Hi everyone

Emma and Joanne here. Sorry about not getting to the blog yesterday, we were so overwhelmed with the excitement of the trip and it was very late when we stopped to blog....soo here are two days (which feels like a week)

SATURDAY
After a stop over in Miami; which lead to a wonderful evening, we hunkered down for a few hours of sleep. Our flight to Port au Prince began with an early rise to catch a 6:30 departure, We were "pumped".  After arriving at the Port au Prince airport Our fiery Redhead (who bribed her way in to arrivals) met us with humor and smiles. Then it was time to collect our luggage and precious cargo.

Airport arrival

Needless to say the event did not go smooth as we had anticipated as our Don realized that his camera was not in his pocket.  That camera has documented every detail of our journey since we left Deer lake, NL (so we decided he was important enough for us to look for it...leave it to a man).  After going to the lost and found without any luck,  a few airport employees went to check the plane.  After waiting awhile hoping for the best the employees returned unsuccessful.  We hope whoever has this camera enjoys viewing our beautiful and handsome faces.

Is Don trying to remember something

Then came our journey to customs. Easy you may think...but this is Haiti and we have 16 totes and several suitcases.  We approached customs with confidence thinking it would be a breeze (but a breeze is hard to come by in Haiti) For the first time since Karen has been accepting teams at the HATS mission we were stopped at customs. (....its not what you think there were no police dogs involved!!!) Thinking we had been diligent and  properly labelled all our luggage by putting lists on the outside, the word Tylenol proved to be a red flag. The security officers proceeded to herd us all into a side room. As we stood speechless and not sure what was going to happen....our fiery redheaded leader (aka Karen) took charge and delivered  an Oscar winning performance with her teary display of emotions. "please don't take my vitamins kind lady" This worked like a charm. Some of the bags were checked and we were cleared.

We gathered everything and headed to the parking lot while attempting to discourage some Haitian men who felt we needed help (which Karen had already made arrangement for). This is how some of the Haitian people attempt to make income. Luckner (Karen's assistant director) and Daniel (policeman security) assisted by our own Gerry, Don and Todd swiftly loaded the vehicle and we were on our way.

Van and truck loaded. Ready to head for the mission.

We left the airport in a van driver by a trustworthy person of Karen and Luckner's choosing for the two and a half hour drive to Deschapelles.  For those of us who were first time visitors this scene played out like a movie. Instead it proved to reflect the daily life of people simply trying to survive.  It is an eye opener when you see people in their desperation trying to sell sticks and rocks among other things simply to make a dollar. The speed of Haitian drivers would make one dizzy.

We arrived at the Orphanage and as the gate opened we were greeted with the beautiful smiles and waves of the children. We got off the bus and there was an abundance of hugs and kisses. When we walked through the door of the house there was Roselene and Germaine we were treated to a wonderful meal.

Then came the big tour. Karen showed us all of the compound, children's homes and school. I was amazed by the library and how well everything is organized and available. It shows the diligence and hard work of Karen's labor of love. With great enthusiasm came the " Piece de resistance" A new church. Karen gave us the tour with all of the details of what is yet to come. The church will eventually have doors, windows and a place to serve water to the congregation. Quite a change from using the children school rooms for the past number of years. We were excited to know we would be holding the Mothers Day service there tomorrow.

We then took all the children outside the compound for a walk and short play time.

First afternoon fun time outside the compound

Ti Luc with his Mama Emma

Happy Ti Fi with Gerry

Our evening ended with Emma giving each child a new outfit for the Mothers Day service for which they very proudly modeled. The it was off to our tents on the roof. (thanks guys for caring enough to spray our tents to keep away the creatures )

Boys in their new pants, shirts and ties

SUNDAY
Bonne Fette.. .Happy Mothers Day

After a much needed, restful sleep it was up and atam again. Today is the big Day that Karen and Luckner have planned for all the mamas and their families in the community.  There will be a church service and  Karen estimates there will be 250 - 300 people attending . Following the service they will be served a hot meal and cold drink. Preparations took place yesterday with some of the older children from the school helping prepare the food to be served. After a breakfast of fresh fruit and Haitian porridge we all did final preparations for the "Big event".  After getting the children all dressed in their finest we headed off to church. Wow what a service!! Our fine leader |Emma delivered a special message in English translated by Karen. Emma then delivered a beautiful solo "Make a joyful noise".

Emma doing a solo after a little pushing from Karen

The heat was tremendous but was overshadowed by the beautiful children all dressed for their mama's special day. The church was filled with prayer and praise and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Karen's estimation of attendees was a little low as Luckner had mentioned on the radio about the service. Last rough count was 450. Wow and double Wow! Luckner had to rush to get more rice and beans as Karen was feeding EVERYONE!! The loaves and fishes were stretched to capacity - there were no baskets of food left over!!!

Mother's Day Church Service

Luckner helping serve the meals for all the people

A meal for those attending the Mother's Day service

People enjoying a meal after our Mother's Day service

After the last people left we returned to have our meal then spend the rest of the afternoon playing with the children and the men of our team assisted Karen with clean up of the school yard and removal of chairs and garbage. To have experienced what happened here today gives a deeper respect and admiration for Karen and all that happens here at HATS throughout the year.

Our Mothers Day ended with the children presenting two of the house mothers Yolene and Germaine with a present.

Karen had a Mothers Day photo opt (that the kids had to change back into their dress clothes which we are also chalking up to a new experience.) The children sang a song ( taught to them by Emma on Saturday) especially for their mama and they each said they loved her.

Karen with most of her family on Mother's Day

Talking about mama....she is telling us we are taking too long with this blog so we are signing off and the rest is up to your imagination. See you tomorrow. God bless

Thank you Mariah.

We miss you. We love you!

Mariah left us Monday morning to return to Canada for 4 days before going to Jamaica for three weeks with her class at university. She truly is missed by many.

Tomorrow morning we will be picking up Emma and Don's team from Newfoundland - from my home town of Springdale no less.   Should be a fun week

THANK YOU goes out to Heidi Perry.

Recently Heidi Perry, of Steady Brook, Newfoundland, ran in the Steady Brook/Humber area to raise funds for the HATS-Haiti children. This is the third year that Heidi has 'run for HATS'.  Heidi is an amazing girl, with a big heart to help children in need.   Heidi is 13-years-old and in grade 7.  She recently ran 42.2 km to raise the funds and did so on a cold, wet day.  How many people would do something like this to be able to help needy children elsewhere?

There is a photo of Heidi running on a day that is anything but sunny.  There is another of her standing in Steady Brook at the end of her very long run.

Heidi Perry running a marathon to raise funds for HATS-Haiti

HATS-Haiti children, both in the Children's Home and at the school, and employees of HATS, are amazed and very thankful that a young girl would do so much to help the children here.  Her photo was also passed around in church and people were amazed that one so young is willing to do so much to help the children here.

Heidi at end of her long race

HATS children who live onsite with Mama Karen want to say a very big thank you to Heidi.  They made a sign to say thank you in Creole and English.

Standing in the rain to say Thank You to Heidi who ran in the rain for us

The children have been enjoying getting out as much as possible.  We walk along the canal, they climb trees and run through unplanted fields - racing to see who is the fastest.

Fun outside the compound. Jofky came first

Dieunel not far behind Djemima

Go Moise. Go

Ti Luc, not in a competition, stuck to the path & did it by himself

All  the children are growing, changing, and maturing. (Monkey doodle Anne is still Anne and not showing any signs of growing out of any of her 'dezod'.)   It is in Jonathan and Sandra, however, that I see the biggest difference.  They are growing up too quickly.  Every day they come to show me their new accomplishments.  Lately it has been what they can do on the swings.

Jonathan

Two little people - one swing

Jofky showing Mama what he can do

Our children are all well and hopefully they stay that way.  Mama Karen does not wish to have to reopen her clinic for any of her children again.  Chikungunya, however, has been reported as being in Haiti for some weeks now, with many cases reported, according to radio news reports.  It is an illness caused by a virus that spreads through mosquito bites.  The most common symptoms of chikungunya are high fevers with joint swelling and pain.  Other symptoms can be headache, muscle pain, and rash.  People are advised to use mosquito repellent and cover exposed skin with long sleeved shirts, long pants and hats.  Our team members have been advised to bring repellent with them and to use it early mornings and after the sun goes down late afternoons.

Only one more month of school for this year.  The students received their report cards a few weeks ago for the second semester.  Mama Karen was not happy with the results of some of the children.  A family meeting was held in the yard and they were given their marching orders so there would be better results next month when the final exams are written for this year.  Mama Karen, however, has not seen many marching to her orders or to her  daily encouragement to spend a lot more time with their textbooks.  The end results may leave a lot to be desired.

A family meeting after receiving report cards

 If the school exam results are good, or not so good, all the children are precious and I am thankful for each one.

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

Blessings, Karen

Another 'photo blog'

Our unfinished church building is already a blessing.  It will be even more so when it is done and we have proper seating, etc.

Thank you to one and all who helped with this project.  Yesterday we used it for the first time - for a school event.  Can't use it for church yet as the desks that were carried there for yesterday's event have to be taken back for school classes.

You will see from these photos that HATS-Haiti truly is  -

ALL ABOUT  THE  CHILDREN.

HATS kids only on Day 1

Gwo Chef JJ having the girls do most of the work

Day 2 of preparing our church building for Flag Day

Day 2 -Another gwo chef telling young student how to do the work

Desks being brought over from the school. Oh happy day when the building is finished and we have proper benches

Students ready for the march. The band members in blue on the left will lead them a fair distance in our area

Sandra & Jonathan wanting to know how Papa Luckner makes the music come out of the speakers

Luckner talking about the importance of the Haitian flag

This unfinished church building is a blessing already

Mariah did a good job of teaching the girls two dances in a short time

HATS kids danced at Flag Day too

Sandra, who learned the dance moves from Mariah had stage fright. Jonathan could do it too but he would not even go forward.

Preschool kids had fun dancing too

Thank you...

...to the awesome team of ladies, from New Brunswick and Newfoundland, who were recently helping at HATS.   You were not only a big help in many ways but you were a joy to have here with us.

The children had made and posted a banner welcoming the team.  The children knew Kathleen (Cafline as they say and spell it) and Jess.  For weeks prior to their arrival they talked about Jess and Cafline coming soon.  They were thrilled to have those two back but very happy to meet and make more new friends.  Now the hope is that the new ones will want to return some day as well.

Welcome banner made by children for Kathleen, Jess and the newbies.

Thank you to Mariah, too, although not a member of the team arrived at the same time.  Mariah was a big help while they were here, and still is.  Mariah surprised the children and employees of the mission as we kept it a secret that she was coming.

Mariah from Calgary. Crystal from Corner Brook. New friendships.

The team members were:  Kathleen, from NB, returning for the third time

Kathleen (with her sidekick)

Jess, from NL, returning for the second time

Jess

(Sept 27th Jess will be a full fledged member of the 'awesome but nutty' Huxter and MacDonald families)  This is a good thing for both families.  Caleb you have chosen well.

Emily, from NB, for the first time

Emily

Erika, NB, first timer

Erika

Patricia, NL, for the first visit

Patricia

Jenny, NL, - first visit

Jenny

Crystal, NL (formerly Bahamas) - first visit

Crystal

Their day of leaving needed an earlier start than had been the original plan.  There was an important reason for this.  Early morning Ti Luc was up to see the team off.

Kathleen and Ti Luc saying Bye.  Tears were seen on both faces.

As the team filled the bus to leave it was obvious there were mixed emotions.  They were returning home to their families but they were having difficulty leaving the mission and the children.

Ready to head home but not really ready to leave HATS

You saw from their blogs the many ways the team members were involved and the many and various ways they helped while here.  They all fell in love with the children and the children with them.

The team members here at HATS and the other members of the Canadian group who were in Grand Goave with a rubble housing project all kindly agreed to leave both areas of Haiti very early a.m. so I could also get to the airport in PAP and head to Canada.

Some of the NB & NL team members inside PAP airport

I want to personally thank the other members of the group from NB and NL, who had spent the week in another area of Haiti, for their willingness to arrive at the airport almost three hours ahead of what we had originally scheduled.  This was done for my benefit as I was making a very unexpected short trip to NS for a very sad reason.
I was going to attend the funeral of a friend, Heather Rhyno.  Heather, one of the nicest people one could ever meet, was the wife of Gerry Rhyno - Chairman of the Canadian Board of Directors of the mission HATS-Haiti, and mother of another friend, Heidi Newell. Gerry and Heather were on a well deserved holiday cruise when Heather, age 55, had a massive heart attack.

I want to say a big thank you to my friend, Beate Rufft, another member of the Canadian Board of Directors for HATS, for the airline ticket to attend the funeral.  Thanks also to Katheleen McDonald, who helped Beate work out the flight arrangements, and who covered the cost of my hotel room in Miami on my return home Wednesday.  I so appreciated being able to support my friends and their family members.

My leaving, unexpectedly along with the team members, would have been a lot more difficult for the children if Mariah had not been here.  This is another reason I am thankful.  I say thanks to God and thanks to those who helped in every way.  I think the new team members who were here with us caught the vision of what HATS is about  -

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

Blessings everyone.
Karen