Sept 08 - Rice Field or Lake?

Many of you are wondering how we are and how things are in Haiti. I, Karen, thought perhaps I should do a short update. Luckner and I always do them together. This one, however, is from the perspective of a 'blan'.

As I see it, things in Haiti are not good. The devastation caused by Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hannah and then last Sunday, Ike, has wrecked havoc. The one word I can use is "disaster."

Areas all throughout Haiti have been hit recently, some harder than others. One devasted area, about 1 1/2 hour drive from us, is Gonaives. Gonaives is totally under flood water again this year. One hundred and ten thousand people have been, and many still are, stranded. Anyone who has a flat roof have been, or still are, on their roof tops without food or water. The only way in or out of that city is still by hellicopter. UN hellicopters are flying over our compound several times every day enroute to Gonaives. They are taking food and potable water to people and bringing people out to our area, to Verrettes especially (10 minutes away). The TV and radio stations, along with the Red Cross, have been begging for donations of medicines, potable water, sardines, crackers - things that can be eaten immediately, as there is no way for anything to be cooked in that area.

There was a lot of flooding in our area of crops - rice, corn, sweet potatoes, almost everything planted has been lost. Many yards and houses were flooded, but we were spared the catastrophe of other areas. Luckner rents gardens and plants crops all year long. He never sells anything he plants, i.e. rice, beans, sweet potatoes, etc, instead he gives food to many people in this area, which includes some of our HATS employees and often he helps feed the children here at the orphanage. Luckner's four planted gardens were flooded. Another employee had a garden planted, for her family, which was also flooded. We have had five days of sun now, and the flood water in our area is steadily going down.

A little good news given me today - some of the rice around us may be saved. If it had been just recently planted, and the flood water went down quickly, it 'might' be okay. That would be a blessing for some families. What days before were lush and green with rice had quickly become what looks like lakes.

Towns, and roads, throughout areas of Haiti have been, and many still are, flooded. Diseases caused by contanimated water are going to escalate.

Many bridges have fallen or been washed away throughout the country. Roads all over the country are still impassable due to flooding. For us in the valley there had been two routes to get to Port-au-Prince. Hurricane Hannah caused a major bridge on the main highway to collapse. There was still the very rough route over Goat Mountain for emergencies. Hurricane Ike took a bridge out on that route so now no vehicles can travel to or from PaP. This means nothing is being brought out, and that includes gas. The price of the gas, that is left in our area, has gone up and it is going to get worse. This week I borrowed funds and ran and purchased 2 drums of diesel while supplies last. We will, however, continue to operate with running the generator only 2 hours a day.

Thousands and thousands of homes have been lost. Seven thousand homes were lost in just one area of the south by Gustav. The death count continues to rise as the flood water recedes. Many government buildings, and not just in Gonaives, have been washed away. Jails have been flooded and broken.

Prices on everything has skyrocked and they will rise again. We told you in May and June about the very serious hunger situation in Haiti. People were calling it 'Chlorox' disease. Many people, who were dying of hunger, resorted to drinking Chlorox, and giving it to their children, so the end would come more quickly. People were starving before this happened. Dear God, what will happen now?

The government has announced the delay of school opening by a month, to October 6th. Many schools have been damaged. Thousands of families no longer have a house, no food, no clothes, or anything else. How can they think about school for their children?

People are hungry. People are discouraged. People are desperate. Desperate people take desperate measures.

This week I saw something that tore me up inside. Luckner and I received a call to go to a certain school to pick up a sack of wheat and a sack of corn flour to augment the food supply for our children. Apparently the Haitian government gave the name of our orphanage, and of our children, to a group that was sent to this area to dispense food. As we were driving to the alloted spot we had to drive past an extremely long line of people on the road. This was people who had already been contacted and given a card to go and receive food. People were standing, lying down, or sitting with pots or bags to receive food. I could see adults and children, people who looked ill, elderly, and also 'old' people. They looked hungry and tired. It was noon -the hottest part of the day. There were some nasty comments made about me 'blan' as we passed, that Luckner hoped I had not heard, or understood. I did hear. I did understand. I, however, had to accept why these things were said and to let it go. I was there only because I was asked to go due to the responsibility I had undertaken years ago, to take care of the children God has given me. One thing, however, Luckner and I both know, is that it would not be safe for me to be out there by myself.

I have seen many food lineups. I see hungry people whenever I leave the compound. I am approached whenever I am seen outside. But this shook me. I was looking at hunger and desperation!! I have seen a lot of painful and difficult things during my time here, but that was one of the worse. I cannot get the picture of the elderly folks, and the children, out of my head.

I found out the next day, from an employee who lives very near the school where the food distribution was taking place, that not all those waiting had received food. Some, inlcuding elderly, were left sitting there with nothing. Fights, apparently, had broken out and some people who did receive food had it taken away from them by others. They had to close the distribution early. Many people in this area are coming to the compound and asking for me. Some are telling our security they have an appointment with me, when they do not. Others are telling the truth but begging to be allowed to see me. I know they are all hoping that I have money to give them. I do not.

It is not easy to have to tell our security on duty to send people away, but I have no choice. I cannot feed, clothe, educate, and bury them all. (Yes, they sadly come for help to bury their dead, too.)

It is very difficult. I can only do so much. I cannot be all things to all people. I must focus on the job God has given me, in my little corner of Haiti. I am trying to do the best job I can, with what He provides, with my children onsite, with the school students, and with helping people in this area.

I am feeling somewhat tired. It is your support that keeps me going. Your encouraging e-mails mean a lot to me. When I read the loving support in your e-mails, it touches my heart and it may give me wet eyes, but it helps me to keep on 'keepin on' here with Jesus.

We have spent a lot of time and money this week on plumbing problems at both the boy's and girls bathrooms for the Children's Home. We are still not finished. When Dickie was here in March he said in order to find out why one of the toilets in the boys's bathroom would not flush it would have to be removed. He did not have time to do so. A month or so later one of the girl's toilets also would not flush. Both bathrooms continued to function minus these two plugged toilets. Well, this week the toilets were removed. After 3 1/2 hours of trying to release what was plugging them by a plumber, his helper, Ti Mili and myself, we dislodged a 'huge' mango pit from the girl's. A smaller mango pit, a small hotel size plastic bottle of shampoo, and a piece of hard plastic was finally removed from the boy's. Both toilets are cemented in place again to dry.

We have been losing water and found that there was a bad leak in the wall of one of the showers in the boy's bathroom. That water was soaking everything underneath and it was running under the cement walls into the girl's bathroom and into the adult bathroom. We have broken the cement walls to all showers to check things out carefully and are then going to replace the 'normal' taps with something more difficult for the children to break. Note: 'more difficult' as we know that JJ especially will break them eventually. We've decided that changes need to be made. We are considering having the bathroom doors locked, and the little children needing to go to an older child or adult for entrance. No playing or monkeying around in the bathrooms after this. Mama Karen is on the warpath.

The new sponsors for our school students, who are waiting for the name and grade of your student(s), please be patient a little longer. We are extremely thankful that we can now take more students into our program, but life has been too hectic and difficult to be able to make decisions, and contact students. With school opening delayed some of our school work has also been delayed, while we take care of other urgent matters.

To sum up this Update, Haiti has been hard hit. Hundreds of thousands of people are in trouble. Hunger is rising. Costs of everything has risen and costs will continue to rise. (Yesterday Luckner had to pay $75 per bag of cement to fix our toilets. Ouch!!)

Haiti needs your prayers. Haiti needs help. We, at HATS, are okay. We are daily thanking God, and thanking you, our supporters, for this blessing. Thank you to each and every one of you for the many forms of support we receive. Without you we absolutely could not, we absolutely cannot, do any of the necessary work here.

Aug 2008 - School, Hunger & the youngest growing stronger!

Greetings once again from all of us at the HATS-Haiti mission.

We were last in touch at the beginning of June. At that time we told you it was 'hot and humid'. Well it is much more so these days. It is almost unbearable. This is rainy and hurricane season. We hope daily for rain which helps for a couple of hours, but we hope also for a decrease in hurricanes. Hurricane Gustav has just caused tremendous problems in the southeast of Haiti. Many houses (more than 7000) have been destroyed along with bridges and crops, and 67 confirmed dead, and many more missing and presumed dead. The hurricane, prior to Gustav, also caused a lot of damage with the loss of a lot of lives in the south of Haiti.

The people of Haiti already had far more than their share of problems, i.e., serious hunger, and now with all the crops destroyed things have become a great deal worse. Where does it end?

The students in our school did well in the year end exams and were glad to be free for the summer. We are happy to report that our grade six students, who wrote the governmental exam, did extremely well, this included one of our own kids, Maladette.

For this school year we have added grade eight. This leaves us short a classroom for September so we plan to have one class (perhaps grade five) attend classes on this compound, in our multipurpose room here next to the director's house/offices.

We are very pleased that there is a plan underway for a workteam from the Yarmouth, NS area to come down in January and construct three more rooms for us - a classroom for grade eight, one for grade nine for next September, and a needed office. The construction will be done with sufficient supports and a cement roof to allow more rooms to be built on top in the future, if needed.

Our school registration is finished although there are always a few more asking to register. We will have approximately 200 students this year. We still have students who need a sponsor, so anyone out there willing to do so, please contact us. Uniform funds have been distributed to parents/guardians of our sponsored students. Some, but not all, uniforms for our own children have returned from the tailor. We will endeavour to include a photo of our kids in their new uniforms in our next update. Purchasing textbooks for all our sponsored students has taken a lot of Luckner's time. (Here, you don't walk into a nice book store and put in your order.) Much work, but not yet all, has been done on preparing them to be distributed to the students.

Thank you once again to all who have sponsored a student(s), for those who are continuing, and to our new sponsors. Most sponsors have already paid for this school year. Thank you very much for this. A reminder, however, to those who have forgotten to send in the sponsorship funds, to please do so. Thank you.

As you know last year our school students received a meal twice a week. This year we plan to feed them five days a week. Thanks to the generosity of Canadians we saw this summer, which includes Education Haiti, and to all our student sponsors, we have been able to cover the $8000 US shipping charge for the product called "Feed My Starving Children". We know that for most of the students the food they will receive daily at our school will be all they will receive that week.

Too, thanks to the Reliv Kalogris Foundation we will be continuing to daily provide all our students with the super-powered nutritional drink "Kids' Now".

Thank you very much to all who have participated in making the meals and the nutritional drinks possible for our students. This is a tremendous blessing in the lives of these children.

We, Luckner and Karen, did spend a few weeks in Eastern Canada speaking about the work of HATS, i.e. orphanage and school, in churches and at a Rotary group. We spoke at a nondenominational church, a Wesleyan church, 2 Baptist churches, 2 Salvation Army churches, and a United church. We feel the time spent was very important and valuable. A big thank you to those who gave us the opportunity to share our hearts. Thank you very much to all who helped make our trip possible. Thank you, too, for the gracious hospitality of many that made our time in Canada so very enjoyable. It is greatly appreciated by both of us.

Speaking at a Canadian church

A big thank you to Kim Robinson for coming to the mission regularly and taking care of the essential things so we could actually leave together. It appears that Kim enjoyed her time with the children and that they in turn, along with the employees, enjoyed seeing her arrive and spend some time with them.

Since our trip to Canada, there are good plans underway for workteams to come this year and undertake some projects that we were hoping to see done. There are plans for a group to come from BC on December 4th who plan to work on some swings, etc on the school grounds. As mentioned above, there are plans too for a group from Yarmouth, NS area to come in January to construct three more school rooms. Perhaps others will join them and work on the cement wall enclosure for the remaining piece of our property, at the back of the school grounds. There are plans underfoot, also, for a group to come from Springdale, Newfoundland area to perhaps start some work on a storage depot.

The children are all doing well. Their summer break is soon coming to an end.

We are glad to report that Ti Fi is doing better. She is out playing with the other children more. It is great to see JJ, Moise and Mirlande continuing to walk with her. It is especially good to some days see her stand, and even do a little walking, on her own. This is good progress.

Ti Fi standing without help

You all know that Alex is 'special needs' but we do not use that term. We

prefer to just say that Alex is 'special'. Each accomplishment of his is very exciting for us in light of Karen having been told when he was 6-months-old to get rid of him, because he would be like a vegetable all his life.

Recently Karen sent an 'Alex story' to some family members and friends and two people suggested it be included in an Update. So here goes.

Alex had some ant bites on his lower legs. One night before putting him to bed, Mama Karen put some anti-itch cream on his bites, and then laid the tube on the sofa. The next morning Karen was busy in the office and heard Germaine exclaiming over some 'dezod' (misbehaviour) Alex had done.

Mama Karen hurried to the living room and stood there, enjoying what she was seeing. Alex had taken the tube of cream off the sofa (not an easy task for him). He had then placed it on the floor and held it with one little foot and removed the cap with the other foot. He continued to hold the tube with one foot and squeeze cream out with the other foot unto the cement floor. He followed this by putting one foot into the cream on the floor and useing that foot to rub it on his opposite leg, exactly where the bites were, and where Karen had rubbed it. He then put the opposite foot into the cream on the floor and rubbed it on the bites on the opposite leg. When he saw Mama Karen watching he happily showed her what he had done all by himself. He had used a lot of the cream and was a bit of a mess, but quite proud of himself, and so was his mama.

Alex continues to progress beautifully on what seems like a daily basis. He never ceases to amaze us with his understanding of everything around him, and his responses to it all. Alex has a birthday on October 7th, and will be four. Thus he will join the other students in our preschool program next month. He cannot use his hands to write, but he can learn. He daily talks about going to school. Mama Karen wonders if perhaps he thinks that means he will be with Papa Luckner most of the time. If so, a rude awakening is in store for our little guy. (Alex sat next to Papa Luckner, in the school yard, every morning for a week when school registrations were being done. 'He went to school with Papa'.)

Alex still uses his gait trainer (walker) a lot and especially outside in the yard. He gets around the house quickly by making his little chair walk. These days he tends to proudly stand in front of his chair.

Look at me everybody!!

Josie is our cutie pitutie active two-year-old. She follows the other children, and often the workers, around the compound. She will not be three until January so she must wait to attend preschool next year.

Cutie Pitutie Josie

Tuesday night, Sept 2nd.

This Update was ready to send, yesterday Monday, Sept 1st, but it could not go out due to lack of satellite internet signal because of the weather problems caused by Hurricane Hannah off the coast of Haiti right now. Last night and today Hannah has caused a tremendous amount of water damage all throughout Haiti. Not a lot of details available at this time from all areas, but one place is not far from us. Also, according to the radio, the St. Marc area has received damage. The Gonaives area - the same area greatly damaged by Hurricane Jeanne four years ago - has been hit. That area is badly flooded again, and as of an hour ago, the water was 12 foot high. Families have been sitting, in the rain, on the roofs of houses for almost 24 hours with no food, no water, no help. The Prime Minister and entourage decided to drive from PaP to Gonaives today to assess the damage, but could not get through the flood water. Upon turning back the two government vehicles travelling together ran into problems. One vehicle was badly damaged and the chauffeur is in bad shape in St. Marc hospital awaiting transportation to a hospital in PaP. Where is the hope for the people of Haiti?

(As this is being finished the rain continues to fall. Karen is keeping a close eye here at home, on the HATS compound. The earth cannot hold more water and thus it is starting to rise. If any flooding should happen here tonight she will take the children to the second level of the director's house/offices.)

The serious hunger problem that we mentioned in our last Update has gotten worse. Due to the continued damage from the three hurricanes, it will continue to get much worse. Where is the hope for the people of Haiti?

We have spoken before of the importance of 'hope'.

Proverbs 13:12 "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life". This scripture verse is very prevalent to Haiti, and even more so all the time. Please remember to pray for Haiti and the people who are greatly suffering at this time. They need hope. As Christians, we know that our hope is in Jesus. We know, too, that God uses, and will continue to use, others to help alleviate the suffering.

We daily see children and adults who have very little hope of anything changing for them. But without 'hope' the people perish.

Thank you once again for the hope of our children, and our students and their families, due to your support of love, friendship, encouragement, prayer, and finances.

We are all on the same team for the same reason, to help the children and families in need. By continuing to work together, we 'can' make a difference.

May 08 - General update

Greetings from hot and humid Deschapelles. Once again we 'update' all the 'Friends of HATS'.

Our children continue to do well. They are now looking forward to a break from school.

One of our children, Sabine, turned 13 on May 28th.

Our five youngest wishing Sabine Happy Birthday

School is winding down for the year. The students will start their exams next week. Our Grade Six students need to write the big governmental exam. This decides whether or not they will be starting Seconday school, Grade Seven, in September.

Last month we mentioned that our students had written letters to their sponsors. The translating, which was a time consuming job, is completed. Karen was having trouble scanning them into the computer to send out via e-mail. Thus, sister Sandra to the rescue. A large envelope of letters have been hand carried to Canada and mailed to Sandra and Dickie. They will see that they are scanned and e-mailed to all of our sponsors. Thank you for your patience.

Without hope the people perish. Again, thank you to all who gave hope to our students and families this school year.

HATS mission continues to struggle financially. It is extremely difficult to run a mission without sufficient funds. The Haitian electrical power, EDH, is non-existant in our area these days. We must depend on our generator but, due to gas shortage, cannot use it very much, often only a couple hours a night.

This, of course, has a triple effect and causes other problems. Karen's administrative work requires a lot of computer time. No generator - no computer. Too, no generator - no freezer or refrigerator. Last weekend meat had to be thrown out and the rest used for the children immediately.

Gas is a problem, too, for our transportation needs. A vehicle is absolutely essential to run the mission. Our truck, thankfully is repaired again, but has to sit on the compound 99% of the time.

This summer we, Karen and Luckner, are travelling to eastern Canada to try to fundraise for the mission. It was suggested by a special 'Friend of HATS' that Karen come out and bring a national, Luckner, with her to share about the work we do with children. We accepted this invitation and the travel arrangements have been made. We will be speaking in churches in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Too, we are hoping for the opportunity to speak to groups - Rotary, Legion, Lions, etc. If anyone knows of anywhere we can share please let us know.

We will be in Nova Scotia, Yarmouth area, June 25th to July 8th or thereabouts. We will have two Sundays in that area. We are booked to share at a church on July 6h, but Sunday, June 29th, is still open. If you know of a church who would like to have us share on June 29th, please get in touch with us, or with Sandra and Dickie - 742-5234.

We will be in Newfoundland, Springdale area, July 8th or 9th until July 25th. We are booked for both Sundays on the island, but we are looking for other chances to share, anywhere on the island. Any help with this would be appreciated.

Sunday, July 27th will be in the Halifax area and possibly speaking there. We return home on July 29th.

The two most important things to cover when funds arrive are the salaries and food for the children.

Food staples for the children of the orphanage - thanks to 'Friends of HATS'.

Last month you saw a photo of our little Josie doing laundry by hand. Alex likes to do laundry every day, but a little differently. He loves to sit outside the kitchen and wash clothes.

If you can't use your hands, use your feet.

We need another person to help with the administration work. Please pray for the right person to join our team. There is far too much for Karen to do, as well as direct the mission, with Luckner. Luckner does a lot of things Karen cannot, and helps with everything in administration that he can. Other than for a short, 2 1/2 month period, Karen has shouldered far too much administration work since we lost the very capable Theresa 2 1/2 years ago.

There might be someone interested who would like to come down for a month or two to see if working with HATS is right for them.

The serious hunger situation throughout the country has not really improved. People continue to suffer and cry for help.

Please continue to pray for the people in Haiti who cannot provide food for their children.

Matthew 25:35 "I was hungry and you fed me. "

Measuring food gifts for the hungry.

A seriously ill father taking food to his family

Employee, Herve, thankful for his food gift

Thank you to the congregation of Yarmouth Wesleyan Church who gave generously so we, at HATS-Haiti, could help feed many needy families (some employees and others) in our area. They were blessed and extremely thankful.

Isaiah 58:10a " If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday."

Thank you once again for all your support.

Jan 08 - Dec visitors and updates

Warm greetings from all of us at the HATS mission in Deschapelles, Haiti.

We trust you all enjoyed Christmas and New Years with family and friends and that this first month of 2008 has been good for you.

This update will be shorter than most because Karen is once again having great difficulty doing any reading or computer work. For awhile now she has been losing vision in her left eye. This means another trip back to Canada for eye surgery soon. She is not looking forward to being there this time of year, but it is absolutely essential that it be taken care of. For any errors you may find on this update, please forgive.

Karen's brother Don, from Newfoundland, is here with us now and he is helping Karen get this done, including some photos even. Luckner and Don are Karen's eyes now, so to speak.

Thank you for the special support in December for Christmas. Due to your loving kindness the children thoroughly enjoyed the 'fets', the Christmas gifts, the special meals, their new outfits, and all the fun and laughter. Leaving the mission compound for the Christmas Eve fet and the New Year's Eve fet was the highlight of the season's festivities for our children.

Karen, Luckner and kids opening gifts

9 of the children in their new clothes

Having Caleb, Karen's nephew, with us for three weeks, made it a very special holiday time for everyone. Christmas was very different for him this year, but he really enjoyed experiencing Christmas and New Year celebrations Haitian style. He fit in everywhere with everyone. He was one very well liked and respected young man, who many people want to see return as soon as possible. Here's Caleb helping to serve the Christmas eve meal.

We believe there was one glitch only in Caleb's time with us and that was him getting Dengue Fever on January 1st. Karen, too, ended up with it and neither of them could help the other. Luckner, and then Cecile, took care of Caleb and Karen for a couple of days and then Caleb headed back to Canada while still quite ill. The good news is that both are now back to doing too much again.

While Caleb was here we were blessed by two visits from a couple of Canadians who are stationed in Haiti with the UN. Carl, from Quebec, presented the mission with school supplies and soccer balls from Ecole aux Quatre-Vents in Gatineau. We were blessed by both visits to our mission and by the donated items for our school.

Mid December saw our school students and staff enjoying a special Christmas meal (rice & beans, chicken, vegetables, salad, and cold drinks) thanks to friends of HATS-Haiti in Nova Scotia.

Hungry Grade 6 children enjoying their meal

School Director, Luckner, helping to serve the meal

During December and early January the generator was broken down for some time. "No generator, no electricity." "No electricity, no e-mail communication."

We had no vehicle running. "No vehicle, no go." Then we ended up with no internet service for two weeks. Life is never dull and always challenging, which Caleb certainly can attest to.

A few of you have not yet received the photo of your sponsored students as they were not in school on photo day, and a couple of you are awaiting name and grade. Please be patient while Karen gets the necessary medical help and can return to work.

Having Don with us is a tremendous blessing. He is involved here, there, and everywhere - helping the laundry lady wash clothes by hand, helping the ladies who prepare the meals for the school students wash all the dishes, temporarily fixing the clothesline poles so laundry can dry, teaching English in the grade seven class in place of Luckner, scrapping and painting the huge entrance gate, and helping Karen with the office work. Too, he is a great help with Alexandre, who we don't think was actually lacking in attention and love, but Uncle Don is great fun to be with.

Don and the ladies washing dishes

Thank you to those who sent funds to help purchase an inverter and batteries so we can have electricity when there is no Haitian electricity and the generator is not running. The installation of this system was done by Luckner, with the help of a couple of others. To have this system up and running is a tremendous blessing. Dickie, come on down as now you will be able to have fans running whenever you need them

Recently Karen was informed she is being blessed with the gift of an air conditioner through a cousin. It is perhaps in Haiti already, most likely in customs in PaP. A decision will be made later as to where it will be installed. If it is in the bedroom, Karen will not want to leave that room, and that would not be too condusive to the work of HATS getting done. If we put it in the office, Karen will put a mattress on the floor there and sleep there instead. But will that see Karen working more hours again, than she really should??

We are believing that good things will happen this year. But no matter what might be ahead, the children will always be our highest priority.

REMEMBER FOR HATS IT IS ALL ABOUT THE CHILDREN !!

Oct 07 - Ti Fi, Bees, Manifestations, help needed!

Greetings to all our faithful supporters from those of us at the HATS-Haiti mission,

Thank you so very much for standing with us, Karen and Luckner, through thick and thin, through persecution, and the fiery trials and storms that assail us, as we endeavour to run this mission in a manner pleasing to God. The enemy would like to see us give up our stand for righteousness, and walking in integrity, but we are determined to stand, to persevere, and to continue to run the race. We believe that in the end we will hear "well done good and faithful servants".

A letter was written by us " plainte" to the Justice System in Verrettes telling of the plan that we had uncovered: that a group were printing tracks to blacken Karen's name, planning to manifest (demonstrate) outside of the HATS mission to try and make Karen leave, and failing that, to kidnap her. This 'plainte' was taken very seriously by a judge and was signed by him. Copies of it were put up outside the compound. When the group in question saw that we knew of their plan, and the legal steps we had taken, they decided to lay low/hide, at least for now. Too, they would have been deterred by seeing the police, and judge in the area doing an investigation into this.

The group behind this persecution are disgruntled former employees, friends and family members: people who are not in favour of the stand that HATS has taken to operate in righteousness, and accept nothing less from its employees and children. They think that if Karen leaves another group, with more money, will take over and those who lost their jobs will return to work, along with their friends. It is extremely difficult for 'blan' to know or understand the mindset of some of the Haitian people unless you live with them for an extended time. People who have lived/worked in Haiti will understand that coming here short term and passing out money is the worse thing visitors can do. This can start people doing unacceptable things in hopes of finding more of it.

The situation, caused by this disgruntled group, has cost us not only emotionally but also financially. In Haiti anytime you need to deal with anything legally, or need the services of the police, it costs. We, however, had no choice. Some important truths of the plan have been uncovered.

We were hit with another problem, before this present one, and that one is still not resolved. On the first day of school someone abandoned a 'special needs' child at our school. They put the girl in a school uniform, sat her outside the classrooms and left. We had no choice but bring her from the school compound unto this one. Luckner immediately started trying to find out who she belonged to. Well, it is now four weeks and two different women have been in jail for a couple of days over this matter, but she is still here. She cannot stay here at HATS as we do not have sufficient employees to take care of her. Cecile cannot take care of this child and the others as well. We would have to hire someone to take care of her and we are unable to do this. The justice system in this area are dragging their feet on this matter, hoping we will keep her and they won't have to do their jobs. This has cost HATS a lot of money in legal fees, etc. and a lot of stress. We have found out that those who did this, did it, in the hopes of getting money for themselves from HATS. They thought that when the justice system arrested people over this abandonment, and put them in prison, they could then accuse HATS of putting them there, and ask for retribution funds. And that is exactly what they have been trying to do. It, however, is not working at all as they had hoped.

Too, this problem, with the abandoned girl, has caused a lot of extra work for us both, for Luckner outside the compound and for Karen inside. Karen had, "Ti Fi" (young girl), as we call her, living in her home, with her and Alex, for eight days until Karen absolutely could not keep her any longer. While Ti Fi was staying at the director's house, Karen had to sleep on the floor close by, to keep an eye on her. Needless to say Karen slept very little. Ti Fi is approx six- years-old and Karen had to carry her and lift her often. Luckner saw the need, one Friday, for her to return to the children's home and said so. If she had stayed with Karen one more day it would have reached the stage of 'the straw that broke the camel's back'. As it was, the day after she left Karen 'hit the wall' physically and could not do a thing.

We care about this girl and want to see her properly cared for. We, however, cannot keep her here and we are looking for the mother. We are willing to help the mother care for her daughter, if we can find her. This girl needs more help than we are capable of giving her onsite.

Please pray that this very difficult situation can be resolved quickly. That the girl can be placed in a good home, hopefully with family, without more stress at HATS.

Someone recently wrote and asked Karen if she plans to work at HATS until she dies. Her response, "If that is God's will for her life, then she will do so." She, however, would like to let her supporters know that her staying on here indefinitely is not easy at all. She is certainly not here for herself. She is not here for any reason other than "for the children". If she did not feel called to do what she is doing, she would have returned to the comfortable life in Canada long ago. Karen finds it lonely here. She is here without any family member and without friends in the area. When the employees leave she is in her house every evening, and on the weekends, with just Alex, and far too much work to get done always. Karen misses her wonderful loving, and fun filled, family members a great deal. She does not have anyone here to talk with, walk with, laugh with and/or pray with. She is alone!

Karen does not really have 'a life' in Haiti. She 'exists' here. To her 'existance' and 'living' are different. She has been outside the compound only three times in the past two months - to go to the bank in St. Marc. This is not what she would call 'living'. She feels like someone has placed her inside a small fish tank, gold fish bowl, and put a lid on it. She 'exists' inside this tank due to necessity, day after day, only by the grace and strength of Almighty God. 'Life' is what she experiences when she is in Canada with loved ones and freedom. She desires more time in Canada but she can't be two places at once.

It is impossible for Karen to keep up with the administrative work load of HATS. She has been, since Theresa left, doing far too much, far too late every evening, and weekends, to try and keep things going. Again, we ask for your understanding and patience if you do not receive a response to an e-mail, or a thank you for your loving kindness to us. We love and appreciate you all but the work load is too heavy, and we can't always get in touch. Help is needed.

This year, as you know, Luckner is the director of our school, as well as doing his usual fantastic job as assistant director of HATS. His work load, as well, is too heavy and he continues to put his life on the line for this mission. He always has someone upset with him due to his work at HATS. In this country when one is not happy with someone, that someone needs to 'watch their back'. Luckner's life has changed dramatically since he joined HATS especially in the area of being in danger. He, however, is willing to continue to stand up with Karen, against the enemy, and for the children.

Luckner is doing a great job with the school. It is great to see the students, in their uniforms, happily coming every morning to start devotions at 7:30. They are receiving a meal every Tuesday and Thursday, for which they, and their families, are extremely thankful. To all of you who support HATS and the children we say a huge thank you.

Empty tummies soon to be filled

Bees anyone?? Karen calls this "the bugman". He did a good job of removing what seemed like thousands of bees, and honey, from an area outside on the second floor of the director's house/offices. They had started to take over the yard. What you see on the outside of the bucket is bees and there are many more inside.

This is still rainy season and we are getting lots of rain. We had to put several truck loads of gravel and rocks on the school grounds as it was too wet for students or teachers. Our children, however, are not deterred by it at all. They love to get their clothes off and play in it. Alex, too, enjoys the rain now.

Some of you have shown concern for Karen and also questioned the future of HATS after Karen. Karen has been very concerned about that herself for a long time. She has been diligently praying for, and seeking, a group/denomination to take HATS into partnership with them. There has been some interest shown by a denomination in Canada and some dialogue has happened. We want you to know that the future/longevity of HATS is a big concern of ours and we are working on this. Anyone interested in this mission, please get in touch with Karen.

On the last update we mentioned the walker/gait trainer we wanted for Alex so he could learn to walk. Thanks to Education Haiti it is enroute. It, most likely, is sitting in customs here. There has been corruption problems there with a clean-up being done and many things are being held up. We are so very anxious to get it here and see Alex start using it. Hopefully a photo with it will be in the next update.

"Remember one person's life being changed is more important than all the material things the world has to offer."

Working together we can change the lives of the children. For HATS "It is all about the children".

May 07

Hello once again from the HATS-Haiti mission in the hot country. And believe us it is hot and humid all the time. Oh for a walk on a 'cool' day.

On the April Update we mentioned that Mirlande's eye was still healing and we included a photo of Mirlande, but failed to say that it was taken before the problem with her eye. The eye continues to heal and here she is again. These days, however, the injured eye is open again.

Our little Josie continues to charm us all. She is scurrying everywhere and saying a few words. She loves to mimic us at church and devotions by singing in her baby language and clapping her hands.

Alex continues to develop slowly and steadily. It is a joy to behold. He now hates to have to sit in a chair or his stroller as standing and trying to walk is so much more fun. Now, for a period every day, he sits on a low Haitian chair and when we are close to, and in front of him, he can stand by himself and tries to walk to us, but at this stage he is mostly falling into our arms. He laughs and takes great delight in doing this. We continue to wait for the day that he will walk by himself. Here's Alex feeding himself!

For almost a month now we have again been blessed with electricity thanks to the donated generator we talked about on the last update. It is extremely heavy, much more so than our other one. Getting it unto the hired truck, to transport it to the mission from P-a-P, was interesting and amusing to say the least. I must admit to a lot of internal laughter as I watched 12 men trying to do so. Often all of them were talking at the same time and each one with their own idea of how best to manage it. In order to enable us to head back home faster that day Luckner was doing something else important in P-a-P while the generator was being loaded. I know that if he had been there it would have gone smoother and faster as he would have seen how best to do so and with authority have organized it. Me, however, being a woman in Haiti knew it best to stay out of it and just enjoy watching. I assure you it was better than any TV show. Thanks to having the generator we have been again having a steady supply of water. We are happy and thankful to have this generator. We, however, have been using it a great deal less than we were using a generator in the past because of the gas expense. Today a difficult decision had to be made to curtail usage completely for now. We are all hoping that we will be given some Haitian electricity that we will be billed for later. But that is something one can never depend on here. We, however, need electricity!!

If you write us and do not receive a response for some time do not be alarmed. It will mean only that we are without electricity and thus have no computer time.

O happy day - after eight months without it - the Montero is now running beautifully. It is once again being extremely useful to the mission. The timing was good as shortly after the Montero was back in action we had a motor problem with the truck, but not a serious one like the Montero had. The truck motor is presently in P-a-P to be repaired when possible.

This school year will soon be winding down. Sometimes we can't believe that it was not even a year ago (early last June) that we, Luckner and I, decided we should take a step of faith and let people know we needed a construct a school to open in September. Thank you once again to all of you who sent funds for the construction, worked hard on raising funds, came down and worked hard on the construction, and to all of you who have made it possible for students to attend school by sponsoring one or more.

We need sponsors for more students for September. Please pass the word along to family, friends and people in your church. The yearly fee for an elementary student is $175 and for a high school student $350. We apologize to the sponsors that this year you have received a photo of your student but have not yet received a letter from them. This is due to the huge work load that Luckner and I have. The letters will come. Thank you for your patience. We are behind in some things and trying to get caught up. But will catch up ever happen?? We are doing our best. Feel free to drop us a note about, or for, your student (s).

I, Karen, thought I was going to lose my very trusty co-director on Monday for two weeks as Luckner was supposed to be going to the Holy Lands that day. He, like the rest of the tour group no doubt, was ready to go but received word on Friday that there was a glitch with one airline and they would not be leaving as scheduled. They may still leave this week. He is awaiting word. We are both thankful that I had not completed the arrangements to go to western Canada for a few weeks to see my two daughters and grandchildren. I will now wait and book after we have a date for Luckner's leaving and return.

We have some projects that we would like to see done in HATS this year. We will list them as perhaps there might be a church group, other group, or individuals willing to try and raise funds for one of these projects. If so, please let us know.

# 1 - We need to get the school property enclosed. It is partially done only. The grounds are being used as a toilet and as a dump. There is nothing that can be done about it besides finishing the block wall we have started. The estimate for this is approx. $9000.00 US. Too, we still need five doors and a large barrier (gate) for the school property.

# 2 - We need to construct a storage depot. The estimate for this is $1500.00 US.

#3 - We need an inverter/battery system for electricity. We would then use the generator only to charge up the batteries and use that electricity to run things. This will save a lot of money in gas. This estimation is $4000 US.

These projects, of course, would need funds that would have to be raised separately from general funds.

Speaking of general funds, we are still trying to run the mission without sufficient coming in. This is not easy and many 'needs' are not being met. At this time we need funds for gas and oil for the generator and for the vehicle. And things like brake fluid, gas and oil filters. We need a printer ink cartridge and printer paper for the office. We need food for Karen's house. She has not been able to send Martha to the market for a month now. (Thank you Lord, we have the basic food supplies stocked up again for the children). The children need clothes and shoes, and chalk is needed for the school, etc. Too, salary time is coming up again at the end of the month. We continue to put it in the hands of God and wait on him. Thank you for joining us in prayer for the necessary support to come in.

If you've been to Haiti, or know anything about the country, you realize that life here is not an easy one for the Haitian people. Many are willing to take big chances on small boats to try and reach the United States illegally. One such group of 253 (most of this group were families with children) tried it this past week. The boat went aground and many lives lost. They have found parts of 163 bodies that had been eaten by sharks. One body was a pregnant lady and the unborn child had been eaten. This is just so very sad and tragic for those who tried to escape and for those who are now mourning the lost. Too, there was another group of 138 who headed off in a boat recently and cannot be located anywhere.

People who feel desperate take desperate chances. They put their hope, and their lives, in the hands of a person they pay to try and get them to the US.

Hope, however, comes from the Lord and when we know Him we must wait on Him. He will take care of us.

Psalm 62:5 "Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him."

Life is not always easy for Luckner and I who direct this mission either. We have taken a strong stand for rightousness and the enemy is not happy. Life in Haiti is different than most North Americans can comprehend. Life is not valued highly and killing someone seems to happen easily when one is angry. This area where we live is a volatile and dangerous one. Luckner and I have both had more than our share of threats but Luckner has born the brunt of most of it. This past week while here working he received a phone call from a private number. A man told him basically that due to changes at HATS, since he joined me, he deserved to die and he, the caller, would be waiting at the bridge over the canal to shoot him when he left work at 4:00 p.m. Some staff leave at 4:00 but Luckner seldom leaves before 5:00 or later. Luckner, however, left here at 3:45, drove home and left his car, and then took his bike and rode back to the bridge to see if the supposed killer would turn up. Some people had gotten word of what had happened and word travels fast. A massive number of people turned out in support of Luckner. Thank God nothing happened. Apparently the person who called Luckner did go there but took no action. Luckner figured out who had called him and called this person with a message but a different one than he had received.

Last night Luckner received warning to take extreme caution as someone had overheard some former HATS employees planning to kill him because they no longer work here. They don't seem to understand that they were working here longer than I wanted as Luckner had asked me to give them another chance. They need to blame someone other than themselves and so again he is the scapegoat.

This is just a couple of many times someone has seriously threatened Luckner since he joined me at HATS. His life as a lawyer was a lot more calm than it is as a director of HATS-Haiti. If, however, we are God's and He calls we must obey. That is what Luckner has done. He has basically laid his life on the line many times for this mission. We have a great deal of appreciation for him and his work.

For some time now I, Karen, too have been receiving phone calls, also from a private number, advising I use extreme caution due to what is being said outside the compound. This person who gives me the warnings does not want his name known, perhaps to keep himself safe. Thus, however, Luckner does not want me leaving the compound alone. He fully understands the danger around us. I can take a short run during the day as far as his place but that is all. Otherwise I need someone, usually Luckner or Odner (chief security) with me. If I go anywhere at night without Luckner Odner must be with me and armed. Do I like this type of life?? No. Must I put up with it?? Yes. Is it easy for me - a lady who has always been independent and stubborn?? No. Not at all. Sometimes Luckner has to get upset with me, for my own good, as he feels responsible for my safety. I do appreciate his concern even if, in my stubbornness, I don't always show it immediately.

Please understand neither of us are living in fear at all. We are, however, using the good sense God gave us and are taking precaution.

Please keep us both in your prayers for protection, provision, and for production as we endeavour to run the mission without sufficent funds and in a manner pleasing to God.

Again, a huge thank you to all of you who support this mission, with prayer, encouragement and with finances. Your support is crucial to keeping HATS-Haiti going and being a 'light in the darkness' in this corner of the world.