She is only ten-years-old but already she has lived a lifetime of tragedy. Orphaned, she became a child slave on the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti and at five tried to take her own life by drinking Clorox.

Through the power of prayer and the aid of a medical clinic at the Eden Garden Orphanage, near Port-au-Prince, she survived and is now safe, being educated and fed. But Isnalan's story which can been seen on video footage at www.royalgazette.com is one that's told far too often in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one that Bermudian Phillip Rego has set his heart on changing.

The 50-year-old father of two grown-up children sold his landscaping company, Ideal Homes and Gardens Ltd., in March and started out on a new career — changing the lives of children.

He said: "Timing is everything. My business was doing extremely well. It wasn't about me not making money. I was making very good money. I was contacted last year and it was just a thought in my head. I thought I am going 50 this year and it's a good opportunity to make a change. I was always a person who would help people, but I never thought it would be this major."

Mr. Rego's life changed after meeting Charles Le Morzellec, who founded and runs the Eden Garden Orphanage with his wife Gigi, about 50 miles outside Port-au-Prince.

With his business sold, he jumped at the opportunity to help and flew down to Haiti in September to aid with what he thought would be feeding 60 orphans. That support snowballed as he found himself 'adopted' by the children at the orphange, including Isnalan and a 14-year-old boy Donny who never knew his parents.

After three trips, Mr. Rego's fund-raising has helped put a roof on the medical clinic at the orphanage and doubled the teachers' salaries. He is also in the process of adopting ten-year-old girl Guinese.

But helping the children in Haiti is not enough. Now his family has cancelled their Christmas ski vacation and will be leaving tomorrow for a two-and-a-half week trip to Peru where they will volunteer at an orphanage for girls.

His family wife Maria, daughter Ashley, son-in-law Florin and son Adam plus Bermudian Monica Pitt already have their projects planned for Peru.

These include putting a roof on one of the dorms, shopping for presents and delivering baskets of goods to the community.

Mr. Rego added: "The girls have been thrown to the streets and nobody wants them. I am raising $8,000 for them now because the need a dormitory."

And he won't stop there. In March, Mr. Rego plans to go to Kenya for another project helping children and he hopes to have almost $28,000 saved for the project.

* To contact Mr. Rego, people can email him at feedmylambsministry@gmail.com or call him on 535-8934 or at visit his website www.feedmylambministry.org or you donate directly to the charity's Bank of Bermuda account: 010305498012.