NOTE: This post is from October 2007 and was added to bridge the gap between the previous blogs.
Greetings to all our faithful supporters from those of us at the HATS-Haiti mission.
Thank you so very much for standing with us, Karen and Luckner, through thick and thin, through persecution, and the fiery trials and storms that assail us, as we endeavour to run this mission in a manner pleasing to God. The enemy would like to see us give up our stand for righteousness, and walking in integrity, but we are determined to stand, to persevere, and to continue to run the race. We believe that in the end we will hear “well done good and faithful servants”.
A letter was written by us ” plainte” to the Justice System in Verrettes telling of the plan that we had uncovered: that a group were printing tracks to blacken Karen’s name, planning to manifest (demonstrate) outside of the HATS mission to try and make Karen leave, and failing that, to kidnap her. This ‘plainte’ was taken very seriously by a judge and was signed by him. Copies of it were put up outside the compound. When the group in question saw that we knew of their plan, and the legal steps we had taken, they decided to lay low/hide, at least for now. Too, they would have been deterred by seeing the police, and judge in the area doing an investigation into this.
The group behind this persecution are disgruntled former employees, friends and family members: people who are not in favour of the stand that HATS has taken to operate in righteousness, and accept nothing less from its employees and children. They think that if Karen leaves another group, with more money, will take over and those who lost their jobs will return to work, along with their friends. It is extremely difficult for ‘blan’ to know or understand the mindset of some of the Haitian people unless you live with them for an extended time. People who have lived/worked in Haiti will understand that coming here short term and passing out money is the worse thing visitors can do. This can start people doing unacceptable things in hopes of finding more of it.
The situation, caused by this disgruntled group, has cost us not only emotionally but also financially. In Haiti anytime you need to deal with anything legally, or need the services of the police, it costs. We, however, had no choice. Some important truths of the plan have been uncovered.
We were hit with another problem, before this present one, and that one is still not resolved. On the first day of school someone abandoned a ‘special needs’ child at our school. They put the girl in a school uniform, sat her outside the classrooms and left. We had no choice but bring her from the school compound unto this one. Luckner immediately started trying to find out who she belonged to. Well, it is now four weeks and two different women have been in jail for a couple of days over this matter, but she is still here. She cannot stay here at HATS as we do not have sufficient employees to take care of her. Cecile cannot take care of this child and the others as well. We would have to hire someone to take care of her and we are unable to do this. The justice system in this area are dragging their feet on this matter, hoping we will keep her and they won’t have to do their jobs. This has cost HATS a lot of money in legal fees, etc. and a lot of stress. We have found out that those who did this, did it, in the hopes of getting money for themselves from HATS. They thought that when the justice system arrested people over this abandonment, and put them in prison, they could then accuse HATS of putting them there, and ask for retribution funds. And that is exactly what they have been trying to do. It, however, is not working at all as they had hoped.
Too, this problem, with the abandoned girl, has caused a lot of extra work for us both, for Luckner outside the compound and for Karen inside. Karen had, “Ti Fi” (young girl), as we call her, living in her home, with her and Alex, for eight days until Karen absolutely could not keep her any longer. While Ti Fi was staying at the director’s house, Karen had to sleep on the floor close by, to keep an eye on her. Needless to say Karen slept very little. Ti Fi is approx six- years-old and Karen had to carry her and lift her often. Luckner saw the need, one Friday, for her to return to the children’s home and said so. If she had stayed with Karen one more day it would have reached the stage of ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’. As it was, the day after she left Karen ‘hit the wall’ physically and could not do a thing.
We care about this girl and want to see her properly cared for. We, however, cannot keep her here and we are looking for the mother. We are willing to help the mother care for her daughter, if we can find her. This girl needs more help than we are capable of giving her onsite.
Please pray that this very difficult situation can be resolved quickly. That the girl can be placed in a good home, hopefully with family, without more stress at HATS.
Someone recently wrote and asked Karen if she plans to work at HATS until she dies. Her response, “If that is God’s will for her life, then she will do so.” She, however, would like to let her supporters know that her staying on here indefinitely is not easy at all. She is certainly not here for herself. She is not here for any reason other than “for the children”. If she did not feel called to do what she is doing, she would have returned to the comfortable life in Canada long ago. Karen finds it lonely here. She is here without any family member and without friends in the area. When the employees leave she is in her house every evening, and on the weekends, with just Alex, and far too much work to get done always. Karen misses her wonderful loving, and fun filled, family members a great deal. She does not have anyone here to talk with, walk with, laugh with and/or pray with. She is alone!
Karen does not really have ‘a life’ in Haiti. She ‘exists’ here. To her ‘existance’ and ‘living’ are different. She has been outside the compound only three times in the past two months – to go to the bank in St. Marc. This is not what she would call ‘living’. She feels like someone has placed her inside a small fish tank, gold fish bowl, and put a lid on it. She ‘exists’ inside this tank due to necessity, day after day, only by the grace and strength of Almighty God. ‘Life’ is what she experiences when she is in Canada with loved ones and freedom. She desires more time in Canada but she can’t be two places at once.
It is impossible for Karen to keep up with the administrative work load of HATS. She has been, since Theresa left, doing far too much, far too late every evening, and weekends, to try and keep things going. Again, we ask for your understanding and patience if you do not receive a response to an e-mail, or a thank you for your loving kindness to us. We love and appreciate you all but the work load is too heavy, and we can’t always get in touch. Help is needed.
This year, as you know, Luckner is the director of our school, as well as doing his usual fantastic job as assistant director of HATS. His work load, as well, is too heavy and he continues to put his life on the line for this mission. He always has someone upset with him due to his work at HATS. In this country when one is not happy with someone, that someone needs to ‘watch their back’. Luckner’s life has changed dramatically since he joined HATS especially in the area of being in danger. He, however, is willing to continue to stand up with Karen, against the enemy, and for the children.
Luckner is doing a great job with the school. It is great to see the students, in their uniforms, happily coming every morning to start devotions at 7:30. They are receiving a meal every Tuesday and Thursday, for which they, and their families, are extremely thankful. To all of you who support HATS and the children we say a huge thank you.
Empty tummies soon to be filled
Bees anyone?? Karen calls this “the bugman”. He did a good job of removing what seemed like thousands of bees, and honey, from an area outside on the second floor of the director’s house/offices. They had started to take over the yard. What you see on the outside of the bucket is bees and there are many more inside.
This is still rainy season and we are getting lots of rain. We had to put several truck loads of gravel and rocks on the school grounds as it was too wet for students or teachers. Our children, however, are not deterred by it at all. They love to get their clothes off and play in it. Alex, too, enjoys the rain now.
Some of you have shown concern for Karen and also questioned the future of HATS after Karen. Karen has been very concerned about that herself for a long time. She has been diligently praying for, and seeking, a group/denomination to take HATS into partnership with them. There has been some interest shown by a denomination in Canada and some dialogue has happened. We want you to know that the future/longevity of HATS is a big concern of ours and we are working on this. Anyone interested in this mission, please get in touch with Karen.
On the last update we mentioned the walker/gait trainer we wanted for Alex so he could learn to walk. Thanks to Education Haiti it is enroute. It, most likely, is sitting in customs here. There has been corruption problems there with a clean-up being done and many things are being held up. We are so very anxious to get it here and see Alex start using it. Hopefully a photo with it will be in the next update.
“Remember one person’s life being changed is more important than all the material things the world has to offer.”
Working together we can change the lives of the children. For HATS “It is all about the children”.
~Karen
