HATS School IMKH Year Ends & Begins Anew

July 28, 2015 Posted by Karen Huxter

School finished late June with the report cards being picked up on the 26th. The school year for 2014-2015 was finished.

One week following this the work for the school year 2015-2016 was started. Luckner started doing school registrations for September. Every student wishing to attend IMKH must register for the appropriate year. Attending the school last year or other years does not mean automatic acceptance. If someone wishes to attend our school the parent or student (if secondary) must come register. First come, first served.

School registration

Standing outside the school office and crying the blues when classes are full does not help. Pushing and shoving to get a place in line for registration does not help as was evident this year when Luckner put all parents outside the office and shut the door. He refused to do registrations again for several hours until they could see their previous behaviour and they decided to do something about it.

Registering for school in an orderly manner

Room full and porch full

Running a school is a lot of work. Running a good school is a lot more work. Keeping tabs on students, parents, results of exams from the year just finished, registrations for coming year, preparing lists for books with the cost of schooling for parents, purchasing uniform fabric, cutting it all up and preparing it to be picked up by parents is all huge jobs.

Work on fabric for uniforms happens in both yards HATS and Luckner’s

Luckner’s boys helping with school uniform fabric

Helping to carry cut up uniform fabric to the school

Picking up school uniform fabric

Then there is the collecting of and going through textbooks, repairing some, junking many, and trying to teach the parents to have patience and consideration for others in line are a few very necessary things we have to do to prepare for the academic part of the next school year. Then there is the preparing of each classroom again, seeing that there are enough classrooms, enough desks, doing plumbing repairs, necessary changes to plumbing including water for the students, etc. etc. All of this folks with two people – Luckner and Karen – who are already overloaded with other work.

Recently Luckner held a meeting in our church building to inform the parents of some things about the coming school year they needed to hear.

heading to church building to hear what Luckner has to say

Filing in and filling the building

We agree to do it year after year as children need an education. HATS’ school IMKH is known as a very good school and we want to see many children throughout our district be able to take advantage of the education offered at HATS.

Those of you who are sponsoring one or more students – we thank you so very much. If you have not remembered to send in your sponsorship fees for September please do so promptly. The many things listed above to prepare for this school year is our responsibility. Paying your sponsorship fees to enable your child to continue with their education is your responsibility. Please let us see that both get done so the students can continue to grow in knowledge for the present and their future.

When school opens mid September things get a lot more hectic for us. By October teachers know who their students are and are on a roll with the educating of their classes. In November Liette arrives to undertake the huge task of doing a photo of every sponsored student in our school and seeing that every student writes a letter to their sponsors elsewhere. This, however, is only a small part of Liette’s work on sponsored students. She has to see that every photo and letter is downloaded, labelled, resized, and translated into English. Then she has the task of sending them all out – for seeing that every sponsor receives the photo and letter from their sponsored student(s). Along with all this she is responsible for keeping all sponsoring records up-to-date and available to those of us at HATS and those on the board of directors. As new sponsors come on board to bless a child and their family she matches the sponsor up with a student in need and adjusts the lists accordingly.

We have students waiting, hoping and praying to be sponsored for this coming school year. If you can bless a child and their family by sponsoring please get in touch with Liette at liette.hatshaiti@outlook.com or through our website. Thank you in advance.

The Canadian dollar continues to drop in value. This is extremely difficult for us as our work is done in American and Haitian dollars. The Haitian dollar also continues to drop in value which in turn has all prices here rising dramatically. This is having devastating results on the Haitian people. Hunger is increasing and more and more parents are unable to pay for their children’s education. The students definitely need the meal a day they receive at our school. The cost of sponsoring has remained the same for this school year. I, however, need to say if any of our sponsors or supporters in general can add a little something to this year’s schooling costs it would be greatly appreciated. We are struggling to make ends meet to provide a good education for the children.

I think you should also know that keeping track of and keeping good records for the students is a very difficult task in Haiti – for Liette in Canada and for us in the school office. Students have their names spelled one way on their birth certificates, usually in French, but they spell them differently, usually in Creole, when they write them or spell them for the teacher or for the office records. The teachers also write the names by what they hear the student say so their list again is different. Too, often the person doing the registering do not know the accurate spelling of the students’ names.

Taking all this into consideration I think Liette Wilson deserves a medal for the awesome job she has been doing for the past several years. Perhaps when you see her or need to get in touch with her about your student for some reason, you could thank her yourself.

The children need an education. The children deserve an education.

I T I S A L L A B O U T T H E C H I L D R E N

~Karen

About Karen Huxter

Karen Huxter, the founder and Director of Hands Across the Sea, was born in Springdale, Newfoundland and is proud of her Newfie roots and heritage. She lived in various places across Canada such as Quebec, the Yukon, Ontario, Alberta and BC before moving to Haiti in 1995. In her professional career, Karen worked in teaching, banking and administration and did extensive volunteer work with community groups and charities. A mother of two grown daughters, one young adopted son and seven grandchildren, Karen is energetic and passionate about the work in Haiti. She loves each of the children and has a heart of compassion for children, women and families in the country of Haiti.

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Testimonials

A huge thank you to aunt Karen, who always seems to be doing something with her children and the HATS mission. The only time she takes for herself is long enough to spread some almond butter on a banana that she eats on the run. Thank you so much for all your hard work and unwavering dedication. Thank you for being an inspiration to me and so many others. We love you and our Haitian family very much. The longer I spend at HATS, the bigger piece of my heart remains. Take care of yourself and our kiddies until we see each other again.

Jocelyn Barnes
HATS Visitor
It’s my hope that I manage to touch their hearts in some small way, the way that they have touched mine – in a major way.

Cherie MacDonald
HATS Visitor
The time has passed so quickly. We know what we’ve done this week is important and makes a difference here at Hands Across the Sea. But it’s easy in Haiti to feel that anything we do here is simply a drop in the ocean. So much need on so many different levels: political, organizational, educational, social, spiritual…But we remind ourselves that each individual life is of infinite value so changing the life of one child and one family is worth the effort.

Liette Wilson
HATS Visitor, Supporter & Board Member
I am so thankful to Jesus for the opportunity to serve at HATS and to finally experience the great work that God is doing there. I look forward to seeing them all again when I visit next time.

Nancy Goodwin
HATS Visitor
I spent a week in Haiti at HATS in November 2017 and it was a wonderful experience. Karen is an amazing woman and is doing amazing work. She is dedicated to the children in her care and is changing lives. I would love the opportunity to visit again and help out where I can.

Sandy Eastly
HATS Visitor
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
After years of thinking about it and months of planning for it, it seems strange that our time in Haiti is over. We have been asked by a few if it was like we expected. Well, no. I’m not sure what we expected, but our minds could not have fathomed what we have experienced, and we can hardly believe that our 3 month stay has come to an end. HATS really became home away from home for us. We knew we would enjoy getting to know and spending time with the kids but we had no idea how difficult it would be to leave them. They sneak in and steal your heart without you even knowing it. We have left a piece of our hearts in Haiti and can’t wait for the day when we can return.

Mike & Nicki White
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
It’s going to be impossible to put my thoughts into words about this experience, so I’d say this – if you can get here – do. I think most people probably think they’re coming to help others. To some extent, that’s true (at least this temporary blogger thought so). To a larger extent, you’ll leave Haiti a better person than when you arrived. Nelson Mandela once said something like “Everywhere I go, I wear you”. It means that none of us is our own person entirely. Rather, we’re the culmination of the people and experiences we have had. I leave Haiti wearing 16 HATS children, 10(ish) Haitian staff members, a Calgarian, 2 Winnipegian’s, and a Newfie. And I couldn’t be happier about it. Until we meet again my friends.

Rick
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