NOTE: This post is from August 2009 and was added to bridge the gap between the previous blogs.
Greetings to all our ‘friends of HATS’. Again this month the HATS Update is coming to you from Canada. Karen is extremely thankful for the availability of good medical help in Canada, and for how well her doctor has taken care of her during this illness. X-rays were redone this week and some blood work as well. The results are in and Karen’s doctor is okay with her heading back home Tuesday, Aug 25th. O happy day! Karen is very thankful, too, for all the help and support of her family and friends during this time. She has been able to get lots of necessary rest and has been greatly blessed with tasty and nutritional food. She has gained a necessary 12 pounds (was 93 lbs when arrived in Canada) while really enjoying the delicious food. She will miss it when she leaves. Having time with her two daughters and grandchildren has meant a great deal to her.
Luckner, like Karen, has many hats to wear. He is the assistant director of HATS and he takes his work obligations seriously. During this period of illness and recuperation, while Karen is away from Haiti, he is keeping things going beautifully. He continues to cover for Karen and at the same time is handling all the work necessary for the HATS school to reopen. Too, he is doing necessary repairs to our plumbing and electrical system at the mission. He is always willing to work hard undertaking anything that needs doing.
We have good news to report about our school. In the Haitian school system all students in grade 6, grade 9, and in Rheto and Philo (the last two years of school) are required to pass a government exam. The results of the exams, written in June, were released two weeks ago. Many students every year do not pass and need to do these grades at least twice. This year the percentage of students throughout Haiti who passed the grade six exams was extremely low. The HATS school, however, had 100 percent of our grade six students pass. Karen, and the HATS board, is extremely thankful to Luckner for the good job he has been doing with the school. Karen is missing time this summer with the HATS children and with her special little guy Ti Luckner. She, however, has been assured by Luckner that the children are doing well. No doubt they are ready to return to school next month.
HATS is happy to report that we now have someone, Karen’s cousin Jim from Lytton, BC, on board to take care of the website and other internet services. Thank you, Jim, for taking on this important job. We continue to thank God for the funds towards a vehicle for HATS. Since being in Canada Karen has received more funds towards this very necessary project. At this point we think we will need another $1000 – $2000 more to be able to make a purchase. We will not, of course, know definitely until we can go to a couple of dealerships in PaP. Again, thank you so very much to all who have donated to this. May you be blessed as you are being a blessing to everyone connected with HATS-Haiti and to many others in our community.
Fundraising is underway for the construction project of housing for support missionary staff to assist Karen and Luckner with the heavy workload. This work is planned to go ahead in January 2010 by a group from Canada and in February by a group from Texas. Anyone interested in donating to this very important construction project, or in joining a workteam coming to Haiti, can contact the chairman of the HATS board – Gerry Rhyno, or Karen and Luckner.
~Karen
