Haiti certainly is troubled. What a horrible year 2010 has been thus far, and more trouble is on the horizon with the ‘non election’ results due out today and the cholera numbers rising dramatically.

I say ‘non election’ because what happened on Sunday November 28th was certainly something that should not be called an election. Whatever results they give today are ‘not’ the results of an election. It will be the result of a totally corrupt way to put a party in place in Haiti – by using threats, physical abuse, fear tactics, buying votes with money and guns, and placing their own party members inside the polling stations to mark all ballots for their person of choice. Polling stations were supposedly open from 6:00 to 4:00. Many closed at 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 because all ballots had been marked by party people and the boxes stuffed full. People who wanted to vote were turned away because all ballots had been used or scared away with threats of injury or death. And this is supposed to be a democratic country now. Yeah, right. Many Haitians will tell you that things were much better when they had dictatorship, because at least then they knew it was dictatorship.

The results were supposed to be released after midnight last night. They have not yet been officially released. Many people think it is because they are afraid to do so fearing the results of the actions of the Haitians who are not going to be willing to accept it. The country is at a standstill in reality and has been since the non election. Schools have been closed along with many businesses. People do not know what to do, where to turn, or where they will be really safe. Demonstrations were plentiful at first – most of them orderly – to say the non election must be accepted as such and another date chosen for a real election that would be done properly. Then warnings came from the government that anyone demonstrating – peacefully or otherwise – would be arrested. Two days ago a number of candidates for President and their followers tried to hold a peaceful demonstration in Port au Prince to show they still do not agree, but they were fired upon, tear gassed and had rocks thrown at them by Haitian Police and UN members.

The government (such as it is at this time) may threaten the people to not demonstrate but when those results come out today I think there will be lots of demonstrating and I fear not all peacefully. The people tried to make themselves heard but now they are feeling desperate. Desperate people often take desperate measures. I am not Haitian. I, however, understand where the people are coming from and why they are feeling the way they are.

While on the topic of Haiti generally I must also again touch on the seriousness of the Cholera epidemic. It has, as feared, swept the country. It keeps getting worse. To date almost 100,000 people have been hospitalized with it. The recorded deaths are approx 2,500 but thousands of others are dead who did not make it to a hospital. Thus their illness and deaths are unrecorded. Medical help continues to come from various countries. I still believe that medical help and vaccine are both needed. Again I say thank you for the vaccine that came to this mission last month, and to all in Canada who donated towards it. Due to the kindness of those people more vaccine will arrive next month when my family members arrive to help.

Now to the mission itself. The construction/reconstruction work on site continues. Most of it, at this time, on Kay Timbrmart – our new Children’s Home.

To continue the work on the house we needed another load of cement and when the truck arrived it was too long to enter the compound. All 400 sacks of cement had to be unloaded on the road outside and brought into the storage depot.

Too, before the cement roof could be poured the HATS electrician needed to do the wiring up there. He had his apprentice JJ learning and helping. Note in the photo the electrician has a breathing mask pushed up on his head. Why? Because he was doing his electrical job and his plumbing job at the same time.

Luckner was repairing a broken/clogged sewer line from the Kid’s Home and running a new sewer line throughout the compound from the Administration Building/Director’s quarters, while doing the electrical work as well. Is Luckner – two for the price of one? Not really. He is 5-6 for the price of one. And HATS is extremely thankful to have him on board.

Yesterday the cement roof of Kay Timbrmart was poured. There were 31 men on site working and working hard, I might add. Some stood on a ladder for several hours passing buckets of heavy cement to the person higher than they were. Up went the full cement buckets. Now we wait 12 – 15 days for that to be dry before the wood can be removed.

This week was hair cut week for the boys and so happy they were about it. They love to have very little hair – much easier on the boys and the ladies who take care of them.

Karena and Jofky, my two youngest, decided yesterday morning they were too hungry to wait for the other children to arrive to eat. They are so cute and just love to have time with their mama, often crying if I pick up one and not the other. My arms hurt a lot holding them both but I love it as much as they do.

Yesterday I had to keep the children confined to their house for some time to allow all the workers involved in the roof pouring to do their jobs. The kids entertained themselves with a game of horsey riding.

Recently I went outside to see my little Ti Luckner thoroughly enjoying time with his Papa, Gwo Luckner, and could not resist a photo. They not only look good together, they enjoy time together.

Thank you again for your support of prayer, encouragement and financial help. I am here, but in many ways so are you. It takes a strong team to do a good job. Teamwork is essential to touch the lives of the needy children. On behalf of all the people in Haiti whose lives are being touched by the HATS-Haiti Mission I say a tremendous thank you for being part of this team.

PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT WE DID, OR WHAT WE SAID, BUT THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW WE MADE THEM FEEL. LET’S CONTINUE TO MAKE PEOPLE FEEL HOPEFUL, ENCOURAGED, AND LOVED.

God bless you all.

~Karen