Greetings from Hands Across the Sea – Haiti.

Luckner, teachers, and everyone working with the mission, are doing everything they can in a continuing very difficult situation in Haiti to take care of our children and to continue to educate our school students.

Our students continue to attend school daily where they continue to learn academically as well as receive nourishment for their bodies. Both are important. For safety reasons our school continues to close a little earlier than is normal so all can return home safely.

This school year has been marred by the presence of a gang in our area which has caused an immense amount of fear and stress on everyone. It has caused a couple of periods of not being able to open the school for some days. Our school IMKH, however, has been open and teaching the students every day possible. Luckner and the teachers have been, and are, continuing to work diligently towards seeing our students complete this school year.

I hope those of you who are sponsoring a student will be able to understand that we will not be able to supply individual photos and letters from your student(s). We used to do this before the situation in Haiti deteriorated greatly by gangs kidnapping, gang raping women and children, and killing at random. Our school, however, is doing everything possible to continue to educate the students and to keep them safe. We will do our best to get a few photos of our school students generally to post. The most important part of your student sponsorship is knowing your students are continuing to be taught. Thank you Director Luckner Estimable for continuing to make this such a high priority.

For safety reasons our HATS-Haiti children from our Boys’ Home and from our Girls’ Home are still unable to live on our Mission compound. They, however, are safe and they are well, thanks to your prayers and to Director Luckner. We believe that the day will come when they will be able to return to their home at HATS to live as they did before the gang members entered our area.

A vehicle, driven by someone Luckner has hired, picks up the HATS children from where they are presently staying and drives them to our school. It arrives back at the school in the afternoon and returns them safely back to the other place.

Thank you so very much to all of you who have been praying for the safety of Luckner and the children. They have been kept safe during very scary and extremely difficult situations around them. While speaking of educating our school students I would like to put the spotlight on three people who have worked diligently for years by collecting and washing recyclable bottles to raise funds to cover the cost of educating some students in Haiti – Bev Chappelle, who started Education Haiti with her husband John in the Dartmouth-Halifax area, and continued after John’s death, and Dickie MacDonald, who has collected in the Yarmouth, area. Collecting 5 or 10 cent bottles may at first seem not to be impactful, but Bev, John and Dickie have been able to raise a lot of money over the years (tens of thousands of dollars) for the students who wanted to attend our school for an education. Thank you to Bev and Dickie, and for all that John had done, for all your dedication and work to send funds to HATS-Haiti to help change the lives of many students who wished for, and certainly deserved, an education. Thank You!!!

Proverbs 3:27 “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.”

Proverbs 11:25 “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”

Thank you so very much for your continued prayer support for Luckner and our HATS children. Thank you too for your continued individual sponsoring of students for an education. Thank you to everyone who has donated bottles in the past, and to those who continue to do so to help educate students. You all have played, and are playing, a part in seeing students move forward at our school, IMKH.

May God richly bless all of you as you have blessed many.

Love, Karen