Goats, Painting, Roosters, Haiti Stats

December 22, 2011 Posted by Dana Kayal

Roosters. Contrary to popular belief Roosters don’t just crow at dawn, unless dawn is from 11pm to 8am. You know how in a movie one dog will bark and then all the other dogs in the city chime in and it’s utter chaos? Roosters are just like that, except they do it in the dead of night! It’s very interesting that laying in bed I pick out the different ‘voices’. Last night, by rough count, there were about 18 roosters involved. There’s the deep ‘cock of the walk’ COCK A DOODLE DOOO, there’s the ‘higher pitched adolescent’ cock a doodle doo and even the chain smoking grandfather ‘Cock a ack doodle ac d’. Every time he starts I lay in bed totally cracking up cause he actually sounds frustrated that he can’t finish it without his ‘voice’ cracking. Since I can’t sleep I may as well be amused!

Kabrit (Goat) Update. So far 30 have been delivered to HATS compound and 23 have gone home with their new families. We’re expecting more on Friday. We need another 17 goats to come and go before I leave on Monday since it will be too much for Mom to do without me here.

It’s not so much the handing out of papers, it’s the moving them around, the feeding, the watering, getting their horns freed from the fence, keeping the kids out of the area. The goats spend a few hours during the day at the school field where there is lots of vegetation and then back to the side of the house for safety, water, etc. Today was the first day I wasn’t involved in the moving of the goats and left it to the kids. When I ventured out late this evening to make sure they all had water I discovered that 3 of the 7 weren’t asleep. That’s weird! Then I realized that 3 of the ones delivered today had ropes too short (this is new!) to allow them to lay down once tied to the fence and 1 wasn’t tied on at all (if we don’t tie them on they eat mom’s garden). So there I was in the mosquito infested dark with some wire that was on my painting tarp (can’t find any rope) trudging through the goat poop to fix up my poor babies. Two peed immediately upon my fixing their ropes (they couldn’t get into squat position with the short rope) and they all immediately started eating since their heads could now touch the ground. Goats take up about 3-4 hours of my day and mom doesn’t have 10 extra minutes!
Okay, after that rambling missive about housing the goats… after we get them, then we need to find the families the goats are going to. It’s not like you can just pick up the phone and call them! You need to ‘send word’ through people who know people (that is Luckners job) and then hope they show up quickly although they won’t own a vehicle so will grab a tap tap to come pick up their goats. Coming home from Market today, sitting in the back of the truck of course, I hear this extremely load goat crying (I finally know the difference between children and goats) and realize it’s a whole bunch of goats tied onto the side of a tap tap. They’re dangling by their ankles and every time the tap tap goes over a ‘Police Kouche’ the goats would get jarred and start crying. Police Kouche is a sleeping policeman, which is actually a speed bump.
Once the people come we get their name, take a photo, rename the photo with the receivers name, match that to a gifters name and then email the photos. The first goat photo emails for goats requested up to Dec 13th are being emailed out Thursday. The rest will follow as soon as we can source the goats.

Goats on a tap tap

Paint Update. Despite popular expectation from those of you reading the blog… I haven’t been fired. I guess when you’re desperate for good help you take what you can get! Jessie doesn’t come back for 3 weeks so in the meantime I’m all mom has. I need to redeem myself after my painting fiasco’s, so I hope to have at least 6 benches done before I go! I painted a lovely bench today. Here is my one complete bench. I better step up the action!!

One bench done

Stats about Haiti.

The country of Haiti is on an Island in the Caribbean called Hispaniola. It’s south of East Miami, and just to the east of Cube and Jamaica
The island was claimed by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and became the base for the conquest of the Caribbean
In the 1700’s the French formed a plantation colony in the West. The French plantation owners brought in slaves from Africa and in 1804 the slaves revolted, the French fled, and the country became Haiti
The remaining 2/3 of the island is known as the Dominican Republic. The Haiti side has no tourism like the DR has. The DR side of the island is still Spanish
Haiti has a very small, very wealthy elite. They have walled residences along the water and large plantations. Haiti also a very large very poor majority population
Haiti is about the size of 2/3 of Vancouver Island or 2x the size of PEI. There are 10 Million people here and it is considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Haiti has been ruled by Dictators for years, which is one reason the country is in such bad shape
The main language spoken is Kreyol (Creole) although the language of official documents and the language spoken at University is French. The slaves learned the language phonetically and mixed the French in with some Africans and Spanish, so Kreyol is shorter and more efficient than French. Sil vous plait is soupla. Sou Play. Merci Beaucoup is Mesi bokou (or Mesi anpil). I can cobble together a sentence in French although often it’s understood only by the older children who learn French at school.

After that little history lesson I’m going to end this blog with some random photos!

Judel, Jared’s little buddy

Mirlande with her favorite goat

Vladimy & Ronel catching thrown food

Karena with backpack

~Dana

About Dana Kayal

Dana Kayal has been supporting the work of HATS since 2000. A successful entrepreneur, Dana regularly promotes the organization and raises funds for Hands Across the Sea in her role as a Director with Epicure. Dana lives in Kelowna, BC with her three children and her chickens.

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Testimonials

Personally, this is my first time here. I’ve never done a mission trip of any sort before and I’ve certainly never been anywhere this hot before. I keep seeing things that are different from what I’m used to, and hearing about things even more unfamiliar to me. One of the most surprising things to meis how quickly I’ve grown to love all the people here. Everyone here is great, and the team is wonderful too. Watching everyone support each other warms my heart almost as much as the sun warms my skin. I’ve learned a lot from this experience, and I know that this trip has already had a profound impact on my life.

Matthew Sketchley
HATS Visitor
Culture shock for this Canadian team at first, but a ride through busy, vibrant streets proved terrifically interesting; busy markets, vendors selling exotic fruits, clothing and shoes, used tires and rusty metal… and then the gorgeous countryside: banana plants, mangoes, cows and goats and pigs and dogs, the Golfe de La Gonave by our side. Rice patties indicated we were close to our home for the next week. We were greeted by Magalie, a house mother, with hugs for all and, of course, the children themselves, so gorgeous and endearing. A beautiful meal was followed by a sharing of impressions: there is a lot of poverty but so much potential and hope. We are already in love with Haiti.

Team Canada
HATS Visitors
I have learned much about Haiti in my short stay here, much about generational, entrenched poverty, and much about hope. We can only be part of the bringing of hope if we become one small actor on the huge stage that is poverty. Thank you, Lynn Clark, for inviting me to share this life changing experience with you, and thank-you, Karen Huxter, for investing so much of your life in a work designed to bring hope to those who need it more than any Canadian could ever imagine.

Linda
HATS Visitor
They call Karen “the helicopter ” and after spending three days by her side I know why. She propels through life!!! If you want to get on the ride you better start running. It is an amazing work that the Lord is doing here through so many many dedicated workers…literally hundreds of children impacted every day with the love of Christ…but the task to do so is enormous. The dedication of staff is invaluable…they NEED US ALL!!

Barbara & Louis
HATS Visitors
This is my first time traveling outside of Canada and I am proud to say it was for a mission trip. I have always wanted to go on one and see what it like in other parts of the world and do what I can to help out. Haiti is a terminus life change for me and how I look at things. Seeing these kids and how they have such a passion for each other and for us is truly inspiring. I look back to what I was like at that age and I don’t think I was half as kind or generous as they are. This morning we did devotions and as I was speaking about what an impact they had on me only in one day I started to tear up…it was very emotional to talk about.

Isaiah Henderson
HATS Visitor
I have absolutely loved the Haitian people and Haiti the three times I have been there. I go to bless them, only to be blessed myself!

Yvette Calderwood
HATS Visitor
We’ve made a difference, I believe. Big stuff, little stuff; it all contributed to the greater good and that big picture: keeping HATS a surviving and thriving, safe haven for the children of Deschapelles, Haiti. And oh my, what children they are. As expected, it was tough to leave. There were tears, whispers, hugs and I’ll miss you’s. I learned that it gets easier (only a bit) for those who’ve done this a few times. As Bob says “I’m part of the furniture now. I don’t say ‘goodbye’, I say ‘see you later’.” Maybe that’s how you cope with leaving…you return. Once, five times, 10 times. However many. Guaranteed you’ll leave a different person than when you came in.

Aimee Feaver
HATS Visitor
One thing that has impacted me on this trip is seeing the children and all the dedication in this orphanage. There is so much going on behind the scenes to keep the HATS orphanage and school running.

Donna Wheeler
HATS Visitor
This week has been amazing – one of the best weeks of my life thus far, hands down. I can’t really think of any other experience in my life that can even come close to comparing to this. Though my visit here was short (too short), it has been incredibly eye-opening, and life changing. I will never forget the people I have met here, or the things I’ve gotten to experience! Most of all, I would like to say how remarkable it is to see first-hand the amazing work God is doing here. I am behind this ministry 100%, and will continue to support it. I am so, so blessed to have been given the opportunity to come here, and I am REALLY not looking forward to saying goodbye to the children tonight. My heart sinks just thinking about it. There’s no doubt that they’ve had a bigger impact on my life than I’ve had on theirs. I will be leaving a big piece of my heart with these people and this country. God bless.

Jess Buckle
HATS Visitor
This is my first trip to Haiti and I’m hoping that it will not be my last! I could start by telling you all about my experiences however I’ll start by saying that Haiti DOES hit you in your heart! Not a day goes by when I’m not fighting back tears. Hands Across the Sea is an amazing place! Our team has been assembled of different men that all who all felt God calling them to do his bidding. Since I have been here I was quick to realize that we are just helpers here. Karen and her team of workers are, what I believe to be, the real workers of God! Each child presents their own challenges and Karen and her staff make sure that all of the children, not one child, are seen to!

Bernie Melanson
HATS Visitor