day to help with the hard labor. At first, they demanded $27 Haitian dollars each to clear trees but later started to offer to work for free just to have the wood.

"I felt a little guilty paying only $2 a day, but that's the going wage and I wasn't sure how much I wanted to disrupt the picture," Whatcott said. "Plus, every dime we have counts."

Whatcott is financing the orphanage project entirely with donations. He has about half of the $225,000 he originally expected he would need to build a 10,000-square-foot cinder block structure with clean running water and play space that will house up to 50 children.

He originally thought he could get the building started, leave Haitians working and then check back in June. Now he believes it'll take at least a few more trips than he planned and more money.

"I didn't plan on the fence, which will cost about $40,000. Without the fence, we can't protect our materials or allow the children to roam," he said.

In the small yard where the children now live, they can't run. There are too many of them and too little space.

He has also discovered that in addition to being subject to frequent hurricanes, Haiti has a small earthquake about every three months. The orphanage would have to be built extra sturdily or it would shake apart after a few years.

Whatcott heads back to Haiti on June 1 with a crew of 75 volunteers, including a number of Boy Scouts who will pay Haitians out of their own pockets to help them work. Whole families and several father-son crews are signing on.

"Can you imagine the teaching moments there are in something like this, a father and son working shoulder to shoulder to build an orphanage with each other?" Whatcott said.

Timothy and Terry Elmer of Lehi are taking their family of teenagers when Whatcott goes back, spending almost $8,000 for the chance to go and lay cinder block. They're also taking along "tons of supplies" for the orphanage, gathered from several LDS wards in Lehi.

"I hope it'll teach them gratitude for what they have," said Terry Elmer. "I think it'll teach them it's good to serve."

Whatcott isn't discouraged at the enormity of the task he's taken on, just a little overwhelmed.

He believes he's doing everything with God's blessing and help.

He's also in good health and feeling revitalized by the support he's been getting from around the world since he started asking for the public's help.

In June he hopes to complete the foundations, put in the fence and start the actual building. He's considering hiring a Haitian general contractor to complete the job.

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"The pace we go and how we do this is really set by the amount of money we get," he said.

Meanwhile, the Mardys are turning away 30 to 40 children each month.


E-MAIL: haddoc@desnews.com


To reach Weston Whatcott or to contribute to the effort to build an orphanage in Haiti, write to West Sands Adoption, 461 E. 2780 North, Provo, UT 84604, e-mail westsand@redrock.net, or call is 801-377-4379.

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